Ethical relativism: foundations and implications

moral relativism in business want to design a car. The car needs to be light weight, and at the same time powerful, safe, and fuel efficient. As my engineer works at his drawing board, the results of field tests and mathematic equations come back that conclude it is impossible for a vehicle to be all of these things. Sacrificing weight to gain fuel efficiency decreases power and safety. Making a more powerful vehicle by increasing horsepower requires larger components, and a more substantial frame to mount the power plant. As a result the fuel efficiency is decreased significantly.

Then one day, my engineer came with a wonderful suggestion. We needed to change the physical laws of gravity, Newton's laws of motion, and the coeffiecnt of wind resistance. Then the forces which are keeping the car from being light weight, powerful, safe and fuel efficient would be modified in such a was as to allow the creation of the vehicle of choice. I told my engineer to clean out his desk.

While this example seems extreme, the same situation exists in the business world as organizations attempt to create their own moral codes or ethical paradigms by which to operate their business. The organization wants to be able to be self serving, while at the same time serving the needs of the community. The organization wants to earn a significant profit, but doing so may mean taking advantage of workers, or making shortcuts on compliance of expensive safety regulation. The heart of the issue is morals an ethics. Morals and ethics are not able to be adjusted to suit the needs of one group to the exclusion, or at the expense of another. Just as the laws of gravity and physics cannot be bent, so the laws of moral and ethical behavior within an organization cannot be bent without creating adverse repercussions.

Solomon strikes the proverbial nail on the head when he discusses the myth of an amoral business. A business cannot exist in an amoral environment. An amoral environment assumes that people's choices have no consequences. An amoral environment, and a perspective of ethical relativism, assumes that any set of choices are just as good for the people involved as any other set of choices. If these choices serve my organization today, then the ethics are the 'best for the organization.' However, organizations are built on people, and the people in the organization are affected by the ethics of a decision. The people need to be treated within the context of moral and ethical boundaries if they will be able to build trust between themselves and the organization, and thereby contribute to the organization's ongoing health.

Recent scandals in the corporate business world demonstrate what can happen to accompany when a small group of people choose to put their own desires at the front of the line as the source code for ethical decision makers. Imclone, Enron, and others have closed their doors as the unethical accounting practices have been responsible for the financial collapse of the companies. The ethical basis for these companies lost their moral moorings long before they collapsed financially. Because the ethics of the day were built on a relativistic basis, rather than an absolute commitment to moral, legal, and ethical decision making, the companies slowly handed over control of the organization to the consequences of self-centered, and self-promoting choices.

According to The moral Philosophy of Business organizations need to develop an objective set of standards by which each decision is measured. Because the business organization is not a religious one, the ethical standards need to be negotiated, rather than pulled from a religious text. However, in the process of reviewing the recommended 8 rules below, they present a striking similarity to the Golden Rule most children learned in Sunday school.

The following principles are suggested as the basis of ethical decision making.

Consider other peoples well being when making decisions.

The members of a community or organization are not isolated. They are mutually dependant, and the actions of one member will affect the lives of others.

Obey the law not just for the law's sake, but as a commitment to the mutual well-being of the organization, and the community.

Think about self, and the company when making decisions, and consider the consequences to each.