Ethics Theory and Business Practice 2 1 Utilitarianism

Ethics Theory and Business Practice 2. 1 Utilitarianism – Part One Maximizing the Good

aims • to introduce consequentialism as a way of evaluating ethics • to describe how utilitarians judge the ethicality of an action’s consequences in relation to how much good it causes • to explore some contrasting ideas about what is ‘good’ for people and how these might impact on utilitarian evaluation

consequentialism • judges the ethicality of decisions and actions in relation to their consequences • rather than in relation to their intrinsic rightness

utilitarianism • judges consequences in terms of good and bad • so if a decision or an action produces more good than bad, it is ethical http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=XKQAfl. Zr. Xp U

a utilitarian justification for rationalization • a company may need to ‘rationalize’ its workforce in order to improve performance • some will lose their jobs in this rationalization • but others will benefit from the improved performance • if more people benefit from the improved performance than suffer from the rationalization, the rationalization is justified on utilitarian grounds

theory in practice will Ford’s rationalization plan maximize the good?

what does ‘the good’ consist of?

three possible responses 1. hedonistic utilitarianism 2. objective-good utilitarianism 3. J. S Mill’s utilitarianism

first response: hedonistic utilitarianism maximizing pleasure/happiness • the only thing that we value in its own right is pleasure and the only thing that we seek to avoid in its own right is pain • so pleasure must be the ultimate ‘good’ and pain must be the ultimate ‘bad’ • therefore, maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain must be the ethically correct thing to do

second response: objective-good utilitarianism • pleasure is not the only good • indeed, some forms of pleasure are intrinsically bad • and some things are good even if they do not bring us pleasure

some objective goods

third response: J. S. Mill’s utilitarianism distinguishing higher pleasures from lower pleasures • some pleasures are intrinsically superior to others • to enjoy higher-order pleasures in the long term, we may need to forego lower-order pleasures in the short term • in particular, we may need to cultivate our capacity to appreciate higher-order pleasures

analyses of the good applied to business analysis of the good hedonistic utilitarianism business it ethical insofar as it … causes more pleasure than pain objective-good utilitarianism creates and preserves beautiful things; furthers knowledge and learning, promotes freedom; preserves people’s dignity; encourages those who are associated with the business to realize their full intellectual, cultural and physical potential J. S. Mill’s utilitarianism promotes products and services which develop people’s cultural and intellectual capacities; facilitates employees’ intellectual and cultural development

utilitarianism and ethical employment practices www. youtube. com/watch? v=li 4 HRGEja. Zg

key points • utilitarianism highlights the importance of consequences to business ethics • there is more than one way of defining ‘good’ consequences • therefore we need to take a comprehensive overview of what the good consists of if we are to apply utilitarianism to business