Ethics Presentation
I will be speaking on the area of business ethics and discussing the challenge of translating
ethics from theory to practical application. I have a short ethics ( couple questions)
questionnaire that I will provide with instructions before we begin.. It will serve as the
foundation for the discussion. I will present a little background on ethics. Various methods
and models we use for setting our standards. Discuss the challenges that ethics is a trade
off of values. Then we will have a discussion based on the questionnaire as well as
question and answers
The trouble with ethics is that they are all relative
No matter how we slice this, it always ends up a matter of choices. The delimma is that we
are always in a process of trading off moral values.
For example: On the way here I drove by an elderly man carrying two bags of groceries
throught the mud and snow. I should have stopped to offer a ride, if I did so I would be late
to be here talking about being ethical. What should I do?
Well, I am here?
Unfortunately, I have probably come here today to create more questions than I answer.
So lets start with the basic question. What do we mean
by ethics?
Specifically, What do we mean by business ethics?
Aristotle approached the subject of ethics with this most demanding question
“What is a life worth living?”
Well we have been wrestling with that one ever since
So let’s see if we can unpack this question of ethics
Three Levels of Ethical Behavior
The Law
The Policies and Procedures
The Moral Stance – Morals there is something that is concrete. Where do we get our
morals values we learn from religious institutions, school, families, neighborhoods, you
can add to the list.
So how do we even start to sort this out. Well there are several different schools of thought
about how to determine what is moral. So we have developed models for understanding or
rationalizing ethical behavior,
Models of ethical behavior
Utilitarian — Choose the option that does the greatest good for the greatest number of
people.
Kant’s Catagorical Imparative – is all about behavior, it is about duty, right and wrong.
Act in such a way that the action taken under the circumstances could be a universal law or
rule of behavior.
Consequential Moral Theory says the consequence of an action alone determine that
actions goodness or badness
