Is business ethics an oxymoron? - Editorial - Cover Story

Business Horizons, Sept-Oct, 1994 by John W. Collins

Those who stress individuality and self'reliance insist on the right to personal autonomy-- the right to be left alone unless one willingly and knowingly chooses to interact with others. Free speech, privacy, and freedom of conscience are also part of this right to autonomy. Justice, say these ethicists, requires that the processes of distribution and administration be applied irapartially and consistently, and that distribution of benefits be based on individual merit and contribution.

Ethicists who stress relationships and helping believe that liberty, impartiality, and consistency are important, but that the concepts of rights and justice require more. They believe that individuals also have a right to well-being and that to honor this right one must fulfill a duty to provide for the well-being of others. This right to individual well-being might include the right to food, housing, education, employment, and medical care. Similarly, these ethicists view justice as requiring just results for individuals, not simply a fair process. Just results might include distribution of benefits on the basis of equal shares or need rather than merit or contribution.

In Heinz's case, those who value autonomy and process fairness would probably conclude that his stealing the drug is unethical because it violates the chemist's right to choose to keep his property and only do business with whomever he desires. Wilma is not entitled to the drug unless she, or someone on her behalf, is able to purchase it.

In contrast, those who value relationships and helping would question whether ability to pay is a fair way to decide who gets the drug and who does not. Doesn't Wilma have as much of a right to well-being as someone who can afford to purchase the drug? Isn't health as necessary for self-respect as personal autonomy? Further, justice based on results requires more than impartiality (whoever can afford the drug can have it). It requires that Wilma be able to obtain the help she needs to regain her health, especially because the chemist is demanding an extravagant price. Stealing the life-saving drug may be ethical because it honors Wilma's right to individual well-being and contributes to her just treatment. Although, as we have seen, deontologists disagree on the proper application of rights and justice principles, they agree on the more basic proposition that right action concerns respect for individuals. In this focus on individual harm and benefit all deontologists differ from utilitarians, who believe that right action is related to social harm and benefit.

Ethical Theory and the Role of Manager

What, then, can ethical theory contribute to the development of a new description of the role of manager? How would the manager's role be described if it were derived from ethical theory? Unlike the traditional description of the manager's role, it would focus on society and other individuals rather than on self-interest.

Utilitarianism would instruct managers to do those things that will result in the greatest good for the greatest number. For discussion purposes we will call this an ethical charge to create value. Deontology, on the other hand, would instruct managers to respect individuals by recognizing their rights and contributing to their just treatment. As we will see later, this can be treated as an ethical charge to build trust.