The Consequential Or Teleological Theories Philosophy Essay

The Consequential Or Teleological Theories Philosophy turn outIntroductionThis chapter presents an overview of the literature on the concept of good school of thought. First, we present the different definitions of object lesson doctrine in the existing literature. An overview of the morals current theoretical developments is then presented. office 1 Concept of moral philosophyContrary to what one might think, ethical motive is non a new pheromone (Gnard, 1992). It was originally identified by classic and Roman philosophers. Inspired by the works of his predecessors Socrates and Plato, Aristotle is considered as the father of the moral philosophy concept (Lavorata, 2004) which had been widely discussed over several(prenominal) decades by many philosophers who proposed several definitions to this concept.I. Ethics definitionsThe word Ethics is derived from the ancient Greek word Ethikos, which immoral character (Reese, 1990). gibe to the Universal Philosophical Encyclope dia, ethical motive is the science of moral and human conduct. Nonetheless, many definitions of this concept had been suggested in the literature. For example, Taylor (1975, p.1) defined ethics as an inquiry into the nature and grounds of morality, where morality means moral judgments, standards, and rules of conduct. Gove (1976, p.210) defines ethics as the withdraw of what constitutes good and bad human conduct, including tie in actions and values.For Beauchamp and Bowie (1983, p.3), ethics is the inquiry into theories of what is good and evil and into what is right and wrong, and thus is inquiry into what we ought and ought non to do.As it could be noniced, in all the above definitions the term ethics refers to the study of moral conduct (Tsalikis and Fritzsche, 1989). However, the boundaries amongst morality and ethics atomic number 18 sometimes blurred and they should be differentiated in order to crystalise the concept of ethics (Shaw and Barry, 2001).1. Ethics and mor alityThe terms ethics and morality be derived from the resembling root which frequently causes confusion.Some authors consider that the character between the two concepts is unnecessary (Ricoeur, 1990 Even-Granboulan, 1998). However, others academicians make a distinction between them (Iannone, 1989 Boatright, 2000 Ferrell et al. 2000 and Petrick and Quinn, 2001). For example, Grace and Cohen (1998, p.4) claim that there is no reason to make a distinction in heart and soul between ethical and moral. There is no difference in meaning which could be attributed to their etymological roots, date, Beauchamp and Bowie (2001) argued that morality is the principles of moral as defined by society, while ethics refers to individual rules.In fact, ethics concept had been alike closely related to deontology. In the following, this similitude is presented in more details.2. Ethics and deontologyRicoeur (1990) identifies cardinal cistrons of ethics a essential component (life good f or itself according to Aristotle), an interpersonal one (or the concern for others in reference to Kant) and a societal component (or the concern for the institution). The societal component refers to the concept of deontology. Thus, the definition of deontology is literally a set of codes of conduct proper(postnominal) to a profession.The following diagram summarizes the different concepts and relationships between ethics, morality and deontology. auspicate 1 Definitions and relationships between Ethics, morality and deontology, (Lavorata, 2004, p.20)II. Ethics school of thoughtsThere ar three approaches in the study of ethics normative ethics, descriptive ethics, and meta-ethics (De George, 1982).prescriptive ethicsNormative ethics is the study of how we should behave (Pascal, 1670 Spinoza, 1677 Kant, 1781). It attempts to justify the principles or the values of a moral system (Tsalikis and Fritzsche, 1989). The normative ethical theories are classified into three groups 1-Conse quential or teleological theories 2- Single rule non-consequential or deontological theories and 3- ninefold rule non-consequential theories.Consequential or teleological theoriesThese theories argue that the evaluation of the morality of an action is refractory by considering its consequences (Ferrell and Gresham, 1985). Researchers have demonstrated that teleological theories collect several constructs such as (1) the individuals behavior and its effect on various(a) stakeholder groups particularly customers and employers (2) the estimate probability that the consequences result occur to the stakeholders(3) the evaluation of desirability or undesirability of each consequence (4) the analysis of the importance of the stakeholder groups (Tsalikis and Fritzsche, 1989). Moreover, according to these authors, when utilize teleological evaluation, the individual acts in a manner that produces at least(prenominal) as great a ratio of good to evil as any other course (Tsalikis and Fritzsche, 1989, p.697).The two major consequential theories are egoism and utilitarianism. Egoism holds that individuals act in a way that creates the great gain for their self- hobby (Hunt and Vitell, 1986). Contrary to ethical egoism, utilitarianism holds that the individual behaves in a manner that produces the greatest good for everyone (DeConinck and Lewis, 1997 Loo, 2004). These theories only look at the consequences of actions, not at its foundations (the end justifies the means) (Bougerra et al., 2011).Single rule non-consequential or deontological theoriesSome researchers compete that to determine the morality of an action, many other factors should be taken into cast other than its consequences. These theories appeal to a individual rule. The two main hotshot rules non-consequential theories are the golden rule Do unto others as youd have them unto you. In other words, we have to treat individuals the way we want to be hard-boiled (Tsalikis and Fritzsche, 1989). The other single-rule non-consequential theory is Kants categorical imperative (Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.).Multiple rule non-consequential theoriesThese theories claim that the moral rightness orwrongness is determined by moral rules that cant be reduced to a single moral rule. These theories are a mixture of teleological and deontological theories.2. Descriptive ethicsThe second approach is descriptive ethics and it deals with the human behavior. This approach aims to study and describe what is moral and immoral, as well as the factors affecting the ontogeny of moral principles and values (Rich, 1994).According to Pera and Van Tonder (2005, p.7), descriptive ethics does not pass moral judgments on conduct or beliefs it merely describes what legitimate people believe to be right or wrong without sagacity these beliefs.Desjardins and McCall (2000, p.5) noted that the distinction between descriptive and normative ethics is related to the difference between what is and what ought to be. In the same vein, Beauchamp and Bowie (2001, p.6-7) claimed that normative moral philosophy aims at determining what ought to be done, which needs to be distinguished from what is, in fact, practiced.3. Meta-ethicsThe third approach was defined as the study of moral conclude (Tsalikis and Fritzsche, 1989). It analyzes ethical concepts, which explains why it is also called analytical ethics (Rich, 1994).Meta-ethics analyses questions about the meaning of right and wrong or good and bad (Pera and Van Tonder, 2005). According to Creasia and Parker (1991), meta-ethics is the linking between ethical beliefs and the real world.Section 2 Business ethicsAs we stated before, research on crease ethics, and most importantly on marketing ethics has begun to expand since the normalation of Bogarts article (1962) The Researchers dilemma (Jones an d Kavanagh, 1996 Rao and Singhapakdi, 1997 Tsalikis and Fritzsche, 1989). It has gained growing interest among marketing scholars in the 1980s (Hunt and Vitell, 1983 Chonko and Burnett, 1983 Gresham, 1985). Studies in this field of honor had taken two main orientations normative one or irrefutable one. Normative studies aimed to develop guidelines and rules for marketers. Positive studies, in particular, in the last three decades focus on the description and the development of models and theories (Chonko and Hunt, 2000). But, what are the reasons behind this interest to study ethics in marketing?I. Reasons of the growing interest in bank line ethicsAccording to Lavorata (2004), this growing interest in business ethics can be explained by several reasons 1- external reasons and 2- midland reasons.1. External reasonsThe integration of ethics by organizations can be explained by external reasons such as consumers pressure (Mercier, 1999). According to a prospect conducted by the F oundation of France in 1997, 63% of consumers claimed to be sensitive to firms documentation a humanitarian cause. Thus, Ethics becomes a way to retain consumers. In fact, competitive pressure incited firms to look for new positioning and for means of speciality from their competitors. Implementing strategies based on social responsibility and ethical practices is considered as a means to achieve this objective. Indeed this may boost one firms reality image and contribute in building long-term relationships with clients (Schwepker and Hartline 2005 Thomas et al., 2004). Moreover, the cognizance about ethics importance and consequences seems to be boosted by top managers as a result of many scandals that had shaken the business worldWorldCom, a huge accounting scandal estimated at $11 billion.Enron, fraud and faction in January 2006.Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, pharmaceutical companies, have had to retire drugs that have been considered unsafe for public use.Each new disgrace seeme d to create a buzz for organizational change (Barnes, 2006). As a matter of fact, in 1920, Henry get over wrote A company must make profits otherwise it will die. But if we want the company to only run for profit, it will also die since it will have no reason for being. In 2001, the chief operating officer of Lafarge B. Colomb has echoed these ethical concerns Far from being expensive, ethics is a critical achievement factor.2. Internal reasonsThe internationalization of organizations has led to a weakening of the corporate farming and in particular a loss of collective benchmarks (Lavorata, 2004).Moreover, individual ethics is the subject of an ongoing dilemma (Seidel, 1995). In fact, the organization must figure its profitability and profit its objective is then to reduce costs while boosting employee productivity (Mercier, 1999).ConclusionDespite its historical origins, ethics remains a subject matter of a special concern for contemporary academicians. In fact, it has been s hown that ethics domain has undergone major changes in its foundations.This current widespread immersion among researchers about ethics led to an increased awareness about business ethics. The marketing is seemingly even more concerned. Indeed, the activities in this domain are often considered to be unethical (Baumhart, 1961 Brenner and Molander, 1977 Murphy and Lazcniak, 1981).According to Chonko et al. (1996), ethical subvert may take place as marketing professionals and particularly salespersons often face bothersome ethical problems in business. In fact, sales representatives are under great pressure and they are constant targets of ethical check (Mantel, 2005 Abratt and Penman, 2002). In this context, according to a survey of 1,324 workers including salespersons, managers, and executives conducted by USA Today, 48% of workers admit to do unethical or illegal acts (Jones 1997, p.1). In the same line, Jolson (1997) argued that for a long time, the sales representative was a p erson who prepare pressure on his customer by questionable techniques and whose only philosophy was increasing sales regardless the means used.The following chapter deals more in details with the (un)ethical behavior of sales representatives in marketing literature.