Sacred Trinity Decision-Making

The main focuses of this article are to identify what ethical framework(s) small business managers use in making decisions, and whether they differ from those drawn on by the wider community?

In recent years the public’s attention has been captured by disturbing reports of organizational actions leading to catastrophic consequences for stakeholders. Lawsuits and bankruptcy have stripped hundreds of thousands of people from their jobs, pensions, and dignity because of wrong or unethical decisions. The article focuses on several steps that can be taken to prevent future corporate disasters. For example, one possible step should be to assess organizational goals and create ethical framework for mangers to use in making decisions. It has been well established that there are a number of different ethical frameworks that may be applied when

making decisions, each used either in its own right or combined in a pluralistic approach. Almost all business and management ethics textbooks, for example, begin with a chapter explaining the different ethical frameworks that aim to provide a definition of what constitutes a right action. Part of the problem may be due to what appears to be a divergence between the normative models of decision making and everyday practices.

In conclusion, this paper has argued that, according to the literature, people use different ethical criteria in their decision-making process, not exclusively from only one school of moral philosophy (holy grail) but from the different dimension of EDM (sacred trinity).

References:

Casali, G. L. (2007). A quest for ethical decision making: Searching for the holy grail and finding the sacred trinity in ethical decision-making by managers. Social Responsibility Journal, 3(3), 50-59.