Ethical Decision- Making

Introduction
Ethics

The code of moral principles and values that

govern the behaviors of a person or group
with respect to what is right or wrong.
Ethics and Values
• Ethics
• The identification of the rules that should govern people’s
behavior and the goods that are worth pursuing
• Values
• Principles of conduct (e.g., caring, honesty, keeping promises)

• Synonyms to consider: “Responsibility” and “Decency”

• Rule of thumb: How would I feel if my actions were exposed
on the evening news?
 Ethical Perspectives

1. Utilitarian Approach
• Greatest good for greatest number
2. Moral Rights Approach
• Maintain rights of others & avoid interfering with those rights
• Right of: free consent, privacy, freedom of conscience,
freedom of speech, due process, life and safety
3. Justice Approach
• Equity, fairness, & impartiality
• Distributive, procedural, and interactional justice
4. Common Good
• Our actions should support & contribute to community and its
supporting structures
5. Virtue Ethics
• Ethical actions are consistent with ideal virtues (e.g., honesty,
courage, compassion…)
Ethical Decision Making
• Recognize an ethical issue exists
• Is something wrong? Is there potential damage to people or
community?
• Get the facts
• What is unknown? Who are the stakeholders?
• Evaluate alternatives from various perspectives
• What options exist?
• Make a decision and test it
• Consider “decency,” “responsibility,” and the 6 o’clock news
• Reflect on the decision
• What can be learned? What could have been done differently?
Beware of Ethical Traps

• False necessity
• Fooling ourselves that there is no other choice
• Relative filth
• Others are much worse than us
• Rationalization
• Finding excuses to justify our behaviors
• Self-deception
• Lying to ourselves & believing those lies
• The ends justify the means
• A form of rationalization
 Ethics and Corporate Social
Responsibility
• Decisions and actions that will enhance the welfare and
interests of society and the organization
• Being a “good corporate citizen”
• Assessed Using the Triple Bottom Line Standard
• Profit
• Is the company creating wealth?
• People
• Is the organization contributing to the social good?
• Planet
• Are organizational practices environmentally sustainable?