Utilitarian Model (Ethic)

Utilitarian model is an ethic model for decision taking that tries to evaluate the effect of certain decisions and behaviors about others. The main goal of this evaluation is to provide to the biggest number possible of individuals a better well-being. Even though, sometimes, harms ones to benefit others, as long as the potential positive results are superior to the negatives, the decision can be considered good and ethic. Utilitarian model is, this way, consistent with the social contract stadium identified by Kholberg.

This model prescribes some ethic standards, namely:

. Organizational goals: managers should try to satisfy the needs of the clients, suppliers, employees and shareholders, focusing on the organizations’ financial goals.

. Efficiency: managers and all organization remaining members should try to fulfill the organizational goals with the higher efficiency possible.

Conflict of interests: managers and all organization remaining members shouldn’t follow the personal interests that can be in conflict with the fulfillment of the organizational goals.

Utilitarian model has two great fields: the utilitarian act field, that gives special emphasis to the consequences of providing the better for the greater number, and the utilitarian rule field, that consists in following pre-established rules to obtain the better for the greater number.

 

 

Translated from Portuguese by Susana Saraiva, Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese translation specialist. Contact: spams@sapo.pt.