Moral Behavior

Moral Philosophy: Utilitarianism

Moral Behavior and Impediments
• Recognition of ethical issue
• Harm that is concentrated, likely, proximate, imminent, and violates moral standards
• Impediments in recognition
• Using Euphemisms
• Displacement of Responsibility
• Dehumanizing
• Judgment about ethical course of action
• Biases
• Making a decision about following up or not on the judgment
• Ethical climate and culture
• Carrying out the decision
• Strength of will
• Locus of control
• Authority figures
How do Individuals Respond to Ethical
Issues?
• Rationalist approaches
• Managers as philosophers research
• Deliberate and extensive moral reasoning
• Person-situation research
• Person’s cognition
• Individual difference moderators
• Situational moderators
• Issue-contingent research
• Moral intensity of an issue
• Consequences
• Social consensus
• Probability of effect
• Proximity
How do Individuals Respond to Ethical
Issues?
• Sensemaking-Intuition approach
• Issue construction in conditions of equivocality and uncertainty
• Intuitive judgments
• Explanation and justification
Utilitarianism
• Trolley Car example

• Should the trolley car be turned or not?