The Consequential Perspective

Ethics Report Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................... 1 MAIN BODY ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...1 Assessment ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................. 1 Alternatives ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................ 2 Analysis ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 3 Application ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................. 3 Action ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 3 CONCLUSION ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ 4 REFERENCES ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ 5 1 INTRODUCTION Decisions regarding wrong and right circumscribe everyday lives of individuals. Ethics is concerned about every level of one‟s life: acting suitably as an individual, making accountable firms and governments, and making society an ethical place to live (Craft, 2013 ). This document is aimed at making ethical decision in a case by applying the different concepts as well as frameworks that are applicable to ethical decisio n making. The report will introduce a 5 staged decision making process to make ethical decision for the case involved. MAIN BODY Ethics tend to render a set of standards for individual and group conduct, helping one decision how one must act in different situational contexts (Zeni and et. al., 2016 ). The decision made by an individual should not harm the values or rights of parties involved in the situation (Lehnert, Park and Singh, 2015 ). Given beneath is the application of 5 -staged Ethical Decision maki ng process to arrive at the best and most ethical decision in the given situation. Assessment The case presents that a match is to be held between Team Alpha and Team Beta. Team Alpha arrive s at the campus of Team Beta. The team members drop off their bags with in the locker room and go for a field trip . Upon coming back to the dressing room, Team Alpha discover s that their bags containing their soccer uniforms for the game have been missing in the locker room. After the lapse of 20 minute s, the manager of team Alpha takes permission from the Head Coach of Team Beta to make use of their team‟s practice jerseys to which the head coach of Team Beta shows agreement . The game official for the match enforces rules and after listening to the unif orm situation , s he says that all of the jerseys have numbers on the backs and 2 are a different colo ur from Team Beta. The Coach of Team Alpha makes a request for 15 minutes delay in the start of the game for proper warm up of the team. However, l eague rules are strict and require teams in the match to dress up in uniforms of colour and design registered with the league. A team is not permitted to play in the absence of a uniform. A nother rule of the league calls for timely start of the game. Alternatives The alternatives in the above case will be devised based on categorical, consequential, and existential perspectives. Now, the categorical perspective of ethics posits a rule of conduct, which is absolute for every agent, the claim or validity of which is n ot dependent on any end or desire (Iphofen, 2016 ). According to this perspective, the league rules say that uniforms and designs registered with the league can only be used. Thus, the request of Team Alpha to play the match wearing the jerseys of Team Beta ‟s practice sessions is unjustified from this perspective. Further, the consequential perspective of ethics states that an action is considered good or bad in accordance with outcome generated as a result of it. An action bringing more of a benefit than ha rm is considered good and vice -versa (Schwartz, 2016 ). As per this perspective, the league should Team Alpha to play in the rehearsal jerseys of Team Beta given that their registered uniforms are stolen because the outcome of this action is good, i.e., Team Alpha will be able to play. Lastly, existential per spective of ethics is all about a person being responsible for their purpose and actions (Ferrell and Fraedrich, 2016 ). According to this perspective, even when Team Alpha‟s jerseys got stolen, it is responsible for the outcome. Thus, the team should not b e allowed to participate in the league with practice jerseys of Team Beta. 3 Analysis While analysing a case to make an ethical decision, time is of extensive essence and is a critical component . Three „times‟ need to be considered: Time before the inciden t, Time of the incident, Time & consequences after the incident (Bon, Volkema and Silva, 2017 ). Now, before the incident , Team Alpha dropped their bags containing their uniforms for the match and went to take a look at the field before the match. During th e incident when their bags containing their match jerseys got stolen, it is probable that one or more members of Team Beta or their coach got access to the dressing room and stole bags of Team Alpha. This may have been done by Team Beta to cancel the parti cipation of Team Alpha in the match and win without even having to play the match. Even when it is a probable and unconfirmed stance on the incident, only teams can have access to dressing rooms as only they have access or their coaches. The time after the incident demonstrates that Team Alpha‟s bags have been stolen and thus their participation in the league came at a risk. Application Provided that there is a chance of the involvement of the opposite team in the bags of Team Alpha being stolen for winni ng the match, it is justified to allow Team Alpha to play in the match wearing the practice jerseys of Team Beta. The principles of utilitarianism, consequentualism, virtue, and rights ethics agree with this stance upon the decision on the case (Valentine and et. al., 2014 ). Action The final decision is that Team Alpha should be allowed to participate in the match while wearing the practice jerseys of Team Beta as this decision meets majority of ethical principles and perspectives . This decision will allow members of Team Alpha to participate in the match 4 and stand an equal chance of winning as Team Beta. However, the request to be given a time span of 15 extra minutes for warm up should be denied as it is uncalled for. It is the be st and the most ethical decision that can be made within the given case. CONCLUSION It can be said that ethics is all about making choices in the light of what is right and what is wrong. Ethics should form a basis for one‟s decision making. Now, the et hical decision making is a subjective process, however, ethical decision making is all about making a decision that is fair from every context and is favourable for every party involved within the decision. 5 REFERENCES Bon, A. C., Volkema, R. J., & Silva, J. F. D. (2017). Ethical decision -making: The role of self - monitoring, future orientation, and social networks. BAR -Brazilian Administration Review , 14 (1). Craft, J. L. (2013). A review of the empirical ethical decision -making literature: 2004 – 2011. Journa l of business ethics , 117 (2), 221 -259. Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2016). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases . Cengage learning. Iphofen, R. (2016). Ethical decision making in social research: A practical guide . Springer. Lehnert, K., Par k, Y. H., & Singh, N. (2015). Research note and review of the empirical ethical decision -making literature: Boundary conditions and extensions. Journal of Business Ethics , 129 (1), 195 -219. Schwartz, M. S. (2016). Ethical decision -making theory: An integrat ed approach. Journal of Business Ethics , 139 (4), 755 -776. Valentine, S., Nam, S. H., Hollingworth, D., & Hall, C. (2014). Ethical context and ethical decision making: Examination of an alternative statistical approach for identifying variable relationships . Journal of business ethics , 124 (3), 509 -526. Zeni, T. A., Buckley, M. R., Mumford, M. D., & Griffith, J. A. (2016). Making “sense” of ethical decision making. The Leadership Quarterly , 27 (6), 838 -855.