Managerial Ethics Part I

Basic concepts of ethics & a review of some systems of ethical thinking

Copyright registered 2002 Louis C. Gasper

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Lets start fresh

Please set aside your present ideas about business ethics, especially the idea that it is only about

Obeying law, rules, and regulations Being socially responsible Not lying, cheating, or stealing Feeling comfortable about what you do

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Beginning is not easy for us

Most of us managers are not familiar with the terms of art developed for effective thinking about ethical problems. The subject has been confused for us by those who mix up obeying rules with being a good person.

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The usual kinds of business ethics

Two rival systems of business ethics:

Compliance with rules Getting the right results

Both have to do with what we do, not with who we are or are becoming

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The most common kind of business ethics is all about compliance.

Most approaches to business ethics seem to focus on

Prohibitions and mandates Restrictive rules and codes of conduct Keeping people from doing wrong, that is, holding them back Dictating specific actions

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Focusing on compliance

Reduces ethics to a branch of law Often or usually deteriorates into mere proceduralism Encourages people to find loopholes Is often driven by government requirements, because government is a creature of law and thats all it knows or understands
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Management is not rule-oriented

Restricting people and holding them back is not the essence of good management The management challenge instead is to lead people to

Action Development of themselves Development of the company

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Business ethics should focus on growth and development

Growth must have a goal, something we grow toward Change is not growth unless it is toward perfection or excellence Ethics and excellence go together Ethics is human excellence

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We have to grow into excellence

None of us is born excellent Neither are companies born that way Excellence has to be chosen and then pursued by hard work Ethics is a matter of excellence, so a manager must choose and work at ethics

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The language of morals and ethics

What are we talking about? What special terms are useful?

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What are morals?

Morals means the way things are done

Good morals are the behavior society expects We acquire moral sense by our upbringing If you dont have good moral sense by about age 17, then you are unlikely ever to acquire it Knowledge of good morals is not all that is needed to assure good moral behavior

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What is ethics?

Ethics is about what reason tells us ought to be done

What ought to be normal behavior What ought to be done in a dilemma We use ethics to decide if something is good or evil

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Ethics justifies our acts

We give reasons to justify our acts Ethics is moral reasoning It can be studied as a rational subject

But it is not what we call rationalization, the process of finding credible reasons for a bad choice

We can learn how to make better choices, no matter our age or experience
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Some ethical terms of art

Act an interior moral choice

A concrete exterior act we will call an action

Agent one who acts Consequence what results from an action End the consequence the agent intends by his act
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More terms of art

Good an end that in objective fact tends to perfect the agent Value a subjective estimate of the worth of an end Principle the objective basis of a choice

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What makes an act good

An act is evil if any of these elements is evil:

Intention the end sought by the agent Circumstances the concrete facts surrounding the act and the action Means that through which the agent intends to bring about the end

The test for the goodness of the means is that they must not be justifiable only in respect of the present intention and circumstances
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Some act-oriented ethical systems Utilitarianism

The good is the greatest happiness for the greatest number Rules are therefore secondary Implication: The end justifies the means

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Some act-oriented ethical systems Relativism and subjectivism

I, myself, am the good; or it is what I, by myself, make it to be My values are uniquely important because they constitute my moral self Implication: The only wrong is to untrue to my own values

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Some act-oriented ethical systems Environmentalism

The good is the whole earth We must sacrifice for Mother Earth Implications:

No one can rightly dispute any sincere effort to return the natural environment to its natural state Any required economic sacrifice is good simply because it is sacrifice
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Some act-oriented ethical systems Social responsibility

The good is the process of living together Duties are determined by social values Because it is process-driven, social responsibility necessarily becomes a political agenda

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Some act-oriented ethical systems Gods will

The good is determined by divine mandate One must submit ones own will to the will of God, whatever that requires Problems:

How do we know the will of God? How can we reason about the omnipotent and sovereign will of God?
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The summit of act-oriented ethics Emmanuel Kants deontology

The Greek word means duty The person who does his duty just because it is his duty, is a person of good will What is a persons duty in a particular situation?

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Kants determination of duty

Duty in a particular situation is determined by the categorical imperative Act so that the principle of your act is one you would be willing to be a universal rule People are ends in themselves; no rational being may be treated merely or only as a means to another end
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Problems with Kantian deontology

The status of people as ends in themselves can only be assumed, not demonstrated The categorical imperative is strictly formal or procedural; it has no substantive content Kant offers no defense to radical subjectivism

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Common threads in these systems

All act-oriented theories focus on what is a good act, not on what makes a good person The goodness of an act is determined either by the rules that govern the act or by the foreseen consequences of the act But something else is possible
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End of Managerial Ethics Part I

Remember to complete the quiz on this part of the ethics lectures.

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