Ethics Case Study: Utilitarianism and Duty Ethics in Management

This case study delves into the application of utilitarianism and Immanuel Kant's duty ethics within an international management context. It presents a scenario where a manager faces underperforming employees and, to improve overall unit performance, decides to terminate the employment of some individuals. The case analyzes this decision through the lens of utilitarianism, highlighting how the action resulted in a positive outcome for the company by increasing overall performance. However, the analysis also contrasts this with Kant's duty ethics, which emphasizes moral actions and avoiding harm to individuals. The case study highlights the ethical dilemma of prioritizing overall benefit versus adhering to moral principles, especially in situations where individual actions may have significant consequences. The assignment explores the complexities of ethical decision-making in business, weighing the benefits of utilitarian outcomes against the importance of adhering to moral duties.

ETHICS
IN
INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

1
Utilitarianism and Immanuel Kant’s duty ethics
Utilitarianism is a concept that is being applied in the case where the consequences matters.
Or in other words in the situations where the outcome of the decision made in that situation
needs to be positive and ensures greater good of the people the use of utilitarianism is
suggested. Lesser importance is being given to the morality of the actions being taken in that
situation. There might be certain actions that might be immoral but since the consequence of
it is good hence it is said to be good as per the utilitarianism. This is highly used concept at
the time of moral dilemmas where consequences matters the more than anything. Choosing
morality at that time may not be good for the people that are influenced by that decision in
terms of the consequence they will face.
For example once in my company when I was appointed the manager at new unit I found that
the performance of the group of employees was on the lower side from the past five months.
In spite of trainings and many other measures it was difficult for the management to improve
their performance. Even after several meetings it was not possible for me to improve their
performance. When I did the audit from my side I found that it was due to casual behaviour
of theirs which was developed in the long term that was not allowing them to perform. This
was also because the previous manager of the unit permitted this casualness. Due to this it
was seen that most of the people started following them. Even after warnings they did not
performed well. This was a wrong practice that was being developed at that place. In order to
manage this situation I fired them. Seeing this strict decision other employees also felt that
they might lose their job too. Due to this they started working well and the performance of
the overall unit have gone higher.
This action taken by me was appropriate in terms of utilitarianism as the consequences of the
decision was good because the ultimate objective of the company was to enhance the
performance of the company and the course of actions that was chosen was also according to
ethical guidelines of the company. However this utilitarianism decision overruled Immanuel
Kant’s duty ethics or deontology. This is because in Immanuel Kant’s duty ethics the course
of action must be moral and alternative course of action needs to be chosen in order to ensure
that no body is in loss. In this situation I could have chosen other methods of treating the
people and ensure that all others start working. This is immoral as the people that were being
fired have lost their job. This could have ruined their lives as they were the long-time

2
employees of the company and they might have faced challenges in their lives as finding job
would not be easier. It was also immoral because other people also started working because
of fear and not their will to perform well.