Deontological Vs Teleological Ethics

We living in the era of technology where emerging markets, competing with each other, produce new and better products. Different innovative services are being introduced to the world every day. Economic globalization entering a new phase spreading markets into all corners of the world. In this changing world where people need to catch up with everything that is going around, their moral values and beliefs are changing accordingly. Some leaders of corporations with the desire to gain in “all costs” make decisions that have an impact not only on organization but employees as well.

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As the CEO of “Apple” Tim Cook in his interview said: “the ethical compass comes from parents and people you surround yourself with” (Duke University 2013). It

The teleological approach is more concentrated on the consequences of an action, so if the action performed by an individual was morally bad but it led to a positive outcome, it justifies the bad decision. According to Frankena (1973) in the teleological ethics, it is considered to be acceptable only if the “good” outcome of a particular act has overweighed the “evil”, but if it failed to do so, then this act judged to be unacceptable. The “duty-based” deontological perspective puts emphasis only on the action rather than the outcome. This theory has absolute rules and obligations. I believe that the “consequentialist” view of ethics is more appropriate for my industry. Marketing is based upon creative thinking; “pitching ideas”; demonstrating and selling skills. I believe in this industry the consequences of ideas a person comes up with and decisions made afterwards are more important rather than

One of the core values posted on Zappos website is “Build a positive team and family spirit” (Zappos.com).

To conclude, the ethical leadership theme has dramatically increased in relevancy these days. Interesting fact was introduced by Associate Dean of the Daniel’s College of Business - Dr. Barbara Kreisman (2011); before the Enron episode very few Universities were teaching “Ethics”, but after the information about Enron began to break, many universities changed their curriculum in favor of making this course required for all students to share some knowledge of corporate behavior and business ethics with individuals graduating from academic programs.

Through the examples provided in this blog and research of others, there is no doubt in my mind that those companies, which follow the “ethical codes”, are more successful than the ones that don’t. The ethics and success in the business world go hand in hand and only with an ethical leader a company can