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Utilitarianism: An Ethical Decision Making Approach

Preprint · February 2019

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30208.99843

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Utilitarianism: An Ethical Decision Making Approach

Submitted By:

Richard Sagor Mitra

For the course:

MGNT 517: Planning and Decision Making

During:

Semester I, 2018-19

Submitted To:

Mr. Abhisek Lakra

Submitted On:

September 23rd, 2018

 Acknowledgement

The researcher would like to sincerely acknowledge the help and support of the

following people towards the successful completion of this paper.

Mr. Abhisek E. Lakra, my course instructor who inspired and guided me through the

paper.

Dr. Sandeep L. Kachchhap, who helped me with the methodology and to develop

questions.

All the respondents, who took their time to answer the questions in giving their

valuable insight.

My loving parents, Pr. & Mrs. D. D. Mitra, for their continuous love and support.

Above all, my God Almighty for life, strength and a clear mind.

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 Table of Content

Topic Page No

I. Chapter 1 – Introduction………………………………………………………………… 1

II. Chapter 2 – Review of Literature……………………………………………………… 2-3

III. Chapter 3 – Research Methodology…………………………………………………… 4

IV. Chapter 4 – Presentation and Analysis of Data………………………………….. 5 -6

V. Chapter 5 – Conclusion and Recommendations………………………………….. 7

VI. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 - 11

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 Chapter 1: Introduction

To understand the degree of inclination towards utilitarian ethical decision-making

among student leaders at Spicer Adventist University, Pune, is the primary objective of this

study. Utilitarian leaders are those who consider their decisions to be ethical if the outcome

is good for the majority of their subordinates. They also hold the philosophy that general

rules can be broken if the greater good can be achieved by breaking the rules and

individuals must be willing to make personal sacrifice for the greater good of the society.

Ethics as a whole is very vast and philosophical. There is no one right ethics in making

decision to solve organizational situations because decisions and application of ethics are

highly situational. This paper will help in understanding till what extent utilitarianism can

be practiced in making ethical decisions and if people make different decisions in different

situations.

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 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature

In the book Management; Challenges in the 21st Century Lewis, Goodman, and Fandt

(1995) stated, ‘ One of management’s most important challenges is to conduct business

ethically while achieving high levels of economic performance.’ In the same book ethical

behavior is defined as ‘behavior which is morally accepted as good or right as opposed to

bad or wrong’ and business ethics is said to be the ‘application of the general ethical rules to

business behavior.’ They go on to suggest three approaches for managers in handling

ethical dilemmas, as: ‘utility, human rights, and justice’.

Willings (1979) in his book Understanding Management states that management

must take those decisions that will get the work done in the best possible way. The

expression ‘best possible way’ implies in a way that is most cost effective and optimum in

quality. Davar (1966) stated that decisions must be aimed at furthering the best interest of

the business in the circumstance they are made. Massie and Douglas (1985) stated that a

rational decision making process includes: being conscious about the problem, diagnosing

the problem, evaluate various alternatives and the problem consequence, selection of the

best alternative and finally implementation and acceptance by the organization.

Utility approach is the expression of utilitarian philosophy as mainly advocated by

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) among others. Shafer-Landau (2012) states that social laws

and arrangements must consider the happiness and good of every individual while fulfilling

the needs of the whole society. He also states that, promoting the general interest of the

society needs to be considered as moral standard and not an action/decision compelled by

rules/law. In his book it is also mentioned that the consequence of the action determines

the rightness or wrongness of the action; according to extreme utilitarianism, and that if

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the outcome from keeping a rule is lesser than breaking the rule, the rule can be broken;

according to restricted utilitarianism. As suggested by Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell (2012)

that act utilitarianism believes that the rightness of action needs to be evaluated whether

that produces greatest utility for greatest number of people.

Hayry (2013) states that modern societies are based on utilitarian philosophies and

that the happiness of the society at large outweighs the happiness of a privileged few. He

also points out that every member of the society (subjects) must be make any sacrifice for

the greater good. Arneson and Bowle (2017) states that the actions of governments should

be judged simply by the extent to which they promote the ‘greatest happiness of the

greatest number.’ According to Rockler (2007), truth us of uttermost importance for

societies to function as this builds trust and confidence.

Keeping the above researches in light this research aims at analyzing how utilitarian

are mangers in handling ethical dilemmas. It also aims to try and understand how leaders

make their decisions in managing their groups.

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 Chapter 3: Methodology

This is a qualitative research. Both primary and secondary data are used in this

research. The Review of the Literature is completely based on related books, journals and

research papers published by various authors on the topic. The researcher also used

questionnaires to collect primary data from seminar and departmental club officers at

Spicer Adventist University, Pune, who take decisions on the functioning of their respective

groups and encounter situations where they make difficult decisions. Purposeful sampling

was implemented for this purpose. A total of 32 officers took part in the survey, out of

which 23 are male and 10 are female, with a median age of 21. Statistical tools like mean,

median, mode and standard deviation were used to analyze and interpret the collected

data.

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 Chapter 4: Presentation and Analysis of Data

The data collected from the sample respondents at Spicer Adventist University,

Pune, gave out the following information upon analysis:

1. Personal sacrifice for greater good is considered to be ethical by most

people. When operating in a group the interest of the whole is given more

preference than individuals. These refer to those sacrifices, which doesn’t

harm life. The sample group is reluctant to sacrifice one life against four

lives!

2. Rules are guidelines to reduce conflict. The sample group seems to be okay

with breaking general rules in extreme situation; a terrorist with a gun,

and abide by them in simpler situations; going to a forbidden place for

picnic. This implies that rules can be broken if the outcome is better than

keeping it.

3. Leaders prefer to take their decision based on available facts & logic,

rather than on feelings & opinions. They think this helps them make more

rational decisions. They also seem to be utilitarian in their decision

making as they think that the decisions should be taken for greater good.

Having said that, decision-making is a dynamic process and it depends on

the given situations, and therefore, they have different applicability.

Decision-making is also said to be influenced by the religious insights of a

person.

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4. Though the interest of the whole is considered more important than those

of a few, the few should not be neglected or abused. Their interest needs

to be protected by some kind of rights and law. The sample group stated

that the value of a person’s life and dignity is more important than

monetary benefits.

5. The end result is not always the main thing to consider while making

decisions. The sample group would settle an internal mishandling of

money internally; just between the officers, but make the instance of

proving financial assistance to a poor person and ask everyone’s opinion.

They would also try and help but not from the organization’s funds.

Given below is the report of the data collected from the respondents.

Indicator Mean Median Mode SD

Personal sacrifice for 3.19 3 3 0.64
greater good
Breaking the general rule 3.09 3 4 1
for greater good
Interest of the group before 1.28 1 1 0.45
the interest of a few
Decision making approach 1.28 1 1 0.45
Decisions for greater good 2.28 2 2 0.81
Decision Making Approach 2.66 3 3 0.83
Decision making approach 3.38 3 4 0.68
Cost utilitarianism 1.5 1.5 2 0.50
Influence of religion on 3.03 3 3 0.65
decision making
End justifies the means 1.12 1 1 0.33
Interest of the group before 3.56 4 4 0.50
self
Deontological or utilitarian 2 2 2 0
End justifies the means 1.81 2 2 0.39
Equity 1.09 1 1 0.29
Equity 3.21 3 3 0.65
Table 4.1

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 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations

To conclude it can be stated that generally leaders are utilitarian in making their

decisions because they always consider the greater good while making decisions for social

groups. The sample group showed high inclination towards utilitarianism. Utilitarianism

can be practiced to the extent where it doesn’t harm another person’s life and dignified

existence. Protection of the interest of the minority is a must concern for leaders while

deciding for the greater good. Decisions are highly situational and leaders need to apply

their wisdom in making such ethical decisions.

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 Bibliography and Appendix

Willings, D., (1979). Understanding Management. Canada: Gage Educational Publication Ltd.

Lewis, P. S., Goodman, S. H., & Fandt, P. M. (1995). Management; Challenges in the 21st
Century. USA: West Publishing Company.

Shafer-Landau, R. (Ed.). (2012). Ethical Theory: An Anthology (2nd ed.). Retrieved August
19, 2018, from https://books.google.co.in/

Shafer-Landau, R. (Ed.). (2012). Ethical Theory: An Anthology (2nd ed.). Retrieved August
19, 2018, from https://books.google.co.in/

Hayry. M., (2013). Liberal Utilitarianism and Applied Ethics. Retrieved August 21, 2018,
from https://books.google.co.in/

Beach, L. R., & Connolly, T. (2005). The Psychology of Decision Making: People in
Organizations (2nd ed.). Retrieved August 25, 2018, from
https://books.google.co.in/

Ferrell. O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2012). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and
Cases (9th ed.). Retrieved August 20, 2018, from https://books.google.co.in/

Rockler, M., Prof. (n.d.). (2007). Presidential Decision-Making: Utilitarianism vs Duty Ethics.
Philosophy Today, (64). Retrieved August 30, 2018, from
https://philosophynow.org

Arneson, R. J., & Bowle. J. E. (2017, June 14). Political Philosophy. Retrieved August 29,
2018, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-philosophy

Davar, R. S., (1966). Executive Decision Making; Modern Concepts & Techniques. New
Delhi: Universal Book Stall.

Massie, J. L., & Douglas, J. (1985). Managing; A Contemporary Introduction (4th ed.). New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

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 Questionnaire

Question Indicator
1. Your group of 100 people are planning for a trip/picnic and two options are Personal sacrifice for greater
given for them to choose from. However, there are a few people opting for a good
third option. It is in the ratio 60:30:10 (A:B:C). Should the people who opted for
option B & C make sacrifice and change their preference to option A since that’s
what more people wants?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

2. It is illegal to kill a person. There is a terrorist with weapon who will kill your Breaking the general rule for
group members if you don’t kill him. Is it alright to kill that person to save all the greater good
people in your group and break the rule?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

3. A member of your group who is a major contributor, in terms of finance, to the Interest of the group before the
group has physically abused another member of the group who is not so interest of a few
significant in terms of finance. All of your fellow officers and some group
members have suggested to cancel his membership. If you do so, the finance will
stop to come in. Should he be removed? Justify your decision with your reason.
a) Yes,____________________________________________________________________________
b) No,_____________________________________________________________________________

4. When faced with a crisis which of the following approach would you use and Decision making approach
why? Justify your decision with your reason.
a) Facts & Logic, _________________________________________________________________
b) Feelings & Opinion, __________________________________________________________

5. Four of your group members are suffering from kidney failure, eye defect, heart Decisions for greater good
blockage and an amputated leg, respectively. Is it alright to replace/transplant
those organs in those people from a healthy person, who might die in the
process. (So, you are sacrificing one life to save four lives)

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 a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree Decision making approach
6. Should leaders take those decisions that is for the greater good, even if few are
harmed by that decision?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

7. Decisions depends on the situation. What may be right in one situation might be Decision making approach
not applicable in another situation. What is your opinion on this?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

8. Going to a water park, at the cost of Rs. 500 each; excluding lunch, will be fun Cost utilitarianism
and not educational, whereas, going to a museum, at the cost of Rs. 300 each;
including lunch, will be educational but not so much fun. It is upto you to decide.
Where would you take your group and why?
a) Water park, ___________________________
b) Museum, ______________________________

9. Ethics are based on religious philosophies and influences the decision making of Influence of religion on
a person. decision making
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

10. One of your fellow officer who was given some funds for an event has misused End justifies the means
some money. When you asked him/her about it s/he accepted his/her fault and
said that s/he would replenish the fund. Should you bring this incidence to
everyone’s notice or just settle it between the two of you?
a) Inform everyone, ________________
b) Settle, _____________________________

11. The interest of the group is more important that the interest of an individual. Interest of the group before
People should be willing to make personal sacrifice for the greater good of the self
group.
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

12. Your group wants to go on a trip to a particular place that is forbidden by the Deontological or utilitarian

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authorities. If you don’t take them, they will stop supporting you and might even
leave the club/seminar. It is possible for the group to go there without the
authorities coming to know about it. What will you do?
a) Take them,___________________
b) Not take them,_______________

13. A person comes to you (and your officers) and asks for monetary assistance as End justifies the means
his daughter is about to undergo a surgery. You know him to have financial crisis
(poor). Should you use the club/seminar fund to assist the person without
informing the group? And you know, the club/group will not permit this action.
a) Yes, ________________________________________
b) No, _______________________________________

14. Your officers are suggesting to collect Rs. 500 for an event. You know that some Equity
of the members will not be able to contribute that amount and will feel bad to
attend the program without contributing the amount. Would you reduce the
amount or go on with the same?
a) Yes,_______________________________________________________________________________
b) No, _______________________________________________________________________________

15. While considering the greater good of the group, the interest of the minority Equity
should be protected.
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

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