C HAPTER 6
Individual Factors: Moral
Philosophies and Values
Moral Philosophy
• Principles or rules that people use to decide what is
right or wrong
– Presents guidelines for determining how to settle
conflicts in human interests
– Guides businesspeople in formulating strategies and
resolving ethical issues
• No single moral philosophy is accepted by everyone
Moral Philosophy Defined
• Economic value orientation: Associated
with values that can be quantified by
monetary means
• Idealism: A moral philosophy that places
special value on ideas and ideals as products
of the mind
• Realism: The view that an external world
exists independent of our perception of it
Moral Philosophy Perspectives
• Teleology
– Egoism
– Utilitarianism
• Deontology
• The Relativist
Perspective
• Virtue Ethics
• Justice Perspectives
– Distributive
– Procedural
– Interactional
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Goodness Theories
• Basic concepts:
– Monists believe that only one thing is intrinsically
good
• Often exemplified by hedonism
– Pluralists believe that two or more things are
intrinsically good
– Instrumentalists reject the idea that
• Ends can be separated from the means that produce
them
• Ends, purposes, or outcomes are intrinsically good in
and of themselves
Obligation Theories
• Goodness theories typically focus on the end result
of actions and the goodness or happiness created by
them
• Obligation theories emphasize the means and
motives by which actions are justified.
– Teleology and Deontology
Teleology
• Considers acts as morally right or acceptable if they
produce some desired result such as pleasure,
knowledge, career growth, the realization of a self
interest, or utility
• Assesses moral worth by
looking at the consequences
for the individual, called
consequentialist
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Categories of Teleology
• Egoism: Right or acceptable behavior defined in
terms of consequences to the individual
– Maximizes personal interests
– Enlightened egoists take a long-term
perspective and allow for the well being of others
• Utilitarianism: Seeks the greatest good for the
greatest number of people
– Rule utilitarians determine behavior based on
principles designed to promote the greatest utility
– Act utilitarians examine a specific action itself,
not rules governing it
Deontology
• Refers to moral philosophies that focus on the rights
of individuals and on the intentions associated with a
particular behavior
– Believe that individuals have certain absolute
rights
• Rule deontologists believe that conformity to
general moral principles determines ethicalness
• Act deontologists hold that actions are the proper
basis on which to judge morality or ethicalness
Relativist Perspective
• From the relativist perspective, individuals and
groups derive definitions of ethical behavior
subjectively from experience
• Descriptive relativism relates to observing cultures
• Metaethical relativists understand that people
naturally see situations from their own perspectives
– No objective way of resolving ethical disputes
between cultures
• Normative relativists assume that one person’s
opinion is as good as another’s
Virtue Ethics
•
•
What is moral in a given situation is what the
situation requires and what a person with a “good”
moral character would deem appropriate
Virtue ethics approach can be summarized as:
1. Good corporate ethics programs encourage
individual virtue and integrity
2. These virtues associated with appropriate
conduct form a good person
3. The ultimate purpose is to serve the public good
4. The well-being of the community goes together
with individual excellence
Justice
• Involves evaluations of fairness or the disposition to
deal with perceived injustices of others
• Distributive justice: An evaluation of the results of a
business relationship
• Procedural justice: Based on the processes and
activities that produce the outcomes or results
• Interactional justice: Based on an evaluation of the
communication processes used in business
relationships
Moral Philosophy and Ethical Decision
Making
•
•
Individuals use different moral
philosophies depending on
whether they are making a
personal or making a workrelated decision
Can explained two ways:
1.
2.
In the business arena, some goals
and pressures for success differ
from the goals and pressures in a
person’s life outside of work
The corporate culture where
individuals work
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Kohlberg’s Model of Cognitive Moral
Development
Consists of six stages:
1. Punishment and obedience
2. Individual instrumental purpose and exchange
3. Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships,
and conformity
4. Social system and conscience maintenance
5. Prior rights, social contract or utility
6. Universal ethical principles
Kohlberg’s Model
Can be divided into three levels of ethical
concern:
1.
2.
3.
Concern with immediate interests and with rewards
and punishments
Concern with “right” as expected by the larger
society or some significant reference group
Seeing beyond norms, laws, and the authority of
groups or individuals
Importance of Kohlberg’s Theory
• Shows individuals can change
or improve their moral
development
• Supports management’s
development of employees’
moral principles
• The best way to improve
employees’ business ethics is to
provide training for
cognitive moral development
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White Collar Crime
•
•
“Crimes of the suite” do more damage in
monetary and emotional loss in one year than the
“crimes of the street” over several years
combined
The presence of technology has aided WCC
– WCCs are now able to be committed at lower
levels
– Peer influence is a cause of WCC
– Some businesspeople have personalities that
are inherently criminal
– The focus of the FSGO is that all organizations
should develop effective ethics and compliance
programs
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Individual Factors
•
Most business managers do not embrace
extreme philosophies
–
•
•
•
Most managers cannot communicate the exact moral
philosophy that they use
A personal moral compass is not sufficient to
prevent ethical misconduct in an organizational
context
The corporate culture and the rewards for
meeting performance goals are the most
important drivers of ethical decision making
Equipping employees with skills that allow them
to understand/resolve ethical dilemmas will
help them make the right decisions