Ethical Decision Making

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By: Nupur Rastogi.

"Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we
make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for
yourself because you can never really live anyone else's life."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt
Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among
multiple alternatives. Every decision-making process produces a final choice. It can be an
action or an opinion. It begins when we need to do something but we do not know what.
Therefore decision-making is a reasoning process which can be rational or irrational, and
can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions. Common examples include
shopping, deciding what to eat, and deciding whom or what to vote for in an election or
referendum.
Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This means that although we can
never "see" a decision, we can infer from observable behaviour that a decision has been
made. Therefore we conclude that a psychological event that we call "decision making"
has occurred. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. That is, based on
observable actions, we assume that people have made a commitment to effect the action.
Decisions are at the heart of success, and at times there are critical moments when they
can be difficult, perplexing, and nerve racking. Decision-making is about facing a
question, such as, "To be or not to be?", i.e., to be the one you want to be or not to be?
That is a decision.
What is ethics?
A few years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does
ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were the following:
"Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong."
"Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs."
"Being ethical is doing what the law requires."
"Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts."
"I don't know what the word means."
These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin down,
and the views many people have about ethics are shaky.
What, then, is ethics?
Ethics is two things.
First, ethics refers to well based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans
ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or
specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable
obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical
standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And,
ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to
freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of
ethics because they are supported by consistent and well founded reasons.
Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards. As
mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it
is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and
well-founded.
Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our
moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live
up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

Ethics and Decision Making

We have learned that a “good decision is never an accident” but this brings up a couple of
other interesting issues such as – is an ethical decision never an accident or perhaps more
intriguing is a good decision by necessity an ethical decision
Trying to determine a common moral code is not easy task . Questions of interest are
whether ethics and morality play a role in each stage of decision making and if so to what
extent.
Concept of Ethics and Morality: “Morality is a system of rules that modifies our
behavior in social situations. It’s about the doing of good instead of harm, and it sets
some standard of virtuous conduct.” Please note that for the purposes of this paper the
terms ethics and morality will be interchangeably used.
Autonomy: This relates to the question of exploitation of others and impacting their
freedoms. Almost every decision has impacts on multiple persons and taking these
impacts into not only consideration but engraining them in the process is not easy but
necessary.
Non-malfeasance: Will we be creating harm towards others? In government almost
every regulation benefits one group while hurting another. The same holds true in the
majority of business decisions – action creates a situation that by its very nature benefits
some while does not for others. Doe this create harm? I would argue that something that
is not beneficial to you does not mean it creates harm. Every challenge is an opportunity.
Beneficence: Can this create good? A generic statement but worth considering and in
essence all one needs to ask is can we solve the identified problem in a way that creates
the most good.
Justice: Is the process fair itself and is the resulting implementation fair. Essentially both
the means and the end must be considered. The world is not equal nor should it be as all
people are not created equal and what a boring place it would be if we were. There is all
the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them
equal.
Fidelity: Does this follow our professional, corporate or governance roles as defined.
Often this involves looking at the bigger picture and understanding the spirit of your role
beyond straightforward results.
As you will have no doubt noticed these definitions are far from concrete or
straightforward principles to apply. Every person potentially will have different
perspectives or degrees of agreement in each case. However, great strides will have been
made if each person is evaluating their concept of ethics. One of the greatest dangers in
this field is people ignoring the concept due to the ambiguity.
The Impact on Decision Making:
There are six key stages identified in the decision making process which include in order:
Identification of the Problem: Although this is the first stage this may be where
morality can have the greatest impact. This is often the most difficult stage for the
researcher and if it is not completed properly the results will be unsatisfactory regardless
of the quality (or morality) of the work that follows.
What is the Goal: The dilemma here is whether the goal is to solve the problem in an
ethical manner or simply determine the most ethical goal. The conflict here is do you
select a goal and then try to implement it in an effective matter later or do you choose
your goals based on ethics. In a perfect world it would be optimal to choose a goal with
ethics in mind, but in reality the maximized business goal is optimized by considering
ethics in only a very general sense at this stage. Eliminate the few obvious options that
are unlikely to have any ethical implementation and proceed forward.
Possible Actions: Pending your theory on determining the goal will have a huge
influence on the types of actions that make sense. Actions are primarily determined by
the goal you wish to achieve. Nevertheless ethics should influence the actions you are
willing to take within the scope of your goal.
Predict Outcome: This may be the one stage in which ethics requires no change.
Quantitative techniques are straightforward and merely calculate the results based on
your inputs. The age-old computer theory of ‘garbage in – garbage’ out applies.
Pick the best alternative: Is the best alternative simply the predicted outcome which
maximizes goals or does it merely provide empirical results for comparison (with which
you can rid the outliers). Formulate the choice as a maxim for all similar cases is a
concept those in favour of ethics will promote.
Implement Decision: In many cases this is an area where morality already plays a
significant role in current business practice. Unions and significant regulations exist to
ensure change is ‘ethical’.It is also important that decision makers consider the impacts of
implementation.

Why Identifying Ethical Standards is Hard

There are two fundamental problems in identifying the ethical standards we are to follow:
1. On what do we base our ethical standards?
2. How do those standards get applied to specific situations we face?
If our ethics are not based on feelings, religion, law, accepted social practice, or science,
what are they based on? Many philosophers and ethicists have helped us answer this
critical question. They have suggested at least five different sources of ethical standards
we should use.
Five Sources of Ethical Standards
The Utilitarian Approach
Some ethicists emphasize that the ethical action is the one that provides the most good or
does the least harm, or, to put it another way, produces the greatest balance of good over
harm. The ethical corporate action, then, is the one that produces the greatest good and
does the least harm for all who are affected-customers, employees, shareholders, the
community, and the environment. Ethical warfare balances the good achieved in ending
terrorism with the harm done to all parties through death, injuries, and destruction. The
utilitarian approach deals with consequences; it tries both to increase the good done and
to reduce the harm done.
The Rights Approach
Other philosophers and ethicists suggest that the ethical action is the one that best
protects and respects the moral rights of those affected. This approach starts from the
belief that humans have a dignity based on their human nature per se or on their ability to
choose freely what they do with their lives. On the basis of such dignity, they have a right
to be treated as ends and not merely as means to other ends. The list of moral rights
-including the rights to make one's own choices about what kind of life to lead, to be told
the truth, not to be injured, to a degree of privacy, and so on-is widely debated; some now
argue that non-humans have rights, too. Also, it is often said that rights imply duties-in
particular, the duty to respect others' rights.
The Fairness or Justice Approach
Aristotle and other Greek philosophers have contributed the idea that all equals should be
treated equally. Today we use this idea to say that ethical actions treat all human beings
equally-or if unequally, then fairly based on some standard that is defensible. We pay
people more based on their harder work or the greater amount that they contribute to an
organization, and say that is fair. But there is a debate over CEO salaries that are
hundreds of times larger than the pay of others; many ask whether the huge disparity is
based on a defensible standard or whether it is the result of an imbalance of power and
hence is unfair.
The Common Good Approach
The Greek philosophers have also contributed the notion that life in community is a good
in itself and our actions should contribute to that life. This approach suggests that the
interlocking relationships of society are the basis of ethical reasoning and that respect and
compassion for all others-especially the vulnerable-are requirements of such reasoning.
This approach also calls attention to the common conditions that are important to the
welfare of everyone. This may be a system of laws, effective police and fire departments,
health care, a public educational system, or even public recreational areas.
The Virtue Approach
A very ancient approach to ethics is that ethical actions ought to be consistent with
certain ideal virtues that provide for the full development of our humanity. These virtues
are dispositions and habits that enable us to act according to the highest potential of our
character and on behalf of values like truth and beauty. Honesty, courage, compassion,
generosity, tolerance, love, fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all
examples of virtues. Virtue ethics asks of any action, "What kind of person will I become
if I do this?" or "Is this action consistent with my acting at my best?"
Good Decisions Are Both Ethical and Effective
Ethical Decisions. A decision is ethical when it is consistent with the Six Pillars of
Character – ethical decisions generate and sustain trust; demonstrate respect,
responsibility, fairness and caring; and are consistent with good citizenship. If we lie to
get something we want and we get it, the decision might well be called effective, but it is
also unethical.
Effective Decisions. A decision is effective if it accomplishes something we want to
happen, if it advances our purposes. A simple test is: are you satisfied with the results? A
choice that produces unintended and undesirable results is ineffective.
For example, if we make a casual remark to make someone feel good but it makes him
feel bad instead, we were ineffective. If we decide to do something we really don’t want
to do just to please a friend and the decision ends up getting us in serious trouble, it’s
ineffective.
The key to making effective decisions is to think about choices in terms of their ability to
accomplish our most important goals. This means we have to understand the difference
between immediate and short-term goals and longer-range goals. We need to understand
the implications of decisions on those who are directly or indirectly affected by them. It is
a great responsibility for the managers and business leaders. The ethically correct
decisions get more respect, and they are easy to me implemented.
REFERENCES
• Mc Shane Steve L. & Glinow Von- Organization Behaviour, Tata Mc Graw-Hill, 2001.
• Prasad K. “ Strategic Human Resource Management- Text & Cases”, MacMillan India
Pvt. Ltd., 2005.
• Rogers Paul and Blenco Marcia- “ How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational
Performance”, Harward Business Review- Feb 2006.
• Verma Madhurendra K . –“ Decision Making: Some Home Truths”, Personnel Today ,
Vol 26, No.2, (April –June 2005)
• http://www.ubalt.edu/
• http://www.scu.edu/
• http://www.josephsonlineinstitute.org/
• http://www.ethicsweb.ca/
• http://www.mirrorservice.org/
(Note: This article is related to “Perception and Decision Making” topic in Management
Process and Organization Behavior)