FCEAE

Business Ethics
Session III
Ing. María Josefina Alcívar Avilés, Mgs.
 Ethics
▷ Ethics are the vehicle to our
▷ Ethics are a system of
morals. They're our morals in
moral principles and a
action. Ethics enact the
branck of our Philosophy
system we've developed in
that defines what is good
our moral code. As such,
for individuals and
someone will behave ethically
society.
or unethically. For example,
someone's ethics will prevent
them from taking action and
telling a bold-faced lie or
stealing their mother-in-law's
secret recipe for cornbread.
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 Morals
▷ Amoral vs. Immoral
▷ Next, we have morals, which
▷ Be careful with the terminology in
are formed out of values.
this category. Sometimes, the
They're the actual system of
words "amoral" and "immoral" are
beliefs that emerge out of a
interchanged. However, they're
person's core values. Morals
quite different. If someone is
are specific and context-
amoral, they have no sense of right
driven rules that govern a
and wrong. They don't have the
person's behavior. Because
foundation that comes with a sound
this system of beliefs is
set of values.
individually tailored to a
person's life experience, it's ▷ Meanwhile, if someone if immoral,
subject to opinion. you can be sure they know right
from wrong. They're just choosing
to do the wrong thing. 3
 Values are
▷ Values are the foundation
▷ What Is Important or
of a person's ability to
Valuable?
judge between right and
wrong. Values include a ▷ For example, if someone's
deep-rooted system of value system is founded upon
beliefs. They have intrinsic honesty, they would probably
worth, but are not make a proper judgment
universally accepted. This between cheating on a college
system allows each entrance exam (wrong) and
individual to determine studying hard to ace a college
what should and shouldn't entrance exam (right).
be.
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How to organize and analized ethics issues
▷ The assignment is to ▷ Ethics level:
Define Yourself thru Egoism/Predatism/
the Political, Altruism
Economics and Ethical ▷ Economics level:
level proposed by production /
Stephen Hicks as: Distribution
▷ Politics level: limited
goverment /
interventionism/
socialism

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Ethical theories and approaches
in Business
Issac Asimov:

“Never let your sense of morals

prevent you from doing
what is right.”
"Nunca dejes que tu sentido de la moral
evitar que hagas
lo que está bien ".
Author Unknown:

“My goal in life is to be

as good of a person
as my dog already thinks I am.”

"Mi objetivo en la vida es ser

tan bueno como la persona
que mi perro piensa que soy ".
 Ethical Theories
Ethical theories provide a framework for judging right or
wrong decisions. There are two types of Ethical theories

1.consequentialist
2.Non consequentialist
Consequentialist theories
If the consequences are good, the action is right; if they
are bad, the action is wrong.
There are two theories under this category :

○ Egoism
○ Utilitarianism
 Egoism as an ethical theory
▷ The view that equates morality with self-
interest is referred to as egoism.

▷ An egoist contends that an act is morally

right if and only if it best promotes his
interests.
Egoism as an ethical theory
Moral philosophers distinguish between two kinds of egoism:
▷ personal and
▷ impersonal.

▷ Personal egoists claim they should pursue their own best

interests, but they do not say what others should do.

▷ Impersonal egoists claim that everyone should let self-

interest guide his or her conduct.
 Utilitarianism as an ethical theory

Utilitarianism tells us to bring about the most happiness for

everyone affected by our actions.

▷ Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill were important

early utilitarians.
 Six Points about Utilitarianism
▷ First, when deciding which action will produce the
greatest happiness, we must consider unhappiness
or pain as well as happiness.
▷ Second, actions affect people to different degrees.
▷ Third, because utilitarian's evaluate actions
according to their consequences and because
actions produce different results in different
circumstances, almost anything might, in principle,
be morally right in some particular situation.
 Six Points about Utilitarianism

▷ Fourth, utilitarians wish to maximize happiness not

simply immediately but in the long run as well.
▷ Fifth, utilitarians acknowledge that we often do not know
with certainty what the future consequences of our
actions will be. Accordingly, we must act so that the
expected or likely happiness is as great as possible.
▷ Sixth : my pleasure as pain should be equally treated as
others
 Use of utilitarianism in organizational
context
First, Formulating policies-

Second, utilitarianism provides an objective and

attractive way of resolving conflicts of self-interest
.
Third, utilitarianism provides a flexible, result-oriented
approach to moral decision making.
 Non-Utilitarian theories

1. Formulate the maxim of the action. That is,

figure out what general principle you would be
acting on if you were to perform the action.
("in situations in which I need money and know I
can't pay it back, I will falsely promise to pay it
back.")
Non-Utilitarian theories

2. Universalize the maxim. That is, regard it not as

a personal policy but as a principle for everyone.
( "in situations in which anyone needs money and
knows he or she cannot pay it back, he or she
will falsely promise to pay it back."
 Non-Utilitarian theories

3. Determine whether the universalized maxim could be a

universal law, that is, whether it is possible for everyone
to act as the universalized maxim requires.
(if everyone started making false promises, the institution
of promising would disappear, so no one would be able
to make a false promises, since there would be no such
thing as a promise to falsely make.)
Research about:

▷ Fundaments of the ▷ The research must be

Ethics by Aristotle, presented in a PDF
Plato, Spinoza, Kant, document to be
Habermas. uploaded by Friday,
November 6th at
18h00.
▷ And make a ppt
presentation for the
next class.

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 Foro II
1. What is Values? 6. What is the Utilitarianism ?
2. How many ethics theories are? 7. Define the non
3. What is the Consequentialist .Consequentialist theory?
theory? 8. List the Six Points about
4. How many Consequentialist Utilitarianism
theories are? 9. Describe the Non-Utilitarian
5. What is the egoism? theories

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