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Business Ethics – Deontologically Revisited
Article in Journal of Business Ethics · March 2007
DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9152-z · Source: RePEc
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Business Ethics – Deontologically
Revisited Edwin R. Micewski
Carmelita Troy
ABSTRACT. In this paper we look at business ethics
from a deontological perspective. We address the theory
of ethical decision-making and deontological ethics for
business executives and explore the concept of ‘‘moral
duty’’ as transcending mere gain and profit maximization.
Two real-world cases that focus on accounting fraud as
the ethical conception. Through these cases, we show
that while accounting fraud – from a consequentialist
perspective – may appear to provide a quick solution to a
pressing problem, longer term effects of fraud and mis-
conduct make ethical implications more apparent. Widely
used compensation schemes also may have the tendency
to fuel unethical behavior. We argue that an ethical
reinvigoration of the business world can only be
accomplished by encouraging the business realm to im-
pose upon itself some measure of self-regulating along the
lines of deontological ethics. Principles of deontology
should guide executive decision-making particularly
when executives are tempted to operate outside of cod-
ified legislation or are bound to act under judicial-free
conditions.
KEY WORDS: Deontological ethics, Business ethics,
Consequentialism, Utilitarianism, Accounting fraud
Introduction
This paper addresses capitalism, at least in its more
drastic neo-liberalist form and discusses the tenets and
guiding principles as well as the violations of ethical
codes that can occur when capitalists’ conduct is,
beyond legal boundaries and the monitoring by reg-
ulating authorities, unchecked by self-guiding moral
principles. The desire for a revision of capitalism on
the macro-level of economics derives mostly from
issues of globalization, regarding for instance the just
or equitable distribution of goods or the combating of
poverty. On the micro-level a need to review capi-
talism may spring from a culture of conspicuous
consumption and spending in the extreme. Capitalist
societies may have reached a postmodern condition
where, as Jean Baudrillard (1998) argues, reality is
filtered through the logic of exchange value and
advertisement, giving identity no longer through
ethnicity, gender, class, or social status, but by con-
sumption. Using two examples of corporate
accounting fraud, out of the increasing number of
cases of business fraud, larceny, and other forms of
illegitimate individual and corporate enrichment, we
provide evidence of the results of capitalism when it is
unconstrained by moral and ethical codes. This article
does not at all intend to question or reject the basic
tenets of capitalism – a largely intervention-free
market that regulates the investment of capital, the
production, distribution and prices of goods and
services by private incentive – however, the potential
subordination of human value and moral dignity to
blind market forces shall be put in question. We
concur with Milton Friedman (1988) that profit-
driven business has to meet its social responsibility by
Carmelita Troy is an Assistant Professor of Accounting in the
Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval
Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.
Micewski, Edwin R., Dr., Brigadier General, is social philos-
opher and Director of the Institute for Human and Social
Science of the Austrian National Defence Academy, Vienna.
Member of the Science Commission of the Austrian Ministry
of Defence and Visiting Professor at the Department of
National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, California. Research and teaching areas: Social
and cultural philosophy, military ethics, (military) profes-
sionalism and leadership, postmodernism and war. Recent
publication: (Ethics and international Politics (2001);
Civil- Military Aspects of Military Ethics (2003/2005);
Terror and Terrorism- History of Ideas and Philo-
sophical-Ethical Reflections (2005); Asymmetry and
Western Society – Culture-critical Reflections(2006).
Journal of Business Ethics (2007) 72:17–25 � Springer 2006 DOI 10.1007/s10551-006-9152-z
accepting the constraints imposed ‘‘by the basic rules
of society, both those embodied in law and those
embodied in ethical custom.’’
