Moral integrity in business ethics

[K.M. Majstorović]

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Etika - Poslovna etika / Ethics - Business ethics

U radu koji je pred nama nameravamo da pokažemo značaj problema moralnog integriteta za oblast poslovne etike. Kakav je zadatak pred nama i na koji način ćemo ga ispuniti? Već nas je površno upućivanje u tematiku poslovne etike potpuno ubedilo u aktuelnost tematike ove oblasti, ali i njenu intrigantnost zbog izazova koje njoj svojstvene teme postavljaju etici kao filozofskoj disciplini. Pregled udarnih slučajeva poslovne etike obiluje skandalima. Skandali su u poslovnom svetu toliko česti da im možda takvo imenovanje i ne odgovara. Etičar koji pristupa biznisu najpre pokušava da pronađe centralni problem, lajtmotiv u gomili slučajeva. Tome mu mogu pomoći i tekstovi koji se bave etičkom analizom poslovanja. Naš pokušaj vođen je idejom da etički aspekt analize, makar u postenronovskom* periodu poslovne etike, može pružiti kvalitetno objašnjenje mnogih problema poslovnog sveta ukoliko ih pratimo iz fokusa moralnog integriteta ličnosti. Da bismo to učinili, moramo najpre odrediti etičke smernice koje se tiču moralnog integriteta. Najpre ovaj pojam moramo precizno da odredimo. Uočili smo da na području etike ne postoji sistematičan pregled dosadašnjih pokušaja sa tematikom konceptualizacije moralnog integriteta. Naša je zamisao bila da najpre iscrpno izložimo elemente značenja koje nam pruža etimološka analiza. Time smo razlučili razlike između moralnog, fizičkog, umetničkog i profesionalnog integriteta. Zatim je potrebno definisati moralni integritet i pronaći podršku za takav predlog definicije u etičkim teorijama. Ovo su zadaci etičke analize čije će nam ispunjenje omogućiti da istupimo na područje primene etike, a to je u ovom slučaju sfera biznisa. U ovoj fazi jasno sagledavamo napetost između etike i biznisa, a naročito ukoliko etiku posmatramo kroz vrednost moralnog integriteta kao paradigmu. * Mislimo na period posle Enron (Enron) skandala, koji se desio novembra 2001. Energetske kompanija Enron doživela je bankrot usled lošeg finansijskog izveštavanja i svesnih propusta u računovodstvu, čime su čelni ljudi pokušali da sakriju loše poslovanje i milijarde dolara duga. Cene akcija kompanije vrtoglavo su pale, sa preko 90 $, koliko su vredele sredinom 2000. na 1$ u oktobru 2001. Etika znači afirmaciju određenih bezuslovnih, apsolutnih vrednosti, kakva je i moralni integritet. Etika, drugim rečima, znači da postupanje vrednujemo preko merila koja određuju moralnu vlastitost. Moralnu vlastitost ne treba žrtvovati ni zbog čega, jer to je kruna vrednosti u čoveku, nesamerljiva sa ostalim vrednostima. Sa druge strane, deo prakse u kojoj se čovek ostvaruje i ispoljava je poslovna sfera. Koja su ograničenja ovoj praksi koja dolaze iz oblasti etike i njenih vrednosti? Odgovor nije jednostavan, jer etičar, kao filozof morala, ima pred sobom dileme. A najveće dileme u filozofiji tiču se bazičnih pitanja, pitanja o početku. Filozof u sferi biznisa postavlja pitanje o prirodi i dometima etike i, dodatno, pitanja o prirodi i dometima poslovne etike. Ako hoćemo da ilustrujemo dilemu etike koja prelazi na područje biznisa preko problema moralnog integriteta, evo primera. Da li je ispravna moralna pozicija da žrtvujemo svoj život, nošeni utiskom neizvesnosti njegovog trajanja, kako bismo spasili nekog drugog? Da li to ikada može da bude pozicija moralne ispravnosti? Pretpostavimo da se bavimo promocijom donorstva u medicini. Da li mi možemo da zagovaramo donorske kartice u svrhu zaveštanja organa, ili će biti logičnije da propagiramo samoubistvo u iste svrhe, zavisiće od pozicije koju smo zauzeli u bazičnoj dilemi. Ovde smo pomenuli samo jedan problem, mada i pitanje žrtve kao moralnog kriterijuma može biti stavljeno u kontekst različitih problema u etičkoj analizi. Zbog toga će kompleksnost etike imati odjeka u poslovnoj etici. Da li je moguće žrtvovati moralnu vlastitost i šta bi to moglo da znači? Ovo je pitanje veoma važno za etiku kao oblast. Pokušali smo da se odredimo prema pitanju odnosa moralnog integriteta prema drugim vrednostima, jer time dolazimo do nekih zaključaka o samoj moralnoj teoriji. Šta uočavamo kada govorimo o moralnom integritetu učesnika u poslu? Poslovna praksa često počiva na odlučivanju koje ne haje za vrednost moralnog integriteta. Nepoštovanje moralnog integriteta ličnosti u okrutnom poslovnom svetu ugrožavajuće je po ličnost i široko shvaćene vrednosti sveta poslovanja, a takođe nepovoljno utiče na uspešnost poslovnog procesa. Ukoliko se moralni integritet ne poštuje, posledice su nepovoljne i za ličnost i za firmu i šire okruženje. Bio nam je cilj da pokažemo da poštovanje moralnog integriteta jeste jedan od faktora stabilnosti biznisa i da kao takav dugoročno doprinosi njegovoj uspešnosti. Sledeći kontraverzu stakeholder i stockholder teorije, u smislu shvatanja o prioritetu ciljeva biznisa, naš cilj je da ukažemo na mesto koje će moralni integritet kao vrednost moći da zauzme u tom rivalitetu. To nam, u okvirima poslovanja, može pomoći u rešavanju brojnih nedoumica, što je od suštinske važnosti. Vrednovanje moralnog integriteta ne bismo smeli prevideti, ukoliko hoćemo da ispravno postavimo problem i što uspešnije ga razrešimo. Ignorisanje dimenzije poštovanja moralnog integriteta ličnosti osiromašuje i neopravdano pojednostavljuje etičku analizu poslovnih problema. Ambicioznije gledano, pokušali smo da na primeru razmatranja problema moralnog integriteta, koji ćemo sagledati i iz perspektive sveta biznisa i njemu svojstvenih postavki, pokažemo kako to treba da funkcioniše poslovna etika. Ideja jeste da se ukaže na to da susretanje moralno relevantnog i ekonomski relevantnog u poslovnoj etici može biti postignuto predlogom etičke teorije kao osnove (deontološka teorija) i njenim „oprobavanjem“ u analizi slučajeva relevantnih za problem kojim se bavimo. Etičke postavke koje smo predložili trebalo bi da dovedu do zaključka da unutar poslovnog sveta mora postojati poštovanje moralnog integriteta ličnosti, jer svako njegovo ugrožavanje predstavlja pokušaj poništavanja neprikosnovenosti bazičnih moralnih vrednosti, kao vrednosti čija afirmacija predstavlja i osnov dugoročne uspešnosti sveta poslovanja. Unutar kantovske etičke pozicije, kao i kod teoretičara bliskih Kantovim stavovima, poštovanje moralnog integriteta nedvosmisleno je obezbeđeno. Kod zagovornika i kritičara utilitarizma postoji u literaturi precizno lociran spor oko percepcije moralnog integriteta ličnosti. Vrlo je važno to da li etička teorija dovodi do zaključka da moralni integritet jeste dimenzija koja sama po sebi nosi teret u etičkoj analizi, ili to ne čini, jer se posledice tog stava direktno odražavaju na način određivanja osnovnih postavki razmatranja koja se bave problemima poslovne etike. U poslovnoj etici nam je, samom prirodom oblasti u kojoj etiku primenjujemo, pri ruci sukob profita sa drugim vrednostima. Ideja je da najpre suprotstavimo utilitarizam i deontološko stanovište iz ugla načina na koji oni predstavljaju etičku teoriju. Deontološka teorija analizira postupak sa stanovišta dužnosti i namere, ali joj je svojstvena neprijatnost u vidu problema konflikta dužnosti. No, čini se da se i sama etika definiše terminima deontološke teorije. Sa druge strane, utilitarizam procenjuje akcije po njihovim posledicama. Ovo procenjivanje odvija se u okviru unapred određenog shvatanja dobra, tako da se procena svodi na stepen postignuća, stepen ostvarivanja ciljeva koji su zadati. Moglo bi se reći da utilitarizam, strogo govoreći, i nije etička teorija, već predstavlja tip racionalnosti (utilitaristička racionalnost), ili praktični vodič za donošenje odluka. Svoju definiciju dobra utilitarizam postavlja kao konačnu, što znači da se osnov teorije ne preispituje. Za poslovnu etiku je presudno obezbediti stabilan okvir, kako bismo uspeli da se izborimo za afirmaciju same oblasti i za moral u biznisu. Trebalo bi da, prilikom definisanja okvira poslovne etike, izbegnemo poteškoće sa kojima se suočava utilitaristička racionalnost. Okvir poslovne etike treba postaviti na tragu etičke tradicije koja uvažava vrednost moralnog integriteta ličnosti. Slučajevi ugrožavanja moralnog integriteta ličnosti su situacije konflikta, u kojima jedna od strana treba eksplicitno da se izjasni da li čuva istinsku moralnu suštinu pojedinca ili hoće da je žrtvuje u ime vanmoralnih interesa koji su prepoznati kao viši interesi. Zbog toga je od ključnog značaja izboriti se za poštovanje moralnog integriteta pojedinca, kako bismo mogli da kažemo da u slučaju ovakvog sukoba ne pobeđuje jači, i da se ne radi naprosto o demonstraciji sile. Paradigmatični slučajevi ovkvog konflikta su uzbunjivanje i menadžerske odluke, kojima ćemo posvetiti posebnu pažnju. Koristeći se pojmovnim analizama, odmeravanjem rivalskih postavki dominantnih etičkih teorija i case study analizom, pokušaémo da pokažemo da je biznisu potrebna etika, jer pomaže istinskoj artikulaciji problema biznisa i afirmaciji vrednosti koje su biznisu, dugoročno gledano, potrebne. Etika, ulazeći u svet biznisa ne može odustati od vrednosti čije poštovanje zagovara. Preciznije, etika od svojih osnovnih vrednosti ne može odustati, iako do određenog susretanja ekonomski i moralno relevantnog mora da dođe. Naš stav je da je moralni integritet vrednost čije poštovanje etička teorija mora inherentno da zahteva. Na području primene etike to može da znači da je ova vrednost reprezent etičke teorije. Usvajanje poštovanja moralnog integriteta ličnosti jeste test opstanka etike u svetu biznisa, minimum bez kojeg ona ne može. Ukoliko akteri biznisa ne pristanu na poštovanje moralnog integriteta ličnosti, onda oni ne žele da pristane na etiku. Tako se lako mogu naći na klizavoj padini koja izmiče sa tla moralnih vrednosti. Na kraju, angažman etičara podrazumeva da on treba da ukaže na važnost poštovanja moralnog integriteta, uzimajući u obzir razloge koje smo naveli. Zlo i moralno neispravno ne mora doći iz svesne želje da se učini zločin bez presedana, već može biti posledica revnosne upućenosti na lično napredovanje, kao što je, prema analizi Hane Arent (Hannah Arendt), bio slučaj sa Ajhmanom. Ovaj rad je pokušaj usmeravanja na druge, moralne motive,kroz podsećanje na vrednost naše moralne vlastitosti i moralnog zakona u nama.

In the work ahead of us we intend to show the significance of the problem of moral integrity in the field of business ethics. What is our task and how we will fulfill it? Only a slight reference to the topic of business ethics is enough to convince us fully in actuality of topics in this area, but also their intriguing quality, due to the challenges that its inherent themes put in front of ethics, as a philosophical discipline. The overview of the most famous cases of business ethics abounds with scandals. In the business world scandals happen so often, that it could be inappropriate to call them scandals. Ethicist who approaches business, first tries to find a central problem, a leitmotif in the crowd of cases. He may use texts dealing with the ethical analysis of business to help him. Our attempt is driven by the idea that the ethical aspect of the analysis, at least in the post-Enron† period of business ethics, can provide a qualitative explanation of many problems of the business world, if we consider them from the focus of the person`s moral integrity. In order to do this, we must first determine the ethical guidelines about the moral integrity problem. First, we must accurately define this notion. We have noticed that there is no systematic review of previous attempts to conceptualize moral integrity in ethics. Our idea was to first thoroughly expose elements of meaning that gives us the etymological analysis. Thus, we have pointed at differences between moral, physical, artistic and professional integrity. After that it is necessary to define the integrity and find support for this proposal of the definition in ethical theories. These are the tasks of ethical analysis whose fulfillment will enable us to come to the area where we apply ethics, and in this case it is the sphere of business. † We refer to the period after the Enron (Enron) scandal, which took place in November 2001. Energy company Enron experienced bankruptcy due to poor financial reporting and conscious omission in accounting, by which leaders tried to hide the poor performance and billions of dollars of debt. The prices of the company's shares have fallen head-spinning, from over $ 90 of their worth in mid-2000, to $ 1 in October, 2001. At this stage we clearly see the tension between ethics and business ethics, particularly if we look at ethics through the value of moral integrity as a paradigm. Ethics means the affirmation of certain unconditional, absolute values, like the value of moral integrity. Ethics, in other words, means that we evaluate actions using the criteria that define our own moral identity. Our own moral identity must not be sacrificed for anything, because it is the crown of our human values, incommensurable with other values. On the other hand, part of the practice in which a man realizes and manifests himself is the business sphere. What are the limitations of this practice, which come from the field of ethics and its values? The answer is not simple, because ethicist, as a moral philosopher, bears with dilemmas. And the most serious dilemmas in philosophy are about the basic questions, questions about the beginning. In the sphere of business, the philosopher raises questions about the nature and scope of ethics and, in addition, questions about the nature and scope of business ethics. If we want to illustrate the dilemma that comes from ethics and exceeds to the range of businesses using the problem of moral integrity, here's an example. Is it morally right to sacrifice our life, carried by the impression of the uncertainty of its duration, in order to save someone else? Could this ever be the position of moral rightness? Let us assume that we are dealing with the promotion of organ donation in medicine. Whether we should advocate for donor cards for the purpose of organ donation, or would it be more logical to propagate suicide for the same purpose, will depend on the position we took about the basic dilemma. We have mentioned only one problem here, though the issue of victim as moral criteria can be placed in the context of various problems in ethical analysis. Therefore, the complexity of ethics would reflect on business ethics. Is it possible to sacrifice my own moral self, and what would that mean? This issue is very important for the field of ethics. We tried to define our position about the relationship of moral integrity to other values, because that will bring us to some conclusions about the moral theory. What do we notice when we talk about the moral integrity of the participants in the business activity? Business practice often relies on decision making that do not care about the value of moral integrity. Disrespect for the moral integrity of a person in the cruel business world jeopardizes personality and broadly conceived values of business, and also adversely affects the performance of the business process. If we don’t respect moral integrity, the adverse consequences will affect the person and the company and the wider environment. Our aim is to show that respect for moral integrity is one of the factors of stability of business and as such contributes to its long-term success. Following the controversy of stakeholder and stockholder theory, in terms of understanding the most important aim of business, our goal is to emphasize the place that moral integrity can take as a value in this rivalry. In terms of business, that can help us solving number of concerns, and that is crucially important. Evaluation of moral integrity we should not overlook if we are to properly set the problem and resolve it as successful as possible. Ignoring the dimensions of respect for the moral integrity of a person impoverishes and unduly simplifies the analysis of ethical business issues. More ambitiously speaking, we will try to show how business ethics suppose to function, using the consideration of the problem of moral integrity as an example, which we will look at and from the perspective of the business world and its own particular preferences. The idea is to demonstrate that the meeting between morally relevant and economically relevant in business ethics can be achieved by adopting a proposed ethical theory as a basis (deontological theory) and its testing in the analysis of the cases relevant to the problem we are dealing with. Ethical settings which we proposed should lead to the conclusion that in the business world we must have respect for the moral integrity of the person, because each of its endangerment is an attempt to undo the sovereignty of basic moral values, as the values whose affirmation represents the basis for long-term success of the business world. Within the Kantian ethical positions, as well as in the positions advocated by theoreticians who were familiar to Kant's views, respect for moral integrity is unequivocally provided. The proponents and critics of utilitarianism have made a dispute, clearly located in literature, about the perception of the moral integrity of a person. It is very important whether the ethical theory leads to the conclusion that moral integrity is the dimension which itself carries the burden of the ethical analysis, or it does not, because the consequences of this attitude directly affect the way we define the basic settings of considerations that deal with issues of business ethics. Because of the very nature of the area in which we apply ethics, in business ethics we have the conflict of profit with other values near at hand. The idea is to first confront utilitarianism and deontological view from the perspective of the way they represent ethical theory. Deontological theory analyzes the action from the perspective of duties and intentions, but its inherent unpleasantness is the problem of conflict of duties. However, it seems that the very terms of deontological ethics defines theory. On the other hand, utilitarianism assesses actions after their consequences. This assessment takes place within a predetermined understanding of the good, so that the estimate is reduced to the level of achievement, the degree of realization of goals that are entered. It could be argued that utilitarianism, strictly speaking, is not an ethical theory, but represents a type of rationality (utilitarian rationality), or a practical guide for decision-making. Utilitarianism sets its definition of good as final, which means that the basis of the theory is not in question. For business ethics it is crucial to provide a stable framework, in order to manage to fight for affirmation of business ethics itself and for the moral business. When we define a framework of business ethics, we should avoid the difficulties that the utilitarian rationality faces with. The framework of business ethics should be set up in terms of the ethical tradition that respects the value of the moral integrity of a person. Cases of endangering the moral integrity are conflict situations, in which one of the parties should explicitly declare whether we should preserve the true moral essence of the individual or whether we should sacrifice it, in the name of non-moral interests, which are identified as higher interests. Therefore, it is essential to fight for respect for the moral integrity of the individual, so that we can say that in the situation of such a conflict does not win the one who is stronger, and that it is not simply a demonstration of force. Paradigmatic cases of these conflicts are whistle-blowing and managerial decision making, which will devote our special attention. Using conceptual analysis, weighing rival settings of dominant ethical theories and case study analysis, we will try to show that the business requires ethics, because it helps to genuine the articulation of problems of business and affirmation of the values that business, in the long term perspective, need. Ethics, entering the business world, can not give up the values which advocate respect. More specifically, the ethics can not give up from its basic values, though it must come to a certain meeting of economic and morally relevant. We claim that the moral integrity is the value whose observance ethical theory must inherently require. In the area of applied ethics this may mean that this value is a representative of ethical theory. Adoption of respect for the moral integrity is the test of the survival of ethics in the business world, a minimum without which it can not function. If the business actors do not agree to respect the moral integrity of a person, then they do not want to consent to ethics. And they can easily found themselves on the slippery slope that eludes from the ground of moral values. Finally, the engagement of a moral philosopher means that he needs to point to the importance of respecting moral integrity, taking into account the reasons mentioned above. The evil and the morally wrong do not have to come from the conscious desire to commit a crime without precedent, but may be the result of diligent familiarity with personal advancement, as, according to the analysis of Hannah Arendt, was the case of Eichmann. This paper is an attempt of routing to other, moral motives, referring to the values of our own moral being and the moral law within us

integritet, moralni integritet, utilitarizam, deontološka etika, dostojanstvo, poslovna etika, menadžer, odlučivanje, uzbunjivanje

integrity, moral integrity, utilitarianism, deontological ethics, dignity, business ethics, manager, decision-making, whistle-blowing

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