Decision Making Models: The Three Models Of Ethical Decisions

Decent Essays
In many organisations, CEOs are often faced with difficult ethical decisions. A CEO of an Australian corporation is faced with this dilemma. There has been a major cyber security breach to a competitor. As a result of this, the CEO has been presented with a proposal from their information technology manager to upgrade the organisation’s cyber security system. The CEO must choose whether or not to spend millions of dollars to ensure the safety of both the company and the many stakeholders that may be affected by this decision. There are three decision making models that are used when faced with ethical decisions. The are known as the utilitarian model, moral rights model and justice model (Waddell, Jones and George 2012, 133). These ethical decision making models can be used by any manager that is faced with any ethical dilemma. Each model represents three different …show more content…
This essay will discuss these three models and also why the utilitarian model yields the most ethical decision to accept the proposal.

When faced with ethical decision making the moral rights model is the first model that can be used. The moral rights model addresses the need to protect the rights of the individuals that will be most affected by the decision (Waddell, Jones and George 2012, 133). Rights themselves are “moral concepts” (Ozar 1985), they are what society deems as being morally good and then turned into fundamental principles or laws. This model attempts to

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    An ethical situation that I was part of was when I was working as a CNA. It was a normal busy afternoon; I was assisting with feeding, visiting with residents, bringing residents to the restroom; when one resident came up to me and asked if he could have his Tylenol because he had pain; I told the resident that I would inform his nurse. When I notified his nurse of the resident’s request, the nurse responded by complaining about this individual. The nurse claimed this resident always wanted medication; leading her to believe he was drug seeking. She also claimed this resident always asked pointless questions that are a waste of her time.…

    • 2312 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction When dealing with complex situations in the company of ethical dilemmas, controversial debates on human rights, and legislations, it is important for a social worker to be critically reflective to ensure effective practice. Sophie, who is a sixteen year old girl living in Regional Victoria, is nineteen weeks pregnant and has indicated that she would like to terminate the pregnancy, against her mother’s religious beliefs. The predominant ethical dilemma in this scenario is Sophie’s right to autonomy versus her mother’s potential imposing religious beliefs. Utilising Kerridge et.al’s model for Ethical Decision Making (2009), three diverse options: terminate the pregnancy, keep the baby and put the baby for adoption are illustrated…

    • 2291 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Organizational Conflict “Organizational conflict, or workplace conflict, is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people working together” (“Organizational conflict – Wikipedia,” n.d., n.p.). Conflict within an organization is going to happen, the important part of conflict is how the situation was handled and preserved by employees and in some cases the customers. This paper will use the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal to look at ways the conflict was approached, outcome and how it could have been avoided. First, a little background on the events that led up to the breaking news of the scandal, ("Penn State scandal fast facts - CNN," 2017, n.p.): • 1994-1997 Sandusky engages…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    ETHICAL REASONING AND DECISION MAKING A pregnant woman has ante partum haemorrhage due to severe placental abruption. The obstetrician plans for a caesarean section. There is associated intra uterine foetal death. The husband does not want a caesarean section since the fetus is dead.…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Case Study #3 (10 marks) A paralyzed comatose client who was the victim of a hit-and-run driver is maintained on a respirator and TPN. The neurologists agree that the client will never live a “normal life.” Prolonged management/support/care will exhaust the family’s financial and emotional resources. The family consists of a husband, who is an engineer, and two high school-aged children who are exceptionally bright and who plan to enter university after high school.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ethical Dilemmas Essay I have chosen to analyze case two and this paper will outline my understanding, exploration, and final decision-making process as it applies to the ethical dilemmas presented. Understanding the Dilemmas This case has a variety of ethical dilemmas occurring across several contexts (personal, societal, and organizational). Reflecting on the theories and conceptual models presented in this course, I found the Five Faces of Oppression (Young, 2014) and the Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) helpful in conceptualizing these various circumstances and contexts.…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical decision making is best explained as constructing an outcome to an ethical dilemma that best corresponds with one’s morals. American’s are faced with ethical choices every day that have no right or wrong answer. When faced with this particular type of dilemma, American’s begin to analyze their morals to answer the question or perform the task. Two of the many factors that influence ethical choices, in America, are values and social norms.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1) On a website calls “10 Most Ethical CEOs of 2015”, I saw the report about the former CEO Mike Duke of Wal-Mart who pronounces to change the plan that Wal-Mart starts to sell their food with lower salt, fat and sugar content as well as lower the price of fruits and vegetables. (onlinemba.com) Even though Mike Duke is now already retired from Wal-Mart, but this change is such a good ethical decision that he makes when he is still working on the CEO position. As we all know, for every company, making profits is the first thing; Wal-Mart as the nation’s biggest retailer, making this big change can possibly let consumers choose not to continue buying things in Wal-Mart and therefore decrease the profits. Accountability is an important principle…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Decision-Making

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Chapter Three introduces some of the ethical principle and issues that will be a foundational part of professional practice; ethical decision making will be of importance throughout the professional life of a therapist. Most people think of ethics as a list of rules and prohibitions that results in sanctions and malpractice actions if practitioners do not follow them. There are three different types of ethics: mandatory, aspirational, and positive. Mandatory ethics involves a level of ethical functioning at the minimum level of practice. Aspirational ethics focuses on doing what is in the best interest of clients.…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lifeboat Ethical Dilemmas

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In order to make a solid ethical decision, one must; “recognize an ethical issue, get the facts, evaluate alternative actions, make a decision, test it, and act and reflect on the outcome” (Velasquez et al. 278). There are several outcomes that could occur based upon what approach is taken, some people believe in choosing the route that will benefit them the most, while some people believe in carrying out what is best for the people around them. “The Runaway Trolley Car,” depicts the scenario of a trolley car speeding towards a group of 5 people, but someone being a bystander has the choice to “flip a switch which will divert it onto another track, where it will kill one person” (Sokol 269). If the bystander decides to follow through with…

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Being human grants us all the ability to make rational decisions. The world is full of dilemmas that push our rationality to the limits. How are we to best evaluate such decisions to maximize good moral standing? Ethical theories can give us standards against which to compare the possible choices presented by a dilemma. Consider the following event: “A company had a policy of strongly encouraging all workers over the age of 55 to retire in order to allow younger workers to be hired and advance within the company.…

    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The ethical approach that closely matches my ethical decision-making is the universal approach “do unto others as you would have done unto everyone and yourself,” I accept it as an impartial non consequence based approach that can be applied everywhere at all times, unlike the other major ethics approach of utilitarianism that favors happiness of the majority and disregards individual rights for the greater good of the organization such as bribing of government officials. Our laws are written from a universalistic point of view, likewise in a managerial atmosphere, moral duties must be absolute with no exceptions. Every employee is the same, universalism hinders deplorable practices of poor unsafe working environments, unequal wages, and other…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Decisions

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This exercise uses ethical decisions to determine wether a term paper services is ethical or non-ethical. There’s many resources available to students to complete there assignments, term papers for every high school and college assignment around. The most reasonable decision making process includes following eight steps that is identify the problem, identify potential issues involved, reviewing relevant ethical guidelines, know the laws and regulations, obtain consultation in considering the possible course of action, list the consequences of the probable courses of action, and figure out what is the best course of action. When looking through assignments the problem is plagiarism.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are three important factors that can influence ethical decision making, which are individual, organizational, and opportunity factors. All three of these factors can weigh heavily on a person during the decision making process, especially in the work place. Many people look to friends or associates for guidance when making questionable decisions. Sometimes a person may make a decision based on the opportunity they are put into. Some people make decisions based on their own moral beliefs and the way they were raised.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the first 4 weeks of this class we have had many class discussions and readings, which have brought up a great deal of thinking. The class name Organization Ethics and Decision-making, speaks for itself when it comes to the things that can be talked about in this class. Our world is changing each and everyday and you have to stay on top of the way things are. In this reflection essay I will hit on different topics and speak in different ways that ethical decisions and value systems work and how my view and knowledge on these have changed. Each individual will go about making decisions in a way that he or she sees fit based on there beliefs and teaching.…

    • 1101 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays