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Introduction Using Deontological ethics this assignment will discuss personal experiences involving business ethical problems. I will draw from Cant’s categorical Imperative to describe the situation, confrontation, and Implications present throughout the problem. Not long ago, my wife and I both wanted to earn extra income. After brainstorming several business ideas, we decided on creating a small home-based business focusing on candy. At the time my wife worked for a fortune 500 company and I for the military.
We agreed to create an LLC; the business would focus on holidays, airheads, and special occasions. What we didn’t know at the time was that the business would pose some business ethical questions shortly thereafter. A struggle between Cant’s moral philosophy of duty and good will versus the utilitarian aspect of maximizing happiness. One of the things we did was to begin a networking of friends; family and casual contacts to Jump-start the business model in order to get exposure. This Is where the ghosts of Demonology rose from the grave.
My wife had a moral business contract with her company stating that she would not use her session or influence for personal profit. Some of our business audience was friends was, is this ethical and if not, do we do the right thing? We weren’t stealing secrets, insider trading, committing theft of services or creating some money Opinion scheme. The question was, do we avoid them because it is wrong based upon the employer’s ethics contract? Were we bound to duty, regardless if it’s right or wrong? A strict Deontological would not tell a lie in order to save a friend from an accident. This was the paradox I was facing.
If we use our contacts from the people we know from work, e violate the ethics contract and my wife could get in trouble, if we don’t our business model takes a major set back and we have a huge hurdle to overcome. In our case, Cant’s categorical imperative of a rule was true in the circumstance. We first had a moral ethical duty to perform and act in a general rule of law or the categorical imperatives ‘maxim. We decided to modify our business model and took into account our duties to our primary employment first and foremost. It was a difficult decision to make but one with the greater good in mind.
In the end our small cuisines took some time to take off but we were free of violating any questionable moral and ethical business implications. That could ultimately hurt our careers. Personally speaking, I generally take a utilitarian approach to most aspects of ethical decisions. I feel that Cant’s categorical imperative is flawed in some situations. The idea of Cant’s human conduct is solely based and concluded with a single notion or action intended for good will regardless of the consequences afterwards does not seem logical to me in the grand scheme of things.