THE NATURE AND THEORY OF

ETHICS
 THE NATURE OF ETHICS
} Ethics may be regarded as knowing what is right, doing what is right and
feeling what is right.

} Ethics is a highly explicit codified form of behaviour designed to produce

particular ends and act in accordance with particular values.

} Morals refers to the standards held by the community, often in a form not
explicitly articulated.

} Ethics and morals are distinguished from etiquette in that the latter is to
do with custom rather than values.

} Normative ethics attempt to set ethical standards for conduct.

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ETHICAL ABSOLUTES AND
CONSEQUENTIALISM
• Deontology
• Utilitarianism
• Post-modernism
• Post-structuralism

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 BASES OF MORALITY
• Confucianism
• Poor bases for ethical systems- rule should be founded on God’s ordinance
• Morality based on conscience
• Hedonism or Utilitarianism
• Categorical imperative
• A set of artificial rules exercised in a casuistical manner

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ASPIRATIONS OR PUNISHMENT

• Ethics is not about legalistic argument nor is it about

punishment: it is, at best, positive and persuasive.
• It fills in the interstices of the law.
• It is modest and does not need a religious base.

• One can derive morality by:

• Identifying the intention that lies behind one’s ethical decisions
• Having concern with the rules of conduct, ways of behaving
and methods of procedure.

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PRINCIPLES AND IDEOLOGY

• The way in which business presents ideas, should conform to agreed

principles of accepted behaviour.

• The kind of reporting being discussed needs to be in terms of the

general norms and not as a case of special pleading.

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PERVASIVENESS OF ACTIONS

• Any principle has ramifications far beyond the immediate

and obvious.

• One should consider companies, business themes and value

systems as ongoing evolving enterprises.

• Business, like all other forms of endeavour, is not a self-

contained system but is pervasively affected by events
outside its immediate scope.

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RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE ETHICS

• It might be argued that there is no such thing as an ethical absolute.

• Codes are derivations of the human mind and an imposition on the

universe; they are invested with the different values the proponents
attach to them.

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THE NATURALISTIC FALLACY
• The naturalistic fallacy is the supposed error of proceeding from
factual statements, assertions about what is, to value statements
about what ought to be.

TYPES OF VIRTUES
• Moral virtues
• Intellectual virtues
• Political virtues

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JOHN STUART MILL’S UTILITARIANISM

• The central theses of utilitarianism are that happiness is the

highest good, that there are lower and higher types of
happiness and that there are individual people as well as
groups of people such as associations and societies.

• States should aim to maximise the best happiness of the

greatest number of people.

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G.E. MOORE’S PHILOSOPHY

• One, intangibility of the good

• Second, only things valuable in themselves are states of mind
• Third, right action aims to bring about a desirable state of affairs
• Fourth, ethical ideal is a complex compound

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QUANTIFICATION AND ETHICS
• Quantification may sometimes act as a guide to the importance of an issue.
• The criteria of financial success in business might be expressed as hourly
return per employee or capital value increase or gross profit or market share
or turnover.

TECHNIQUES FOR QUANTIFYING

• To use money as the reference point
• Delphi technique

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EXCELLENCE

An essential precondition of intellectual or artistic eminence is the vision

to see how things might be, to have an insight into ways of doing things
better, of perceiving failings and the power to persuade others.

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THE SEARCH FOR PERFECTION

• The search for perfection is evident in many cultures and

exists within our framework of dreams and aspirations.
• The current commitment to total quality management and
best international practice is a recent expression of that
idea, transferred to the business context.
• There is no doubt that quality sells goods and services and
benefits an organisation in the long run.

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EXCELLENCE AND VALUES

• The inherent value of mankind

• The joy of good work
• The importance of service
• It is better to give than to receive
• Performance is judged by the stewardship of assets

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ETHICS AS PART OF THE JUDGEMENT OF
EXCELLENCE
• In most professional work, excellence is judged, in part, by the ethical
codes.

• The judgement of how well such criteria have been satisfied must be
left to those fitted to judge.

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 EXCELLENCE IS POSITIVE AND PROFITABLE
• Excellence, including ethical excellence is clearly profitable. In order to
achieve potential, some values need to be emphasised and these
include:

• The value of personal worth and self-esteem based on the uniqueness,

significance and importance of the individual;

• The value of loving our neighbours, of placing them in esteem and

promoting their growth and well-being;

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Cont…

• The value of community and the responsibility of businesses to

take the social and human dimension into their areas of
shareholder accountability;

• The value of personal and corporate vision and the importance

of our personal and corporate responsibility for tomorrow as
well as for today.

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