Chapter Three

Ethical Principles, Quick

Tests, And Decision-
Making Guidelines

1
 Decision Criteria for Ethical
Reasoning
 The following three criteria can be used in
ethical reasoning:
 Moral reasoning must be logical
 Factual evidence cited to support a person’s
judgment should be accurate, relevant, and
complete
 Ethical standards used should be consistent
 A simple but powerful question can be used
throughout your decision-making process in
solving ethical dilemmas:
 What is my motivation for choosing a course
of by
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Learning 2
 Ethical Relativism:
A Self-Interest Approach
 Ethical relativism holds that no universal
standards or rules can be used to guide or
evaluate the morality of an act.
 This view argues that people set their
own moral standards for judging their
actions.
 This is also referred to as naïve (lack of
experience, wisdom ) relativism.
 The logic of ethical relativism extends to
culture.
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Learning 3
 Ethical Relativism:
A Self-Interest Approach
 Benefits include:
 Ability to recognize the distinction
between individual and social values,
customs, and moral standards
 Problems include:
 Imply an underlying laziness
 Contradicts everyday experience
 Relativists can become absolutists
 Relativism and stakeholder analysis.

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Learning 4
 Utilitarianism:
A Consequentialist (Results-Based) Approach

 The basic view holds that an action is

judged as right, good, or wrong on the
basis of its consequences.
 The moral authority that drives
utilitarianism is the calculated
consequences or results of an action,
regardless of other principles that
determine the means or motivations
for taking the action.
 Utilitarianism includes other tenets.
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Learning 5
 Utilitarianism:
A Consequentialist (Results-Based) Approach

 Problems with utilitarianism include:

 No agreement exists about the definition
of the “good” to be maximized
 No agreement exists about who decides
 How are the costs and benefits of
nonmonetary stakes measured?
 Does not consider the individual
 Principles of rights and justice are ignored
 Utilitarianism and stakeholder
analysis.
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Learning 6
 Universalism:
A Deontological (Duty-Based) Approach

 This view is also referred to as

deontological ethics or
nonconsequentialist ethics and holds that
the means justify the ends of an action,
not the consequences.
 Kant’s principle of the categorical
imperative places the moral authority for
taking action on an individual’s duty
toward other individuals and humanity.
 The categorical imperative consists of
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Learning 7
 Universalism:
A Deontological (Duty-Based) Approach

 The major weaknesses of universalism

and Kant’s categorical imperative
include:
 Principles are imprecise and lack
practical utility
 Hard to resolve conflicts of interest
 Does not allow for prioritizing one’s
duties
 Universalism and stakeholder analysis.
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Learning 8
 Rights:
An Entitlement-Based Approach
 Moral rights are based on legal rights and
the principle of duty.
 Rights can override utilitarian principles.
 The limitations of rights include:
 Can be used to disguise and manipulate
selfish, unjust political interests and claims
 Protection of rights can be at the expense of
others
 Limits of rights come into question
 Rights and stakeholder analysis.
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Learning 9
 Justice:
Procedures, Compensation, Retribution
 The principle of justice deals with
fairness and equality.
 Two recognized principles of fairness that
represent the principle of justice include:
 Equal rights compatible with similar liberties
for others
 Social and economic inequality arrangement
 Four types of justice include:
 Compensatory
 Retributive
 Distributive
 Procedural
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Learning 10
 Justice:
Procedures, Compensation, Retribution
 Problems using the principle of justice
include:
 Who decides who is right and who is wrong?
 Who has moral authority to punish?
 Can opportunities and burdens be fairly
distributed?
 Justice, rights, and power are really
intertwined.
 Two steps in transforming justice:
 Be aware of your rights and power
 Establish legitimate power for obtaining rights
 Justice and stakeholder analysis.
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Learning 11
Immoral, Amoral, Or Moral
Management
 Immoral management means intentionally
going against ethical principles of justice and
of fair and equitable treatment of other
stakeholders.
 Amoral management happens when others
are treated negligently without concern for
the consequences of actions or policies.
 Moral management places value on
equitable, fair, and just concern of others
involved.

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Learning 12
 Individual Ethical
Decision-Making Styles
 Stanley Krolick developed a survey
that interprets individual primary and
secondary ethical decision-making
styles, that include:
 Individualism
 Altruism (Altruism is when we act to promote someone
else's welfare, even at a risk or cost to ourselves)
 Pragmatism (Pragmatic decision makers adjust their
view and their decisions to the state of the world)
 Idealism makers follow a guiding principle making
decisions that do not change with circumstances.
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Learning 13
 Quick Ethical Tests
 The Center for Business Ethics at
Bentley College suggests six questions
to be asked before making a decision.
 Classical ethical tests:
 The Golden Rule
 The Intuition Ethic
 The Means-End Ethic
 Test of Common Sense
 Test of One’s Best Self
 Test of Ventilation
 Test of Purified Idea
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Learning 14