An assessment of power abuse under ethics philosophies

Abstract

In this paper, power abuse is assessed under different philosophies of ethics, namely, principles of relativism, duty, and morality. According to the theory of relativism, the moral rightness or wrongness of specific acts or decisions varies between societies. In some contexts, it is not unusual for people in management positions to abuse of the discretion conferred on them, to secure particular benefits. Sometimes, culture condones such behaviour. Traditions, values and norms help establish ethical principles that specific societies follow. Principles of duty and morality, on the other hand, state that decision-makers owe a duty to their stakeholders. Absolute rules are used to rate the ethicality of particular decisions or actions. For the purpose of this paper, a survey was conducted and hypothetical situations representing ethical problems of varying nature were presented to the participants. A multi-dimensional ethics scale was used to assess the influence of different dimensions on ethical decision-making. The scale, originally developed by Reidenbach and Robin (1988), consisted of cultural, duty and moral dimensions. The Reidenbach and Robin scale had so far been used in the United States only. By applying it to Mauritian context, the possibility of obtaining different results from those of earlier studies, was envisaged.

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