This is a summary of all the materials for the first exam of Ethics and the Future of Business (semester 1, period 1) for the Master Business Administration at UvA.
The summary includes all the articles and videos, and the lecture slides.
My grade: 8.6
Sem. 1, per. 1 Ethics and the Future of Business
Julia Brugman, UvA MBA 2021/2022
Index
Lecture 1. Morals & Ethics......................................................................................................2
1.1. Chapter 3. Evaluating Business Ethics (Crane, 2019)..................................................2
1.2. The Moral Machine experiment (E. Awad et al., 2018)...............................................13
1.3. A New Model for Ethical Leadership (M.H. Bazerman, 2020).....................................16
1.4. TED – Why we shouldn’t trust markets with our civic life (M. Sandel, 2013)...............18
Lecture 2. Behaviors and actions..........................................................................................19
2.1. Chapter 4. Making Decisions in Business Ethics (Crane, 2019).................................19
2.2. How (Un)ethical Are You? (M.R. Banaji, M.H. Bazerman, D. Cugh, 2003).................29
2.3. Ethics and Effectiveness: The Nature of Good Leadership (Ciulla, 2020)...................32
2.4. TED - Our buggy moral code (Dan Ariely, 2009)........................................................38
Lecture 3. Strategies & Stakeholders....................................................................................39
3.1. The Evolutionary Bases for Sustainable Behavior: Implications for Marketing, Policy,
and Social Entrepreneurship (Griskevicius, Cantú & van Vugt, 2012)...............................39
3.2. Social Entrepreneurship: Research as Disciplined Exploration (Mair, 2020)...............44
3.3. Creating shared value: how to reinvent capitalism and unleash a wave of innovation
and growth (Porter & Kramer, 2011)..................................................................................48
3.4. Five-Step Approach to Stakeholder Engagement (BSR, 2019)...................................51
3.5. TED – Business is about purpose (Freeman, 2013)...................................................54
Lecture 4. Challenges & Solutions........................................................................................55
4.1. Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress (Kubiszewski et al.,
2013)................................................................................................................................. 55
4.2. Towards The Circular Economy: economic and business rationale for an accelerated
transition (Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2013) – Chapter 1 – 3...........................................59
4.3. Climate Change 2021, The Physical Science Basis – Summary for Policymakers
(IPCC, 2021)...................................................................................................................... 66
4.4. The triple layered business model canvas: A tool to design more sustainable business
models (Joyce & Paquin, 2016).........................................................................................68
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,Sem. 1, per. 1 Ethics and the Future of Business
Julia Brugman, UvA MBA 2021/2022
Lecture 1. Morals & Ethics
1.1. Chapter 3. Evaluating Business Ethics (Crane, 2019)
This is the newest edition of a classic text book in business ethics, providing an excellent albeit brief overview of
some Western modernist theories of ethics. Compare and contrast the basic premises of each theory and think
about how they can be used together in a pluralistic way to support our decision-making.
Morality = humans’ ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
Ethics = the systematic study of morality an ongoing discussion about morality with a very
long history typically examines right and wrong from the perspective of a human being
(anthropocentric), e.g. instead of nature not just theorization of morals, but the aim is also
to affect practice.
Ethical theories = principles and rules
that determine right and wrong in
different situations can give
contradictory solutions to the same
problem.
Key questions of ethics:
1. What kind of moral principles should guide our actions?
2. What kind of aims should we have?
Challenges of business ethics:
Comprehensive: addresses challenging questions at individual, organizational, and
societal levels.
Cross-disciplinary: philosophy, management, economics, political science, earth system
sciences…
Abstract nature: it can be difficult to recognize the practical implications of ethical
theories.
Critical thinking: you should not take the theories and related practices as given.
Experience: experience in business can be helpful.
Do we need ethics when we have the law? in society, morality is the foundation of the law
law and ethics are partly overlapping, nonetheless:
The law does not cover all ethical issues (e.g. cheating on your partner);
Not all legal issues are ethical (e.g. driving on the right side of the road);
Law and ethics can involve contradictions (e.g. Apartheid).
Introduction
Normative ethical theories: rules, guidelines, principles, and approaches that determine
right and wrong how we ought to behave has a counterpoint in descriptive ethical
theory a code of conduct that all rational beings would adhere to.
Descriptive morality applies to a code of conduct adopted by a particular group of society
(e.g. guidelines for a religion).
The Role of Ethical Theory
Ethical absolutism/objectivism: there are eternal, universally applicable moral principles
right and wrong are objective qualities that can be rationally determined, irrespective of the
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,Sem. 1, per. 1 Ethics and the Future of Business
Julia Brugman, UvA MBA 2021/2022
circumstances most traditional Western modernist ethical theories tend to be absolutist in
nature.
Ethical relativism: morality is context-dependent and subjective there are no universal
right and wrongs that can be rationally determined – it simply depends on the traditions,
convictions, or practices of those making the decision frequently in international business
issues, where morality is culturally determined still a normative theory.
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 pluralism: something of an alternative approach to absolutism and relativism
accepts that we ought to recognize that incompatible values can be equally legitimate and
tolerate them as such the potential of radical conflict between logical theoretical
perspectives is an inevitable part of pluralism and has to be addressed.
Different from relativism and absolutism: it neither puts all ethical perspectives on an
equal footing, nor favours one approach over others.
Worry: it is overly tolerant.
Primary value of ethical theories: they help to rationalize, explain, and understand the
hunches or gut feelings we all have about what is right or wrong make it possible to
engage in a rational discourse between individuals whose moral values are different from
each other.
Religion is both descriptive and normative ethical theory.
Normative Ethical Theories and Religion
Two main differences between religious teaching about ethics and normative ethical theory
from philosophy:
1. Source of rules and principles:
o Religions invoke a deity or an organized system of belief as the source of
determining right and wrong faith is considered the critical requisite for acting
ethically.
o Philosophical theories are based on the belief that human reason should drive ethics
rationality is the critical requisite for acting ethically.
2. Consequences of morality and immorality: in religious teaching, there is an important
element of spiritual consequence for the decision-maker (e.g. salvation, enlightenment,
reincarnation, or damnation).
Western Modernist Ethical Theories
Ethical theories in business context, in the Western societies: based on philosophical
thinking beginning with the Enlightenment (‘modernity’) in the 18th century generally offer a
certain rule or principle that one can apply to any given situation are absolutist in intention
normative: they start with an assumption about the nature of the world and human beings.
There is a distinct point of division in this group:
Goal oriented/consequentialist theories: base moral judgement on the outcomes,
aims, or goals of a certain action = consequentialist ethics = teleological (Greek for
‘goal’) focus on consequentialist theories of ethical egoism and utilitarianism.
Principle-based theories: base moral judgements on the derivation of principles and the
procedure by which they are arrived at prioritize what is right, rather than what is
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, Sem. 1, per. 1 Ethics and the Future of Business
Julia Brugman, UvA MBA 2021/2022
desirable = deontological (Greek for ‘duty’) focus on principle-based theories of
ethics of duties, and rights and justice.
Ethical egoism Utilitarianism Ethics of duties Rights and
justice
Leading Thomas Hobbes Jeremy Bentham Immanuel Kant John Locke
contributors Ayn Rand John Stuart Mill Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
John Rawls
Key words Leviathan (TH) An Introduction to Foundations of Two Treatises of
The Virtue of the Principles of the Metaphysics Government (JL)
Selfishness (AR) Morals and of Morals (IK) The Social
Legislation (JB) Contract (JJR)
Utilitarianism, on A Theory of
liberty, Justice (JR)
considerations on
representative
Government
(JSM)
Focus Individual desires Outcomes and Duties Rights and the
or interests collective welfare nature of justice
Guiding tenets Maximization of Act/rule Respect for Universalizable
desires/self- utilitarianism autonomy and rules for the
interest rational reason nature of justice.
(in the form of Respect for
Categorical human beings.
Imperative)
Concept of Humans are Humans are Humans are Humans are
human beings objectively motivated by rational moral beings that are
obliged to serve avoidance of pain actors with free distinguished by
their self-interest and gain of will dignity.
alone pleasure
Type Consequentialist Consequentialist Principle-based Principle-based
Consequentialist Theories
Two main theories:
Ethical egoism focus on outcomes and self-interest for the individual decision-maker.
Utilitarianism focus on the wider social outcomes within a community.
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