PROFESSIONAL

ETHICS
Lec 4, Traditional vs Contemporary
Views of Social Responsibility
Class discussion: HBR Case: The body shop
Learning Objectives

1. Learning Evolution of Ethics ie Traditional &

Contemporary Views of Social Responsibility
2. Class discussion: HBR Case: The body shop
 Evolution of Professional Ethics

1 Business ethics refers to the moral principles that guide the operations of a company

2 Employer-employee relations, discrimination, environmental issues, bribery, insider

trading, and social responsibility

3 Laws for crimes – Ethics for conduct

4 code that governs an organization’s operations and behavior towards its competition,
industry, clients, service providers and employees
 Evolution of Professional Ethics
1960s 1970s 1980s

Bribes and illegal contracting

Environmental issues Employee militancy
practices

Civil rights issues Human rights issues Influence peddling

Increased employee– Covering up rather than

Deceptive advertising
employer tension correcting issues
Financial fraud (for example,
Changing work ethic Disadvantaged consumer
savings and loan scandal)

Rising drug use Transparency issues

 Evolution of Professional Ethics
1990s 2000s

Sweatshops and unsafe working conditions in

Cybercrime
third world countries
Rising corporate liability for personal
Financial misconduct (eneron)
damages (for example, cigarette companies)

Financial mismanagement and fraud Global issues, Identity theft

Organizational ethical misconduct Sustainability, consumer privacy

Intellectual property theft

 Kohlberg Experiment
Kohlberg conducted a longitudinal study over a period of 12 years.
During this time in order to test moral reasoning he gave 75 young
American males a series of hypothetical and philosophical moral
dilemmas in the form of short stories. The participants were aged 10-16
years old at the start of the study and were aged 22-28 by the end.
Kohlberg compared the males from the USA to those from Canada, the
UK, Mexico, Turkey and Taiwan. Examples of the moral dilemmas
included – for 10 year olds: “Is it better to save the life of one important
person or a lot of unimportant people?” and at ages 13, 16, 20 and 24:
“Should the doctor ‘mercy kill’ a fatally ill woman requesting death
because of her pain?
Kohlberg's theory of moral development:
American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg developed one of the best-known theories
exploring some of these basic questions. His work was centered on explaining how
children develop moral reasoning. Kohlberg proposed that moral development is a
continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan. His theory outlines six stages of
moral development within three different levels.
Kohlberg's theory is broken down into three primary levels. At each level of moral
development, there are two stages. Obedience & Individualism
Stage 1 Punishment and Exchange

Pre Conventional Stage

Developing Good Maintaining
Stage 2 Interpersonal Social Order
Relationships
Conventional Stage
Universal
Stage 3 Social Contract and
Principles
Individual Rights
Post Conventional Stage
 Kohlberg's theory of moral development:
1. Pre-conventional Morality:
Pre-conventional morality is the earliest period of moral development. It lasts until
around the age of 9. At this age, children's decisions are primarily shaped by the
expectations of adults and the consequences for breaking the rules. There are two
stages within this level:
Stage 1 (Obedience and Punishment): It is common in young children, but adults
are also capable of expressing this type of reasoning. According to Kohlberg,
people at this stage see rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important
because it is a way to avoid punishment.
Stage 2 (Individualism and Exchange): At this stage of, children account for
individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual needs.
In the Heinz dilemma, children argued that the best course of action was the choice
that best served Heinz’s needs. Reciprocity is possible at this point in moral
development, but only if it serves one's own interests.
HEINS DILEMMA
A woman was on her deathbed. There was one drug that the doctors said
would save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had
recently discovered.
The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times
what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged
$2,000 for a small dose of the drug.
The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the
money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it
cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it
cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug
and I'm going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into
the man's laboratory to steal the drug for his wife.
Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife?
Why or why not?
 Kohlberg's theory of moral development:
2. Conventional Morality
The next period of moral development is marked by the acceptance of social rules
regarding what is good and moral. During this time, adolescents and adults internalize
the moral standards they have learned from their role models and from society.
This period also focuses on the acceptance of authority and conforming to the norms
of the group. There are two stages at this level of morality:
Stage 3: Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships
Stage 4 : Maintaining Social Order
 Kohlberg's theory of moral development:
Stage 3 (Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships): Often referred to as the
"good boy-good girl" orientation, this stage of the interpersonal relationship of moral
development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles.
There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how choices
influence relationships. The base for moral judgments is the person's accepted values,
caring for others and loyalty toward them.
Stage 4 (Maintaining Social Order): This stage is focused on ensuring that social order
is maintained. At this stage of moral development, people begin to consider society as
a whole when making judgments. The focus is on maintaining law and order by
following the rules, doing one’s duty, and respecting authority.
 Kohlberg's theory of moral development:
3. Post Conventional Morality
At this level, people develop an understanding of abstract principles of morality. The
two stages at this level are:
Stage 5 (Social Contract and Individual Rights): The ideas of a social contract and
individual rights cause people in the next stage to begin to account for the differing
values, opinions, and beliefs of other people. In this stage, understanding values and
laws changes into a form exclusive to each person and the individual distinguishes that
laws are important for the society and that values such as justice and freedom are
even more important. Rules of law are important for maintaining a society, but
members of the society should also agree upon “silent” standards.
Stage 6 (Universal Principles): Kohlberg’s final level of moral reasoning is based on
universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning. At this stage, people follow these
internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.
Kohlberg believed that only a relatively small percentage of people ever reach the
 Gilligan's theory
Gilligan presented her theory of moral development in response to the
theory of moral development proposed by her teacher Lawrence
Kohlberg, criticized for ignoring women's perspectives.
Gilligan proposed that women come to prioritize an "ethics of care" as
their sense of morality evolves along with their sense of self while men
prioritize an "ethics of justice.“

How this theory differs from Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development,

and how women develop their sense of self in the world.
 Comparison
Kohlberg's theory of moral development consists of three levels each
made up of two stages.
At the lowest, the Preconventional Level, the needs of the self are
prioritized. This evolves into the Conventional Level to an
understanding of how to be a moral member of society. Finally, at the
highest level, the Postconventional Level, the individual adopts a
universal idea of justice.
 Comparison
However, while both girls and boys tended to score at the Conventional
Level on Kohlberg's scale,
girls scored predominantly at Stage 3, which is concerned with being a
good person in order to maintain the goodwill and approval of others,
while most boys scored at Stage 4, which is focused on adhering to the
norms and laws of society
 Controversy
It seems men reached higher levels of morality than women, but
Carol Gilligan noted that Kohlberg's theory was formulated
exclusively through research with young white males. As a result, she
suggested that Kohlberg's theory is biased toward men and boys and
doesn't account for women's and girls' perspectives on morality.
Men, she said, prioritize an "ethics of justice" where morality is
centered on abstract principles and rules that can be applied equally
to everyone. Meanwhile, women prioritize an "ethics of care," where
morality is centered on interpersonal relationships and moral
judgment is based on the context of an issue
Gilligan conducted several interview studies with girls and women,
including one with women facing some ideas about women's morality.
The goal of her work was to demonstrate that women don't necessarily
stop developing morally before men do, but that their moral
development follows a different trajectory than that outlined in
Kohlberg's theory.
Stages in Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development
Gilligan's research led her to detail her own stage theory of moral
development, using same basic three-level of Kohlberg's along with two
transitions between the levels. The levels and transitions are outlined
below.
Pre conventional Morality At this level, moral judgment is entirely
focused on the self and the need to survive. When a conflict arises
between the needs of the self and the needs of others, a woman will
choose to address her own needs.
Transition 1 During the first transition from the Pre conventional to the
Conventional Level, the woman realizes that she has a responsibility to
others. It is the first time that she realizes her previous moral perspective
could be characterized as selfish.
Conventional Morality, At the Conventional Level, moral judgment
becomes concentrated on caring for others. Woman starts to see herself
as a participant in society whose claim to being a good citizen relies
on helping and protecting others. This concern overrides her concern for
herself, leading to a morality focused on self-sacrifice.
Transition 2 During the second transition from the Conventional to the
Post conventional Level, the woman experience tension between her
own and needs of others. She begins to realize she must strike a better
balance between her needs and the needs of others. This leads to a shift
in moral judgment away from "goodness" to "truth" as she starts to
honestly assess her own desires, not just her responsibility to others.
Postconventional Morality, At this level, moral judgment is dictated by
the principle of nonviolence. The needs of the self are just as important
as the needs of others, which causes the woman to arrive at a universal
ethic of care and concern.
Adhering to the obligation of care while avoiding harm or exploitation
to herself and others enables the woman to accept responsibility for her
choices.
Gilligan didn't identify specific ages for different levels of moral
development. Like Kohlberg, she noted some women might not reach
the highest level. She also observed that it wasn't life experience that
pushed a woman to higher levels, but cognitive ability and changes in a
woman's sense of self.
The Difference Between Morals and Ethics
The Ethics of Care and the Developing Sense of Self
Movement hinges on an evolving sense of self. So at……
•Preconventional Level, only the needs of the self are recognized
•Conventional Level, the needs of others are prioritized while the needs
of the self are denied
•Postconventional Level, a balance is struck between the needs of the
self and others
Transition between these levels is based on a woman's reconsideration of
what she considers selfish, women's sense of self, and the sense of
morality, are driven by their feelings of connection and responsibility
toward others, which gradually evolve to encompass others and then
expand to encompass everyone, including the self.
Critiques of Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development
While Gilligan's ideas were groundbreaking, some feminist
psychologists have also criticized them because they treat women's
voices as a single homogenous entity while ignoring the diversity of
women based on age, class, race, and other factors.
Moreover, some have expressed concern over the suggestion that
women emphasize care and connection more than men, arguing that
this reinforces traditional ideas about femininity while potentially
continuing to push women into caregiver roles
Defects in Kohlbergs Theory

Validity: Kohlberg’s study lacks ecological validity as they had to say what they
would do in a hypothetical moral dilemma. If faced with a real life situation their
response may be different; therefore, there are issues with generalisability of the
findings. Responses given may also lack validity as participants may want to
appear as more moral to impress the researcher – social desirability bias - or
respond in a way they think the researcher wants them to – demand
characteristics.
Sampling Bias: This was a large sample of 75 Americans and their results were
compared to different cultures. This is a strength as it gives the study high
population validity. However, as only males were used the study is androcentric;
we cannot assume that girls’ moral development is the same way as boys’
Kidder Theory
QUESTIONS?