Evaluate consequence-based moral theories.
Instructions
Creating the perfect boss
Your company, Ye Old Paper Mill, recently experienced some organizational chart changes, mostly related to management positions. After posting low profits and even lower employment satisfaction scores, the CEO decided it was time for a change. The CEO, who prefers consequentialist views when it comes to ethical decisions, approached you, along with the rest of the human resources department, and tasked the team with weighing consequentialist ethical theories and selecting which theory would be best for potential managers. For this assessment, you will draft a proposal that addresses the following questions:
What are key features of consequentialist theories?
What are the differences between the consequentialist theories?
How does happiness and pleasure factor in to these theories? Remember employee satisfaction is at an all-time low.
What are the pros and cons of each view for the company if the majority of its employees would follow one of the particular theories?
Would it be possible for a manager, who follows a different ethical perspective, to effectively manage subordinates who follow a particular consequentialist theory?
Select and defend which consequentialist theory for management would be best for the company. Consequentialist Theories Essay
Your properly formatted proposal will need to include the following sections:
Introduction: Explain why you are sending this proposal. Provide an overview of the issue and discuss the task from the CEO.
Address the questions listed above with applicable support and research
Conclusion: In this part, you will wrap up the proposal and select and defend which consequentialist theory for management would be best for the company.
Proper Proposal Formatting: This a professional document and needs to be structured as a proposal and not as an essay. You will still need to supply both in text and full citations for the sources of your information
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Consequentialist Theories
Proposal
The ethical theory or school of thought that is consequentialism holds that an ethically correct action would be judged by what it produces. In other words, whether an action is good or bad will be determined by its consequences. An extreme example has often been given. It is that if a lie were to be told in order to save the life of a human being, then that would be the most ethical thing to do according o consequentialism (Ellis, 2019). Our organization has not been performing quite well on the human capital front and there needs to be a change. This proposal aims to redress this situation and make recommendations based on the theory of consequentialism. Consequentialist Theories Essay
Features of Consequentialist Theories
- They tend to want to maximise pleasure but minimize pain at the same time. One would argue that this is why they do not specify a direction that an action has to take. Rather, the theories wait until the action is completed and the result or consequence out before coming into action. The long and short of this is that an action may be ethical today but become unethical tomorrow just because the consequences will have been different between the two days.
- They are only concerned with the outcomes of actions. Consequentialist theories are not concerned with a rigid view of what is right and what is wrong like the other theories. They are flexible and would render an interpretation whichever way the action points and the results. If it brings the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people then it is ethical.
- They are about the welfare of many and not the minority. If beneficence is brought to many by an action then it is ethical.
- The consequences of actions in consequentialist theories are not very easy to foretell (Ellis, 2019).
Differences
Consequentialist theories such as utilitarianism consider only the outcomes of an action. Non-consequentialist theories factor in the results of an action as well as other surrounding factors before delivering judgment on the morality and ethical soundness of an action. Consequentialist Theories Essay
The Factors of Happiness and Pleasure
Happiness and pleasure do indeed factor in these theories because as utilitarianism states, when the greatest number of people is satisfied and happy then whatever has been done to make them happy is ethical.
Pros and Cons
Consequentialist theories if considered in the organization have the advantage that they will focus on the happiness of the employees. The disadvantage is that they do not factor in other variables that may also be important such as profitability of the company. For non-consequentialist theories, they are too rigid but the advantage is that they can be used without bankrupting the organization with senseless demands.
The Manager Scenario
It would be very difficult for a manager who subscribes to another non-consequentialist theory to effectively manage employees who are used to consequentialism. This is because the two are based on totally different yardsticks.
Best Theory for the Organization
The best consequentialist theory for the organization would be Utilitarianism. It states that whatever brings the greatest benefit for the greatest number of people is what is ethical. For instance, if improving the remuneration of the disgruntled employees were to be the action that brings back morale and motivation, then it would be ethical. I therefore recommend the consequentialist theory of Utilitarianism to be implemented in my organization.
References
Ellis, P. (2019). Ethical concepts: The meaning of consequentialism. Journal of Kidney Care, 4(5), 274–276. https://doi.org/10.12968/jokc.2019.4.5.274