Morality defined

Jayashree Sadri and Sorab Sadri
MORALITY DEFINED
Professor Jayashree Sadri
And
Dr Sorab Sadri

Why this presentation?
 Detailed literature review shows that there is a great
deal of fuzziness in definitions in that terms like
beliefs, values, ethics and morals are used
interchangeably.
 Research scholars need definitional clarity so that
the Research Question is framed correctly and the
three Ms of academic inquiry (Meaning ,Method and
Measurement) follow systematically to put forth the
desired argument and then defend it.

Morality, ethics and ethical theory
 Generally, morality and ethics ,moral and ethical, are
used interchangeably.
 The presence of two words in the English language
with the same meaning is due to the fact that they
derive from different roots: morality, from the Latin
word moralis, and ethics, from the Greek word
ethikos.

Generality
 Morality is generally used to describe a
sociological phenomenon, namely, the
existence in a society of rules and
standards of conduct. Every society has a
morality, because this constitutes the
basis for mutually beneficial interaction.

Specificity
 Moralities are also specific to societies and
exist at certain times and places. Thus, we
can speak of morality of Indians or
Americans in the 1990s is different from that
in the 1950s or the 1850s. We can speak, as
Karl Marx did, of the morality of different
classes in society.

Basic Premise
 All judgments that involve morals and
ethics are:
Person Specific
Culture Specific
Situation Specific

Ethics
 Ethics is roughly a synonym for morality, but it is often
restricted to the rules and norms of specific kinds of conduct
or the codes of conduct for specialized groups.
 Ethics is an activity based concept.
 Thus, we talk about the ethics of stockbrokers or the code of
ethics for the accounting profession but usually not about the
morality of these groups.

Values
 These are thought based concepts that
spring from an accepted belief or notion
about reality and form the basis for action.
 Values are thought-based concept.
 Values need not be unitarist and can (are)
also pluralistic.

Beliefs
 Trust or confidence emanating from an acceptance
of a received theology or fact.
 Beliefs are culturally determined and form the basis
of social nexus.
 Religion (ritual) and Metaphysics (philosophy) are
major determinants of belief.
 Science and Rationality are major critiques of any
accepted belief and an empirical or logical validation
of the fact is demanded before a belief is accepted
by their adherents.

Ideology
 A set of beliefs held by a person, a group of
persons or a community about what is right
or wrong and which forms the basis of
social, political and economic policies.
 Marxist scholars often see religion as
ideology whereas Liberal scholars see
religion in terms of the understanding of the
supernatural forces.

Distinguishing Ethics from Morals
 Literature is replete with instances where Morals and
Ethics are used synonymously.
 Morality is often linked to spiritualism and religiosity
whereas Ethics is often linked to social or business
or professional conduct.
 There is a moot but significant difference between
the two that is necessary for scholars of the subject
to grasp.

Generally Accepted Link
 Ideology and beliefs are mutually related.
 Beliefs lead us to values – thought based
 Values lead us to ethics - activity based
 Morality is an all embracive concept.

German Thought
 Immanuel Kant: the moral principle
against which we measure all actions is
called the categorical imperative and this
is universally applicable.
 Respect for the freedom, dignity and
autonomy of any people, are morally
defensible.

British Thought
 There are two variants:
 Utilitarianism: the greatest good of the
greatest number is moral.
 Hedonism: what gives pleasure or benefit
or provides utility is moral.

American Thought
 Scholars derive the word ethics from the
Greek word ethicos meaning correctness
in behavior.
 They derive the word morals from the
Latin word moralis meaning high-
mindedness or goodness in behavior.

Emergent Clarity : Morals and Ethics
Therefore for scholars in the United States
(Davidson, Goodpaster) there is a very fine line of
distinction
 Morality distinguishes between doing right or
wrong.
 Ethics distinguishes between what is good or
bad.

Reflective Equilibrium of John Rawls
 A dynamic interaction between a moral
commonsense and critical thinking results
in a saddle point or meeting point.
 This is an emotional and mental
standpoint from which persons are seen
to possess dignity and worth.

Two Variants in John Rawls’s Work
 Unhealthy competition leads to the rise of
middle men, back stabbing and underhanded
behavior that is not moral.
 Healthy competition leads to everyone
trying to better their own past record,
benchmark against set standards bring about
growth and that is moral.

First Sociological Position on Morality
VARIANTS OF MORAL ABSOLUTISM
 There are eternal and absolute values and
principles that must govern society and promote
harmony.
 Morality at the top of the pyramid is absolute but
it gets watered down as it comes lower.
 Morality is conditioned by history and culture of
the times.

Second Sociological Position on Morality
BASICS OF MORAL RELATIVISIM
 Morality is culturally relative.
 Everything is subjective.
 Similar stimuli can bring out different reactions
in many people and even in the same person.

Third Sociological Position on Morality
DIMENSIONS OF MORAL PLURALISM
1. Society seeks harmony but conflict arises when
radical views are irreconcilable.
2. Principles may vary but the practices are
generally agreed upon.
3. Principles are agreed upon but practices may
vary
4. Concept of morality changes as society
changes.

Three Moral Concerns Of Political
Economists
 Unequal distribution of wealth, income and
opportunities in civil society.
 Uneven development of peoples, sectors and
regions in any economy.
 The rise of the comprador class that grows
nothing, produces nothing but grows rich by
speculating from the fringes of society.

The Sadri-Dastoor-Jayashree-Proposition
 As managers grow older they become wiser
and the propensity to act immorally
increases.
 Women managers are by and large more
moral than men managers.
 Corruption is merely a deviation from an
accepted norm and not necessarily immoral .

The Sadri and Jayashree Paradigm
 Business Ethics and Corporate Governance combine
to produce the conditions under which
organizational excellence is approximated.
 Since excellence is not a finite point it can be
approached but not reached. It is like a horizon one
moves towards.
 Management strategy requires to generate a value
centered corporate culture to enable this.

Sadri and Guha Paradigm
 Excellence must ,of course ,have an
inbuilt morality but is useless unless it
can be converted into business
sustainability.
 This moral position is achieved when
management strategies approach the
triple bottom line :i.e. “profit ,people and
planet.”.

Final Word
 The presentation was used by the authors mainly to
paint a general academic collage under which
morality can be understood and Scholars can
pursue their inquiries.
 Whatever stand is taken in the highest traditions of
academia scholars must clearly define their
position.
 In respect of morality this is not easy but can be
done.

Conclusion
 Ethics is what is going to count in the immediate
future and its relevance will cut across geographical
frontiers, academic disciplines and relevant
professions.
 Through the medium of this paper I have tried to
show what is meant by the different terms one
comes across in published work and also explain
the origin as well as the relevance of these terms in
the realm of any inquiry into social reality.

A Pious Hope?
 We hope we have contributed to the removal of
the opaqueness in the subject matter under study
especially since ethics is going to become the
most important criterion in the new
internationalized business world.
 For managers this clarity is necessary if moral
policing has to be avoided in organisations.

BUT
As long as power and politics continue to play
dominant roles in organizations managers will
continue to be tempted to play the role of moral
policemen supposedly “in the general interest” but
actually to perpetuate status quo!
Ethical management helps us to avoid this pitfall.
THANK YOU

Morality defined

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