Ethical Decision making Frameworks Managers in both large and small enterprises face difficult ethical situations daily as they attempt to do their
jobs. Since management decisions inherently involve ethical considerations, however, it is important that managers recognize the ethical elements that are embedded in their day-to-day job functions. They need to be able to reason through ethical decisions, just as they would reason through any managerial problem facing them. Many times, ethics-laden situations involve issues that are clearly right or wrong when judged by the manager's or organization's values or code of conduct. Furthermore, most managerial decisions and actions are
legal, although there are occasions when a certain decision would clearly go beyond legal boundaries and be illegal. Assuming that the law itself is just, these decisions are not really ethically problematic in that what to do to make an ethically sound decision is quite clear. In these cases, making a decision to break the law or to do something that disagrees with a code of conduct or set of values is clearly unethical. It is not difficult to know what the right thing to do is in such situations. Ethical decision-making problems arise for managers and leaders when decisions involve a moral conflict—that is, a moral situation in which a person must choose between at least two equally bad choices, or when there are multiple ethical considerations, some of which conflict with each other. In such circumstances, which are common in business, the manager has to be able to think through the consequences and ethical implications of the decision thoroughly and mindfully so that the best possible decision can be made given the constraints, implications, and ethical considerations. If the decision itself cannot be reframed as a situation in which all parties can benefit—that is, a win-win situation—then the manager needs a decision-making framework to help.
To help managers think through ethical moral conflicts, the business ethicists Gerald Cavanagh and his colleagues have developed a decision-making framework that relies on the ideas of philosophers and ethicists and applies those ideas to business decisions. This approach combines four methods of ethical reasoning—rights and duties, utilitarianism, justice, and the ethics of care—into a framework that helps managers and leaders step through a logical thinking process to sort out the ethical dimensions of a difficult and inherently conflictual situation. Rights and Duties Rights are justifiable claims or entitlements, frequently based on the law or other authoritative documents, such
as treaties and international declarations, that allow people to pursue their own interests. Rights can be viewed as the positive things that people are allowed to do, but they come with an obverse side as well, in the form of duties or obligations that go along with the rights. For example, in democracies, one right is the ability to vote. Along with that right comes the duty to exercise that right by actually voting. In many countries, employees are granted certain rights, such as the right to safe working conditions or a minimum wage, and employers have
corresponding duties to ensure that these conditions are met. These rights are based on laws and regulations.
Ethical Decision making Frameworks Managers in both large and small enterprises face difficult ethical situations daily as they attempt to do their
jobs. Since management decisions inherently involve ethical considerations, however, it is important that managers recognize the ethical elements that are embedded in their day-to-day job functions. They need to be able to reason through ethical decisions, just as they would reason through any managerial problem facing them. Many times, ethics-laden situations involve issues that are clearly right or wrong when judged by the manager's or organization's values or code of conduct. Furthermore, most managerial decisions and actions are
legal, although there are occasions when a certain decision would clearly go beyond legal boundaries and be illegal. Assuming that the law itself is just, these decisions are not really ethically problematic in that what to do to make an ethically sound decision is quite clear. In these cases, making a decision to break the law or to do something that disagrees with a code of conduct or set of values is clearly unethical. It is not difficult to know what the right thing to do is in such situations. Ethical decision-making problems arise for managers and leaders when decisions involve a moral conflict—that is, a moral situation in which a person must choose between at least two equally bad choices, or when there are multiple ethical considerations, some of which conflict with each other. In such circumstances, which are common in business, the manager has to be able to think through the consequences and ethical implications of the decision thoroughly and mindfully so that the best possible decision can be made given the constraints, implications, and ethical considerations. If the decision itself cannot be reframed as a situation in which all parties can benefit—that is, a win-win situation—then the manager needs a decision-making framework to help.
To help managers think through ethical moral conflicts, the business ethicists Gerald Cavanagh and his colleagues have developed a decision-making framework that relies on the ideas of philosophers and ethicists and applies those ideas to business decisions. This approach combines four methods of ethical reasoning—rights and duties, utilitarianism, justice, and the ethics of care—into a framework that helps managers and leaders step through a logical thinking process to sort out the ethical dimensions of a difficult and inherently conflictual situation. Rights and Duties Rights are justifiable claims or entitlements, frequently based on the law or other authoritative documents, such
as treaties and international declarations, that allow people to pursue their own interests. Rights can be viewed as the positive things that people are allowed to do, but they come with an obverse side as well, in the form of duties or obligations that go along with the rights. For example, in democracies, one right is the ability to vote. Along with that right comes the duty to exercise that right by actually voting. In many countries, employees are granted certain rights, such as the right to safe working conditions or a minimum wage, and employers have
corresponding duties to ensure that these conditions are met. These rights are based on laws and regulations.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
