Ethical systems can be broadly placed into two categories: deontological or duty-centered like Christian ethics and teleological or Utilitarianism (Geisler, 2010). For teleological ethics, the results determine the goodness of the act, and if the results were not good, then it follows that the attempted act was not a good act; however, if the effect on society was good, even though it failed, then the act was good (Geisler, 2010).
Christian ethic is deontological and insists that even some acts that fail are good. For instance, Christians believe that the Cross was not a failure because only some will be saved, but was sufficient for all, because moral actions that reflect God’s nature are good in themselves whether they are successful or not (Geisler, 2010).
In the article ‘Business Ethics – Deontologically Revisisted,’ Micewski and Troy describe a deontological approach to decision making in the competitive world of business and make an argument for providing ethical studies in the curriculum of business schools. Their reasoning is that an ethics of business will contribute to ethical enlightenment and development of the business world in the sense of keeping promises, protecting justly acquired property, appropriately administering company assets and ownership rights and reporting financial results fairly and faithfully (Micewski & Troy, 2007).
A deontological contribution is beneficial to any profession. The deontological code “may be understood as a relationship of behavioural practices that are expected in the performance of a profession. The code norms aim at the society's well being, in order to assure the honesty of procedure from its members within and without the institution” (Carreira, Guedes, & Aleixo, 2008).
Utilitarianism, on the other hand, uses desired results to break moral laws. It can be stated that Utilitarianism uses results to make the laws and existing laws can be disobeyed if the desired results call for it. “For example, while...