Ethical Decison-making Models

This paper surveys the dominant models in the literature of positive Ethical Decision-Making Models (hereafter, EDMMs): an area in the academic sub-discipline of business ethics. While this group of eight models is not exhaustive, it is, I believe, definitive. The survey does not address other decision-making apparati, e.g., game theory. Neither does it address normative Ethical Decision-Making Models, which constitute a separate and distinct literature. EDMM theory rests upon various and sundry foundational bases: e.g., Sutherland & Cressey's social learning theory; normative ethics, especially deontology and teleology; Kohlberg's model of cognitive moral development; Fishbein & Ajzen's theory of reasoned action, and; Rest's four-component model of moral behavior. Consequently, the literature is eclectic. Nevertheless, each model purports to formalize the decisional processes by which an agent arrives at an ethical, or unethical, course of action. The methodology of this survey will be to: 1) present a synopsis and graphical depiction of each model; 2) critique each one individually; 3) summarize features and criticisms of each model, and; 4) conclude with global observations about EDMMs. By way of anticipation, the literature is of one mind with respect to certain core assumptions, e.g., that: decision makers don't change in any appreciable, personal way through decision making, and; the ethically relevant aspect of decision making is an agent's ensuing outward action, or the external consequences of his action. With these, and other, assumptions, I am in disagreement.