Business and Professional Ethics for Directors, Executives, and Accountants - Essay Example

?Ethics Ethics, like rules of law, defines people’s acceptable behavior in interactions with the aim of protecting others’ social interest. Each society has its sets of ethical values that are often distinct from those of other societies and are explained by ethical concepts and theories. This paper explores ethical theories and concepts. Introduction Ethics refers to sets of moral behavior, in a society, which the society has generally practiced and accepted over time, and ethical theories evaluate and answer questions that relate to morality. This paper discusses the virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics together with a personal experience that explains the relationship between virtue, value, and moral concepts. The Theories and Their Approach in Addressing Ethics and Morality Virtue theory The virtue theory is one of the applicable theories in determining morality of an act. The theory bases morality on a person’s character and not on intention or possible results of his or her actions. Admirable characteristics of an individual define morality within social systems. The theory further defines character as people’s demonstrated behavioral tendencies and classifies a person’s behavior as moral if such behavior is admirable among members of the society and promotes social cohesion. Further, the behavior must foster rationality in people’s actions that need to be free from selfishness and bias. Virtue ethics also avoids extremes. It is, however, criticized for its high-level variability across societies (Brook & Dunn, 2009). Utilitarianism Utilitarianism, however, focuses on the intent to maximize utility, and is based on beneficence doctrine. This means a promotion of what is good and voidance of all sorts of action that can cause harm to other people. In either of its forms, whether act utilitarianism or rule utilitarianism, the theory identifies a person’s motive and considers morality when an action causes more benefits that harm. Act utilitarianism measures morality in terms of results of an act of omission or commission while rule utilitarianism relies on set rules of ethics, which regulate acts for beneficence, to determine morality. Utilitarianism can also be explored from philosophical perspectives that include “welfarism, consequentialism, aggregative and maximizing” (Kanniyakonil, 2007, p. 66). Welfarism focuses on the society’s well being, consequentialism focuses on impacts of actions, and aggregative aspect compares levels of good or bad that an action elicits. These approaches apply either singularly or dependently to determine morality in an act (Kanniyakonil, 2007). Deontology Deontology is another approach to determining morality. It is based on moral rules and obligations to do right in the society and its general scope defines an act as moral when a person fulfils an obligation. It, however, disregards consequences of such actions. Failing to honor an obligation with the aim of promoting good, and even achieving the desired objective, defines immorality. There exist two types of deontology: “act deontology and rule deontology” (Kanniyakonil, 2007, p. 60). Act deontology requires that a person evaluate all factors around a situation before making a decision based on direct or implied obligations. Rule deontology, however, pre-establishes standards upon which obligations are derived (Kanniyakonil, 2007). Similarities Among the Theories The major similarity among the three concepts is their objective of determining and consequently ensuring morality. They all establish bases for evaluation and classification of people’s advances as moral or immoral, ethical or unethical. Further, deontology and utilitarianism are similar in their mode of approach. They both apply action and rules to determine morality. Applicability of all the theories also varies from one society to another based on cultural values. Their strict application in one setup may, therefore, not correspond to application in another setup (Brook & Dunn, 2009; Kanniyakonil, 2007). Differences Among the Theories While the theories have a number of similarities, they also exhibit many differences. The major difference among the theories is their approach in defining morality. Virtue ethics, for example, applies personality trait in determining a person’s morals, and disregards actions. Utilitarianism relies on consequences of an action in evaluating what is immoral and what is moral, while deontology applies established obligations as a criterion for determining morality. Virtue ethics also differs from both utilitarianism and deontology in that while virtue ethics observes behavior, deontology and utilitarianism observe consequences of behavior ­­– actions. Further, deontology differs from utilitarianism on their points of evaluation and application. Deontology also differs from utilitarianism in that deontology is a push concept with pre-established obligations that distinguish morality from immorality before an act is initiated, while utilitarianism is a pull concept that applies expected consequences to influence actions (Brook & Dunn, 2009; Kanniyakonil, 2007). Virtue, Values, and Moral Concepts: A Personal Experience Values refer to objectives and ideal perspectives in a society. They may be held at micro social levels or macro social levels. Examples include personal ideals and organizational goals, which define expected standards. Moral concepts, however, define rules and ideas that facilitate understanding of values for decision making while virtues refer to a person’s characteristics that demonstrate personal values. The three form foundations of morality as they define personality, social rules, and their relationship towards decision-making (Jeurissen, 2007). While almost every experience involves ethical consideration, one instance in my first year in college establishes the best illustration of the relationship among virtue, values, and moral concepts. The case involved a dilemma in which I was to choose between attending a lecture and helping a friend who required urgent medical attention. In class, the lecturer had a tendency of noting and strictly punishing absentees according to college regulations and yet, I was the only immediate source of help. My friend’s condition evoked my empathy, kindness and affection and I felt the responsibility of ensuring availability of medical assistance. I was, therefore, expected to be in class according to school regulations, and at the same time, to facilitate medical attention for my friend as a socially responsible individual. I, however, considered the extent of consequences of either acts of omission and applied utilitarianism ethics to make a decision. While failing to attend the class had chances of adversely affecting my final grade because of penalties, failure to facilitate medical assistance had a possibility of resulting in death that would be worse than relatively poor grades. I, therefore, decided to apply the doctrine of beneficence to help my friend because it would yield higher utility. Conclusion Ethics defines morality of actions in a society. Its applicability depends on theories such as virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and deontology. While the theories are different in their approaches, they share a common role in defining what is ethical and what is unethical. Being ethical, however, involves concepts of virtue, values, and moral concepts. References Brook, L., & Dunn, P. (2009). Business & professional ethics for directors, executives & accountants. Mason,OH: Cengage Learning. Jeurissen, R. (2007). Ethics & business. Assen, The Netherlands: Uitgeverij Van Gorcum Kanniyakonil, S. (2007). The fundamentals of bioethics: Legal perspectives and ethical approaches. Kerala, India: Scaria Kanniyakonil. Read More