MGMT 3000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Reductionism, Egotism
17 Dec 2018
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Chapter 4: Ethical Theories
The Role of Ethical Theory
• Normative Ethical Theories: the rules and principles that determine right and wrong for
a given situation
• Ethical Absolutism: on one side of the spectrum would be a position of ethical
absolutism, which claims that there are eternal, universally applicable moral principles
o Right and wrong are objective qualities that can be rationally determined
• Ethical Relativism: the other extreme, which claims that morality is context-dependent
and subjective. There is no universal right and wrongs that can be rationally determined
– it simply depends on the person making the decision and the culture in which they are
located
o Occurs in international business issues where it is argued that a moral judgement
about behavior in one culture cannot be made from outside because morality is
culturally determined
• Most Western Modernist theories tend to be absolutist in nature and seek to set out
universal rules or principles that can be applied to any situation to provide the answer
as to what is right or wrong
• Contemporary ethical theories provide us with alternative perspectives on ethical
theory and tend towards a more relativistic position
Limits of Western Modernist Theories
• Too abstract
• Too reductionist
• Too objective and elitist
• Too impersonal
• Too imperialist
Alternative Perspectives on Ethical Theory
• Virtue Ethics: a theory that contends that morally correct actions are those undertaken
by actors with virtuous characters, and that the formation of a virtuous character is the
first step towards morally correct behavior
o Good actions come from good persons, where good persons are defined in terms
of certain traits or characteristics, namely virtues
o How do we determine which community ideals of good practice to consult?
o In the absence of a clear code of conduct from our relevant communities, how
do we translate ideas of virtuous traits into ethical action?
