This detailed summary is prepared for the general part exam of the course Ethics and the future of business (6314M0507Y), which is a part of the MSc BA programme at the University of Amsterdam in the study year . The summary includes all the literature from weeks 1 to 4 and lecture notes from weeks...
,Table of Contents
Lecture 1 Morals & Ethics..................................................................................................3
Crane Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................... 3
TedTalk “Why we shouldn't trust markets with our civic life” .................................................. 17
Bazerman 2020 “A New Model for Ethical Leadership”............................................................ 18
Award 2018 “The Moral Machine experiment” ....................................................................... 20
Lecture 2: Behaviours & Actions ......................................................................................22
Crane Chapter 4 ..................................................................................................................... 22
Ciulla 2020 “Ethics and Effectiveness: The Nature of Good Leadership” ................................... 36
TEDtalk: How whistle-blowers shape history .......................................................................... 41
Banaji 2003 “How (Un)ethical Are You?” ................................................................................ 42
Lecture 2 Additional Notes ..................................................................................................... 45
Lecture 3: Strategies & Stakeholders ...............................................................................47
Hoffman 2021 “Your Role in Your Own Future” ....................................................................... 47
Griskevicius 2012 “The Evolutionary Bases for Sustainable Behaviour: Implications for
Marketing, Policy, and Social Entrepreneurship” ..................................................................... 49
Mair 2020 “Social Entrepreneurship: Research as Disciplined Exploration” .............................. 55
BSR 2019 “Five-Step Approach to Stakeholder Engagement” ................................................... 61
Lecture 3 Additional Notes ..................................................................................................... 70
Lecture 4: Challenges & Solutions ....................................................................................74
Kubiszewski 2013 “Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress” ............... 74
Atasu 2021 “The Circular Business Model”.............................................................................. 79
Joyce “The triple layered business model canvas: A tool to design more sustainable business
models” ................................................................................................................................. 83
IPCC 2021 “Climate Change 2021” .......................................................................................... 91
Lecture 4 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 92
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, Lecture 1 Morals & Ethics
Crane Chapter 3
Normative ethical theory – theories that aim to prescribe the morally correct way of acting –
how we ought to behave (the morally correct way that all adhere to)
Descriptive ethics – has a counterpoint in Normative ethical theory - the morally correct way
that is adopted by a particular group or society.
Ethical absolutism - On one side of the spectrum would be a position of ethical absolutism,
which claims that there are eternal, universally applicable moral principles. According to this
view, right and wrong are objective qualities that can be rationally determined, irrespective of
the circumstances.
Ethical relativism. The other extreme would be a position of relativism, which claims that
morality is context-dependent and subjective. Stemming in part from anthropological studies
of culture, relativists tend to believe that there are no universal rights and wrongs that can be
rationally determined- it simply depends on the traditions, convictions, or practices of those
making the decision. In business ethics studies, the notion of relativism occurs frequently in
international business issues, where it is argued that a moral judgement about behaviour in
another culture cannot be made from outside because morality is culturally determined. Ethical
relativism is different from descriptive relativism: while the latter merely suggests that different
groups have different ethics, the former proposes that both sets of beliefs can be equally right.
Ethical relativism, as we use it here, is still a normative theory
Most traditional Western modernist ethical theories tend to be absolutist in nature. They seek
to set out universal rules or principles that can be applied to any situation to provide the answer
as to what is right or wrong.
Contemporary ethical theories provide us with some alternative perspectives on ethical theory.
They often tend towards a more relativistic position.
Ethical pluralism thus differs from (a straightforward understanding of) relativism and
absolutism in that it neither puts all ethical perspectives on an equal footing nor favours one
approach over others. Irene Liu (2018) notes that a worry for pluralism is that it is overly
tolerant. The potential of radical conflict between logical theoretical perspectives is an
inevitable part of pluralism and has to be addressed. Pluralism allows an important openness
and sensitivity to new realities.
1. NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES AND RELIGION
There are two main differences between the approach of religion and normative ethics based
on philosophy:
• Source of rules and principles. Religions typically invoke a deity or an organized system of
belief (e.g. the teachings in the Qu'ran or the Talmud) as the source of determining right and
wrong. Faith is considered the critical requisite for acting ethically. Philosophical theories, on
the other hand, are based on the belief that human reason should drive ethics. Thus according
to philosophical perspectives, rationality is the critical requisite for acting ethically.
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, • Consequences of morality and immorality. In religious teaching, there is an important element
of spiritual consequence for the decision-maker. These consequences might include salvation,
enlightenment, reincarnation, or damnation.
Substantial processes of secularization- movement towards a non-religious form of organizing-
have taken place in workplaces across the globe. As such, normative ethical theories, based on
philosophical principles, remain at the cornerstone of business ethics for much of contemporary
business.
2. WESTERN MODERNIST ETHICAL THEORIES
They generally offer a certain rule or principle that one can apply to any given situation- hence,
they are absolutist in intention. These theories are normative because they start with an
assumption about the nature of the world, and more specific assumptions about the nature of
human beings.
There is a distinct point of division in this group: consequentialist and principle-based theories,
which we summarize in Table 3.1
The moral judgement in these theories is thus based on the intended outcomes, the aims, or the
goals of a certain action. Consequentialist ethics is often also referred to by the term
teleological, based on the Greek word for 'goal'. We focus on consequentialist theories of
ethical egoism and utilitarianism.
These principle-based theories prioritize what is right, rather than what is desirable. These
philosophical theories, also called deontological (based on the Greek word for 'duty'), look at
the desirability of principles, and based on these principles, deduce a 'duty' to act accordingly
in a given situation, regardless of the desirability of the consequences.
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