Toward Professional Ethics in Business
Toward Professional Ethics in Business
J. N. Hooker
Graduate School of Industrial Administration
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
March 1996
Abstract
Before a code of professional ethics can be formulated for business managers, it must be understood why management should be considered a profession and what should be its central mission. This paper proposes answers to these questions. 1 Introduction
There are two kinds of ethical obligation in business. There are obligations that business people have simply as human beings. There are further obligations they have as members of a profession.
There is a difference. If a friend tells you that you should take an aspirin a day to prevent heart disease, then you don’t really expect him to know what he is talking about. The friend should be sincere and perhaps should practice what he preaches before offering advice, but you would expect nothing more. If a physician, however, advises you to take an aspirin a day, you expect her to have expert knowledge on the subject and to weigh your individual case carefully before prescribing medication.
Most people, when confronting a choice, are faced with one question. 1. What should I do as a human being?
The professional, when confronting a choice, is faced with three questions. 2. What should I do as a human being?
3. What should I do as a professional?
4. If there is a conflict, how should I resolve it?
Conflicts are possible. For example, a physician may feel that a situation calls on her to assist in euthanasia. Medical ethics, as traditionally interpreted, proscribes euthanasia on the ground that it is harmful to the patient. This interpretation has become controversial, but suppose for the moment that it is correct. The physician must decide whether the special obligations of her profession override the obligations that would otherwise bind her as a human being.
1
Unlike medicine and law, business is not even in
J. N. Hooker
Graduate School of Industrial Administration
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
March 1996
Abstract
Before a code of professional ethics can be formulated for business managers, it must be understood why management should be considered a profession and what should be its central mission. This paper proposes answers to these questions. 1 Introduction
There are two kinds of ethical obligation in business. There are obligations that business people have simply as human beings. There are further obligations they have as members of a profession.
There is a difference. If a friend tells you that you should take an aspirin a day to prevent heart disease, then you don’t really expect him to know what he is talking about. The friend should be sincere and perhaps should practice what he preaches before offering advice, but you would expect nothing more. If a physician, however, advises you to take an aspirin a day, you expect her to have expert knowledge on the subject and to weigh your individual case carefully before prescribing medication.
Most people, when confronting a choice, are faced with one question. 1. What should I do as a human being?
The professional, when confronting a choice, is faced with three questions. 2. What should I do as a human being?
3. What should I do as a professional?
4. If there is a conflict, how should I resolve it?
Conflicts are possible. For example, a physician may feel that a situation calls on her to assist in euthanasia. Medical ethics, as traditionally interpreted, proscribes euthanasia on the ground that it is harmful to the patient. This interpretation has become controversial, but suppose for the moment that it is correct. The physician must decide whether the special obligations of her profession override the obligations that would otherwise bind her as a human being.
1
Unlike medicine and law, business is not even in
References: [1] Fukuyama, Francis, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Proposperity, The Free Press (New York, 1995). [2] Schwartz, Barry, The Battle for Human Nature: Science, Morality and Modern Life, Norton (New York, 1986). [3] Smith, Adam, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Liberty Classics (Indianapolis, 1982). [4] Weber, Max, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Allen and Unwin (London, 1930). 9 10