A Non-Religious Ethical Theory - Case Study Example

Running Head: Ethics in Business & Society Ethics in Business & Society [Institute’s Ethics in Business & Society Introduction Since many centuries, ethics has remained an imperative component of every society that has resulted in the formation of a set of rules and regulations that exist as norms and values in different civilisations (Everson, pp. 23-29, 1998). In particular, religion has played a significant role in such formation; however, at the same time, scholars and intellectuals came forward during different eras to propose their theories and philosophies, and thus, nowadays, scholars and/or theorists have become authentic sources to define and discuss the role of ethics in the human society. Unfortunately, analysis has indicated that individuals, as well as organisations and even states have begun to overlook the importance and most important, application of ethics in their different processes and procedures, and most importantly, this initiative is observable on global level that has resulted in huge amount of debates regarding role of ethics in different components of the societies. This paper is part of the same debate that will identify one of the ethical dilemmas in business, and will include efforts to discuss a non-religious ethical theory while endeavoring to understand such dilemma in light of the identified ethical theory. Likewise every field, business world practice its own range of ethics, and such rules of ethics facilitate individuals to make decisions during different situations and challenges. It is an observation that usually factors of self-profit, cultural discrimination, selfishness, etc exist when it comes to ethical dilemmas, and thus, it is very important that business organisations should make efforts to resolve ethical dilemmas before they transform into conflicts, and subsequently, global issues. In this regard, a huge number of organisations have been creating their own set of ethical standards to enable individuals in effective decision-making; however, unfortunately, ethical conflicts continue to exist and ethical guidelines have now become a part of company records rather than a notion of practical implementation. In particular, experts believe that “business ethics is a set of principles and ideologies that offer understanding and methodology to earn fair income in the business organisations” (Crane, pp. 23-28, 2007). Although a number of philosophers (Furrow, pp. 20-41, 2005) have argued over the fact of encouraging morality and fairness in the business field, however, as the societies developed, the humans on public level began to accept their consciousness about the importance of morality and ethics in business field. In addition, with globalisation, organisations have initiated to accept and respect ethical guidelines of one another on global level. In the result, management on organisation levels is confronting huge pressure in terms of implementation of laws, norms, and ethical values in their organisations. In this respect, this paper includes one of the ethical dilemmas of the same scenario that will allow a critical understanding of the role of ethics in business and society. Ethical Dilemma In particular, accountancy is an imperative factor that decides the failure of success in every organisation (Sterret, pp. 16-27, 1906). In addition, experts have accepted the fact that accountant’s work is the most sensitive work of all the other areas of an organisation, as they confront the responsibility of dealing with finances of themselves, as well as the whole organisation (Kotler & lee, pp. 59-67, 2005). Such height of responsibility results in their obligation towards practicing specific ethical codes, and violation of such ethical guidelines results in heavy prices. Studies have indicated that unfortunately, a huge number of organisations have noticed violations of ethical code of conduct. In order to go beyond the theoretical understandings, Enron Corporation (Beenen & Pinto, pp. 275-289, 2009) is one of the most common examples of organisational corruption that has now become an ethical dilemma on global level. In the result, various scholars have noticed that a number of mechanisms exist in different organisations that incline individuals towards corruption, and in other words, white-collar crimes. In particular, corruption in business organisations has now become a common ethical dilemma, and while analysing the case study of Enron Corporation (Beenen & Pinto, pp. 275-289, 2009), it has been an observation that a number of factors exist in the organisations that encourage individuals to get involved in unethical activities, such as fraud, corruption, etc. In order to understand the ethical dilemma, it is very important to understand the identified factors from the case study that will enable an understanding to resolve the ethical dilemma of corruption in business organisations from the perspective of a non-religious ethical theory. In brief, work pressure is one of the foremost factors that results in inclination of individuals towards unethical behavior. In this regard, work pressure can be either financial pressure, as well as work-related pressure that include overload work that puts an individual to a situation where he/she ends up corrupting with the work (Beenen & Pinto, pp. 275-289, 2009). Besides work pressure, individuals at the organisations come across various opportunities that may give them personal benefit and success that give them the reason of justifying their act of fraud or corruption (Beenen & Pinto, pp. 275-289, 2009). Moreover, unethical leadership, nowadays, is becoming a common factor of ethical dilemmas in the business organisations, as an unethical leader is itself an indication of freedom of carrying out unethical activities on individual level as well (Johnson, pp. 33-49, 2008). Utilitarianism Utilitarianism (Mill, pp. 55-68, 2001) is one of the few ethical theories that have been successful in continuing to exist in modern-day society. Specifically, analysis of different literature has identified names of Epicurus, Jeremy Bentham, as well as James Mill (2001) that deserve credit of formulating set of guidelines of Utilitarianism ethical theory that will now be the basis of this paper. Scrutiny of this ethical theory (Mill, pp. 34-39, 2001), as well as few other theories has shown that good/bad and right/wrong always enjoy the major focus of ethical theorists, and that is the case in Utilitarianism as well. In this ethical theory, the theory of right uses the important notion of consequentialism that include propositions of ethical theorists regarding justifying acts of ethically correct actions in the society. In particular, good outcomes are always the focal point of consequentialism, and therefore, Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that revolves around ethical actions that are good for the majority. In other words, according to the ethical theory of Utilitarianism, an action that results in good consequences for majority can fall into the category of ethical actions. However, adversaries of this theory have argued on overlooking of internal characteristics and factors by Utilitarians that is one of the drawbacks of Utilitarianism. For instance, according to this theory, if an individual carries out an act of corruption in an organisation to benefit majority of individuals, Utilitarians will consider it an ethical act. However, it is imperative to notice that Utilitarians do not consider other factors such as encouragement of carrying out acts of corruption that may result in adverse outcomes for the society. On the other hand, Utilitarianism (Mill, pp. 49-71, 2001) provides another perspective of analysing an action or situation by proposing that every action that results in the least amount of adversity is equally ethical and morally beneficial. For example, a surgeon causing least amount of pain to a patient will be the right option in comparison of another surgeon causing greater amount of pain according to the ethical theory of Utilitarianism. In other words, it will not be wrong to state that according to the advocates of this ethical theory, an action with good outcomes for the majority is equal to human wellbeing, and therefore, will be right, justified, and ethical. Further analysis of the Utilitarianism theory (Mill, pp. 79-85, 2001) has indicated that besides focus on good consequences, Utilitarians have given significant importance to the factors of happiness/pleasure and sadness/pain. According to them, every individual either ends up in pleasure or confronts suffering. In this regard, an action causing pleasure will always be right and ethical, and on the other hand, action resulting in suffering will be unethical or wrong. However, unlike other scholars and theorists, Utilitarians do not limit factors of pleasure, happiness, and suffering to physical pleasure or physical suffering that distinguish the Utilitarians from others (Mill, pp. 44-53, 2001). While understanding the framework of Utilitarianism, it was an observation that there exist few problems with the theory when it comes to the problem of self-interest. For instance, a poor man steals something from a rich one, which enabled him to buy food for his whole family of five people; then this will be an ethical act according to the theory of Utilitarianism, its major complication. In response, Utilitarians provide an argument that interest of others should be the priority of the individuals while fulfilling their self-interest (Furrow, pp. 68-73, 2005). For example, Utilitarians believe that to achieve personal happiness, an individual has to endeavor for happiness of others (majority), which will enable him to fulfill his self-interest. In particular, from the perspective of Utilitarianism, actions of corruption or fraud that has become an ethical dilemma in today’s business world seem to be ethical at least to some extent. For example, in cases of corruption on higher levels in the organisations, CFOs usually are aware of the unethical actions; however, their actions usually allow companies to acquire higher amount of financial gains (Robbins & Judge, pp. 38-44, 2009). In addition, such actions allow organisations to give benefits to their employees as well that make such actions ethical based on good consequences to the majority from a Utilitarian perspective. However, from another perspective of the same theory, and in order to propose some resolutions of this ethical dilemma, the fall of Enron Corporation resulted in huge amount of losses to many individuals, and subsequently, their families that were having their share in Enron stock. In addition, studies have identified cases of various individuals who lost their jobs while fighting against unethical activities at the Enron. From this perspective (Garber, pp. 40-55, 2008), one can easily consider this dilemma of organisational corruption as an unethical act on long-term analysis. Conclusion From personal observations, it is an understanding that in this age of globalisation, ruthless competition, and economic collapses, it is possible that majority of individuals will be facing situations that will put them to decide their actions as ethical or unethical based on the factors of honesty, success, pleasure, etc. Analysis has indicated that huge numbers of organisations are now identifying innovative methodologies to market their products and services in the global market, and are endeavoring to increase their profits enormously that will be putting organisational heads on the verge of ethical and unethical, and thus, such ethical theories, such as Utilitarianism theory are effective way of evaluating actions. However, it is very important that business organisations should not keep these theories as only theoretical concepts, and should put efforts to implement propositions of scholars and intellectuals in their day-to-day processes and procedures. In particular, ethical dilemmas exist in the field of global business, and they will continue to exist in this era of economic recession and globalisation; however, it is anticipation that discussion of dilemmas in light of ethical theories and intellectual understandings will play a crucial and vital role in resolving them on moral and ethical grounds. The paper took the organisational corruption as the ethical dilemma in the business and society while understanding it in light of Utilitarianism and it is an observation that changes in mechanisms will take a longer time due to various loopholes in the business regulations. However, one can reduce the number of white-collar crimes and eliminate them by persuading individuals based on ethics and morality. Lastly, the discussion has indicated that leadership plays an imperative role in instilling ethical behavior in employees at lower level, and ethical actions by top management can be an efficient way of eliminating this ethical dilemma from the field of business. Convincingly, the paper has analysed some of the significant aspects and factors associated with ethical dilemma of organisational corruption while relating them with principles of a non-religious ethical theory, Utilitarianism. It is anticipation that the paper will be beneficial for students and non-professionals in better understanding of the topic. References Beenen, G. & Pinto, J. 2009. “Resisting Organizational-Level Corruption: An Interview with Sherron Watkins.” Academy of Management Learning & Education. Volume 8, Issue 2, pp 275-289. Crane, Andrew. 2007. Business Ethics. Oxford University Press, USA. Everson, Stephen. 1998. Ethics. Cambridge University Press. Furrow, Dwight. 2005. Ethics. Continuum International Publishing Group. Garber, P. R. 2008. The Ethical Dilemma. HRD. Johnson, Craig E. 2008. Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership. Sage Publications. Kotler, Philip, & Lee, Nancy. 2005. Corporate social responsibility: doing the most good for your company and your cause. John Wiley and Sons. Mill, John Stuart. 2001. Utilitarianism. Hackett Publishing. Robbins, Stephen P., & Judge, Timothy A. (2009). Organizational behavior. Pearson Prentice Hall. Sterret, J. E. 1906 “The Profession of Accountancy.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 28, Business Professions, pp. 16-27. Read More