Professional Documents
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The Parable of The Sadhu
The Parable of The Sadhu
Presented By
Abhishek Mudiganti
Akankshit Kanungo
Ansuman Pradhan
Siddharth Panda
Sumit Mishra
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Case Facts
Based on a real life incident that
happened with Bowen H. McCoy, MD
of Morgan Stanley
Participated in the sabbatical
program of
six months
On a trip to Himalaya for 60 days
Met with people from other countries
Stephens Arguments
Each did their bit as long as it was
convenient, then passed on the buck
to others.
Ponders about how different the
action would have been - Had the
person been a well dressed Asian or
a Western Woman
McCoys Views
At first, McCoy was defensive to Stephens
arguments.
Things like Stress, Once in a lifetime
opportunity were his excuses
But later on, he realized how they had
walked by an ethical dilemma without
appropriate action
Ethical Dilemma
Individual Ethics Vs Group Ethics
Applicability of Rule based Ethical
Theory
Implementing Ethics in Corporate
World
Individual Vs Group
Every person did their bit for the
Sadhu
However, no one ensured the
ultimate well being of the Sadhu
Where does the ethical responsibility
of an individual end
Is there something called collective
or institutional responsibility?
Ethics in Workplace
How to ensure collaborative effort
towards end goal
Synchronizing individual efforts with
collective vision
Reaching consensus and selecting a
leader in crunch situation
How to ensure groups support?
Deontological Analysis
Action is moral if the action is
universalizable and reversible
In the case, the actions are
universalizable
Reversibility is also justifiable
However, the end result is not
satisfactory
Utilitarian Analysis
Maximum benefits for the maximum
no of people
No person was harmed in the case
Sadhu was benefited from their
actions
However, the final result is still
unsatisfactory
Distributive Justice
Tenets are
- Maximum freedom for all
- Inequities to be tolerated only when the
weakest are benefited
The case satisfies the necessary tenets for
distributive justice
However the end doesnt seem satisfactory
Teleological Analysis
End justifies the means
What is the end.completing once in
a life time trip or saving the Sadhu?
It doesnt specify the ends
Hence teleological analysis is not
satisfactory in this case
Virtue Theory
Morally good habits developed
through training and repetition
Moral virtues are the traits that
enable us to live well
Virtues are not rules to be followed,
but habits to be cultivated
Relevance to Corporate
World
None of them explain the relevance
Corporate World People have individual values
based on a set of shared goals.
Similarly in the story - the hikers want to take care
of the Sadhu, they want to finish and enjoy the hike
Rule based analysis looks at a moral question in
analysis
totally context-free
character-free
person gets his or her moral clues only from his
or her innate faculty of reason.
is not between actions that are right and those that are wrong, but
between actions that are merely okay and those that are excellent
between those that are merely justifiable and those that are
actually praiseworthy.
The Sadhu parable brings into relief our notions, about the
different moral characters of persons, rather than our
justifications of the moral worth of actions.
Thank You