Transcript 28 SLP(E) Georgia Ethics

28. Ethics & Leadership
SLP(E) Course
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
Why do we need to know about
ethics?
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Complex battle-field | business-space.
Drills & standard procedures not enough.
Working at edge of policy.
Face moral dilemmas.
Under public scrutiny through the media.
Ethical theories
• Theory:
– Provides tools not answers.
– Help clarify difficult challenges.
– Assist decision making; tools for debate.
– Explain & support plans & actions.
• Two theories:
– Utilitarianism.
– Deontology.
1. Utilitarianism
The right action is the one
that brings about the best
overall consequences.
‘Always ACT so as to bring about the
greatest happiness of the greatest
number’
Jeremy Bentham,(1748-1832) “The Father of
Utilitarianism”
Utilitarianism - Assumptions
• The ethics of ENDS not MEANS:
– ‘The end justifies the means’.
• Guided by moral value:
– balance between human happiness &
avoidance of pain:
• We each count as ONE.
Case Study - Hiroshima
• 66,000 Civilians killed.
• Contemporary assessments said:
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War would continue for a further year.
Up to 1 M additional US casualties.
Huge Japanese losses.
Okinawa: 80K US & 120K Japanese.
• ‘To avert a vast indefinite butchery.. at the cost
of a few explosions, seemed a miracle of
deliverance’. Churchill
Utilitarianism - Assessment
• Counter-intuitive: is it right to kill civilians
(non-combatants) in any circumstances?
• Is the theory incomplete or just plain false?
2. Deontology
• From the Greek ‘Deon’ = a duty | ‘Logos’
= study or science of.
• About Rights & Duties.
• Some acts are just wrong | full stop!
– Murder, rape, torture, intentional (or reckless)
killing of civilians.
• People are ENDS in themselves –
not MEANS.
Immanuel Kant 1724-1804
Deontology – Human Rights
• Provides absolute limits and guarantees:
– Right to life, liberty, security, freedom from torture.
• Rights are attached to individuals:
– As opposed to States or communities or peoples.
• Rights act as TRUMP CARD.
Deontology: Rights vs Duties
• Rights are absolute – can be forfeit.
• Our actions against someone must be
based on what that person did. Not on the
wider situation.
• An aggressor therefore forfeits right if
they wrongly attack you: self-defence.
– Attacker liable to defensive force.
– But not the innocent bystander.
Deontology | Application in War
• Provides an explanation of why intentional killing
may not necessarily be wrong.
• Determines the acceptable aims of war:
– Self-defence & humanitarian protection.
• Conditional on:
– Necessity & proportionality.
– Discrimination: combatants from non-combatant.
Summary
• Ethics helps us make decisions in
complex, unforeseen circumstances.
• Two theories: Utilitarianism & Deontology.
• Individual Rights act as TRUMP CARDS.
• Unless the individual forfeits those rights.
• Servicemen…?
28. Ethics & Leadership
SLP(E) Course
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
Ethical Challenges
Exercise
SLP(E) Course
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
Ethical Challenges
• At the strategic level ethical dilemmas are likely
to be encountered.
• In syndicates spend 45 minutes evaluating a
case study.
• Debate is important, whilst this is an academic
exercise, gut feelings are useful indicator!
• Use the Theories (Deontology | Utilitarianism).
• Nominate (a) speaker(s) to give a short (5 min)
presentation to the whole course.
Guidance
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What is your initial gut feeling | instinct?
Who are the stakeholders?
Apply Deontology: how does it help?
Apply Utilitarianism: how does it help?
How would you deal with the situation?
Red-Lines and Assumptions
• How far would you go?
• Over what line would you absolutely not
pass?
• What is vital ground?
• For my Country Right or Wrong?
• Which of your assumptions, if they were
proved incorrect, would substantially
change your position?
ILO: Describe the relationship
between ethics and leadership
Session Topics
• Relevance and purpose
• Four approaches to military ethics:
the Just War tradition
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Pacifism
Realism
Utilitarianism: an ethics of consequences
Deontology: an ethics of rights