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6-3 Applying Moral Philosophy to Ethical Decision Making Individuals use different moral philosophies depending on whether they make a personal decision or a work-related decision. Two things may explain this behavior. First, in the business arena, some goals and pressures for success differ from the goals and pressures in a person’s life outside of work. As a result, an employee might view a specific action as good in the business sector but unacceptable outside the work environment. Some suggest business managers are morally different from other people. In a way, this is correct, in that business contains one variable that is absent from other situations: the profit motive. The various factors that make up a person’s moral philosophy are weighted differently in a business (profit) situation. The comment “It’s not personal, it’s just business” demonstrates the conflict businesspeople can experience when their personal values do not align with utilitarian or profit-oriented decisions. The reality is if firms do not make a profit, they will fail. However, this fact should not be a justification for seeking excessive profits or executive pay, issues that are now being questioned by stakeholders.

The second reason people change moral philosophies is the corporate culture where they work. When children enter school, they learn certain rules, such as raising their hands to speak or asking permission to use the restroom. So it is with a new employee. Rules, personalities, and precedents exert pressure on the employee to conform to the firm’s culture. As this process occurs, the individual’s moral philosophy may change to become compatible with the work environment. Many people are acquainted with those who are respected for their goodness at home or in their communities but make unethical decisions in the workplace. Even Bernard Madoff, the perpetrator of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, had a reputation as an upstanding citizen before his fraud was uncovered.

Obviously, the concept of a moral philosophy is inexact. For that reason, moral philosophies must be assessed on a continuum rather than as static entities. Each philosophy states an ideal perspective, and most individuals shift between different moral philosophies as they experience and interpret ethical dilemmas. In other words, implementing moral philosophies from an individual perspective requires individuals to apply their own accepted value systems to real-world situations. Individuals make judgments about what they believe to be right or wrong, but in their business lives they make decisions that take into consideration how to generate the greatest benefits with the least harm. Such decisions should respect fundamental moral rights as well as perspectives on fairness, justice, and the common good, but these issues become complicated in the real world.

Problems arise when employees encounter ethical situations they cannot resolve. Sometimes gaining a better understanding of their decision rationale helps employees choose the right solutions. This results in the need for employees to exercise

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reasonableness. The morals of individuals help them to exercise ethical reasoning to satisfy the expectations of other stakeholders. For instance, to decide whether they should offer bribes to potential customers to secure a large contract, salespeople need to understand their own personal moral philosophies as well as their firm’s core values and the relevant laws. If complying with company policy or legal requirements is an important motivation to the individual, he or she is less likely to offer a bribe. On the other hand, if the salesperson’s ultimate goal is a successful career and if offering a bribe seems likely to result in a promotion, then bribery might not be inconsistent with that person’s moral philosophy of acceptable business behavior. Even though bribery is illegal under U.S. law, the employee may rationalize that bribery is necessary “because everyone else does it.”

The virtue approach to business ethics, as discussed earlier, assumes there are certain ideals and values everyone should strive for in order to achieve the maximum welfare and happiness of society. Aspects of these ideals and values are expressed through individuals’ specific moral philosophies. Every day in the workplace, employees must decide what is right or wrong and act accordingly. At the same time, as members of a larger organization, employees cannot simply enforce their own personal perspectives, especially if they adhere narrowly to a single moral philosophy. Because individuals cannot control most of the decisions in their work environment, they rarely have the power (especially in entry-level and middle-management positions) to impose their own personal moral perspectives on others. In fact, although they are always responsible for their own actions, a new employee is not likely to have the freedom to make independent decisions on a variety of job responsibilities.

Sometimes a company makes questionable decisions from the perspective of individual customers’ values and moral philosophies. For example, some stakeholders might consider a brewery or a distributor of sexually explicit movies unethical, based on their personal perspectives. A company’s core values will determine how it makes decisions in which moral philosophies are in conflict. Most businesses have developed a mission statement, a corporate culture, and a set of core values that express how they want to relate to their stakeholders, including customers, employees, the legal system, and society. It is usually impossible to please all stakeholders at once.

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