A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

1
A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

• Steamship company case
• Questions raised in the discussion
• Ethical relativism (is suicide acceptable in
  Japanese society?)
• Valid point if true, no ethical wrongdoing
• However, suicide is a wrong in Western society

2
A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

• Steamship company case
• Other Questions
• Instrumentality Wouldnt people kill themselves
  anyway, so why lay the blame on the company?
• A patient on his deathbed in extreme pain asks
  you to buy sleeping pills for him. You guess that
  he wants to commit suicide. Is it right for you
  to provide the pills?

3
A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

• Steamship company case
• Other Questions
• Alternatives What if other shippers ply to the
  island, does that absolve the company of blame?
• The car in front of you breaks a red light and is
  ignored by cops. You do the same and get booked.
  Can you go free by telling the cops you let the
  other guy go?

4
A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

• Steamship company case
• What can the co. do?
• Stop the ferry
• Employ staff to profile, identify and reject
  potential victims
• Ask all passengers to sign liability waiver
• These steps will protect the firm from potential
  liability

5
A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

• Why ethics is a big deal to managers and
  policy-makers today
• Moving from 2-2 to 3-3 in the card game
• Success in business today hinges not on
  competition but COOPETITION (Brandenburger and
  Nalebuff) competing and cooperating
• Consortium-based innovation (e.g. Airbus),
  compatibility-enhancing standards
• Solving global crises
• Terrorism and Nuclear proliferation
• Epidemics
• Environmental and energy conservation issues

6
A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

• Why ethics is a big deal to corporate managers
  today
• An even more pressing need is legal liability
• Firms can be held liable for acts that lead to
  injury EVEN IF the acts themselves are legal, if
  their acts are found sufficiently unethical
• Tobacco lawsuits Cigarette cos. held liable for
  278 billion despite not breaking past law
• Could happen to gun manufacturers (assault
  weapons) if negligence can be proved (the
  steamship company would be in a similar state)

7
A few thoughts on applying ethical principles

• Ethics is a NORMATIVE discipline
• Normative disciplines teach us what to do as
  opposed to empirical disciplines that tell us
  this is how things are
• Although unethical decision-making may be
  commonplace in companies, we know that social
  welfare (33 vs. 22) will be increased by a
  greater proportion of ethical actions, hence the
  exhortation for more ethics