Ethical Theories
Ethical Theories
It is vital for businesses to understand the importance of ethics in this dynamic environment. Organizations that are committed to long term success recognize and realize that creating a culture where ethical behaviors are rewarded and encouraged is the ultimate key to survival and growth.
According to Joseph 2003, business ethics refers to clear standards and norms that help employees to distinguish right from wrong behavior at work, while in the other hand ethical theories are theories that involve learning what is right and wrong and doing the right thing but the fact that the right thing is not straight forward brings in the subject of ethical dilemmas.
Normally ethical theories can be broken up into two separate groups, teleological and deontological. Teleological theories look to the rightness of actions and are determined by the amount of good consequences they produce and focus on outcomes that are based on decisions. In teleological theories these actions are justified by the virtue of what the actions achieve, rather than some feature of the actions themselves. In other words, decisions that benefit the overall goal and/or objective is collectively believed as a way to justify what is right or wrong.
The philosophy of utilitarianism is one of the most commonly used and accepted ethical theories in the teleological group and is linked to Jeremy Bentham and John S Mills. According to Crane and Matten (2010) utilitarianism is defined as an action which is morally right if it results in the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people affected by the action. This principle focuses solely on the consequences of an action and it weighs the good results against the bad results. It also encourages the action that results in the greatest amount of good for all people involved. Utilitarianism is very powerful in business since it puts at the centre of the moral decision a variable which measures the value of an action.
It is vital for businesses to understand the importance of ethics in this dynamic environment. Organizations that are committed to long term success recognize and realize that creating a culture where ethical behaviors are rewarded and encouraged is the ultimate key to survival and growth.
According to Joseph 2003, business ethics refers to clear standards and norms that help employees to distinguish right from wrong behavior at work, while in the other hand ethical theories are theories that involve learning what is right and wrong and doing the right thing but the fact that the right thing is not straight forward brings in the subject of ethical dilemmas.
Normally ethical theories can be broken up into two separate groups, teleological and deontological. Teleological theories look to the rightness of actions and are determined by the amount of good consequences they produce and focus on outcomes that are based on decisions. In teleological theories these actions are justified by the virtue of what the actions achieve, rather than some feature of the actions themselves. In other words, decisions that benefit the overall goal and/or objective is collectively believed as a way to justify what is right or wrong.
The philosophy of utilitarianism is one of the most commonly used and accepted ethical theories in the teleological group and is linked to Jeremy Bentham and John S Mills. According to Crane and Matten (2010) utilitarianism is defined as an action which is morally right if it results in the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people affected by the action. This principle focuses solely on the consequences of an action and it weighs the good results against the bad results. It also encourages the action that results in the greatest amount of good for all people involved. Utilitarianism is very powerful in business since it puts at the centre of the moral decision a variable which measures the value of an action.