Comments on: Ethics Studies Say "Focus on the Right Thing" and "Leaders Matter"

By: asg

asg — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 21:55:54 +0000

No discussion of business ethics can be meaningful without acknowledging the contradictions produced by modern white collar criminal law. Check out this article: http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/GTWebSite/WCCFinalDraft.pdf Take the quiz at the beginning, then read the article, and note how the ethical choice can land you in a heap of trouble with the law.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 02:53:49 +0000

Involving “ethics” is a messy term. Strictly speaking, anything that involves agency involves ethics (what we ought to do). The pRoblem is not so much that one system is better then the other, but that people prefer not to seriously conduct ethical inquiries.

As a general rule of thumb though, using an ends-based approach involves far more conscious thought/calculations then a means-based approach. Thus, if you’re working in a company, the quick and dirty way of implementing a code of ethics is by a set of rules. Humans tend to follow the path of least resistance, so most will accept the code by default.

I stress that there is nothing wrong with this approach, but I am more partial towards setting guidelines and getting people to think about how they ought to live in a broader sense. Of course, this doesn’t work at a big corporation, so just force people to follow the rules.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 02:04:17 +0000

Have you considered the idea that minor negative consequences today may have major negative consequences tomorrow? That amplification and passage of time can work several ways within our individual neuroscience.