Normative Theories: What Is Utilitarianism?
Normative Theories: What Is Utilitarianism?
Normative Theories: What Is Utilitarianism?
What is Utilitarianism?
The idea of good could be decreased to one basic sense: the scan for joy and the evading of
suffering. A moral framework was made dependent on it, called utilitarianism. This theory is
one of the influential and best known theories of morality. We should always take actions
which will give the best result or consequences for all people affected by it. “Best
consequences” generally refers to well-being. Utilitarian’s just do not focus on their close
ones. They are also worried about distant strangers, coming future generations. We can apply
the rule of utility to either Particular actions or General rules. Utilitarianism is also
‘consequentialist’ hypothesis. Where activities are judged solely by their results, without
respect to character, inspiration, or any comprehension of good and dishonest and separate
from their ability to make bliss and delight. Utilitarianism can be largely divided into two
categories:-
Act-utilitarianism - Believe that whenever we decide what to do, the action that will create
the greatest net utility that should be carried out. In their view, the utility principle— doing
anything that produces the best overall results — should be applied on a case-by-case basis.
In any situation, the right action is one that provides more usefulness (i.e. creates more well-
being) than other available actions
• Criticisms of this view point to the trouble of accomplishing a full learning and surely
of the outcomes of our activities.
• It is conceivable to legitimize improper acts utilizing AU: Suppose you could end a
regional war by tormenting youngsters whose fathers are fighters, accordingly uncovering the
refuges of the dads.
Rule utilitarianism - The rule of utility is utilized to decide the legitimacy of tenets of direct
(moral standards). A standard like guarantee keeping is built up by taking a gander at the
outcomes of a world in which individuals broke guarantees freely and a world in which
guarantees were official. Good and bad are then characterized as following or defying those
norms.
• Some reactions of this position call attention to that if the Rules consider an ever
increasing number of special cases, RU falls into AU.
• More general reactions of this view contend that it is conceivable to create "unfair
tenets" as indicated by the rule of utility.
For example: startup of the ride sharing service in Bangladesh gave job opportunities to a
mass number of people especially students who gave rides during free time and could earn
some money from the action thus getting best results
What is Ethics of Duties?
Under this type of morals you can't legitimize an activity by demonstrating that it delivered
great results, which is the reason it's occasionally called 'non-Consequentialist ‘Ethical duties
seem to do it in a different way; think about what activities are 'correct' and continue from
that point. (As a matter of fact this is their main event practically speaking, yet it isn't
generally the beginning stage of considering.) So an individual is accomplishing something
great on the off chance that they are completing an ethically right activity. Ethical Duties can
be generally divided into two categories:-
Moral rules need to be universal:
If you are not willing to follow the ethical rule that you claim to apply to everyone - including
you - equally, then that rule is not a valid moral rule. I cannot claim that something is a valid
moral rule, and I and my family and friends make an exception to it. So for instance, if I
wonder if I should break a promise, I can test if it's okay by asking myself if I want a
universal rule that says ' it's okay to break promises. 'Since I don't want a rule to allow people
to break their promises to me, I can conclude that breaking the promise I made would be
wrong for me. If the ethical rule that you claim to follow cannot be made a universal rule
logically, it is not a valid moral rule.
X service provides more promo codes for users rather than drivers thus more users are
benefiting but not drivers who needs to give 20% of their income from the ride
service. A result more drivers are compelled to share ride with clients without using
the app so they do not have to share the earning amount with the organizations which
is unethical as well raises safety issues of both driver and users. Related with ethical
issues as organizations are mostly gaining profit.
There were charges of trouble making and sexual harassment regarding the
service. A lady who works at a firm in Dhanmondi region affirmed
inappropriate behavior by a driver. There were many claims of lewd behavior
against X service. Anyway that biker was essentially obstructed with no real
discipline. In the Facebook post it is regularly observed such charges against
the bikers. Related with Human dignity ethics as the driver was terminated
only and no police charge was pressed against him. An ethical issue arises that
who was guilty the user, rider or the X service for not taking proper actions?
The physical wellbeing of the driver accomplices and travelers from mishaps has
additionally come up as a noteworthy concern. Motorbike drivers are seen abusing the
traffic manages widely which essentially increment the danger of accidents. Every
vehicle is required to stop before the zebra crossing at convergences however
motorcyclists frequently disregard this standard and cross the convergence. They
disregard laws and drive on the pathways. This is related with duties of ethics if
followed properly then accidents could be avoided to some extent.
An owner of a few vehicles can be permitted to enlist just a solitary one of his
vehicles with a ride-sharing organization. Once more, the rule compels the
organizations to gather definite data about just the driver yet there is no notice about
the traveller which can make the vehicle and driver helpless against incendiary
exercises executed by raucous travellers. It is important to discover when a vehicle
was enlisted with a ride-sharing organization and when it was given enrolment by the
BRTA. While on duty in the boulevards, we can just analyze the enrolment papers,
permit, charge token and protection. We authorize the current transit regulations and
punish the violators as indicated by the law. This is related with ethics of duties
• Now with X service it takes less than half of the time to travel than before. And the
traffic is easy to travel in packed and avoid being stuck in bottlenecks. Whereas waiting in
heavy traffic resulted in poor work - life balance and family issues that severely damaged
people’s ability to function properly. Related with utilitarianism as serving greatest happiness
principal
• In spite of X service fame, the clients time to time have griped about high admission
rate, unprofessional frame of mind, absence of preparing and poor wellbeing gears, and at
times riding without using app, all the factors risks security of customers. Related with ethical
duties
• In accordance with the rule all ridesharing organizations and engine vehicle
proprietors must get selection declarations from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority. This
can be related with duties of ethics
X complies with the same rules and regulations for the collection of information by
international and domestic technology organizations in order to provide their
customers with the desired service. This related with universal ethics
Several hundred unemployed youth took X service as their full or part - time job,
while availability and lower prices contributed to the initial popularity of ridesharing.
Apart from earnings, the service's plus point is freedom and having enough family
time. Which is disguise in helping the society with making others life better. This is
related with utilitarianism
Around 10,000 free head protectors have been given away for passengers. As of late
it has been made obligatory for X riders to have an additional head protector with
them, or else they are given a negative 'wellbeing survey' by the clients. This is related
with single act utilitarianism.
The rules specify that the drivers will undoubtedly take the travelers regardless of
what the separation is, however a large number of the drivers mock the rule. About
half of the drivers need to know the goal first before affirming the trip. I have perused
the ride sharing rule. This (requesting goal) is opposing to the rules. Other than this,
most drivers don't have the foggiest idea how to pursue the guide to come precisely to
the pickup point. What's more, they don't pursue the particular course and go in
misguided course. For this they charge additional. This is related with ethics of duties
as drivers at times cancel the ride after knowing the destination and at times make the
customer wait for long period without canceling ride or showing up.
So will it be ethical to use the X service which is giving opportunity and rise to corruption
simultaneously? For recent times police are working with businesses X service to address
some security issues. Some initiative has been taken to protect users or riders from various
crimes, including sexual harassment, hijacking, cybercrime and even terrorist attacks. We
urge the government to provide a proper guideline for the entire service and society to take a
stand against unethical actions
What is Egoism?
Egoism as we know it is a foundation of morality that treats self-interest other than anything
else. It is a view that each human always pursues their own self-interest and that no person
wants to promote anyone else's interest. It is the moral doctrine that everyone ought to act to
promote his or her own interests exclusively. Ethical egoism makes a claim about how
people should behave rather than how they actually behave.
Ethical egoism can be broadly divided into three categories: individual, personal, and
universal. An individual ethical egoist would hold that all people should do whatever benefits
"my" (the individual's) self-interest; a personal ethical egoist would hold that he or she should
act in his or her self-interest, but would make no claims about what anyone else ought to do;
a universal ethical egoist would argue that everyone should act in ways that are in their self-
interest.
Adam Smith is known for making a connected point on the level of broad economic trade and
capitalism. In the end, it usually doesn’t matter whether people actually care about the well-
being of others, because there exists an invisible hand at work in the marketplace. The
invisible hand is the belief that businesses out in the world trying to do well for themselves
tend to do good for others too. It may even be that they do more good than generous altruists.
It’s hard to know for sure, but it can be said that there’s a distance between ethical egoism in
reality and the image of the egoist as a ruthless destroyer of broad social happiness.
It is not only a theory that is criticized as inconsistent and self-contradictory. Many people
argue that business as an enterprise is antithetical to ethics. They believe that a business
cannot survive for too long if it is filled with morality. As they believe-
Thus, following the above mentioned concept leads to sufferings of the customers sometimes.
So in-terms of the ride sharing app company (Company-X), egoism would be seeing the
company's interest before its customers, shareholders or other people who are affected by the
company's presence.
Because of the presence of Company-X, taxi and CNG services have been severely
affected. The taxi licenses and everything which were very hard and expensive to
acquire have now comedown so much in their value. There are people whose
livelihood depended on driving taxis or CNGS, but now those people are forced to
look for something new to earn their living. This is an example of the egoism done by
the X-company. This is because the company is just thinking about their own interest
and not about how it affects other people and their situation.
Next one is not caring enough about the customers, as there have been incident
reports of certain drivers of the Company-X. If the company cared about their
customers at that level, then they would have done enough background checks of the
drivers/riders to get a more reliable and honest person.
There have been incident reports of lost goods during delivery as well from the
company which clearly show signs of egoism as it proves the company does not care
who joins as a rider as long they can get more riders in the street despite the security
of the goods being delivered. am an
Another thing person-X pointed out is that Company-X only informs the user about
location seeking information but when the permission box pops up (a Google safety
protocol to ensure users consent), it sneakily takes location, and SMS and contact
access related permission. You might be wondering whether this happens every time
you install the device and the answer is no. It happens every time you open the app
and it will fetch all the new info (i.e. could be all the new SMSs you got since the first
install). The implications of these data fetching might be catastrophic.
Imagine banking, social media, MFS, email related OTP will get fetched to
‘COMPANY X. If this was done by a social media app, then the entire process would
have still raised eyebrows but would have been still been understandable. But for a
ride-hailing service, unwarranted fetching and storing of these data is totally uncalled
for and violates all ethical practices.
In a press brief issued later, company X said they are ensuring the optimum security
of the stored data and they are following all the best practices. We didn't get a
response either when we approached company X regarding what data privacy and
security compliance certification or standards have the ride-hailing company has
obtained so far.
In Brief, it can be addressed that in this world people use internet banking and many other
online money transference apps. If the users’ passwords are easily accessible then how
will one get back their privacy which is a matter of great concern? Everyone should have
their own privacy. Anyone suffering from egoism may lead their documents in wrong
hands such as, hackers or other cyber criminals. Thus, the presence of egoism in business
can be sometimes fatal for others as unethical decisions can lead to cover-up and more
unethical decisions down the road. Ethics is about what someone does when no one is
looking. In other words, we are what we do and ethical people are motivated to do the
right thing, not make a decision based on selfishness – egoism.
Reference
McIntosh, N. (2014). BBC - Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Duty-based ethics. [online]
Bbc.co.uk. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml [Accessed 9
Apr. 2019].
DESCRIPTIVE THEORIES
Age and gender: Age plays a vital role when are looking for experienced people cause it
may impact on the situation results. More experienced people make fewer mistakes so they
are preferable in organization. But when are considering on ride sharing service we prefer
young people than older people. There can be a question who is more ethical men or women
but it gives a very mixed and unclear results. Some people are more ethical than others and
gender is not main issue with person’s moral values. In fact there are some limitations when
we consider female candidate. So we can state that age n experience might shape themselves
in a way that they can easily recognize and response to the ethical problem.
National and cultural characteristics: There is cultural, national difference which varies
countries to countries. Each and every country has different cultural background even if we
consider in job sector acceptance. People prefer more male when it comes to ride sharing
service. They think male service holders are more likely to tackle any situation and do fewer
mistakes on roads. Female biker is comparatively less in this sector cause our Bangladeshi
culture is not used to it .And sadly there are security and harassments issue with female biker.
That’s the main reason women biker are less in ride sharing service rather than male biker.
But if we look to other developed country we see there are almost same amount of male and
female who are doing ride sharing job. Whereas we can see female biker takes this job as
part-time and for a short period of time. We can also see there are power distances,
masculinity femininity facts as well.
Education and employment: Education and employment might also play a significant role
in shaping our ethical beliefs and values. Individual morality can be developed through
upbringing and general education. When we select candidates for our organization we mainly
focus on how effectively they can run and use our ride sharing app. To make app more user-
friendly, we trains them for a short period time. We train them how to deal with different
situation with previous records and example so that relate those problems and take decision
ethically. Through this ethical training they can easily understand, recognize and deals with
ethical problem in work place in shortest time possible.
Cognitive moral development: Psychological factors, principals and disciplines theories are
related to cognitive moral development. Individual influence and cognitive moral
development influence subordinates’ ethical decision-making and ethical. To know this we
can follow three levels which are how much individuals are concern with self-interest,
external reward and punishment, what individual expect from others and is decision making
right or justified rather than external influences. However, cognitive moral development
theory has been influential in the ethical decision making literature. Here we can see gender
biasness due to its emphasis on the abstract principle. The influence supervisors have on
subordinates may stem from the supervisor’s role in establishing the ethical climate of the
workgroup, his or her control over subordinates, and the supervisor’s own ethical behavior.
These attempts are still appropriate given the current levels organizational and individual
ethical misdeeds that continue to be disclosed. An understanding of ethical decision-making
will enhance our ability to curb ethical misconduct. Supervisor is the exemplar of appropriate
ethical conduct for business regardless of whether or not the supervisor is actually ethical in
his or her department.
Personal integrity: Integrity is defined as an adherence to moral principles and values.
Personal integrity involves being the best, most honest and morally-sound version of you.
Your integrity may stem from your religious beliefs, your personal goals in life, or from
experience. Integrity is one of the fundamental values that employers seek in the employees
that they hire. Integrity is the foundation on which trust and effective interpersonal
relationships. It is the hallmark of a person who demonstrates sound moral and ethical
principles at work. Honesty and trust is the core in integrity. We also train them and expect
not to talk badly about someone. Show respect to coworkers. If rider knows confidential
information, never disclose to anyone. Return money or anything that rider noticed someone
dropped without expecting a reward. Adhere to company policies and procedures.
Organization give three chances to a rider, if they found more than three complains
organization verify the actual incident and take action against the rider. And company kept
the employees up-to-date on the struggles the ride sharing experiencing with clear and
frequent communication at team meetings. Whatever the case, personal integrity is clearly an
important aspect of ethical decision making.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1006072231066
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-integrity-really-1917676
Situational influences on ethical Decision making
These are the particular features of the context that influence whether the individual will
make an ethical or an unethical decision. These include factors associated with the work
context such as reward system, job roles and organizational culture and those associated with
the issue itself such as the intensity of the moral issue or the ethical framing of the issue. In
our company we saw some situational influences on ethical decision making.
Situational influences are two types,
Issue Related
Context Related
ISSUE RELETED:
Moral Intensity- This is reasonably a new factor which got some evidence to suggest
taking the decision. For example in company X which is a ride sharing company, the riders
suddenly called a strike against the company because the company cut down their extra bonus
10 taka per trip. It is a totally new issue for the company. In this issue the top management
sits for a meeting to decide what to do. In that meeting they collect all the available contents
of the issue as like the breakeven of a random trip and look at the extra 10 taka which were
given for no reason and the riders do not owe that money. So that to stop the protest
immediately the top management took a decision to suspend the leaders of that protest and
stop giving away that extra 10 taka to the riders.
Moral framing- This has limited evidence, it have e the same problem or dilemma
can be perceived very differently according to the way that the issue is framed. For example,
ride cancelations and bad experiences are the regular issue for a ride sharing company. The
company has a separate team for this purpose to solve these issues. That team looks for some
limited contents by calling both the rider and the user. And make the decision by hearing
from both ends. Each employee from that team has their own way to solve these kinds of
problems. The way of this issue solving is varies from person to person which creates
different results for the situation. Some employees always takes the sides of the customers as
the customer is bringing us money, but they should have also take that in mind that the riders
are the way the money is coming to the company.
CONTEXT RELATED:
The company’s context in which the employees and the workers are working
with expectations and demand placed on them within the working environment that are likely
influence their perceptions of what is morally right and what is wrong.
System of Reward- We saw in the company giving away of rewards is influencing
the ethical decision makings of the employees and the workers. For example, the riders more
often gets the quests, which are like if a rider gives 50 rides in a week then they will get 5000
taka as a reward. Which is a healthy amount for the riders to get in a week? For these types of
quests the riders rush to fulfill the 50 rides in a week and the quality of service drops.
Because in that time the only thing works in their mind is that they have to finish 50 rides.
For these quests some riders do something more unethical which is fake ride, in this case the
riders calls a ride and he accepts that ride by his own and starts the ride by actually not giving
the ride and completes the quest by their own.
Authority- Every company faces this problem because every company has their
hierarchy in the company. Employees do what they have been told to do directly or
indirectly. Sometimes these can be direct instructions from the supervisors or the line
managers to do something that the subordinate does not refuse or questions just because of
their lower status in the hierarchy. Sometimes their instructions are not directly to do
unethical things but the subordinates do not have any other ways to do so. For example in our
company if a line manager told something to his/ her team then the team have to do that by
any cost. Recently in our operations team the account management which is a sub team has
been told to suspend 50 riders in one day. It was just because to give warning to those riders
who are not maintaining the quality. In a short period of time the employees do not had time
to read the history of all the riders for the suspension. For that some innocent riders got
suspended in those 50 suspensions. This happened because the top management told the team
to suspend 50 riders in a short notice.
Work Roles- Work roles make an employee to learn how to behave, what to value,
how to relate to others. In this company there are some ways the employees come to know
their work roles. Company arranges training sessions and seminars for both office employees
and also for the riders. The employees and riders learns how to value their works, how to
behave clients and customers. By the training the riders knows how to operate the app and
how to behave with the users. In the other hand employees learns which team dose what
work. The employees come to know the roles of top management. And they also come to
know that how the company works. These seminars and training sessions also helps the
employees and the riders in decision making.
Organizational Norms and Culture- As a startup in Bangladesh this company do
not have the typical norms and culture like the other corporate companies. Employees do not
have to address their seniors as sir or madam. Employees address their managers, supervisors
even CEO as Bhai and Apu. There is no dress code in the office, but employees have to dress
up liberal dressing. Employees can wear tshirt and jeans instate of formal shirt and pants. The
seniors are very friendly with the junior employees. The office culture is very friendly for
every employee because it contains open desk so that one can communicate with other
employee even from another department without hesitation.
National and Cultural Context- This context dose have relation with ethical
decision makings. In this context the decision is made as a context of the nation. All the
decisions in the company are made in Bangladeshi context. Even the employees have to wear
colorful Panjabi and Saree during the “Pohela Falgun”, “Pohela Boishakh” in these cultural
occasions. The employees need to make any decision by taking it in the mind that how
Bangladeshi people will react for the decision. Our company runs operation at Nepal so they
also make decision by taking in mind that how Nepalese people will react.