The Impact of Utilitarianism on Management and Organization Knowledge

Moral philosophy consists of normative ethics and meta-ethics. Also normative ethics theories are divided into teleological and deontological. One of the most rooted teleological theories is utilitarianism developed by Bentham and Mill in the nineteenth century. According to utilitarianism, a moral action is an action that creates the most good for the most people. In this paper, after describing Bentham and Mill's views, the standard of utility and how to calculate it and also the most criticisms on utilitarianism are discussed. This approach has effected on management and organization knowledge through the management philosophy and theories. From the viewpoint of philosophy, the organizations that work in a competitive environment and aim to maximum their shareholder values, in contrast with public organizations, cant be utilitarian. Also in the management theories, decision-making as the main part of management can adapt itself to the characteristics of utilitarianism and leadership as an informal and effective process among people can be morally utilitarian by adopting the participative approach.