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International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
28. Ethics & Leadership
SLP(E) Course
Why do we need to know about ethics?
• Complex battle-field | business-space.• Drills & standard procedures not enough.• Working at edge of policy.• Face moral dilemmas.• Under public scrutiny through the media.
Ethical theories
• Theory:– Provides tools not answers.– Help clarify difficult challenges.– Assist decision making; tools for debate.– Explain & support plans & actions.
• Two theories:– Utilitarianism.– Deontology.
1. Utilitarianism
‘Always ACT so as to bring about the greatest happiness of the greatest number’
Jeremy Bentham,(1748-1832) “The Father of Utilitarianism”
The right action is the one that brings about the best
overall consequences.
Utilitarianism - Assumptions
• The ethics of ENDS not MEANS:– ‘The end justifies the means’.
• Guided by moral value:– balance between human happiness &
avoidance of pain:
• We each count as ONE.
Case Study - Hiroshima
• 66,000 Civilians killed.• Contemporary assessments said:
– War would continue for a further year.– Up to 1 M additional US casualties.– Huge Japanese losses.– Okinawa: 80K US & 120K Japanese.
• ‘To avert a vast indefinite butchery.. at the cost of a few explosions, seemed a miracle of deliverance’. Churchill
Utilitarianism - Assessment
• Counter-intuitive: is it right to kill civilians (non-combatants) in any circumstances?
• Is the theory incomplete or just plain false?
2. Deontology
• From the Greek ‘Deon’ = a duty | ‘Logos’ = study or science of.
• About Rights & Duties.
• Some acts are just wrong | full stop!– Murder, rape, torture, intentional (or reckless)
killing of civilians.
• People are ENDS in themselves –
not MEANS.
Immanuel Kant 1724-1804
Deontology – Human Rights
• Provides absolute limits and guarantees:– Right to life, liberty, security, freedom from torture.
• Rights are attached to individuals:– As opposed to States or communities or peoples.
• Rights act as TRUMP CARD.
Deontology: Rights vs Duties
• Rights are absolute – can be forfeit.
• Our actions against someone must be based on what that person did. Not on the wider situation.
• An aggressor therefore forfeits right if they wrongly attack you: self-defence.– Attacker liable to defensive force.– But not the innocent bystander.
Deontology | Application in War
• Provides an explanation of why intentional killing may not necessarily be wrong.
• Determines the acceptable aims of war:– Self-defence & humanitarian protection.
• Conditional on:– Necessity & proportionality.– Discrimination: combatants from non-combatant.
Summary
• Ethics helps us make decisions in complex, unforeseen circumstances.
• Two theories: Utilitarianism & Deontology.
• Individual Rights act as TRUMP CARDS.
• Unless the individual forfeits those rights.
• Servicemen…?
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
28. Ethics & Leadership
SLP(E) Course
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
Ethical Challenges
Exercise
SLP(E) Course
Ethical Challenges
• At the strategic level ethical dilemmas are likely to be encountered.
• In syndicates spend 45 minutes evaluating a case study.
• Debate is important, whilst this is an academic exercise, gut feelings are useful indicator!
• Use the Theories (Deontology | Utilitarianism).• Nominate (a) speaker(s) to give a short (5 min)
presentation to the whole course.
Guidance
• What is your initial gut feeling | instinct?
• Who are the stakeholders?
• Apply Deontology: how does it help?
• Apply Utilitarianism: how does it help?
• How would you deal with the situation?
Red-Lines and Assumptions
• How far would you go?
• Over what line would you absolutely not pass?
• What is vital ground?
• For my Country Right or Wrong?
• Which of your assumptions, if they were proved incorrect, would substantially change your position?