Week 1 Vocab Flashcards
Blanchard and Peale
Is it legal? Is it balanced? How does it make me feel?
Categorical Imperative (Kant)
One ought only to act such that the principle of one’s act could become a universal law of human action in a world in which one would hope to live
Contractarians and Justice
Putting ethical standards in place by a social contract; using rational thinking people develop a set of rules for everyone.
Divine Command Theory
Ethical standards are based upon religious beliefs.
Ethical Egosim
We all act in our own self-interest and limit our judgments to our own conduct, not the conduct of others.
Ethics
The unwritten rules we have developed for our interaction with each other.
Front Page of the Newspaper Test
“Contemplating any business act, an employee should ask himself whether he would be willing to see it immediately described by an informed and critical reporter on the front page of his local paper, there to be read by his spouse, children, and friends.”
Laura Nash
(1) Have you defined the problem accurately? (2) How would you define the problem if you stood on the other side of the fence? (3) How did this occur in the first place? (4) To whom and what do you give your loyalties as a person and as a member of the corporation? (5) What is your intention in making this decision? (6) How does this intention compare with the likely results? (7) Whom could your decision or action injure? (8) Can you engage the affected parties in a discussion of the problem before you make your decision? (9) Are you confident that your position will be as valid over a long period of time as it seems now? (10) Could you disclose without qualm your decision or action to your boss, your CEO, the board of directors, your family, or society as a whole? (11) What is the symbolic potential of your action if understood? If misunderstood? (12) Under what conditions would you allow exceptions to your stand?
Categories of ethical dilemmas
a. Taking things that don’t belong to you.
b. Saying things you know are not true.
c. Giving or allowing false impressions.
d. Buying influence or engaging in conflicts of interest.
e. Hiding or divulging information.
f. Taking unfair advantage.
g. Committing acts of personal decadence.
h. Perpetrating interpersonal abuse.
i. Permitting organizational abuse.
j. Violating rules.
k. Condoning unethical conduct.
l. Balancing ethical dilemmas.
Methods avoid facing ethical dilemmas
Re-labeling (copyright infringement vs. peer-to-peer file sharing) and rationalizing
Moral Relativists
Time-and-place ethics; making ethical choices based on the circumstances.
primum non nocere
“Above all do no harm.”
Rights Theory
Everyone has a set of rights and it is the role of government to enforce those rights.
Steps to Follow for Analyzing an Ethical Dilemma
- Make sure you have a grasp of all of the facts available.
- List any information you would like to have but don’t and what assumptions you would have to make, if any, in resolving the dilemma.
- Take each person involved in the dilemma and list the concerns they face or might have.
- Develop a list of resolutions for the problem.
- Evaluate the resolutions for costs, legalities, and impact.
- Make a recommendation on the actions that should be taken.
Utilitarian Theory
Greatest good for the greatest number of people.
