Psychological Egoism/Self-Interest or Community Interest - Essay Example

This caused him to lose his job, face death and harassment charges, as well as a lawsuit that caused his wife to divorce him. Any notion that he exposed, the unethical practice for personal gain does not hold (Shafer-Landau, 2012). To avoid this form of selfishness on the part of the organization, it would be better if the organization ensured that the executives and managers formed a culture that encouraged early internal whistle blowing (Shafer-Landau, 2012). The employees should be able to bring their organization’s wrongdoing, to their superior’s attention before a point where too much damage will be caused.

This should be for when employees suspect wrongdoing as well since early questions are normally the best. The organization could have resolved the issue before it changed to a much bigger problem and before there was any damage. The issue should also have been dealt with before the employee was able to find any wrongdoing, which the society expects the whistle-blower to deliver (Shafer-Landau, 2012). The motivation for action is the most fundamental issue for personal ethics. This involves why one is able to do what is morally right.

Psychological egoism holds that all actions by humans are motivated by one’s self-interest (Shafer-Landau, 2012). However, this does not fit in perfectly with personal ethics and values because the theory is not testable against them. Therefore, psychological egoism does not offer any credible reason for one to accept the thesis it offers. Unlike other theories of morality, psychological egoism deals with what the case is instead of how one should act and, therefore, is not a perfect fit to personal ethics.

With regards to an organization’s ethical structure, it does not fit in well either since self interested actions do not necessarily translate to selfish actions. For instance, while opening a new branch is in self-interest, it is not selfish. In addition, the organization’s self-interest actions are not incompatible with other people’s interests (Shafer-Landau, 2012). For example, whereas it is, in the organization’s self-interest, to make its clients and society happy, they must be in a position to do so.

Response to Annette Reynolds Hi Annette, I find that this post is well written and has discussed several points. I find that the issue of discrimination is a salient one, especially where the employees are treated differently. The treatment of conservative groups is a good example of an ethical dilemma, particularly in a government agency whose principals have sworn to uphold the constitution. The manner you propose to overcome this is also logical. In addition, the example of how your organization does not perfectly fit in with the psychological egoism theory is well though out.

Overall, this is a insightful discussion. Sarah Response to Melody Feran Hi Melody, The Enron scandal as used to show how the psychological egoism theory led to an ethical dilemma is spot on, especially in the view of how ordinary citizens were exploited and made to lose their jobs and earnings for self interest of a few. However, it would have been better if the solution was expounded on a little more. The comparisons made with regards to the psychological