Eth 501 Case 2
Corey Lott
ETH 501
Case 2
Business Ethics
Utilitarianism is a type of theory that was developed to come up with a proper course of action that maximizes the joy of the stakeholders involved. While consequentialism is defined as the view that value of an action derives solely from the value of its consequences. Today, consequentialism is the form that usually takes form. Utilitarianism tries to evaluate the moral worth of an action after one has considered the actual consequences, the foreseen consequences, and the anticipated consequences. In the business environment, situations arise that require the application of utilitarianism ethics. Decision makers are placed on notice and utilitarianism takes priority over the business other interest. This ensures proper growth and development in the correct manner. In an illustration of the application of utilitarianism, this paper covers the case study where there is only one sole remaining supplier in a particular industry.
The particular case deals with a sole supplier of resistors used in pacemakers. The case study involving the sole remaining supplier on transistors a key input component on a pacemaker is where problems arise. The first case of utilitarianism is brought up when the debate is started at a board meeting. During its infancy stage as a product it was noted the number of lives a pacemaker was responsible for due to malfunctioning. The inverse of this is the number of lives that the pacemaker was used to add quality of life and save lives. In a study it showed that man of the deaths had been due to pure accident or the user incompetence was described as the two top reasons. The board of directors of the supplying transistors used to help manufacture the pacemakers decided that it is still ethical to process this tool that could be used to harm people. The reason is that many lives had been saved. Therefore, the supplying of the transistors would create what is called a
ETH 501
Case 2
Business Ethics
Utilitarianism is a type of theory that was developed to come up with a proper course of action that maximizes the joy of the stakeholders involved. While consequentialism is defined as the view that value of an action derives solely from the value of its consequences. Today, consequentialism is the form that usually takes form. Utilitarianism tries to evaluate the moral worth of an action after one has considered the actual consequences, the foreseen consequences, and the anticipated consequences. In the business environment, situations arise that require the application of utilitarianism ethics. Decision makers are placed on notice and utilitarianism takes priority over the business other interest. This ensures proper growth and development in the correct manner. In an illustration of the application of utilitarianism, this paper covers the case study where there is only one sole remaining supplier in a particular industry.
The particular case deals with a sole supplier of resistors used in pacemakers. The case study involving the sole remaining supplier on transistors a key input component on a pacemaker is where problems arise. The first case of utilitarianism is brought up when the debate is started at a board meeting. During its infancy stage as a product it was noted the number of lives a pacemaker was responsible for due to malfunctioning. The inverse of this is the number of lives that the pacemaker was used to add quality of life and save lives. In a study it showed that man of the deaths had been due to pure accident or the user incompetence was described as the two top reasons. The board of directors of the supplying transistors used to help manufacture the pacemakers decided that it is still ethical to process this tool that could be used to harm people. The reason is that many lives had been saved. Therefore, the supplying of the transistors would create what is called a
Cited: Hamiliton, J. B. (2012, December 1). Ethics Ops - Common Good Test. Retrieved from Ethics Ops: http://ethicsops.com/CommonGood.php Hamilton, J. B. (2012, December 1). The Utility Test. Retrieved from Ebeni - European Business Ethics Northern Ireland: http://ebeni.wordpress.com/decisions/theories/consequences/the-utility-test/http://ethicsops.com/UtilityTest.aspx Heartonline.org. (2012, December 3). Packmaker. Retrieved from Heart Online.org Pacemakers: http://www.heartonline.org/pacemaker.htm Israel, B. (2012, Dec 3). Pacemaker and ICD malfunctions. Retrieved from Publmed.com: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16639048 Singer, P. (2011). Practical Ethics. London: Cambridge University Press.