Week 9 - ethical issues in business Flashcards
• What is utilitarianism?
Actions and policies should be evaluated on the basis of the benefits and costs they will impose on society.
• What are some of the problems with utilitarianism?
Measurement objections:
- Comparitive measures subjective & difficult
- benefits not easily quantified
- Benefits not easily predicted
- Some non economic goods are priceless
Rights & justice:
Utilitarianism calculates utility but fails to recognise how it’s distributed. Can result in problems of:
1. Justice – benefits/burdens unfairly distributed.
2. Rights – freedom of choice / well being lost
• What are the utilitarian responses to these problems?
Meassurement:
- Money serves
- best guesses will suffice
- Other measures exist in surveys & votes.
• How can we define rights?
A right is an individual’s entitlement to something.
Define legal rights?
requires action or inaction in a specified way
derived from a legal system, limited by jurisdiction.
Define moral rights.
rights everyone possess to an equal extent simply by virtue of being human beings.
system of moral standards, not limited by jurisdiction.
based on social norms
• What are negative and positive rights?
Negative rights - others must leave us alone
positive rights - others must assist us
Name the ethical frameworks in business
UMUJ dpc
Utilitarian approach - “What is the ‘greatest good’?”
Moral rights approach - some actions are simply ‘right’ or ‘wrong’
Universal approach - “do unto others….” actions that limit freedom and autonomy generally lack moral justification
Justice approach - “How equitably are the costs and benefits of actions distributed?”
Distributive justice: performance.
Procedural justice: consent.
Compensatory justice: compensation.
What is rule utilitarianism?
only right if sum total of utilities produced when all follow the rule is greater than the sum total of utilities produced if everyone were to follow an alternative rule
