Social Responsibility and Managerial Ethics
In order for ethical behavior, decisions and practices to permeate with one's employees an ethical culture should be practiced from the top executives with a company (Black, Hitt, Porter, S29). Managerial ethics starts with top of an organization and from there should be promoted to one's employees, it is therefore important that a manager understands some of the basics approaches in ethical decision making. There are four basic approaches to ethical decision-making starting with the Utilitarian Approach which focuses on the consequences of one's actions. Then there is the Moral Rights Approach. This approach takes a stance on the moral aspect of actions (this is without the thought of what the consequences are.) Next comes the Universal Approach which is finding a solution that can be applied to all people and situations. Lastly, the Justice Approach which focuses on equality for all employees and showing no favor for one over another. Something a great greek philosopher by the name of Aristotle once said that I found applicable to this topic, "equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally." It is probably most important that managers follow the Justice Approach in ethical decision making. Employees can tell when one is being favored over another. Not only will you lose good employees from working hard (due to a lack of caring since they will believe you do not care for them), there are situations where an employee that you favor can take advantage of the situation.
Which approach do you find most important?
Hitt, Michael A., J. Stewart Black, and Lyman W. Porter. Social Responsibility and Managerial Ethics.Management. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Prentice Hall, 2012. 27-56. Print.
