Ethical Decision Making
Ethical decision making explained — the main ethical lenses (utilitarian, rights, justice, virtue and care), a practical step-by-step model, and worked dilemmas that show how to use them when there is no easy answer.
Ethical decision making is choosing what is right, not just what is effective — weighing the impact on everyone affected, the rights and duties involved, and what a person of good character would do. It matters most when values conflict and there is no purely technical answer. Looking at a dilemma through several ethical lenses is the most reliable way through.
The main ethical frameworks
Each lens asks a different question. Strong decisions usually look right through more than one.
| Lens | It asks… | Watch out for… |
|---|---|---|
| Utilitarian | Which option produces the most good and least harm overall? | Can justify harming a minority "for the greater good". |
| Rights | Whose rights are at stake, and does the option respect them? | Rights can conflict; someone must decide which wins. |
| Justice / fairness | Are people treated equally and is the process fair? | "Equal" and "fair" are not always the same thing. |
| Virtue | What would a person of integrity do here? | Depends on whose idea of good character you use. |
| Care | What best honours our relationships and responsibilities? | Can favour those close to us over strangers. |
A step-by-step ethical decision model
- 1. Recognise that there is an ethical issue, not just a practical one.
- 2. Get the facts and identify everyone affected (the stakeholders).
- 3. Evaluate the options through several lenses above — they often agree.
- 4. Test your choice: could you defend it openly to those affected?
- 5. Act, then reflect on how it turned out and what you would change.
Worked ethical dilemmas
Try each one through the lenses above before you reveal the reasoning.
You spot a billing error already sent to a client — in your company's favour. Staying quiet is easier. What do you do?
Show the reasoning
Disclose and correct it. The rights lens (the client's right to accurate billing) and the virtue lens (honesty) agree, and the small short-term cost is outweighed by trust and your own integrity. The utilitarian case is also clear once reputation is counted.
A talented employee is underperforming because of a family crisis. Rules say start a formal process. What is the ethical call?
Show the reasoning
Use the care and justice lenses together: offer support and a reasonable adjustment (care), while being consistent with how you would treat anyone in that situation (fairness). Jumping straight to a formal process may be procedurally "correct" but neither fair nor caring.
Cutting a safety check would save money and is unlikely — but not impossible — to cause harm. Do you cut it?
Show the reasoning
No. The rights lens (people's right to safety) and a utilitarian view that weights low-probability, high-severity harm both say keep it. "Unlikely" is not "acceptable" when the downside is someone getting hurt.
Ethics and clear thinking
Most ethical mistakes are not evil — they are rushed: a skipped stakeholder, an unexamined assumption, a convenient rationalisation. The same habits that power critical thinking — surfacing assumptions and weighing evidence — make for better ethical decisions. For the wider toolkit, see decision-making models and the decision-making process.
Frequently asked questions
What is ethical decision making?
Ethical decision making is choosing a course of action that is not just effective but right — weighing the impact on everyone affected, the duties and rights involved, and what a person of good character would do. It matters most when values conflict and there is no purely technical answer.
What are the steps in ethical decision making?
A common model: 1) recognise there is an ethical issue, 2) get the facts and identify the stakeholders, 3) evaluate the options through several ethical lenses, 4) decide and test the decision (could you defend it publicly?), 5) act and reflect on the outcome.
What are the main ethical frameworks?
The utilitarian lens asks which option does the most good overall; the rights lens asks whose rights are at stake; the justice lens asks what is fair; the virtue lens asks what a person of integrity would do; and the care lens asks what best preserves relationships and responsibilities.
What is an example of ethical decision making?
A manager discovers a small accounting error already reported to a client in their favour. The utilitarian, rights and virtue lenses all point the same way — disclose and correct it — even though staying quiet would be easier. This page works several such dilemmas in full.