Description of Ethical Theories and Principles - Case Study Example

Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction Decision making is the systematic process of choosing logically between options that are available. During decision making, an individual weighs both the positive aspects of an action and the negative aspects before settling on the best option. For decision making to be effective and conclusive, an individual must be able to anticipate the effects of the decisions taken. Decision making can be undertaken from different perspectives. They include: ethics and ethical perspective, psychological and a value founded perspective. This paper examines the ethics and ethical perspective of decision making based on the 1987 movie wall street. The paper discusses the ethical decision making of the characters in Wall Street and tries to base these decisions on developed theories, models and frameworks of the ethics and ethical perspective of decision making. The strengths and weaknesses of the decisions made by these characters will also be critically analyzed and evaluated based on this perspective. Ethics and ethical decision case study Decision making essentially depends on the individual making the choices. It is the person involved who sees whether the decision to be taken could be somehow damaging to another person or group of people. The decision maker observes the choices presented and acknowledges whether the decision to be made would be between a bad and a good alternative or between choices that are both good or between two bad choices. Before making an ethical decision, the decision to be made should be based on the relevant facts known about the case, the unknown factors, and the people that might be affected by the decision and the alternate options available. In Wall Street, the original movie, Bud Fox is a stock broker in Steinem investment on Wall Street in the early 1980’s. He has a very strong desire to be successful and this leads him to work for a highly successful broker Gordon Gekko. Bud is strongly motivated by money and when given a choice by the greedy Gekko to use inside information to get both of them rich, he takes it. Even though he grows extremely rich, Bud Fox ends up making a trail of decisions that have a negative impact on him, his family and his associates at work. Bowie and Bowie (2004) while explaining the teleological and deontological ethical theories points out that deontological theory of ethics give significance to moral rules and issues that should not be and cannot be broken. The deontological ethical theories do not hold the view that the end justifies the means but rather attach significance to the action and not its consequence. On the other hand, teleological theories of ethics attach a great deal of significance to the consequence or end result of the made decision. Teleological theorists argue that whether the decision was right or wrong can only be surmised from the end result. Teleological theories conform to the notion that the end justifies the means. An action that would lead to a good end is taken to be morally and ethically sound as compared to an action that leads to bad end. Teleological theorists point out that actions like love, kindness and honesty are only good if their application provides good results (Bowie & Bowie, 2004, pg 34, 35). On Gordon Gekko’s birthday, Bud Fox saw an opportunity to come into contact with the rich and powerful broker. The only problem was that he could not convince him that he was good enough to work for him. Several days prior to this, Bud had come into information about Bluestar Airlines from his father and in a fit of desperation gives the information to Gekko so as to gain his favor. This action amounted to insider trading but Bud after being pushed to the wall by circumstances and Gekko’s ruthlessness decides to break the rules so as to place himself on the path to success. To Fox, the end justified the means. Pojman & Fieser (2008) argue that the act of lying would be viewed as intrinsically wrong by deontologists. Carl, Bud’s father is one of the few men in the movie who seems to uphold this theory. When he lends Bud 200 dollars and Bud gives him 1000, he does not accept the money. He is an honest individual who does not ascribe to Gekko’s principle that greed is good. When Gekko calls the union leaders of Bluestar airlines with an aim of a takeover, Carl does not hide his discomfort and is brutally honest to the discomfort of his son. Carl bases his decisions on what is right and what is wrong. There are no grey areas for him when it comes to that matter. He sees things in black and white. He would rather lost his job than lie to his men. He takes his responsibility as a union leader with authority and strives to do the best for them. Carl believes that money is something a person needs just in case they don’t die the next day. He is an honest individual who reminds Bud everyday to pay his student loans. Carl seems to follow Hitchcock et al’s argument that the consequence of a decision should not drive the choice made in the decision making process nor should they be a basis for ethical justification (Pojman & Fieser, 2008, pg 102; Morrison, 2009, pg 18, 19; Hitchcock et al, 2003). Rights theories are examples of deontological theories. The theory upholds a decision made by an individual as long as it respects the rights and freedoms of other people. The rights theory states that individuals are free to act in any way they deem necessary as long as they do not violate the rights of others. Carl made a decision to let the union members choose for themselves whether or not to allow Gordon Gekko to take over their company thus upholding the workers right of choice. Another theory of ethics and ethical decision making that is evidenced in Wall Street is the virtue approach theory. This theory states that decisions should be consistent with known virtues in society that lead to the development of humanity. This enables people to make decisions based on virtues like humility, honesty, generosity and courage. The shortage of the utilization of this theory in Wall Street is glaring. Nearly all characters embrace Gekko’s idea that greed is good and make decisions in their own selfish interests instead of acting in consistency with the virtue approach (Roberts, 2009, pg 118; Schlabach & Peer, 2008, pg 188). Utilitarianism is an example of the teleological theory. The Utilitarianism theory of ethics is based on the usefulness and utility of the decision making and not the moral obligation. The theory of utilitarianism promotes the notion that a decision is the right one if by its implementation; the greatest good is derived by the majority of the people. The individual who derived this theory maintained that good was measured in the amount of happiness and pleasure with the minimum amount of pain possible. It can be argued that Bud was in keeping with this theory while working for Gekko. Even though it is for his own happiness and pleasure foremost, Bud passes own some tidbits of information that end up being of profit to his associates including Marv, Mannheim, Charlie and Steeples. First he informs them to buy into Anacott steel and later advises them on when to buy into and sell Bluestar shares. Even though the decision to inform his friends is due to selfish interests, the fact that he made the majority happy plays right into the Utilitarianism theory (Rainbow, 2002, pp 13-18: Lea et al, 2005). The ethical models of decision making are based on different frameworks. Lindahl (2011) presents a model that is founded on a conceptual framework. Lindahl explains that ethical decisions should be made after the context of the ethical dilemma has been known. Before making a decision, Lindahl argues, a sympathetic perception of the situation should be developed. He explains that developing sympathy breeds knowledge while on the other hand, emotion leads to action. These must have been running in Bud’s mind when he decided to finally cut ties with Gordon Gekko. After being the architect of a plan to take over Bluestar Airways, the company where his father works, Bud Fox does not know that Gekko had reneged on the plan to turn the company around. Actually, Gekko intended to sell the company so as to benefit from the pension fund. This would see many employees of the company lose their jobs. When this is revealed to Bud it does not only hurt him because his father works for the company but also because he feels sympathetic towards the workers. He therefore makes his decision based on the sympathy towards the workers and the feeling of betrayal from Gekko. Velasquez (2009) presents a framework for ethics and ethical decision making that comprises of 5 steps. The first step that is proposed is for one to recognize an ethical problem when faced with one. Before making a decision, one is supposed to analyze the impact of the decision to be made on other individuals singularly or as a group. One is also supposed to consider whether the choice is between legality and efficiency. Obviously, Bud Fox choose the easier route of efficiency and abandoned the legality of the whole process. The second step of the framework advices one to collect all the facts before making a decision. The third options calls for an evaluation of choices before making a decision. The option that is made depends on the different theories of ethics. The fourth step in this ethical model framework calls for the testing of the made decision while the last step is the implementation phase of the framework. (Velasquez, 2009, pp 21-25) When Darien falls out with Bud due to his stand against Gekko, she walks out on him. However, her next decision is calculated enough to have been based on this framework. She has a moral dilemma facing her of whether to stick with her boyfriend or go back to Gekko her former lover and the more powerful of the two men. Darien evaluates her choices and comes to the conclusion based on the virtue approach. She chooses to stay with the person who loved her instead of the one with more money thus dispelling the notion held by Gekko that greed is good and that greed always wins. Conclusively, it can be said that the decision making for most if not all the characters in Wall Street are skewed or fundamentally skewed. Bud Fox makes many bad decisions in the course of the story and even though he redeems himself at the end most of the harm has already been done. A recommendation for him would be to improve his self confidence. Bud could not even approach a lady when he did not have money. The decisions he made to break the law in order to get rich originated from a low self esteem brought about by his economic status. He even gives up hope of having friends when being driven to the courthouse by his father. He should be more confident in his abilities and not in the abilities brought about by money. Bud should learn to consider alternatives before making a decision. Even though his father advices him to look for a more fitting job, Bud is obsessed with getting rich as fast as possible and does not consider switching careers until the very end. Gekko should try to be more caring and understanding of the consequences of his decisions. He is ready to ruin the lives of people just to get even richer. Understanding that humans are equal should make him make more humble decisions. A recommendation for Darien would be that she becomes more decisive when making decisions. She loved Bud but still left him for some time out of fear of Gekko’s retaliation. Mannheim should be more positive when making decisions. He is pessimistic about everything and has a mentality that success does not last. Carl should be more attentive to improve his decision making skills. Continuously, he is told of the dangers of smoking but he does not listen. This eventually leads to his hospitalization. Conclusion Decision making viewed from the ethics and ethical perspective is based on teleological, deontological and virtue theories. Teleology determines the correctness or wrongness of a decision based on the consequence of that decision while deontology pays the greater significance to the action instead of the consequence. The virtue theory considers the morally acceptable desirable qualities of society such as humility and honesty during decision making. The framework of decision making according to this theories call for an individual to recognize the ethicality of the issue, collate the relevant facts, evaluate alternatives, test the decision and reflect on the consequences of the decisions. Work Cited Bowie, Bob, and Bowie, Robert, A. Ethical studies. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, 2004. Poiman, Louise, P., and Fieser, James. Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong.Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2008. Morrrison, Eileen, E. Health Care Ethics: Critical Issues for the 21st Century. 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