Business ethics principles and practices

Ethics and Morality

The ethical decision making framework includes the concepts of ethical issues intensity, organizational factors, individual factors and opportunity. Discuss how these concepts influence the ethical decision making process.

Ethical issues intensity is one of the key aspects of how an organization defines its cultural norms, values and beliefs as they relate to how ethics are interpreted and acted upon. The interpretation of opportunities is also defined by the ethical issues intensity of a given organizations' culture as well. In turn organizational factors and individual factors frame or put into context the specific ethical questions an organization confronts over time. The ethical judgment of any opportunity then is more governed by the ethical issues intensity of a given culture first and further clarified by organizational and individualized factors as well. In total, these factors create a cultural baseline of ethics that in turn define the overall framework by which an organization will define itself through its ethical decisions and choices over time. In fact the nature of just what is and is not an opportunity will be interpreted through the use of a given organizations' ethical framework. While there are many different aspects to the development of an ethics framework, the most pervasive is a reliance on utilitarianism that centers on putting the collective good of all in front of the good of just a few. The need for creating an ethics framework to ensure a high level of compliance to ethical standards and values is also crucial. The bottom line is that all these factors contribute to the development of a sustainable and strong ethics framework over time.

What are the three levels of ethical concern found in Kohlberg's model for moral development? Explain. What impact has Kohlberg's model of cognitive moral development had on ethical decision making?

The three levels of ethical concern found in Kohlberg's Model of Moral Development include Pre-Conventional (Level 1) which includes obedience and punishment orientation including self-interest orientation. Next, interpersonal accord and conformity (Level 2) includes social norms and the definition of authority and social-ordering maintaining orientation. This is often referred to as the law and order morality approach to defining ethics. Social contract orientation (Level 3) includes universal ethical principles and the concept of a principled conscience. This third level contributes to the philosophical approach taken in defining an ethical foundation for decision making. The impacts of the Kohlberg model of moral development are many, as the model itself serves as the basis of a framework for defining how ethical contexts are put into place in addition to defining how a persons' self-interest relates to the broader social norms and values. In essence the development of a comprehensive ethical framework is based on these specific concepts, beginning with the perception of how ethics are interpreted internally based on external factors. The intermediating of external factors and their interpretation is critical for the development of a sustainable and scalable ethical framework over time. With the first level being based on obedience or punishment, followed by the second level focusing on conformity, the third level specifically illustrates how ethical judgment needs to, at its basis, be more focused on a philosophy that makes the first two levels more predictable. Only by using the Kohlberg Model to define a philopshy can an ethical foundation be scalable and agile enough to respond to changing priorities over time.