EM
213.32
Week 3
Winter 2015
Today
 finish off moral theories
 Maxwell
 cases
• The A7D Affair
• Hacking at Harvard
 a few notes on the 1st quiz
 prep for next week
Reading
Maxwell
 “The Mission of Business”
• In what way(s) does he respond to Friedman?
 If so:
» Are those responses convincing?
• this article hasn’t been very influential
 Would it be if it were widely known?
Cases
The A7D Affair
Hacking at Harvard
what you noticed
classifications
conclusions
The A7D Affair
 egoism
 act utilitarianism
 rule utilitarianism
 Kant
 principles
 rights
Hacking At Harvard
 egoism
 act utilitarianism
 rule utilitarianism
 Kant
 principles
 rights
Conclusions
The A7D Affair
Hacking at Harvard
1st quiz
a few notes
For Week
ch 3
 read by Tuesday
reading assessment 1
 due Friday
Shaw & Berry
If we have a bit of time
Articles
Solomon
 It’s Good Business
Luban et al.
 Moral Responsibility in the Age of Bureaucracy
Solomon  amorality
Legal regulation is the natural response…to the practice of
amorality....regulation is the price business pays for bad
ethical strategy....
pg 37
…the whole point of business ethics is to define and defend
the basic goals of prosperity, freedom, fairness, and
individual dignity.
pg 37
Solomon  ethical thinking
Ethical thinking is ultimately no more than considering
oneself and one’s company as citizens of the business
community and of the larger society; with some concern for
the well-being of others and—the mirror image of this—
respect for oneself and one’s character.
pg 44
Solomon  business ethics
Business ethics is nothing less than the full awareness of
what one is doing, its consequences and complications....It
is being aware of:
1. the need for compliance....
2. the contributions business can make to society....
3. the consequences of business activity....
pg 38
Solomon  scum
In any system based on trust, a few deceivers will prosper.
pg 40
Strategic ethics begins by emphasizing business as a
practice with strict rules and expectations that acceptable
players honor implicitly—or they are out of the game.
pg 41
Solomon  trapped
Most people in business who do wrong do so not because
they are wicked but because they think they are trapped…
pg 42
What sort of person would do such a thing?
pg 41
A virtue sustains and improves a practice. A virtue in
business is an ethical trait that makes business in general
possible.
pg 41
Articles
Solomon
 It’s Good Business
Luban et al.
 Moral Responsibility in the Age of Bureaucracy
Luban et al.  sanctions
Riesman
 tradition-directed shame
 inner-directed
 other-directed
guilt
anxiety
pg 45-46
Luban et al.  fragmentation
Conot
Hitler…enunciated an off-hand, extra-legal decree....
Brandt…ordered the “scientific” implementation of the
program....
The directors and personnel of institutions rationalized
that…they were just filling out questionnaires....
The personnel at the end of the line [said that they]
…had no power of decision…
pg 46
Luban et al.  fragmentation
Theis: Dalkon Shield
pg 47
project
manager
quality
control
department
medical
department
Luban et al.  fragmentation
…we remain convinced that fragmented knowledge is a
genuine phenomenon that we cannot simply dismiss as a
lame excuse
pg 47
Luban et al.  fragmentation
Virtually every approach to normative ethics…[assumes] four
knowledge conditions are satisfied….[T]he decisionmaker recognizes
that he or she…
1.
…has come to a fork in the road
2.
…must make the choice in a fairly short, distinct period of time
3.
…confronts a small number of well-defined options
4.
…has the information needed to make the decision
….The failure of these knowledge conditions is created or maintained
by organizational structure.
pg 48-49
Luban et al.  culpable
Is it possible to formulate satisfactory principles of individual
responsibility when any or all of the four knowledge
conditions presupposed by standard moral theories fail?
pg 49
Luban et al.  obligations
ignorance can be culpable
 obligations of
• investigation
• communication
• protection
• prevention
management
• precaution
pg 50-51
What To Do?
 every approach can be criticised
 organizations
• plural
Attempts at Synthesis
Shaw & Barry
Rachels
Desjardins
Attempts at Synthesis
Shaw & Barry
 obligations
 ideals
 effects
 propose a process
• outline options
• for each understand
 obligations
 ideals
 effects
• weigh