Whereas I try to respect the requirements of formal rules and procedures, I would prefer to violate those rules where their application would lead to an unintended result or undermine the effort to achieve the greatest benefit. In this respect, I would violate the requirements of rule utilitarianism where isolated violations provide a benefit without necessarily resulting in any diminution of the greatest possible good. For example, our office building prohibits coworkers from using their access passes to allow other employees to enter the facility without their own access cards. I recognize that, in the aggregate, the purpose of this rule is designed to preserve the safety of all of us by reducing the likelihood of access by unauthorized personnel. However, in the isolated circumstance where a coworker known to me forgets his credentials at home, I will violate the rule for the purpose of the good of that individual. In general principle, I will violate established rules for the purpose of achieving a moral result but not for the purpose of undermining the very purpose of the rule, such as where a person unknown to me requests my assistance bypassing building security, which request I would have no choice but to deny, albeit apologetically.
A absolutely reject practically every ethical analysis that derives from the cultural relativistic perspective, precisely because it is purely subjective and capable of demanding...
One need look no further back than relatively recent American history to the legacy of racial prejudice and inequality that could be perfectly justified under unquestioned application of cultural relativism. Likewise, neither the continuing barbaric cultural practices of female circumcision in many parts of Africa nor the institution of American slavery prior to 1865 violates cultural relativistic ethical principles. Therefore, where organizational culture within a business entity dictates immoral policies or procedures, I would absolutely reject those requirements wherever they conflict with virtue ethics, equitable concerns, or utilitarian ideals.
Conclusion:
The field of human ethics encompasses varied approaches to volitional conduct, some of which result in decidedly immoral or unethical results in specific circumstances.
Therefore, in some respects, the ultimate ethical virtue may be the willingness to depart from the strict application of any particular ethical philosophy for the overall purpose of achieving the most beneficial result for every particular circumstance. REFERENCES
Daft, R. (2005) Management 7th Edition. Mason: Thomson South Western
Gerrig, R., Zimbardo, P. (2005)
Psychology and Life 18th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Hursthouse, R. (1999) on Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
