Arguments for and against using Utilitarian principles Essay Example for Free

Arguments for and against using Utilitarian principles Essay Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that proclaims that the morally right course of action in any given situation is the one that produces the greatest amount of pleasure over pain for everyone affected (Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell 2008). This is evident in business decision making processes done by analysts, legislators and managers, for instance on deciding to invest resources in public project, to minimize cost by using foreign labors and such. Thus, the argument on whether utilitarian principles should be applied in workplace practices is highly debated as it carries both pros and cons. First and foremost, utilitarianism in an organizational context â€Å"provides a clear and straightforward basis (Shaw, Barry Sansbury 2009, p67)† for developing and testing guidelines and protocols. Pain and pleasure is graded in a scale of continuum to measure intensity of the emotion (Burns 2005). As such, organizations can utilize this to derive objective decisions, as the approach uses quantitative result oriented method, and calculates cost and benefit of the consequences of all possible alternatives. For instance, a departmental manager ordered to cut cost in his department may revise all employees’ salary in the interest of obtaining higher utility for all parties rather than lay off some staff. Secondly, utilitarianism enables an unbiased approach of decision making, thus a way to resolve conflicts involving self-interest (Mill, 1863). This approach requires the decision maker to take the standpoint of an impartial third party and give equal weightage to everyone’s interest. As such, the outcome of the decision will not be influenced by self interest and chances of negative implication to all individual are minimized. This is advantages, as incidents such as Bhopal Disaster that killed 20000, as a result of poor maintenance to minimize cost for the shareholders, could be evaded. Moreover, utilitarianism is a comprehensive and flexible method as it looks at the end results of actions and takes into consideration the complexity of the circumstances (Burns 2005, p46). All ramifications, regardless whether they are direct, indirect, long term or short term, are taken into account especially in situations that may have long term environmental and health implication. Thus using utilitarianism, organizations can reach â€Å"realistic and workable moral decisions (Shaw, Barry Sansbury 2009, p67)†. Nonetheless, there are criticisms against the utilitarianism approach as it is difficult to determine and account for all foreseeable benefit and harm of every possible alternative (De George 2013, p48). This is because we cannot know the full implication of all actions in the long term, nor can we accurately estimate the pain and pleasure of future consequences resulting from these actions. For example, a drug that was released into market after thorough research and careful consideration of benefit over harm, could have undiscovered lethal side effect that could manifest many years later. However, due to limited technological advancement when the research was conducted, this potential harm and its intensity may not be identified accurately during initial cost and benefit analysis. Furthermore, utilitarianism is a teleological theory that looks at the end result itself rather than action. As such, it isn’t concerned with how the utility is achieved and even morally reprehensible actions such as theft and murder could be considered ethically right as long it produces more utility (Shaw, Barry Sansbury 2009, p68)†.Moreover, the theory, though theoretically plausible, is not applicable in real life situations in which individuals are required to make decision within minutes and could not possibly consider all alternatives and their implications. In conclusion, utilitarianism though highly applicable to workplace, should be practiced with caution as it also has weaknesses like any other theory. As such, the individuals in decision making position, should be aware of potential biases and shortcomings of practicing utilitarianism and attempt to diminish the negative implications. Reference List Burns,J 2005, â€Å"Happiness and Utility: Jeremy Bentham’s Equation† Utilitarianism Resources. P46,accessed 27/08/2013, http://www.utilitarianism.com. De George, R 2013, Business Ethics, Pearson/Prentice Publication, New Jersey. Ferrell,O , Fraedrich, J Ferrell,L 2008, Business Ethics : Ethical Decision Making and Cases ,South- Western Publication, Mason. Mill, J 1863, Utiilitarianism , Utilitarianism Resources. Accessed 27/08/2013, http://www.utilitarianism.com/mill2.html. Shaw,w, Barry,V Sansbury,G 2009 Moral Issues in Business, Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne.

The Impact of War In Britain :: essays research papers

The Impact of War at Home When war was declared, there were no celebrations. Instead the government took immediate action, and emergency powers, everyone was issued with gas masks in 1938. The bombing power of the Germans was something that was feared greatly by those that remembered the first war, and by the government, who knew that German bombers were now very advanced. Between the 1st and 3rd of September over one million people were evacuated, as the government were particularly worried about immediate bombing of built up and industrial areas. The majority of evacuees were children from poorer homes in larger cities. Their lives changed dramatically, they had to move to a whole new world in the country. However, as from September 1939 – May 1940 was the Phoney War, meaning no bombs were dropped, almost half the evacuees had been returned by the beginning of The Blitz, many of which had to be evacuated again. Mothers could accompany children under 5, but any child older then that was housed by foster parents, who received an allowance from the government. Children who were evacuated had good and bad experiences, depending on what their foster homes were like. Preparations had been made for the expected bombing, bombers were more accurate now then in the first war and the government prepared people by building bomb shelters and setting up volunteer organisations to deal with the air raid threat. There were 1.5 million Anderson shelters given away by September 1939, which were put in gardens and covered up. There were also over one million Morrison Shelters issued in 1941, a Morrison Shelter was a steel mesh box to contain a mattress, and could be kept in the living room. Air raid wardens and Auxiliary fire services were trained in Air Raid Precautions, the blackout was imposed, as were Anti Aircraft guns and Barrage Balloons to force bombers higher, sirens were put up to warn of attack and the WVS was set up to help women with injuries and comfort. Britain managed to survive The Blitz. Government films and statements only showed the bravery and fighting spirit of the civilians and reports were censored if they gave numbers or photographs of the dead. The major target areas for the Germans during The Blitz were London, Birmingham, Bristol, Merseyside, Southampton, Sheffield, Cardiff, Hull, Plymouth, Belfast, Clydeside and Coventry. In the summer of 1941 German bombers were needed for the invasion of the USSR and The Blitz came to an end, though air raids continued and by Summer 1941 more civilians had been killed in the War then British soldiers.

Original Writing – Birkan Akin

It was a dark night on a small island off the coast of Maine; I heard a shot, and a gunshot that echoed in my ears it felt like I was wounded. On the night of the gunshot a fisherman disappeared. The body was absent from the day of the gunshot, a young man known as Ryan Adams was accused of the murder. Years later the fisherman was found, found for just a few seconds he was found by a young girl who was playing in the sea when she suddenly felt a hand. I was at the scene firstly it seemed like the girls was drowning, I went for her rescue thinking that she is drowning, but then a yellow raincoat flicked into my eyes. I screamed out â€Å"its him, its him it's the fisherman that went missing at the gunshot scene†. I was in shock I couldn't believe it, then I suddenly saw the fisherman moving he was getting, getting out of the sea. I screamed â€Å"he's alive he's alive† I saw for one moment and the he vanished, disappeared he was gone. I couldn't even say stop, wait, don't go†¦he was gone. The following day everybody in the island was talking about the return of the fisherman, but just for a few seconds. On the same day the young man Ryan Adams that was accused of murdering the fisherman was set free. A further investigation was in process the investigation was named as ‘who fired the gunshot?' Since the day the fisherman reappeared he was never seen again. One night I went out to the seaside to catch some fish for dinner, the sky was pitch black I couldn't see anything. When I was fishing I heard something, something that was thrown into the sea from a distance. I turned around and looked at the shaw it looked like I saw the fisherman it looked he had that same yellow raincoat I was sure it was him because it looked like he was getting closer to me. I packed up my equipment and headed towards my home. I had another look back and I saw the fisherman in distance, he was running, running towards me. When I looked carefully at him it looked like he was carrying something in his hand, it was hard to describe from such distance but as he got closer I started picturing it, it looked like a gun. I was shattered, scared in amazement. He was getting closer and closer and closer and closer, then I heard a gun shot it was echoing in my ears it sounded like the bullet was getting closer†¦then suddenly I flew out my bed and started screaming â€Å"agghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh†¦its was a dream, a dream, a dream that know one would ever believe.

Death Penalty Essay - 957 Words

Death Penalty When turning on the television, radio, or simply opening the local newspaper, people are bombarded with news of arrests, murders, homicides, and other such tragedies. I believe murder, including the death penalty, is the worst thing that anyone could do. Since Hammurabi first introduced the notion of â€Å"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth†, people have been arguing over whether this is just punishment. Those in favor of the death penalty argue that people should pay for the crimes they do. For them, death is the only fit punishment in some cases. This is not the case. The death penalty is, rather, unethical and wrong. A death for another death does nothing but satisfy ones need for revenge. How often do these†¦show more content†¦Therefore, God will punish anyone who aids in executing people. I believe that religious beliefs, such as the Ten Commandments, are the corner stone for our law system. Executing someone should not be made an exception to Godâ€⠄¢s rule. Most people feel that men who rape little children deserve to die a painful death. They feel that the child and family would be much happier if he dies and know that he can’t hurt anyone anymore. The death penalty still would be wrong. I am pretty sure that people would feel differently if it were their family. They would just want them to get a harsher punishment. My next reason against the death penalty is that taxpayers waste too much of their money with the death penalty. The average death penalty case is appealed many times. This means that the taxpayers must pay for the same trial to be heard three times. This is a very expensive practice. Also, the convicted murderer spends a long time on death row. If supporters of the death penalty are positive enough to kill the person for committing the crime, shouldn’t the supporters be confident enough to execute them in a timely manner? Why spend the taxpayer’s money keeping these inmates in jail for so long? Taxpayer’s money should go to better society, not to accommodate the prisoners that are going to end up dead. People also think that if someone is killed, they should be killed also. That goes back to my introductionShow MoreRelatedPro Death Penalty Speech1482 Words   |  6 Pagesintroduce myself before we get started. My name is Slick Perry and if you didn’t already know, I am the state governor of Texas. You are all aware that we are reviewing our recidivism rate to various crimes and reviewing our stance regarding the death penalty as we approach 2009. Everyone here understands that capital punishment is a very controversial topic in the United States. In Texas, from December 1982 through August 2008, only 361 criminals of the millions of Texans in our good state were executedRead MoreThe Truth About The Death Penalty973 Words   |  4 Pages In her article â€Å"The Truth About The Death Penalty†, Carina Kolodny argues that the death penalty should be abolished in all fifty states due to the fact that it is ineffective and very expensive. Kolodny believes that capital punishment has too many complications and variables that cause it be more of an issue than a real solution for capital offenses. She proposes that the death penalty should be dropped and exchanged for better programs such as Proposition 34, which replaces capital punishmentRead MoreThe Bible and Death Penal ty Essay example812 Words   |  4 Pagesa person’s view of the Bible influence what they think about the death penalty for murderers.† I would like to see if a person’s view of the bible influence what they think of the death penalty. 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When we were discussing the death penalty although my opinion didn’t change, after hearing what some of my classmates had to say about the subject during our lab I was able to respectfully see why they had those thoughts and feelings about the subject. I believe that we should have the death penalty, and that it helps prevents more crime from happening. However, during our lab students that thought we should ban the death penalty had some pretty interesting reasons behind theirRead MoreThe Death Penalty Should Be Legal1805 Words   |  8 Pagesthat we all know is the death penalty. This penalty has been going around for years. To many people it might be the best way of punishing a person. On the other hand there are people who think that if you kill a person you should be sentenced to die as well. For me I would say it might not be the best way and it not working as many would like it. 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