ROLE OF ETHICS IN BUSINESS STRATEGY

Asst. Prof. Husnain Manzoor, Business strategy NOTES Page 1

Compiled and composed by: Asst. Prof.
Husnain Manzoor Virk
Role of ethics in business strategy
Ethics; these can mainly be defined as a set of behaviors
usually considered virtuous by a society or group of people.
Literature on ethics mainly divided the entire body of
knowledge into two broad types
Ethics as a mechanism to explain behavior; following
theories have been designed to explain why human
beings behave in a certain manner
o Ethical egoism versus subjectivism theories
Ethical egoism means only that is ethical
which suits the doer.
Subjectivism means that right and wrong
acts are conceptual and perpetual conducts
which depend a lot on who is assessing
them. It rejects the need of a categorical
imperative mainly because it seldom acts
as a tool to make decisions.
o The theory of virtue ethics
People mostly see right and wrong as acts.
For example, truth is considered a right
thing. Similarly fraud is considered a wrong
thing. This theory is a Greek one which
insists that it is an overall life and thinking
pattern which makes human being think
and behave in a certain manner. What
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makes good or bad is a set of personality
traits rather than actions as the later are led
by former.
For example charity its leg is not a
virtue, the actual virtue is kindness
which leads human being to give
charity.
Ethics as tools for decision making; following theories
about ethics help human beings to make decision
rather than explain what has happened.
o Deontological theories
Proposed by Immanuel Kant, these
theories propose that
Acts of virtue are dependent on
intentions
Virtue is universal. Only that act can
be called a virtue which can be done
by everyone.
As all human beings are rational, they
should try to develop a mutual
respect for rationality by accepting a
categorical imperative
o Consequentialist theories
These believe that actions should be
judged by looking at consequences rather
than intentions.
So if two people commit a crime and
one of them is smart enough to
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escape the scene, he is more
virtuous than the other.
One of the interesting facets of this theory
can be termed as utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is also termed as end
justifies the means theory. This
means that if an action promotes the
greatest good, it can be considered
virtuous.
Role of rights in business strategy
Human beings face two kinds of rights
Negative rights
o These are the ones which set oneself free from
social restriction. For example, everyone has a
right that no one snatches personal freedom, a
right that no one destroys personal peace, a right
that not one tortures the other socially, mentally
or physically, a right that no one hurts the other.
Positive rights
o These rights refer to those which give some
privileges to right holders. For example, everyone
has the right to get married, get education, get
job etc.
Human rights have the following qualities
They are universal; if something is right for me, it is
right for everyone
They exist irrespective of society or politics; no social
law or political stance can snatch rights of a person or
individual.
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They are non-destroyable; it is not possible for anyone
to destroy human rights for personal or other causes
Equitable; rights are just and same for everyone
Role of justice in business strategy
Justice can be defined as equitable treatment to individuals
irrespective of social of personal biasness. While
understanding justice, one has to understand
The judicial process
o This studies how laws and rules are mode and
operated and how organizations work to provide
justice
Distributive justice; deals with how distributive gets
distributed throughout the society. There are three core
views about distribution of justice
o Rawls view of ignorance
Rawl stated that we humans often feel
sorry for ill-fated fellows. Imagine if
everyone dies and they some humans are
re-created in a world where they create
such justice as the most superior people
dont feel sorry for the most inferior ones.
This is what he defined as distributive
justice
o Karl Marxs view
Karl Marx on the other hand defines
distributive justice as an attempt by rich
people (bourgeois) to exploit the poor
people (proletariat) in order to nourish
capitalism. He supported the communist
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idea of distributive justice and rejected
capitalism as a just system.
o Libertarian view
This views mainly states that justice is an
outcome of fair distributive process and
operation.