What are key features of consequentialist theories?

What are key features of consequentialist theories?

What are key features of consequentialist theories?

Ethics Around the Globe

Recently, Ye Old Paper Mill experienced organizational changes. Due to low profits and employee satisfaction scores, the CEO felt that there was a need for change in ethical decision making. This proposal evaluates different consequentialist theories and recommends the best approach for the company’s potential manager.

The consequentialist theory refers to a normative theory, which acts as a basis of moral evaluation of actions and decisions solely on the positive impact of their consequences. Although all moral arguments determine whether an effort is good or bad, it is a feature of consequentialist theories to offer an account of an action in terms of its goodness. The distinct version of the ethical approach is egoism, hedonism and utilitarianism (Schafer-Landau, 2015). The key features of a consequentialist are well-being, flourishing, happiness, knowledge and pleasure. Consequentialism sets a goal of bringing an enormous balance of good over bad. While utilitarianism focuses on decisions that yield maximum satisfaction and pleasure, hedonism argues that an action is right if it produces more pleasure than pain. Egoism spells out that whatever brings happiness is good.

The pursuit of happiness and pleasure drives daily moral decisions that direct humans’ lives. The purpose of morality is to increase joy and happiness while decreasing pain and unhappiness. It makes life better by rejecting the moral codes which consist of taboos or commands that are defined by customs and traditions from leaders. Instead, the emphasis is on the positive contributions of a virtuous action, valid and justifiable contribution to human beings. The whole point of the consequentialist theories is to spread happiness, promote pleasure, relieve pain and create freedom ((Renouard, 2011). There is a close connection between happiness and moral reasoning. The intrinsic and infinite value of ethics promotes joy and pleasure.

Low employee satisfaction produces low morale since the employees feel their occupations are boring and meaningless. The negative attitude is likely to cause a decline in productivity. Therefore, corporate ethics examines moral principles and standards for problems that arise in a business environment. It strives in knowing the difference between good and wrong and choosing the right action. It is frequently maintained that when a majority of company employees exclusively follow a particular consequentialist theory, it improves their job performance and development. They focus on their happiness and pleasure when making decisions. However, philosophy may be unpredictable. Basing ethical choices on joy and satisfaction can cause cloud thinking, waste of time and trick employees into making a mistake. 

Managers are accountable for the ethical conduct of their subordinates. Besides, most organizations have a moral code that obligates a manager to follow a separate system of ethics from one of the other employees. Therefore, it is possible to manage subordinates who follow a different consequentialist theory effectively. Different ethical perspective promotes check and balance in the workplace, reducing the risk of centralized power (Cooper, 2012). The best consequentialist approach for company management would be utilitarianism theory. The theory suggests that an action is correct if it benefits the majority of the employees. Moreover, moral decisions much depend on the outcome rather than the process involved.

Utilitarianism is an influential moral theory. The theory contributes to corporate responsibility and sustainable development (Renouard, 2011). A company needs to remain economically viable to the whole society. There is a requirement for maximum employee happiness to contribute to the greater success of the business, thus, profitability.