Benefits and Costs

Benefits and Costs

An assessment of the benefits and costs of a decision requires determination of the interest and values of those affected. Care must be taken to guard against assuming that others attach the same importance to these values that you do or that people in different cultures hold the same values.

Utilitarian Principle
It is a common approach to balancing or weighing of benefits and costs in organisations. It views that actions and policies should be evaluated on the basis of benefits and costs that will impose on society. It emphasizes the provision of greatest good for greatest number in judging the ethics of a decision.

Utilitarian Principle
A manager who is guided by utilitarianism considers the potential effect of alternative actions on employees who will be affected and then selects the alternative benefiting the greatest number of employees. The manger also accepts the fact that this alternative may harm others. Since the potentially positive results outweigh potentially negative results the decision is considered to be both good and ethical.