Chapter 2- ethics BLAW

Ethics Traps: Euphemisms and Reframing

- "friendly fire" sounds better than "killing your own troops" - important to use accurate terminology in ethics decisions, anything else is just a variation on rationalization

Ethics Traps: Following Orders

- Fear of punishment, the belief in authority figures and the ability to rationalize to play a role -When someone in authority issues orders, even to do something clearly wrong, it is very tempting to comply. Fear of punishment, the belief in authority figures, and the ability to rationalize all play a role.

Ethics Traps: Rationalization

- creative people are more likely to be less ethical because they are good at rationalizing bad behavior -I Did It for Someone Else When explaining why they have behaved unethically, people often rationalize it by saying that they did it for their family. -The Slippery Slope So many truly awful outcomes begin with that first step down the slippery slope. How easy to rationalize, "Just this once."

Ethics Traps: Competition

- deep down, humans want to be better than the other fellow - being involved in a market reduced the players' sense of morality

Ethics Traps: Money

- most people believe that they'll be happier if they have more money, which isn't necessarily true - money is a way of "keeping score" -Despite this higher life satisfaction, higher-income people are more likely to cheat—on their taxes, their romantic partners, and even at games.

Ethics Trap: Short Term Perspective

- people are more likely to make unethical decisions because they are thinking in the short term

Ethics Trap: Lost in a Crowd

- when in a group, people are less likely to take responsibility, because they assume someone else will - bystanders are more likely to react if there are fewer of them and they are able to form an independent judgement

Ethical Behavior Provides Financial Benefits

-A company with a good reputation can pay employees less and charge consumers more. * -Conversely, unethical behavior causes financial harm -Although there is no guarantee that ethical behavior pays in the short or long run, there is evidence that the ethical company is more likely to win financially. Ethical companies tend to have more creative employees and higher returns than those that engage in wrongdoing.

Ethical Behavior Makes People Happier

-In 1938, researchers in Boston set out to answer these questions by studying the lives of a large group of people over 75 years. This study revealed that the secret to long-term happiness is having good relationships with a spouse, family, and friends -It is difficult to maintain good relationships while behaving unethically.

Society as a Whole Benefits from Ethical Behavior

-In short, ethical behavior builds trust, which is important in all of our relationships.

Ethics Traps: Conformity

-It is easy to believe that if everybody else is doing it, then it must be okay. -Conformity can also work to the good. People are more likely to pay their taxes on time if they are told that everyone else does.

Kant

-Kant also believed that human beings possess a unique dignity, and it is wrong to treat them as commodities -The problem with Kant's theory is that the ends do matter.

Lying: A Special Case

-Kant argued that any lie violated his principle of the categorical imperative. -Kantian Evasion or palter: A truthful statement that is none the less misleading.

Ethics Traps: We Cannot Be Objective about Ourselves

-People are not objective when comparing themselves to others -In making a decision that affects you, it is important to remember that you are unlikely to be objective.

Categorical Imperative

-The best-known proponent of the deontological model is the eighteenth-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) -He argued that you should not do something unless you would be willing to have everyone else do it too.

Deontological Ethics

-The idea that actions are right and wrong in themselves independently of any consequences -The word deontological comes from the Greek word for obligation. -Proponents of deontological ethics believe that utilitarians have it all wrong and that the results of a decision are not as important as the reason for making it.

Moral Relativism

-The view that there is no absolute or universal moral law or truth, resulting in a morality determined by cultural factors or personal preference. -There are at least two types of moral relativism: cultural and individual -culture defines what is right and wrong. -To individual relativists, people must develop their own ethics rules.

Rawlsian Justice

-a theory of distributional justice that concludes that the social contract emerging from the "original position" would call for an income distribution that would maximize the well-being of the worst-off member of society. -John Rawls (1921-2002) was an American philosopher who referred to the circumstances into which we are born as life prospects.

Avoiding Ethics Traps

1. slow down 2. do not trust your first instinct 3. remember your life principles

When faced with unethical behavior in your organization, you have three choices.

1.Loyalty 2.Exit 3.Voice

Moral Universalism

A belief that some acts are always right or always wrong

optimism bias

A belief that the outcome of an event will be more positive than the evidence warrants.

Moral Licensing

After doing something ethical, many people then have a tendency to act unethically

Corporate Social Responsibility

An organizations obligation to contribute positively to the world around it

ethics decision

Any choice about how a person should behave that is based on a sense of right and wrong

Laws represent society's view of basic ethics rules.

However, laws may permit behavior that some feel is wrong, and it may criminalize acts that others feel are right.

Some common rationalizations include:

If I don't do it, someone else will. I deserve this because ... They had it coming. I am not harming a person—it is just a big company. This is someone else's responsibility. -The fudge factor -I did it for someone else -The slippery slope

Which of the following believed that the dignity of human beings must be respected and that the most ethical decisions are made out of a sense of obligation?

Immanuel Kant

Utilitarian Ethics

In 1863, Englishman John Stuart Mill (1806-73) wrote Utilitarianism. To Mill, a correct decision is one that maximizes overall happiness and minimizes overall pain, thereby producing the greatest net benefit.

Ethics traps:Conflicts of Interest

In short, if ethical decisions are your goal, it is better to avoid all conflicts of interest—both large and small. No one—including you—is good at overcoming the biases that these conflicts create.

Which of the following wrote the book Utilitarianism and believed that ethical actions should "generate the greatest good for the greatest number"?

John Stuart Mill

Life prospects

The circumstances into which we are born

Veil of Ignorance

The rules for society that we would propose if we did not know how lucky we would be in life's lottery

Front Page Test

When faced with a difficult decision, think about how you would feel if your actions went viral

Life Principles

the rules by which you live your life. Remember that, no matter what you say, every ethics decision you make illustrates your actual Life Principles

Ethics Traps: Blind Spots

we all have a tendency to ignore blatant evidence that we would rather not know

Ethics

how people should behave

Critiques of Utilitarianism

Critics of utilitarianism argue that it is very difficult to measure utility accurately. Furthermore, a focus on outcome can justify some really terrible behavior.

The following statement is true:

Even people who do not believe in God are more likely to behave honestly after reading the Ten Commandments.

Should engineers program driverless cars to protect pedestrians or the driver? Who gets to decide? In one study, participants said that, if a car had to choose between ten pedestrians and one driver, it should swerve into a wall, killing the driver and saving the ten people. But when asked what car they would actually buy, participants chose the one that would protect them—the driver. What would Kant and Mill say about this choice? What would result under the Front Page test? If drivers chose to protect themselves, would they be to blame, legally or ethically, for the deaths of the pedestrians?

Kant argued for the unique dignity of human beings and thus, that it was wrong to kill them. He would, therefore, choose the program that limited the number of deaths by killing just the driver. So would Mill, because that choice would maximize overall happiness and minimize overall pain. Under the Front Page test, people might be embarrassed to admit they had chosen their own life over ten other people. As for the ethics of the decision, participants recognized that, ethically, it would be wrong to choose themselves over ten other people. But then they chose it anyway.

Difference Principle

Rawls' suggestion that society should reward behavior that provides the most benefit to the community as a whole

Stakeholders include

employees, customers, and the communities and countries in which a company operates

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

famously argued that a corporate manager's primary responsibility is to the owners of the organization, that is, to shareholders. Others have argued that corporations should instead consider all company stakeholders, not just shareholders.