Philosophy for Business Decision's

Philosophy for Business Decisions

2004 The sphere of business belongs to the most ethically challenging spheres of the social life . The main technical goal of every business is maximizing income , and this goal often appears in contradiction to the principles of humanity and compassion towards the human beings . This paper argues that the philosophy of utilitarianism in its classical variant of Act Utilitarianism is best for ethical assessment of business decisions

Act Utilitarianism (or Act Consequentialism , in its classical form developed by J . Bentham , J . S . Mill and H . Sidgwick , claims

that an act is morally right if and only if that act maximizes the good , that is , if and only if the amount of bad for all is greater than this net amount for any incompatible act available to the agent on that occasion (Consequentialism . There are two key elements in this theory . First the ultimate goal is the maximizing of utility , that is , the overall happiness (Talbott . Second , the evaluation of someone 's conduct is limited to the consequences of concrete actions regardless of actual intents of their performers : .the principle is applied directly to the selection of particular actions under particular circumstances (Varner

The nature of business often requires making decisions that will harm a considerable amount of people . In order to get rid from a bankrupt facility , employees must be fired . Aggressive and successful marketing policy means that businesses of some of the competitors will not survive . Someone always is to be sacrificed (though not in direct meaning of this term ) and by this enable the society as a whole to go further in its development . The synonym of utility in the business practice is the income . For example , If the role of business is to maximize the return of shareholders , then only activities that increase profitability should be encouraged (Business Ethics . That means responsible and operative performing of a number of actions , including employing and firing managers and other personnel and making required changes in technology . It might seem that the interests of shareholders prevail over the interests of the rest of the society . However , if business develops successfully , new working places are created Moreover , it is in interests of the shareholders to obey the laws because otherwise the cost is too high for the company when the machinations are revealed (Business Ethics . These examples , I think demonstrate that the principle of actions maximizing utility has good potential for application in the business ethics

Bibliography

Business ethics . Fact Index . Online at HYPERLINK "http /www .fact-index .com /b /bu /business_ethics .html http /www .fact-index .com /b /bu /business_ethics .html

Consequentialism . Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Online at HYPERLINK "http /plato .stanford .edu /entries /consequentialism http /plato .stanford .edu /entries /consequentialism

Talbott , William J . Second Version of the Golden Rule . UW Faculty Web Server . Online at HYPERLINK "http /faculty .washington .edu /wtalbott /phil240 /trutil .htm http /faculty .washington .edu /wtalbott /phil240 /trutil .htm

Varner , Gary E . Four Lectures on Ethical Theory . Act v . Rule Utilitarianism . Philosophy...