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01 Jan 2024, 11:30
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In a study of business ethics, one group of company managers faced a hypothetical decision between increasing company profits and prioritizing employee well-being. Most of these managers chose to increase profits and subsequently stated that their choice was ethically justified. A second, separate group of managers was only asked to evaluate the ethicality of choosing profits in that scenario; an overwhelming majority judged such a choice to be unethical. These results suggest that managers apply weaker moral standards to their own decisions than to identical decisions made by others.
Which of the following is an assumption required by this argument?
A. At least some managers who said their profit-maximizing choice was ethical would judge the same choice unethical if made by someone else.
B. The most ethical course of action in the scenario would have been to prioritize employee well-being.
C. Some managers in the first group experienced moral conflict about their choice even while labeling it ethical.
D. The second group of managers was more accurate in its ethical assessments than the first group.
E. Some managers in the first group believed that maximizing profits was the only ethically permissible option in the situation.
Which of the following is an assumption required by this argument?
A. At least some managers who said their profit-maximizing choice was ethical would judge the same choice unethical if made by someone else.
B. The most ethical course of action in the scenario would have been to prioritize employee well-being.
C. Some managers in the first group experienced moral conflict about their choice even while labeling it ethical.
D. The second group of managers was more accurate in its ethical assessments than the first group.
E. Some managers in the first group believed that maximizing profits was the only ethically permissible option in the situation.
01 Jan 2024, 11:30
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Official Solution:
In a study of business ethics, one group of company managers faced a hypothetical decision between increasing company profits and prioritizing employee well-being. Most of these managers chose to increase profits and subsequently stated that their choice was ethically justified. A second, separate group of managers was only asked to evaluate the ethicality of choosing profits in that scenario; an overwhelming majority judged such a choice to be unethical. These results suggest that managers apply weaker moral standards to their own decisions than to identical decisions made by others.
Which of the following is an assumption required by this argument?
A. At least some managers who said their profit-maximizing choice was ethical would judge the same choice unethical if made by someone else.
B. The most ethical course of action in the scenario would have been to prioritize employee well-being.
C. Some managers in the first group experienced moral conflict about their choice even while labeling it ethical.
D. The second group of managers was more accurate in its ethical assessments than the first group.
E. Some managers in the first group believed that maximizing profits was the only ethically permissible option in the situation.
(A) Correct Answer - This assumption is required. The argument concludes that managers hold themselves to a weaker moral standard than they apply to others. Such conclusion requires at least some managers who defended their own profit-maximizing choice to condemn that same choice when made by someone else. Without such a switch in the behavior (take it easy on yourself but condemn others) the observed flip in the opinion cannot be explained, and the conclusion would not hold without this statement.
(B) Irrelevant. The argument does not depend on any absolute claim about which option is objectively most ethical. It only compares how managers judge identical actions differently depending on whether they themselves made the choice. Thus this normative assertion is unnecessary.
(C) Not a required assumption. Inner moral conflict is one way to describe a manager’s feelings, but the conclusion is strictly about the difference between public judgments as actors versus observers. The premise of a conflicted feeling adds nothing logically essential.
(D) Irrelevant. Whether the second group’s judgments are “more accurate” plays no role in showing that managers apply weaker standards to themselves. The conclusion follows from the pattern of judgments, regardless of which group, if either, is correct.
(E) Irrelevant. Some managers might indeed have believed profit maximization the only ethical path, yet the argument does not require this. What matters is that at least some profit-choosing managers later call that choice unethical when evaluating others; their belief in exclusivity is neither needed nor implied.
Answer: A
In a study of business ethics, one group of company managers faced a hypothetical decision between increasing company profits and prioritizing employee well-being. Most of these managers chose to increase profits and subsequently stated that their choice was ethically justified. A second, separate group of managers was only asked to evaluate the ethicality of choosing profits in that scenario; an overwhelming majority judged such a choice to be unethical. These results suggest that managers apply weaker moral standards to their own decisions than to identical decisions made by others.
Which of the following is an assumption required by this argument?
A. At least some managers who said their profit-maximizing choice was ethical would judge the same choice unethical if made by someone else.
B. The most ethical course of action in the scenario would have been to prioritize employee well-being.
C. Some managers in the first group experienced moral conflict about their choice even while labeling it ethical.
D. The second group of managers was more accurate in its ethical assessments than the first group.
E. Some managers in the first group believed that maximizing profits was the only ethically permissible option in the situation.
(A) Correct Answer - This assumption is required. The argument concludes that managers hold themselves to a weaker moral standard than they apply to others. Such conclusion requires at least some managers who defended their own profit-maximizing choice to condemn that same choice when made by someone else. Without such a switch in the behavior (take it easy on yourself but condemn others) the observed flip in the opinion cannot be explained, and the conclusion would not hold without this statement.
(B) Irrelevant. The argument does not depend on any absolute claim about which option is objectively most ethical. It only compares how managers judge identical actions differently depending on whether they themselves made the choice. Thus this normative assertion is unnecessary.
(C) Not a required assumption. Inner moral conflict is one way to describe a manager’s feelings, but the conclusion is strictly about the difference between public judgments as actors versus observers. The premise of a conflicted feeling adds nothing logically essential.
(D) Irrelevant. Whether the second group’s judgments are “more accurate” plays no role in showing that managers apply weaker standards to themselves. The conclusion follows from the pattern of judgments, regardless of which group, if either, is correct.
(E) Irrelevant. Some managers might indeed have believed profit maximization the only ethical path, yet the argument does not require this. What matters is that at least some profit-choosing managers later call that choice unethical when evaluating others; their belief in exclusivity is neither needed nor implied.
Answer: A
07 May 2025, 23:11
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I don’t quite agree with the solution. That's plainly given. The assumption is that the managers who made the decisions viewed them as ethical decisions when making them initially. This should have been an answer choice and was not, but the given answer is incorrect.
