The Nature of Morality PDF

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Summary

Australian Business Ethics
The Nature of Morality

Product safety
The regulatory framework
The responsibilities of the business
Other areas of the business
Deception and Unfairness in advertising
The debate over advertising
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Description

Chapter 1: The nature of morality Why ethics in business matters

Arising moral issues

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How far must manufactures go to ensure product safety o Must they reveal everything about a product? Including: possible shortcomings of defects o What is an acceptable point of exaggeration when marketing? o When does, aggressive marketing become consumer manipulation

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Are corporations obliged to help combat social problems: Eg: what are the environmental responsibilities of a business, are pollution permits a good idea.

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May employees use their position inside an organisation to advance their own self interests

Ethics Moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity. Ethics centres around a simple question:

How are we to relate to each other to ensure that our individual and collective well-being is enhanced?

Inquiries attempt to answer this questions:

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How should I live my life? What sort of person should I strive to be? What standards or principles should I live by?

Ethics Deals with: Individual character and the moral rules that govern and limit our conduct Ethics Investigates: The questions of right and wrong, good and bad, fairness and unfairness, duty and obligation, justice and injustice

What does “morality” mean? Morality involves what we ought to do, right and wrong, good and bad, values, justice, and virtues. Morality is taken to be important, moral actions are often taken to merit praise and rewards, and immoral actions are often taken to merit blame and punishment.

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The characteristics of good moral reasoning and the way in which we can justify our moral judgements

Business and Organisational ethics business ethics is the application of ethics to the world of business and considers the organisation, institutions, laws, governance, decisions, markets and impacts of the business world and its operation on the well-being of society in general and individual relationships within this world. Business Ethics: Is the study of what constitutes right and wrong or good and bad human conduct in a business context

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EG: would it be right to for a store manager to break a promise to a customer and sell hard find merchandise to another customer.

Business: Any organisation whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit

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Broad Term: Hot dog stand or Multinational corporation

Business Person: Those who are planning, organising or directing the works of a business

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Broad term: One person operation or a company president that is responsible for thousands of staff members

Organisation: A group of people working together to achieve a common purpose. - Purposes such as: o to offer a product or service (to make a profit) o to offer health care (medical organisations o Public safety and order (Law enforcement) Business ethics are divided into two type micro and macro: Micro-ethics: question arising primarily for subordinates in an organisation and concern what should be done when the demands of conscience conflict with perceived occupational requirements Macro – Ethics: questions that arise primarily for superiors and concern the setting of policy for the organisation in general.

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Events: Include both routine and non-routine matters that occur in a business o Mangers and staff are responsible for making sense of these events and dealing with them – this enacts ethics choices that need to be made. o Greater ethical consideration is raise to non-routine events as they are unusual compared to the amount of consideration raised for routine events

Business Scandals: Due to recent business scandals, such as, In Australia the collapse One.Tel and HIH use of business funds for non-business purposes, questions have been raised. These questions include the moral responsibility of governments and companies to the public as well as to company shareholders, and the conflicts of interest that can be encounter by the individual’s directors concerned.

Moral V. Non-Moral standards • • •

Factual vs. moral questions When dealing with moral questions, we appeal to moral standards. These standards differ from other kinds of standards because they concern behaviour that is of serious consequence to human welfare.

Moral Standards: standards concerning behaviour that seriously affects human well-being

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Are concerned with behaviour that is of serious consequence to human welfare which can profoundly injure or benefit people

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The standards that govern our conduct in these matters are moral standards o Norms against lying and stealing o Moral principles such as human beings should be treated with dignity and respect o If products should be harmful or healthy o Work conditions should be safe or dangerous

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When we answer a moral question or we make a moral judgement we appeal to moral standards. These standards differ from other kinds of standards.

Second characteristic: Moral standards should take priority over other standards including self-interest.

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We take moral standards to be more important that other considerations in guiding our actions. Including self interest, because it is the nature of our relations to each other that is at the centre of ethical concern.

Third characteristic:

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A Third characteristic of moral standards is that their soundness depends on the adequacy of the reasons that support or justify them

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Arguments that are derived from philosophers’ attempts to determine which moral principles are best Legislators: Make Laws Board of Directors: make organisational policies Licensing Boards: Establish standards for professionals

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Moral standards are not made by such bodies – they are often endorsed or rejected by them o The validity of moral standards normally depends on the quality of the argument or the reasoning that supports them. o Arguments are deprived from  Historical and contemporary attempts to answer the central question in ethics  This has allowed for moral principles to be deprived that attempted to the moral questions. Thus, attempting to justify our moral judgements

Morality   

Morality differs from etiquette. Morality differs from the law. Morality differs from professional codes of ethics.

Morality and etiquette Etiquette: Refers to the norms of correct conduct within our society or, more generally, to any special code of social behaviour or courtesy.  Rules of etiquette are generally non-moral in character.  But rules of etiquette can have moral implications.

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It is common place to judge people’s manners o Good etiquette: saying please when accepting and thankyou when receiving o Bad etiquette: chewing with mouth open, picking nose

If you want to fit in and get along with others you should observe common rules of etiquette. If you violate the rules, then you are rightly considered ill-mannered, impolite or un civilised, but not necessarily immoral

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Violation of etiquette can have moral implications o Calling a female employee doll or honey – moral issue of equal treatment

Even though many of our social rules of etiquette are based on the idea of showing respect of the sensibilities and comfort of others (which is a moral idea), their observance is more to do with accepted behaviour rather than an intention to be moral

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Scrupulous observance of rules of etiquette does not make one moral. In fact, it can camouflage moral issues

Business Etiquette:

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Writing follow up letters after meetings, returning phone calls and dressing appropriately

Morality and Law  Complying with the law does not necessarily guarantee moral behaviour, just as breaking the law does not always result in immoral behaviour.  Acting immorally does not always result in illegal behaviour, just as acting morally does not necessarily guarantee the legality of an action  Some philosophers believe that the illegality of an action makes it morally wrong, even if the action would normally be judged as morally acceptable.  But nonconformity to law is not always immoral; there are circumstances where breaching a law might be morally permissible  An action that is legal can be morally wrong: o Failure of a person with knowledge of first aid to render assistance at the scene of an accident, when there is no valid reason not to help.  Laws codify a society’s customs, ideals, norms and moral values.  Laws are not sufficient to establish the moral standards to guide us. o The law is too blunt an instrument to provide moral guidance. o It provides a base from which to form our moral standards, but it does not encompass all possible breaches of moral conduct.

Legality – in line with legislation and legal regulations Legality of an action does not guarantee that it is morally right:

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An action can be illegal but morally right o Helping a Jewish family hide from the Nazis was against German law in 1939 but would have been morally admirable.

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Non-conformity to law is not always immoral even in a democratic society. There can be circumstances where violating the law is morally permissible, perhaps even morally required

An action that is legal can be morally wrong It is legal for a chairman to lay off 100 employees and use three – quarters of the money saved to boost his pay and the other top level managers pays.

What then may we say about the relationship between Law and Mortality

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Laws codifies a society customs, ideals, norms and moral value. Changes in law tend to reflect changes in society’s deception of right and wrong. Even if a society’s laws are sensible and morally sound it is a mistake to see them as sufficient to establish the moral standards that should guide us.

The law cannot cover the wide variety of possible individual and group conduct, and in many situations, it is too blunt and instrument

S TATUTES Statutory law refers to the written law established by the legislative branch of the government. Statutes may be enacted by both federal and state governments and must adhere to the rules set in the Constitution. Proposed statutes are reviewed by the legislature prior to being enacted into law. Legislation: Legislation prohibits, mandates or limits rights and actions of the population. To determine whether the legislation applies it is necessary to determine the factual situations to which it is intended to apply to and then determine if any given fact situation falls within the legislation.

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Make up a large part of the law and are what many of us mean when we speak of laws

REGULATIONS Rule based on and meant to carry out a specific piece of legislation (such as for the protection of environment). Regulations are enforced usually by a regulatory agency formed or mandated to carry out the purpose or provisions of a legislation.

COMMON LAW Australian law is based on common law. Common law, also known as case law, allows judges to render decisions based on the rulings of earlier cases. Common law is guided by the regulations set forth in federal or state statutes, but it does not rely exclusively on those written laws. The core of the common law is the concept known as precedent

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Precedents: This means that the outcome of cases with similar facts should be the same. The important facts of a case will determine the outcome. It is the important facts of the case which determine the application of the most applicable principle. An advantage to precedents is that it provides consistency when applying laws to similar cases.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW Refers to court ruling on the requirements of the constitution and the constitutionality of legislation. Regulations are either delegated legislation or are laws that are enacted by bodies such as licencing boards for professional occupations. These bodies are empowered by the government through regulations that have the power of law if they do not conflict with existing legislation.

Professional Codes  Professional codes of conduct are rules designed to govern a given profession.  Professionals are understood to have agreed to be bound by these rules. o Violation of the professional code may result in the disapproval of one’s peers and, in serious cases, loss of one’s licence to practise that profession.  Are often too vague to be of practical use  Can consist of a mix of purely moral rules, professional etiquette and restrictions designed to benefit the profession’s economic interests  Many are seen merely as tools for self promotion

These are the rules that are supposed to govern the conduct of members of a given profession.

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Professionals are understood to have agreed to abide by those rules as a condition of their engaging in the professional

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Normally codes are written by authority’s bodies – so they can be taught and efficiently enforced.

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If the rules don’t require morally impermissible conduct – consenting to them gives you some moral obligations to follow

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Violation of professional codes: may result in disapproval by peers or loss of one’s licence to practice in that profession.

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Codes are sometimes unwritten and apart of common understanding between members o Professors should not date students

A professional must be alert to situations in which morals and professional standards conflict

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Given their nature, professional codes of ethics are neither complete nor completely reliable As a professional you must take seriously the injunctions of your profession, but you still have the responsibility to critically assess those rules for yourself. Living up to these standard = a source of personal satisfaction

Where do, Moral standards come from (Acquiring Moral Standards) Moral principles of different people in the same society overlap, at least in part, we can also talk about the moral code of a society, meaning the moral standards shared by its members Influences:

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Early upbringing Behaviour of other around us Our own experiences And our critical reflections on those experiences

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What is important is not how we got the beliefs we have, but whether or to what extent those beliefs can withstand critical scrutiny. Some people maintain that morality boils down to religion, while others argue that the doctrine of ethical relativism - the theory that what is right is determined by what a culture or society says is right o Both are mistaken views

Religion, spirituality and morality  Religion involves not only a formal system of worship but also prescriptions for social relationships.  There is a form of The Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ in all the major religions of the world.  Religious ideals are general and difficult to translate into precise policies.  Religious principles are accepted purely based on faith; moral principles are accepted after careful rational analysis.  Research indicates that spirituality has an impact on ethical ways of doing things. o While some believed that morality and religion or spirituality are intertwined, others considered that moral values and ethics are not necessarily derived from a religion or spirituality (Issa, 2009). Human beings are alike in that they require a means to make sense of the complexities and purposefulness of life – in short, a world view. One source of such explanation is religion and all religions provide believers with an explanation containing certain moral instructions, values and commitments. Examples:

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Similarly, Shinto, which is the unofficial national religion of Japan and regarded as part of Japanese everyday life, has no commandments, only ethical principles; no transcendental world, only this world.

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Buddhism is derived from the teachings and revelations of the Buddha. Buddhism has four ‘noble truths’

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In Islam, respect for elders is very important, as is the maintenance of harmony in organisational life.

Religion

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it is beneficial for all Australian and New Zealand business people working in or with these cultures to gain some insight into their beliefs and practices.

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Religion, then, involves not only a formal system of worship but also prescriptions for social relationships.

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religious ideals are very general and can be difficult to translate into precise policy injunctions. The key difference between religious principles and values and ethical principles is that one accepts the explanation, principles and values on the principle of faith rather than rational analysis. It might be argued that religions’ moral principles are ‘given’ to the believer rather than developed independently.

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Religious bodies, nevertheless, occasionally articulate positions on more specific political, educational, economic and medical issues, which help mould public opinion on matters as diverse as abortion, euthanasia, nuclear weapons and national defence.

Many people believe that morality must be based on religion, either in the sense that without religion people would have no incentive to be moral, or in the sense that only religion can provide moral guidance. Others contend that morality is based on the commands of God. None of these claims is very plausible.

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Although a desire to avoid hell and to go to heaven may prompt some of us to behave in a morally acceptable manner, it does not necessarily constitute moral behaviour, in that we would be acting in a self-interested way because we wished to avoid damnation or the disapproval of fellow believers.

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Second, the moral instructions of the world’s great religions are general and imprecise: They do not relieve us of the necessity to engage in moral reasoning ourselves. o believers must engage in moral philosophy if they are to have intelligent answers. o moral philosophy: the area of philosophy concerned with theories of ethics and how we ought to live our lives

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Third, although some theologians have advocated the divine command theory – that if something is wrong (like killing an innocent person for fun), then the only reason it is wrong is that God commands us not to do it – many theologians and certainly most philosophers would reject this view. o divine command theory: the theory that human morality is dependent upon the will of God

Ethical Relativism    

What is right is defined by what a society says is right. Argues that ‘might is right’ No ethical progress Undermines moral reasoning o What is right in one culture may be wrong in another.

Ethical Relativism is the theory that what is right is determined by what a culture or society says is right

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What is right in one place may be wrong in another, because the only criterion for distinguishing right from wrong – and so the only ethical standard for judging an action – is the moral system of the society in which the act occurs. o Abortion, for example, is condemned as immoral in Catholic Ireland but is practised as a morally neutral form of birth control in Japan.

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For the ethical relativist, there is no absolute ethical standard i...