Recently, the topic of ethics has captured the attention of researchers. This can be attributed to the increase in the cases of unethical actions at the workplace and fading of boundaries of the working environment caused by globalization (Banks, 2014). Therefore, the way to be followed by organizations when handling ethical issues and dilemmas is specified beforehand in order to guide the way and reduce inconveniences (Hendry, 2004). There are five approaches to decision making. They include: utilitarianism, rights approach, justice method, common good and virtue approaches (Dahl, 2009).
A utilitarian approach chooses the action that yield the greatest possible good over harm while a rights approach propose that although an individual has the absolute right to make his/her own decisions, if the action chosen does not respect the moral rights of other people, it is wrong from a morals perspective (Bennet, 2003). A justice approach in ethical decision making asserts that when making a decision, an individual should consider the fairness aspect to all the individuals involved (Dahl, 2009). The virtue approach on the other hand puts into consideration an individual’s values and morals. The approach considers the impact of the course of action taken on a person’s character (Bonhoeffer et al., 2015). This paper will focus on utilitarian approach in ethical decision making.
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Ethics Concept
Knowledge and understanding of ethics is a field that looks into the actions of human beings as an individual field and evaluates the entities and features of this area, values used and human actions are independent or dependent (Baujard, 2013). Concept of ethics therefore refer to ethical judgments and conduct laws and rules. In addition, it also refers to the idea that accords importance to decisions regarding wrong or right (Moore, 2018). Therefore, ethics generally refer to right conduct standards in circumstances between people (Ferrell et al., 2008).
Ethical Decision Making
Ethical decision making can be explained as a process that has a beginning point and in which a variety of activities or perspectives follow one another starting from a point and concludes with a decision to be made (Elder, 1993). The widely accepted method when making decisions is the five stages model. In this model, the first activity is to establish the problem, prioritize issues within the problem identified, identify alternatives that are relevant and them identify and chose the most appropriate and relevant one (Israel, 2015). Therefore, decision making process is a wide process that involve steps that are meant to complement each other. If an ethical decision is to be made, the process has to be implemented (Allan, 2017).
Utilitarian Approach
Utilitarianism assesses an act in terms of its results, that is, the net benefits to all the people involved (Shaw, 2017). It makes effort to produce the greatest good for the majority while causing the least possible amount of bad or harm (Moore, 2004). It holds to the idea that every person’s interests ought to be considered on an equal basis during the decision making process (Macauley, 2018). Therefore, for any given set of choices, a utilitarian approach would see the most ethical choice as the one that yields the overall best of benefits compared to harm to the majority (Schwartz, 2017). The outcomes or results of the choice can be measured in such concepts such as suffering, satisfaction etc. In a business setting, for example, a utilitarian approach may depend on statistical information of probable results, costs and benefits analysis and marginal utility outcomes for the different stakeholders involved (Kuhse & Singer, 2012).
A utilitarian approach gives a relatively straightforward way of choosing a morally acceptable action in a given situation (Singer, 2013). In order to determine the course of action to take when in a dilemma, the first thing to do according to the approach is to identify the different actions that can be taken. The second thing is to establish all the possible good and bad that would arise from every action for all the people involved (Barth et al., 2013), . Finally, the last thing to do is to choose an action that will produce the greatest amount of benefits after considering the costs to be incurred (Moore, 2017).
Utilitarianism Application
Case study
A manager could earn more money from fees from patrons by implementing a certain program involving recreational sports. However, the program can negatively affect few people in the neighborhood because their property world face the risk of damage and they would also experience high amounts of noise as a result of the sport activity. In addition, there is a probable risk of injuries to the players although they will sign waivers that they are taking the responsibility of injuries (Allan, 2017).
Utilitarian approach
From a utilitarian perspective, the manager would identify the likely choices for adopting actions by considering the outcomes of implementing one action over the other. From a consequences perspective, the manager can see the situation from a cost- benefits view and come to a conclusion that majority in the area would actually enjoy the recreational activity and that the organization involved would generate more revenue from the program (Allan, 20170. In addition, the organization would incur less financial risks resulting from the injuries because of the waivers that members sign. Furthermore, the manager would ignore complaints from neighbors about damage cause on their properties and noise because this would appear to be of little concern when compared to the activity’s popularity and revenue generated.
One of the advantages of using a utilitarian approach in such a situation is that the manager involved may generate more revenue for the organization and at the same time offer a popular kind of recreation activity that attracts many people. In addition, the manager may be right in measuring the likely risk of property damage and injury occurrence against the likely financial benefits. However, the disadvantage with the approach is that it ignores the rights of the minority who are against the activity because of its negative effects on them and their property (Allan, 2017).
Another disadvantage of this approach is that the manager may underestimate the negative expenses because the unhappy residents may sue the organization for damage to their property and so much noise. This could lead to an expensive suit and the organization may lose it. In addition, injuries could occur not only to the participating individuals but to the spectating crowd also. In addition, participants may set aside the signed waivers by presenting effective legal arguments in a court of law. Furthermore, the costs-benefits perspective may cause a negative publicity for the business because of the press highlighting the concerns of the affected residents or injuries (Allan, 2017). The organization might therefore be seen as less concerned about the welfare of the residents.
In conclusion, a utilitarian approach asserts that the right way to do things in a given circumstance is choosing an action that yields the greatest benefits as compared to harms for all the people involved. As long as an action offers the maximum benefits to the people involved, utilitarianism does not consider in the good is as a result of coercion or even lies. This is the frequently used kind of moral reasoning that is applied in daily lives when making decisions.
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