6 CSR on an Individual Level (Managerial Discretion) Flashcards
Why is the term “business ethics” an oxymoron?
- business is often seenn to be in some way unethical or at best, amoral (=outside of our normal moral considerations)
- business ethics is the study of business situations, activities and decisions where issues of right and wrong [in a moral sense] are adressed
What are ethical theories and why do we need them? Is ethical theory of any practical use to managers?
- Morality is concerened with the norms, values and beliefs embedded in social processes which define right and wrong for an individual or a community
- Ethics is concerned with the study of morality and the application of reason to elucidate specific rules and principles that determine right and wrong for a given situation
- These rules and principles are called ethical theories
- reasons why this concept is important for managers:
- power and influence of business in society is huge
- business may contribute positively to the society
- malpractices have the potential to inflict enourmeous harm
What are the three moral management types according to Carroll? In how far do they differ?
- moral management:
- leadership is exemplified on ethical issues
- profitability within the legal and ethical framework
- law is seen as minimal ethic behavior above which should be operated
- amoral management:
- not sensitive to the fact that their everyday business decisions may have deleterious effects on others
- managers lack ethical perception or awareness
- immoral management:
- active opposition to what is deemed right or ethical
- active negotiation of what is moral
- legal standards as barriers or impediments which must be overcomed to achieve the goals
- opportunities must be exploited for personal or corporate gain
What are the two main families of western modernist ethical theories? Explain the differences between these two approaches to ethical theory.
- Non-consequentalist ethics (deontological)
- actions are rated by their motivation/ principles
- consequentalist ethics (teleological)
- actions are rated by their outcome
Which ethical theory do you think is most commonly used in business? Provide evidence to support your assertion and give reasons explaining why this theoretical approach is more likely than others to dominate business decisions.
- non-consequentalist ethics, because even actions with bad outcomes (e.g. fire 100 employees) can be rated “good” because of their motivation (e.g. because otherwise the company would go bancrupt and all 1000 employees would have to be fired)
Describe the “trolley problem” and the “transplant problem”. Discuss the problems from the perspectives of non-consequentialist as well as consequentialist ethics. Which problems of utilitarianism do these thought experiments reveal?
- trolley problem: 1men or 5men die, you decide
- non-consequentialist: motivation is to save 5 lifes, hence good
- consequentialist: 1 men dies because of your action, hence bad
- transplant problem: 1healthy men, 5 sick men, you can operate or not
- non-consequentialist: motivation is to heal 5 lifes, hence good
- consequentialist: 1healthy unrelated men has to die, hence bad
- TO DO: problems of utlitarianism
What is the difference between ethics of rights and ethics of duties? Which duty does the “golden rule” imply?
- ethics of rights: start by assigning a right to one party and then advocating a corresponding duty on another party to protect that right
- ethics of duties: begin with assigning of a duty to act in a certain way to an actor
- golden rule: treat others as you wanted to be treated yourself
What is the relationship between Kantian deontological ethics and stakeholder theory?
- Kant’s deontological ethics:
- morality is the consequence of principles, does not dependent on the characteristics of a situation
- actions can only be called moral if they are done out of obligation, otherwise the action has no moral value
- Kant’ categorial imperative:
- Generalizability: Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law
- Human dignity: Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only
- Universality: Act only so that the will through its maxims could regard itself at the same time as universally law-giving
- Relation to Stakeholder Theory:
- it is based on Kantian deontological ethics
- stakeholder should be treated not as means but as constituencies with goals and priorities of their own
- companies have a duty to allow these stakeholders some degree of influence in the corporation
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What are the problems of deontological ethics as, e.g., Kant’s categorical imperative?
- Complexity: can we expect individual edcision-makers to engage in these cognitively complex reflections?
- Optimisim: is Kant’s very optimistc idea of human beings realistic
- Undervaluing outcomes: should we really ignore the outcomes of our actions?
Define ethical absolutism, relativism, and pluralism. To what extent is each perspective useful for studying and practicing business ethics?
- Absolutism: claims that there are eternal, universally appplicable moral principles
- Relativism: claims that morality is context-dependent and subjective.
- Pluralism: accepts different moral convictions while at the same time suggesting that a consensus on basic principles and rules in certain social contexts can and should be reached
What does the “Knobe effect” refer to? In how far does it challenge previous thought?
- The “Knobe Effect” refers to an asymmetry in responses between scenarios of an profit maximizing CEO where on the one hand the environment is harmed and on the other hand the environment benefits. Nevertheless if he harms the environment a majority thinks that he did it intentionally, but if he helps the environment only a minority thinks that he did it intentionally.
=> The moral character of an action’s consequences also seems to influence how non-moral aspects of the action - in this case, whether someone did something intenionally or not - are judged.
What is the difference between negative and positive duties? What is Peter Singer’s position on our positive duties regarding the world hunger problem?
- Negative Duties:
- Duties to do no harm and to omit certain actions
- disregarding them leads to legal punishment and/or social sanctions by others
- Positive Duties:
- duties to actively do or provide something
- adherence to these subtle rules is seen as meritorious
- Peter Singer’s position on positive duties regarding hunger problem:
- he compares it to save the life of a drowning child here
- moral obligation to donate money to NGO’s
What does the discipline of descriptive business ethics intend to do?
- Discriptive Business Ethics
- theories seek to describe how ethical decisions are actually made in business, and what influences the process and outcome of those decision
- tries to understand the factors that lead to (un)ethical decisions
How do we decide whether a situation should be assigned moral status?
- effect on others
- alternative courses of actions are open
- ethically relevant to one or more parties
What is the process of ethical decision-making?
