Ethical decision making

Understanding decision making

• Delay in decision, in ordinary life and professional life, causes
loss of time and money.
Essence of decision making
• Decision making is purely a qualitative affair. It is an
unquantifiable mental process involving reason and intelligence.

• Based on the information supplied by the INTELLECT, the WILL

makes the final decision. The intention (mental make up)
describes decision making.
Intention or inner decision
• Intention reflects the mind of a person and the morality of an
action.
• Wants to rob – moves to rob – finds a robber – helps the people ‘nab’
the robber – gets praise as Samaritan (What was but the true
intention?)

• Ideally it follows the principle - ‘means justifies the ends’

• Clear intentions establish the conduct of a good

leader/manager.
Relationship between intention, action, morality and
law
• Intention is directly connected with morality while Law is directly
connected with action (a court of law judges the actions).

• However, the law ultimately considers the intention of the action

to pass a just sentence.

• Intention therefore determines the responsibility of the person

and nature of an action.
Anatomy of an individual decision maker
• Reason defines human actions. Thought is an instrument of
pure reason that analyzes the data supplied to it.

• Action on the other hand is two fold. First, it has a special

internal ability that directs itself to the will. The will sends it to
the intellect for a rational analysis.
Rational and Volitional as Human
• Once the analysis is received from the intellect, it weighs its
options and offers rational choices of various degrees to the will.

• The will then makes a volitional choice which is specific and

deliberate
Truth, good and aesthetic aspect
• The object of our intellect is the truth and the object of volition is
good

• Will and truth go hand in hand to create a culture that is the

aesthetic aspects of human beings (civilization, refinement…).

• Cognitive development is necessary for decision making.

Knowledge, achievement and happiness
• A consistent body of truth creates knowledge and the pursuit of
good creates achievements resulting in happiness.
• Happiness is the ultimate goal in life. At this stage, we attain
virtues or good performances that become habitual.

• 3 streams in the anatomy of human person are: the rational,

volitional and the aesthetic - Satyam (truth-knowledge), Shivam
(will-creative) and Sundaram (aesthetic-happiness)
Definition of morality
• Duty, and duty alone, is the essence of professional behaviour.
It constitutes the morals of a manager. The professional codes
of conduct are therefore based on the principle of duty.
• When the level of duty is achieved, greater excellence may be
achieved through the pursuit of highest possible goals.
• Sat (knowledge), Chitta (consciousness) and Ananda (bliss)
Jean Peaget Model (Swiss psychologist)
• Why a child below the legal age is not prosecuted?
• The child is not able to take reasonable decision with the
capabilities of intellect and will.
• Children with mental disabilities are unable to make a rational and
free choice

• Though a child develops cognitive capacity by 14 years of age,

yet they are not held fully responsible for their actions until the
age of 18.
Decision making process
• Decision making consists of three concepts - Choosing,
Deciding and Doing
• Choosing implies that there are options to choose from.
• Deciding implies that you have to make up your mind about the
choices that are before you by considering serval factors
involving reasoning. The will and the intellect decide the
aesthetics (common sense)
• Doing is what you have decided. The act or decision may be
intrinsic (by the will) or extrinsic (concrete) action.
Choosing, deciding and doing
Stages in ethical decision making
1. Recognize a moral issue
To administer the medicine first and then go for a surgery (rather than
going for surgery at first instance when the patient expects a surgery)

2. Make some kind of moral judgement on it

- Apply professional ethics or economic benefits

3. Express the intention to act upon it

Intention – honesty, trust, justice, equity and also consistency

4. Act in accordance with the intention and the acceptance

Factors influencing – societal acceptance, peer group acceptance,
superior’s acceptance etc.
Classification of decision making
• Decision making theories are classified under normative and
descriptive theories
Normative theory/model
• A normative theory is founded on certain basic assumptions (axioms)
• An axiom is an assumed guiding principle or mean or maxim which
we accept as a norm or a standard to function for a purpose.
• ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ is the
golden rule in normative theory.
• Normative theory deals with ethical human behaviour. It is
qualitative in nature because the nature of norms is transcendental
(refers to a priori propositions such that they do not need any
empirical reference). These are general ideas formed by our mind
and applied to individual events. The intellectual process involved
is deductive.
Normative Principles
• Utility or greatest happiness principle:
• Utilitarianism seeks the good of many
• Right/duty: One man’s right is another man’s duty. This
ensures liberty, equality, and justice in society. The ethics of
duty is known as deontology.
• Means and ends: the means should justify our ends. Wanting
to have money is not unworthy, but if it is to be acquired by
stealing, then it is not worthy of praise. This is the principle on
which human rights are based.
Principles (contd)
• Justice: Give what is one’s due.

• Distributive justice is how wealth is justly shared.

• Retributive justice deals with the assignment of merited rewards or
punishment involving judiciary and administration of impartial justice.
• Compensatory justice is to make up for the loss suffered. This deals
with the healing and reparative process if fails to perform.
• Caring justice stems from the principle of compassion (between the
haves and have-nots).
• Virtue ethics is a positive form of justice that is concerned with traits of
character than rules, duties or consequences. Become good on the
inside so that the person will always do good.
Principles (contd)
• Conscience: purely subjective about what is right or wrong.
The well-formed conscience is able to judge actions for their
moral worth (as that of Nelson Mandela’s and Martin Luther
King’s); the not well-formed conscience is unable to judge
actions.

• Prudence: it is the management of affairs with commonsense.

It is an ability to discipline oneself. It is the competence and
wisdom to manage a task. It is the skill sand judgement of
using resources. It is the caution exercised and risk foreseen
before arriving at and implementing any decisions.
Principles (contd)
• Stewardship: it is the role of a manager, beyond the call of
employed duty, to take a keen interest and special
responsibilities in the fulfillment of tasks.
• The deriving force behind corporate governance is the
principle of stewardship.
• Stewardship nurtures the judicious use of limited resources and
develops a sensitive social concern. Corporations have adopted
this principle under corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Normative principles
Descriptive theory/model
• They are empirical and proceed from hypotheses that need to
be proved inductively (from specific to general)
• Market research is a very good example of this theory.
• The ultimate result is probabilities and percentages and the
decisions are taken on the basis of these concrete but probable
results.
• The most popular theory is of Shelby D Hunt and Scot J Vitell
(The Hunt-Vitell model)
Description of the model
• General Background: society represents one ethics. This has general
sphere and personal sphere in which appropriate codes are generated.

• Specific background: the three boxes in the centre represent the

professional sphere consisting organizational, industrial and
professional environment where the appropriate codes derived from the
general sphere are applied.

• A manager/decision maker, based on the general and specific

background he/she has, evaluates the consequences of his/her
decision pertaining to an issue in question, by applying the
DESCRIPTIVE THEORY through DEONTOLOGICAL & TELEOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES (the following model explains the process)
Stage 1
• The problem is perceived, the alternatives are weighed, and the
consequences are predicted.
Stage 2
Here the norms of deontology and teleology apply.

• If the decision is made on the basis of duty (deontological), the

code is just followed.

• If the decision is made on the basis of the objectives

(teleological), then the examination of consequences,
stakeholders view etc. is essential.
Stage 3
• Two fold evaluation of the decision making process happens at
this stage.

• If deontological principles are followed, the evaluation is

considered logical and straightforward.

• If teleological principles are followed, ethical standards are

evaluated and at times compromised as dilemmas, conflicting
situations etc might occur in the process.
Stage 4
• At this stage the intention of the action is decided considering
the principles of deontology and teleology (which may be good
or bad).
Stage 5
• This stage consists of three important aspects – action control,
behaviour and the actual consequences.

• When the mind is made up and the intention is fixed, the action/
behaviour is straightaway taken.

• When the mind is not made up and the intention is in the mind, the
action and the behaviour may have undesired consequences. Certain
amount of action control is also predicted at this stage.

• This is why it is said that, when we make decisions and put them into
practice, we hope for the desired consequences.
Questions
1. Define decision making and describe the essence of decision
making
2. Describe the stages of ethical decision making
3. Describe the Normative theory of ethical decision-making
4. Describe the Descriptive theory of ethical decision-making
5. Explain the anatomy of an individual decision maker
6. What are the stages of cognitive development?
Case
• Hienz is a poor man. His wife suffers from cancer and needs
immediate medicine. The medicine is very costly and Heinz
cannot afford it. The chemist is unwilling to lend it to him on
credit. Heinz breaks open the store, steals the drug and
administers it to his wife.
• Analyze the case:
• What are the facts or circumstances that constitute the case?
• Who are the people involved?
• What is/are the moral issue or issues that concern this case?
• Which is/are the moral principle or principles that are at stake?
• What arguments can be put forward after taking into consideration the above
four questions
• Do the persons involved in this case pass the duty test?
• What kind of moral responsibility or accountability does each member in the
case bear?
• What solutions would you provide to solve the problems that have risen from
this case?
• What are the lessons that have you learnt from the case?
schema
Heads Particulars Remarks
Facts Focus on essential facts
People Examine the people involved and their relationship with
each other
Moral issues Examine immediate moral concerns
Principles Pin the case with just one or two principles
Argument Analyze from the general principle to arrive at the
particular conclusion
Duty test The duty test eliminates emotional or sentimental
aspects from a rational judgement. This may seem
unkind but it provides the ultimate test for a minimum
requirement of a moral action
Accountability Do not accuse. Point out the outcome of the argument
schema
Heads Particulars Remarks
Application Suggest a solution that is compatible to the
principle employed in the argument
Lessons Although these are personal reflections, make
them as following from the universal ethical
principles