Utilitarianism is the consequentialist theory that makes the most sense to me. Utilitarianism stems from the work of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. This theory argues that an action is right if it promotes happiness and wrong when it causes pain not just for the victim but also for the performer. Utilitarianism is based on the consequentialist approach, which bases morality on the results of the actions. In this case, an action that causes positive results is regarded as moral, while the one associated with negative consequences is regarded as unethical.
Utilitarianism affirms the consequentialist viewpoint by stating that actions that facilitate happiness should be deemed moral while the ones that cause pain are unethical. Utilitarianism is an essential approach that can be used to solve ethical dilemmas in the workplace. For example, for a nurse treating severely ill patients, utilitarianism would act as a guiding principle in solving ethical dilemmas when making a clinical decision. Each day, nurses are tasked with making major decisions in their clinical areas that border life and death. By applying the utilitarian principles, nurses can easily choose the most ethical decisions which improve the welfare of individual patients. At the same time, nurses ignore the decisions that would cause pain and suffering to patients.
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In other working places such as the banking or automobile industries, employees can use utilitarianism to avoid engaging in corrupt dealings that may have a negative impact on the functioning of individuals and the firm. For example, luring a client into engaging in shady deals would be detrimental to the firm's functioning. When such a case is unearthed, the employee can be fired from the firm. Further, such a case would cause negative publicity on the organization, which would, in turn, lead to low sales and increased absenteeism and turnover rates among the workers. As such, employees should ensure they do not engage in corrupt dealings that are likely to cause pain to the employees and organization. On the other hand, ethical conduct will be associated with more sales and improved employee performance.
