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Business Ethics Week 2
UTILITARIANISM
 Part One.
Fundamental Tenets
of
Utilitarianism
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 Basic Insights of Utilitarianism
The purpose of morality is to make
the world a better place.
Morality is about producing good
consequences, not having good
intentions
 We should do whatever will bring the
most benefit (i.e., intrinsic value) to
all of humanity.
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 The Purpose of Morality
The utilitarian has a very simple
answer to the question of why
morality exists at all:
 –The purpose of morality is to guide
people’s actions in such a way as to
produce a better world.
 Consequently, the emphasis in
utilitarianism is on consequences,
not intentions.
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Fundamental Imperative
 The fundamental imperative of
utilitarianism is:
Always act in the way that will produce
the greatest overall amount of good in
the world.
 –The emphasis is clearly on
consequences, not intentions.
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The Dream of Utilitarianism:
Bringing Scientific Certainty to Ethics
 Utilitarianism offers us a powerful vision
of the moral life, one that promises to
reduce or eliminate moral disagreement.
 –If we can agree that the purpose of morality is
to make the world a better place; and
 –If we can scientifically assess various possible
courses of action to determine which will have
the greatest positive effect on the world; then
 –We can provide a scientific answer to the
question of what we ought to do.
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Jeremy Bentham
1748-1832
 Bentham believed
that we should try
 to increase the
overall amount of
pleasure in the
world.
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Pleasure
 Definition: The enjoyable feeling we
experience when a state of deprivation is
replaced by fulfillment
 Advantages:
 -easy to quantify
 -short duration
 -bodily
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 Criticisms
–Came to be known
as “the pig’s
philosophy”
 –Ignores higher
values
 –Could justify living
on a pleasure
machine
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Example:
Debating the school lunch program
 Utilitarians would have to calculate:
 –Benefits
•Increased nutrition for x number of children
•Increased performance, greater long-range chances of
success
•Incidental benefits to contractors, etc.
 –Costs
•Cost to each taxpayer
•Contrast with other programs that could have been
funded and with lower taxes (no program)
 –Multiply each factor by
•Number of individuals affected
•Intensity of effects
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Business Ethics...
 comprises principles and standards that guide
behavior in the world of business
 is right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable
behavior within the organization
 is determined by key stakeholders
Social Responsibility...
 is the obligation a business assumes toward
society
 is designed to maximize the positive
influence & minimize the negative
 includes economic, legal, ethical, and
philanthropic dimensions
Why study business ethics &
social issues?
 in an Ethics Officer Assoc. Survey, 48% of
employees indicated that they had done
something unethical or illegal in the past
year
 annual cost of unethical or illegal acts by
U.S. employees: $400 billion
Common Unethical Acts...
 lying to supervisors
 falsifying records
 alcohol and drug abuse
 conflict of interest
 stealing
 gift/entertainment receipt in violation of
company policy
 1997 Society for Human Resource Management/
Ethics Resource Center, Business Ethics Survey.
Key Causes of Unethical
Behavior...
 meeting overly aggressive financial or business
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objectives
meeting schedule pressures
helping the organization survive
rationalizing that others do it
resisting competitive threats
saving jobs
 1997 Society for Human Resource Management/
Ethics Resource Center, Business Ethics Survey.
Key Influences On Ethical
Behavior...
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personal values
supervisor influence
senior management influence
internal drive to succeed
performance pressures
lack of punishment
friends/coworker influence
 1997 Society for Human Resource Management/
Ethics Resource Center, Business Ethics Survey.
Why Misconduct Is Not
Reported...
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fear of not being considered a team player
did not think corrective action would be taken
fear of retribution (from management)
“no one else cares, why should I”
did not trust the organization to keep report
confidential
 1997 Society for Human Resource Management/
Ethics Resource Center, Business Ethics Survey.
Classification of Ethical Issues...
 conflict of interest
 honesty and fairness
 communications
 organizational relationships
Conflict of Interest...
 exists when an individual must choose
whether to advance his/her own interests, the
organization’s, or others’
 examples include bribes or personal
payments, gifts, or special favors intended to
influence decision making
Honesty & Fairness...
 following applicable laws a regulations & not
knowingly harming stakeholders
 Is advertising prescription drugs on TV and in
magazines fair?
 Are long distance information ads that place
the cost of the call in very small print at the
bottom of the screen fair?
Communications...
 refers to the transmission of information
and the sharing of meaning
 examples: deceptive advertising, product
safety information, & product composition
 Are vitamin and herbal supplements using
‘puffery’ in their advertising?
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Note: roughly half of Americans take
supplements
Organizational Relationships...
 behavior of organizational members toward
stakeholders
 includes confidentiality, meeting obligations &
deadlines, not pressuring others to behave
unethically
Ethical Issues Can Relate to All
Functional Areas...
 accounting
 finance
 management
 marketing
Discrimination define
 to discriminate in employment is “to make an
adverse / unfavorable decision regarding an
employee or job applicant based on his or her
membership in a certain group
Determining whether discrimination occurs
in employment depends …..
3 basic facts:
a. whether the decision in some way harms or
disadvantages the employee or job applicant;
b. whether the decision is based on an employee’s or
job applicant’s membership in a certain group, rather
than individual merit; and
c. whether the decision rests on prejudice, false
stereotypes, or the assumption that the group is in
some way inferior and thus deserving of unequal
treatment.
On moral perspectives there are
compelling moral arguments against job
discrimination:
 on racial or sexual grounds for 3 instances:
a. Utilitarian grounds:
• The idea is that an action (or rule) is right only if
there is no other act (or rule) that would produce a
greater amount of whatever consequence that the
utilitarian is focusing on (e.g., happiness, preferences,
welfare).
• Since acts (or rules) that do not discriminate result in
less harm than those that do, it follows that
discrimination is wrong.
3 instances
b. Kantian grounds: If one attempted to
universalize a maxim / saying advocating
discrimination,
 namely, that an action is right only if the
agent would be willing to be so treated
 Presumably, no one (who was rational) would
be willing to be discriminated against on the
basis of gender or race.
3 instances
c. Moral rights: On the assumption that there are moral
rights, then people have these rights not because of their
gender or race, but simply in virtue of being human.
 There seems to be a moral right to be treated fairly, and
discrimination on the basis of gender or race is, by its
very nature, unfair.
 Thus, moral rights are violated by discrimination on the
basis of gender or race.
Evidence of Discrimination
 two kinds of evidence – (race and gender):
a. Statistical evidence
b. Attitudinal / Outlook (mind-set)
evidence
Affirmative action:
 an organisational program designed to give
preference in hiring and promotion to
women and minorities, including veterans,
the aged, and the disabled.
3 arguments for affirmative
action,
i.
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Compensatory Justice demands
affirmative action programs.
Here the key idea is that discrimination on
the basis of race and sex has existed in the
past.
We need to do something (compensate)
to “help repair the wrongs of the past.”
3 arguments for affirmative
action,
2.
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Affirmative Action is necessary to permit fairer
competition.
Here the key idea is that members of certain races
and women have been raised in families that have
been affected by discrimination.
they are treated unfairly by many of the institutions
that exist in our society, therefore at a
disadvantage, and so cannot compete fairly with
white men in the job market.
3 arguments for affirmative
action,
3.
Affirmative Action is necessary to break the
cycle that keeps minorities and women locked
into low-paying, low- prestige jobs.
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Here the key idea is that members of certain
races and women have been locked into lowpaying, low-prestige jobs. ( has bad social
consequences so there must be programs to
break this pattern.)
3 arguments against affirmative
action.
Affirmative Action injures white men and
violates their rights.
2. Affirmative Action itself violates the
principle of equality (egalitarianism /
fairness)
3. Nondiscrimination will achieve our social
goals; stronger affirmative action is
unnecessary.
1.
Comparable Worth
 the doctrine of comparable worth holds -
that women and men should be paid on the
same scale, not just for doing the same or
equivalent jobs, but for doing different jobs
involving equal skill, effort and responsibility.”
Advocates of comparable worth say…
 that justice demands that women receive
equal pay for doing work of comparable
value.
 Jobs should be objectively evaluated in terms
of
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education, skills, and experience required
Responsibilities & working conditions
Opponents of comparable worth insist
that ..
 women, desiring flexible schedules and less
demanding jobs, have freely chosen lowerpaying occupations and thus are not entitled
to any redistribution in pay scales.
Sexual Harassment
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Sexual harassment occurs as behaviour of
a sexual nature that affects a person’s
employment situation.
3 kinds of sexual harassment
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Sexual threats
Sexual offer
hostile work environment
 End
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