Business
- Teleogy- suggests actions are morally acceptable if they result in self advancement or greater utility compared to its alternative. It comprises of two ethical perspectives:
- Egoism- describes actions deemed acceptable if they exploit an individual’s self-interest. Conflict is anticipated if an action is bound to benefit one individual despite the fact that there is a chance that the action may result into hurting people in the future and a different minded individual learns of the possible result.
- Utilitarianism- actions are acceptable if they exploit maximum utility or benefit large numbers of people. Conflict is anticipated if some members think that an action is morally right since it is bound to benefit many individuals but may result to hurting others in the future while others see reason differently.
- Deontology- emphasizes on the protection of individuals rights at all cost despite the consequences. If one member of the stakeholders group believes that even though an action may benefit many members of the society for a long period, it may result to death or an accident which will breach their rights to life and safety.
- Relativist- uses personal and group past experiences to analyze appropriate moral behavior. If research is conducted and a bad accident or experience is uncovered as a result to a similar action as that suggested, conflict may happen especially if one stakeholder believes that it was a one time thing.
- Virtue ethics- advocates that morals are the actions that any individual would term acceptable and morally upright. If an individual does not have similar moral standing with the rest of the stakeholders group, this may result to conflict when making a decision.
- Justice- allows actions that follow rules, law and individual rights. It is quite similar to deontology. This causes conflict if a stakeholder disagrees with an idea since it is illegal even if it doesn’t cause harm to anyone yet it may benefit the company financially.
Reference
Farrel, O.C., Freadrich, J., & Ferrel, L. (2002) Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Ohio, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
