Moral reasoning

MORALITY
 Morality are the standards that an Individual or a group has about what is right and wrong,
or good and evil.
 Moral standards include the norms we have about the kinds of actions we believe are
morally right and wrong as well as the values we place on the kinds of actions we believe
are morally good and morally bad.
 Moral norms can usually be expressed as general rules or statements, such as “Always tell
the truth,” “It is wrong to kill innocent people,” or “Actions are right to the extent that
they produce happiness.”
 Moral values can usually be expressed as statements describing objects or features of
objects that have worth, such as “Honesty is good” and “injustice is bad.”
 SOURCES OF MORAL STANDARDS
• FAMILY
• FRIENDS
• CULTURE
• SOCIALISATION
• MEDIA e.g. television, magazine and newspapers
• ASSOCIATION
• ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
• KNOWLEDGE
 CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
STANDARDS
 Moral standards deal with matters that we think can seriously injure or seriously benefit human
beings.
 Moral standards are not established or changed by the decisions of particular authoritative bodies.
 Moral standards should be preferred to other values including (especially) self-interest. That is, if a
person has a moral obligation to do something, then he or she is supposed to do it even if this
conflicts with other, non-moral values or self-interest.
 Moral standards are based on impartial considerations.
 Moral standards are associated with special emotions and a special vocabulary. For example, if I act
contrary to a moral standard, I will normally feel guilty, ashamed, or remorseful; I will characterise
my behaviour as “immoral” or “wrong” and I will feel bad about myself and experience loss of self-
esteem.
 MORAL REASONING
• Moral reasoning refers to the reasoning process by which human behaviours,
institutions, or policies are judged to be in accordance with or in violation of moral
standards.
• Moral reasoning always involves two essential components:
• An understanding of what reasonable moral standards require prohibits, value or
condemn:
• Evidence or information that shows that a particular person, policy, institution, or
behaviour has the kinds of features that these moral standards require, prohibit
value or condemn.
Arguments for bringing morals into business

• First, some have argued that in perfectly competitive free markets, the pursuit
of profit will by itself ensure that the members of society are served in the most
socially beneficial ways.
• To be profitable, each firm has to produce only what the members of society
want and has to do this by the most efficient means available.
• The members of society will benefit most, then, if managers do not impose their
own values on a business, but instead devote themselves to the single-minded
pursuit of profit and thereby to producing efficiently what the members of
society value.
 Second reason
• Debate on issues around morality vs. profiteering, morality vs. tax evasion
etc
• Debate on whether morals should be brought into business?