Traditional Tools for Making Decisions in
Business when the Ends Justify the Means
Acknowledgements
This text is a reprint of Chapter 3 from Brusseau (2011) The Business Ethics Workshop. It is copied
and adapted under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
License.
Brusseau, J. (2011). The Business Ethics Workshop (1st ed.). New York: Flat World Knowledge.
Chapter Overview
Chapter 3 “Theories of Consequence Ethics: Traditional Tools for Making Decisions in
Business when the Ends Justify the Means” examines some theories guiding ethical
decisions in business. It considers ethics that focuses on the consequences of what is done
instead of prohibiting or allowing specific acts.
3.1 What Is Consequentialism?
Learning Objective
- Define consequentialism in ethics.
Consequentialism Defined
What’s more important in ethics—what you do or what happens afterward because of what
you did? People who believe ethics should be about what happens afterward are labeled
consequentialists. They don’t care so much about your act; they want to know about the
consequences.
If someone asks, “Should I lie?,” one answer is, “No, lying’s wrong. We all have a duty not to
lie and therefore you shouldn’t do it, no matter what.” That’s not the consequentialist
answer, though. Consequentialists will want to know about the effects. If the lie is about
Bernie Madoff assuring everyone that he’s investing clients’ money in stocks when really he
plans to steal it, that’s wrong. But if a defrauded, livid, and pistol-waving client tracks
Madoff down on a crowded street and demands to know whether he’s Bernie Madoff, the
ethically recommendable response might be, “People say I look like him, but really I’m Bill
Martin.” The question, finally, for a consequentialist isn’t whether or not I should lie, it’s
what happens if I do and if I don’t?
LDRS 320 – Theories of Duties and Rights
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Since consequentialists are more worried about the outcome than the action, the central
ethical concern is what kind of outcome should I want? Traditionally, there are three kinds of
answers: the utilitarian, the altruist, and the egoist. Each one will be considered in this
chapter.
Key Takeaway
• Consequentialist ethicists focus on the results of what you do, not what you do.
Review Questions - Under what scenario could a consequentialist defend the act of stealing?
- Could a consequentialist recommend that a toy company lie about the age level a toy
is designed for? What would be an example?