One suggested solution to the concussion problem is to outlaw helmets on the theory that players will be forced to reduce headfirst collisions and other trauma-causing actions. This leaves a great deal of room for criticism, as people weigh in on individual theories, and how they relate to one another. [36] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? We Know Little About the Long-term Effects of Concussions, Statnews, Sept.27, 2019. And for the same reason, a helmet alone will not prevent CTE.”[55] Furthermore, while the NFL has banned helmet-to-helmet hits, these are neither the only nor the most common cause of concussions. [28] Eamon T. Campolettano et al., Development of a Concussion Risk Function for a Youth Population Using Heal Linear and Rotational Acceleration, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 48(1): 92 DOI: 10.1007/s10439-019-02382-2. Is there a case to be made for “justified harm” in any of these leagues? A documentary and six short videos reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's story. Utilitarianism also has trouble accounting for values such as justice and individual rights. This is one of the limitations of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism can be used in any business decision that seeks to maximize positive effects (especially morally, but also financially) and minimize negative ones. [22] Steven Senne, Student Athletes Still Reluctant to Report Concussions, Nationwide Children’s Study Finds, Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191124/student-athletes-still-reluctant-to-report-concussions-nationwide-childrens-study-finds. Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020). How might the self-serving bias impact team physicians’ and trainers’ judgments and actions? "The greatest good for the greatest number" is the motto of the Utilitarian approach. Utilitarianism is used frequently when business leaders make critical decisions about things like expansion, store closings, hiring, and layoffs. [78] David Gee, Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on science Threatens Your Health, Journal of Public Health Policy, 29(4): 474-479 (2008). [17] Kevin M. Guskiewicz et al., Association between Recurrent Concussion and Late-Life Cognitive Impairment in Retired Professional Football Players, Neurosurgery 57(4): 719-726 (2005). [86] Ted Tatos, Playing Games with College Athletes’ Lives, The American Prospect, May 20, 2020. Utilitarianism would say that an action is right if it results in the happiness of the greatest number of people in a society or a group. This hostile takeover of the profitable Kachin amber mines ensures that amber purchases from researchers and private collectors will help fund the government side of the Myanmar ethnic civil war. Microeconomics is the branch of economics that analyzes market behavior of individuals and firms in order to understand their decision-making processes. Relatedly, should fans of the game be ashamed of themselves? One such way is utilitarianism, or the belief that the most ethical … Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. [5] Center for Disease Control, at https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/basics/concussion_whatis.html. Utilitarianism vs. Deontology vs. Virtue Ethics. In the early 1900s, Ideal utilitarianism was first used to demonstrate the belief that there’s more to good than is denoted by pleasure. Ethical dilemmas like this one occur every day in the business world. If you took a utilitarian approach to answering this question, what would your reasoning look like? [8] Jeanne Marie Laskas, Concussion (2015). Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association, argued that schools should be required to fully inform [college] players about the risks of playing football now, including information about their susceptibilities to underlying health conditions. Act utilitarianism often demonstrates the concept that “the end justifies the means”—or it's worth it. A theory of ethical behavior, utilitarianism holds that an action is "right" to the extent that it benefits people or society, either by creating happiness, improving well-being, or reducing suffering. In liberal democracies throughout the centuries, the progenitors of utilitarianism spawned variants and extensions of its core principles. The term may also refer to pleasure or satisfaction that people derive from being somewhere. The demands of hard utilitarianism can be layered onto the ethical decision faced by the College Board in their courtroom battle with KDCP. [16] Kevin M. Guskiewicz et al., Recurrent Concussion and Risk of Depression in Retired Professional Football Players, Medicine & Science in Sports & Leisure, 39(6): 903-909 (2007). How do the tau clumps relate to the clinical syndrome—do the lesions fully explain the mood and memory problems? Utilitarianism is a theory of morality, which advocates actions that foster happiness and opposes actions that cause unhappiness. Over the last ten years, more than one billion dollars in legal revenue has been generated from the mining and sale of amber. Many people who are in favor of abolishing football or significantly reforming the way it is played are pro-choice when it comes to abortion, minor drug use, and assisted suicide. African-Americans make up 12.6% of the American population but 68% of NFL rosters. However, in 2017 the Myanmar government dropped leaflets from helicopters informing the population in northern Kachin that civilians and Kachin militants who remain in the region will be considered hostile opposition to the government military forces. [59] At the end of the day, the jury still seems to be out on the question of whether you can go to a football game or watch one on television and still feel good about yourself for supporting a sport that seems to cause irreversible traumatic brain injuries. Amber also plays an invaluable role in research. Utilitarianism also has trouble accounting for values like justice and individual rights. But it received both its name and its clearest statement in the writings of English philosophers Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). 3. Why or why not? In the workplace, though, utilitarian ethics are difficult to achieve. One very good example is the airlines industry. Utilitarian? Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is “brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas.”[6] Repetitive head impacts (RHIs) can cumulatively lead to CTE and early death, even though no single RHI results in a concussion. 4. [44] Julie Mack, What Parents Need to Know about Football, Concussions and Head Injuries, mlive.com, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/11/what-parents-need-to-know-about-football-and-head-injuries.html (quoting neuroscientist Julie Stamm). Similarly, monopolistic competition teaches one business to flourish at the expense of others. [35] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? [68] Bill Pennington, Trump Says N.F.L. The Importance Of Utilitarianism In Business; The Importance Of Utilitarianism In Business. [23] Steven Senne, Student Athletes Still Reluctant to Report Concussions, Nationwide Children’s Study Finds, Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191124/student-athletes-still-reluctant-to-report-concussions-nationwide-childrens-study-finds. Explain. Limited government is a political system in which legalized force is restricted through delegated and enumerated powers, such as The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. A political issue? It is the only moral framework that can be used to justify military force or war. If we delve deeper, we can see a lot of examples of utilitarianism in business and workplace. [10] David W. Lawrence et al., Descriptive Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injuries and Concussions in the National Football League, 2021-2014, Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2015:3(5):2325967115583653. Utilitarianism is already widely used as a business ethic approach, although it is not well developed in the literature. Some of these are high impacts comparable to those experienced in high school and college games. 1. [2] Steve Almond, Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?, New York Times, Jan. 24, 2014; Pamela R. Sailors, Personal Foul: An Evaluation of the Moral Status of Football, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 42(2): 269-286 (2015). In many respects, it is the outlook of Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) and his writings from the mid-18th century. ", John Stuart Mill had many years to absorb and reflect on Jeremy Bentham's thoughts on utilitarianism by the time he published his own work, Utilitarianism, in 1863. This practice produces the highest good for the greatest number of people. What is the importance of utilitarianism in business? We all know that business class passengers pay a premium price to get all the luxuries of that class that the airline offers. [18] Ernest L. Abel, Football Increases the Risk for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Perceptual Motor Skills, 104(3): 1251-1254 (20007). Which approach do you find more persuasive, and why? In one study, use of newly-designed football helmets and safe tackling techniques eliminated concussions for 20 middle school aged players for an entire season. Football causes more concussions than any other high school sport. [38] Jesse Mez et al., Duration of American Football Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopothy, Annals of Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1002/ana.25611. [32] Many researchers in the area recently published an article saying: Contrary to common perception, the clinical syndrome of CTE has not yet been fully defined. [61] Ingfei Chen, Exactly How Dangerous Is Football?, The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2020. The notion of ethical business practices has led to the formation of theories including the utilitarian theory, rights theory, justice theory, caring theory, and virtues theory, which have since been integral in the understanding of business … One study found no statistically significant difference between the all-cause mortality among career NFL players and NFL replacement players who played just three games during the strike of 1987. Bry’s answer is that only the football players are being paid to do this “for our entertainment.”. Over two regular seasons (2012-2014), NFL players sustained 4,384 injuries, including 301 concussions. Daniel Goldberg observes that “there is also a crucial social and political question that is not simply a function of that empirical evidence base: to what risks is it acceptable to expose youths and adolescents?”. 8 short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Giving Voice to Values by Mary Gentile. This favoritism has created ethnic and religious conflicts resulting in government-enforced discrimination. If so, how would you go about guarding against it have a deleterious impact? 3352 (Dec. 2016). https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(19)31097-8.pdf, Greshko, Michael, “Ancient Bird Foot Found in Amber Has Bizarrely Long Toes,” National Geographic, July 11, 2019.   https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/07/fossil-bird-in-amber-has-unusually-long-toes/, Lawton, Graham, “Blood Amber: The Exquisite Trove of Fossils Fueling War in Myanmar,” NewScientist, May 1, 2019. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232280-600-blood-amber-the-exquisite-trove-of-fossils-fuelling-war-in-myanmar/, Nelson, Alexandrea, “The Materiality of Morality: Conflict Minerals,” Utah Law Review, 2014: 1, p. 219 (2014). In relating its consequential content to the Ford Pinto case, it would seem that the application of ethics had been dismissed in favour of profits, reputation and unethical practices. Deontological? One expert said “It really seems right now that if your [football] practices are highly controlled and reduced as much as possible and you only play four years of high school, your [CTE] risk is probably pretty low.”. In this Wireless Philosophy video, Julia Markovits (Cornell University) gives an introduction to the moral theory of utilitarianism. … In the airline industry, for example, many planes offer first-, business-, and economy-class seats. [66] Daniel Goldberg, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, the National Football League, and the Manufacture of Doubt: An Ethical, Legal, and Historical Analysis, Journal of Legal Medicine, 34: 157-191 (2013). A study of 3,904 Wisconsin men found no significant harmful association between playing football in high school and cognitive impairment or depression later in life. “Football is both notorious and cherished for its unapologetic, brute-force violence.”[1] Players suffer bruises, lacerations, torn muscles, dislocated shoulders, torn knee ligaments, broken bones, internal organ damage, and, occasionally, even paralysis. It is the only moral framework that can be used to justify military force or war. At work, you display utilitarianism when you take actions to ensure that the office is a positive environment for your co-workers to be in, and then make it so for yourself. A 2017 study found CTE in 21% of donated brains of deceased high school football players. Utilitarianism holds that an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce sadness, or the reverse of happiness—not just the happiness of the actor but that of everyone affected by it. [40] Thomas L. Schwenk, Depression and Pain in Retired Professional Football Players, Medicine & Science in Sports & Leisure, 39(4): 599-605 92007)(but finding that when coupled with difficult with pain, problems with sleep and social relations often followed). [12] Jesse Mez et al., Duration of American Football Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopothy, Annals of Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1002/ana.25611. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. The reality is that we still don’t know who is most likely to suffer a concussion, who will take longer to recover, how anatomic or genetic differences influence concussions, and who may be at risk of prolonged symptoms or developing cognitive problems later in life.”[34], Furthermore, many of the studies cited by those who would like to abolish tackle football have involved relatively small sample sizes. Concussion Suit, New York Times, April 22, 2015. [47] There is also evidence that the NFL sought to influence the findings of some of the research it funded. [43] Zachary Y. Kerr et al., Concussion Incidence and Trends in 20 High School Sports, Pediatrics 144(5): e20192190. Despite their heightened susceptibility to concussions, youth football players rarely sustain concussions because they are lighter and collide with less force than older players. In utilitarianism, if a business decides to move its manufacturing from one country to another, is that a good action or a bad one? Although the appropriate amount of regulation and laws will always be a subject of debate, political and economic policies are geared primarily toward fostering as much well-being for as many people as possible, or at least they should be. [52] Janine Armstrong, NFL Concussion Protocol Explained: How Does It Work?, Sportcasting, Oct. 13, 2019, at https://www.sportscasting.com/nfl-concussion-protocol-explained-how-does-it-work/. [85] Michael Cunningham, Player Safety Takes Back Seat as NCAA Rushes to Allow Campus Workouts, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 22, 2020 (quoting Huma). [64] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle. A Defense of a utilitarian approach to business ethics, written for Business Ethics: A Philosophical Approach Edited by Werhane and Donaldson. Those who favour such voluntary programmes give greater weight to consent and privacy than to well‐being and life. What facts would you weigh in making the decision? A study of former high school and college football players found that RHI exposure predicted later-life apathy, depression, executive dysfunction, and cognitive impairment. However, many such studies were funded or carried out by the NFL, owners of NFL franchises, universities that earn millions of dollars from football, and other interested parties. A hard … See Bennet I. Omalu et al, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player, Neurosurgery, 57: 128-134 (2005); [9] Ann McKee et al., The Neuropathology of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Brain Pathology, 25: 350-364 (2015). 36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles. [58] Other people believe that media discussions have impeded needed change in minimizing sports violence. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216311939?via%3Dihub, “Dodging Rumour and Insurgency: The Hunt for Burmese Amber Goes to the Heart of Myanmar’s Turbulent North,” Financial Post, Jan. 26, 2017. https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/mining/dodging-rumour-and-insurgency-the-hunt-for-burmese-amber-goes-to-the-heart-of-myanmars-turbulent-north, “It is Time to Bring Global Attention to the Trade in Burmese Amber,” NewScientist, May 1, 2019. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232283-300-it-is-time-to-bring-global-attention-to-the-trade-in-burmese-amber/, American football is a rough and dangerous game. In the wake of the recent pandemic, Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy said “In my opinion, if we have to bring our players back, test them. [60] Ingfei Chen, Exactly How Dangerous Is Football?, The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2020. Examples of utilitarianism in the following topics: Personal ethics: four ethical approaches. Explain. [50] The NFL has also changed rules to discourage helmet-to-helmet contact,[51] and has instituted protocols for safely returning concussed players to the field. As told in the movies, a significant scientific breakthrough occurred in 2002 when an African-American neuropathologist in Pittsburgh named Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith in the 2015 movie “Concussion”) performed an autopsy on Hall of Fame center Mike Webster. Would you prevent kids under 14 from playing tackle football? Do you see parallels between the debate as to whether to begin playing football again in the wake of the pandemic and the debate as to whether to abolish or reform football in light of the evidence on brain trauma? Work in the 21st-century workplace is no longer merely a means to an end; it is meaningful and calls upon people’s ambitions, beliefs and passions. For example, the government has made it difficult for Christian and Islamic groups to gain permission to repair or build new places of worship. Given the obvious conflict of interest, the studies have been criticized on that ground. 5. … [89] Mariana Brussoni et al., Risky Play and Children’s Safety: Balancing Priorities for Optimal Child Development, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9:3134-3148 (2012). Utilitarianism provides a guiding framework of decision making rooted in social benefit which helps direct business toward more ethical behavior. Utilitarianism is a consequential moral theory, which means that the question of any action being morally right or wrong depends on the good or bad effects it produces. Utilitarianism In Business Ethics 1685 Words7 Pages Utilitarianism is a teleological ethical theory based on the idea that an action is moral if it causes the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest … How is justice accommodated? In the eyes of a HR manager, by taking action the majority of the stakeholders would benefit from a moral organisation adhering to their code of conduct, conducting fairness in all of their business activities. For a business to grow, it not only needs to increase its bottom line, but it also must create a reputation for being socially responsible. See more. [42] Sameer K. Deshpande et al, Association of Playing High School Football with Cognition and Mental Health Later in Life, JAMA Neurology, 74(8): 909-918 (2017). We Know Little About the Long-term Effects of Concussions, Statnews, Sept.27, 2019. Fundamentally, it is based quantifying good in terms of utility and attempting to maximize that quantity. Utilitarian and Deontological Philosophy in Business It should be stated that the business ethics can be viewed in two different dimensions, namely the utilitarian and deontological. Business analysts, legislators, and scientists weigh daily the resulting benefits and harms of policies when deciding, for example, whether to invest resources in a certain public project, whether to approve a new drug, or whether to ban a certain pesticide. To get … Again, these studies are broken down by league level: Studies such as these provide ammunition for those who defend organized football as an institution. [91] J.S. Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020); Alan Schwarz et al., N.F.L.’s Flawed Concussion Research and Ties to Tobacco Industry, New York Times, March 24, 2016. The main principle of utilitarian moral theory, the principle of utility, states that the right action is the one that produces the most overall happiness. Jeremy Bentham describes his "greatest happiness principle" in Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, a 1789 publication in which he writes: "Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. ... organisations in business and government, plus the not for profit se ctor - are faced with many . In a study of 14,000 NFL players, researchers found that even head impacts insufficient to cause concussions can mount up over the years, leading to CTE and premature death. Utilitarianism and utility. [45] Eamon T. Campolettano et al., Development of a Concussion Risk Function for a Youth Population Using Heal Linear and Rotational Acceleration, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 48(1): 92 DOI: 10.1007/s10439-019-02382-2. Utilitarianism, in normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill according to which an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of happiness. Where there are disadvantaged groups who suffer income inequality or other negative consequences because of a utilitarian-based policy or action, most politicians would try to find a remedy. Discussion Questions on High Schools & Colleges, Discussion Questions on Youth Leagues (Under 14). How about the reverse—why do many people who believe football players should be free to decide what they do with their bodies take decidedly un-libertarian positions on issues such as abortion, marijuana legalization, and assisted suicide? One example of utilitarianism in business is the practice of having tiered pricing for a product or service to different types of customers. Bry believes that this will never happen. As with Bentham’s formulation, utilitarianism in business ethics is primarily concerned with outcomes rather than processes. See also Ann C. McKee et al., The Spectrum of Disease in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Brain, 136(1)): 43-64 (2013)(study of donated brains of 64 athletes found “the stage of [CTE] correlated with increased duration of football play, survival after football and age at death” for 34 football players). Moreover, utilitarianism is the most common approach to business ethics because of the way that it accounts for costs and benefits. Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020). Is this ever a consideration that buyers should take into account? [13] Michael L. Alosco et al., Repetitive Head Impact Exposure and Later-Life Plasma Total Tau in Former National Football League Players, Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, 7: 33-40 (2017). These ethics also can be challenging to maintain in our business culture, where a capitalistic economy often teaches people to focus on themselves at the expense of others. [6] Mayo Clinic, at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921. Utilitarianism, business ethics and the Ford Pinto case present a dilemma, as the theory appears to be one of moral strength and a good guideline for ethical business choice. A study of former NFL players found that those who began playing football before age 12 tended to show greater later-life cognitive impairments as compared to those who began after age 12. Its prevalence is unknown, and the neuropathological diagnostic criteria are no more than preliminary. Utilitarianism may be employed in any business decision-making process that seeks to maximize positive effects (especially morally, but perhaps also financially and so forth) and minimize negative outcomes. It is a form of consequentialism. Examples of utilitarianism criticisms are outlined below: “Utilitarianism is not concerned with justice.” Suicide rates among NCAA football players are the highest among all sports, but they are substantially lower than the general population age 18-22 or college students in that age range. [39] Atheendar S. Venkataramani et al, Association Between Playing American Football and Long-term Mortality, JAMA, 319(8): 800-806  (2018). In economics, utility is the pleasure or satisfaction that people derive fromconsuming a product or service. What is the importance of utilitarianism in business? Some of the questions they wrestled with include: What constitutes "the greatest amount of good"? [82] Stephen S. Hanson, ‘He Didn’t Want to Let His Team Down’: The Challenge of Dual Loyalty for Team Physicians, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 45(3): 215-227 (2018). However, the science in this area is truly not settled. Utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. But few would consider it an acceptable course of action, let alone an ethical one. [93] Daniel Goldberg, What Does the Precautionary Principle Demand of Us? Thus, utilitarianism works on a single moral principle- maximizing utility and thus ensuring greatest good for the greatest number. "Utility" is defined in various ways, … Actions are right if they promote happiness, and wrong if they promote unhappiness. In some cases, amber contains inclusions, such as insects, whole or parts of animals, and plants that are trapped and preserved. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. Utilitarianism, at its most basic, states that something is moral, or good when it produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. In the eyes of a HR manager, by taking action the majority of the stakeholders would benefit from a moral organisation adhering to their code of conduct, conducting fairness in all of their business … If we delve deeper, we can see a lot of examples of utilitarianism in business and workplace. So, although utilitarianism is surely a reason-based approach to determining right and wrong, it has obvious limitations. [41] Ashwin L. Rao et al., Suicide in National Collegiate Athletic (NCAA) Athletes: a 9-Year Analysis of the NCAA Resolutions Database, Sports Health 7(5): 452-457 (2015). On an individual level, if you make morally correct decisions at work, then everyone's happiness will increase. Pamela R. Sailors, Personal Foul: An Evaluation of the Moral Status of Football, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 42(2): 269-286 (2015). Is this an ethical issue? As with Bentham’s … [81] Peter Benson, Big Football: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Culture and Color of Injury in America’s Most Popular Sport, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 41(4): 307-334 (2017).