Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on ETHICAL THEORY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO DECISION MAKING. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4-page paper focuses on ethical theory and how it pertains to practical aspects, such as decision making processes. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_MTethdec.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
or Justice just what it is that makes a certain action wrong (the answer, he points out, is "the consequences"). The difficulty with this particular idea, however, is that those
who dont behave ethically (what Freeman dubs "ethical egoism") dont believe theyre in the wrong from a moral standpoint. This was the case with the Enron implosion of 2001 --
the Enron executives, claiming that expectations from Wall Street and other stakeholders were too high, justified the playing around with figures on balance sheets and income statements. The consequences of
that, of course, was the downfall of this once mighty company and the loss of millions of dollars for thousands of investors and employees.
Most ethics philosophers, Freeman, says, consider that ethics is performed when they benefit the highest good -- the problem here, however, is that there are different ethical theories
that define "highest good." Ethical egoism, for example (which we saw in Enron) allows a person to act in ways that maximizes his or her own happiness, at the expense
of everyone else. Though ethical egoists are concerned about the plight of others, he notes, their serving of others will ultimately benefit them (Freeman, 2000).
At the other end of the spectrum is utilitarianism, which stresses that the greatest happiness of as many as possible should be the goal of any ethical
decision, and decisions should be made only toward this end (Freeman, 2000). This is the non-selfish version, namely that ethics works if the greatest number of people benefit from it.
This would be similar to an ethical situation in business -- according to Collins (1994), ethical theory (and this is theory, remember),
...