Value and Ethics in Management | Group 2| Section A

Summary: Stages of Moral Development

The article by Kohlberg talks about 6 stages of Moral development. Here the
discussion begins by determining the pre conditional level, which has been elucidated by
mentioning the behaviour of a child and his response to cultural rules and labels of good, bad,
right or wrong.

Stage 1: the first stage involves the Punishment and Obedience orientation; where via
physical consequence of an action determines its goodness or badness. Punishment can be
avoided by unquestionable deference to power but not in terms of respect for an underlying
moral order.

Stage 2: this is the Instrumental Relativist Orientation; this rights based approach consists of
what instrumentally satisfies one’s own needs and occasionally the needs of others.
Reciprocity, fairness and equal sharing are present but in terms of a mutually beneficai ‘I
scratch your back, you scratch mine approach.

Graduating to a higher state, the next discussion is about ‘the conventional level’ where
conformity arises out of social order and personal expectations, so the things one does due to
the expectations of family, society , nation and oneself. This involves the next 2 stages

Stage 3: this involves the Interpersonal Concordance or “the good girl- nice boy” orientation,
that is one tries to adhere to the behaviour that pleases others, or confirms to the stereotypical
image of what majority considers is nice behaviour.

Stage 4: his is the Law and Order orientation, where the individual behaves in accordance to
the rules and laws specified by the authority to maintain social order. Right behaviour
involves doing ones duty and giving respect to the social order for its owns sake

The next division talks of a Post Conventional , Autonomous or Principal behaviour wherein
the individual makes a clear effort to define moral values and principles that have validity
apart from authority of peer groups or social norms. This involves 2 further stages

Stage 5: The Social Contract Legalistic Orientation, this has utilitarian undertones. This is an
emphasis on the legal point of view but with an emphasis on the possibility of changing the
law in terms of rational consideration of social utility rather than a rigid approach followed in
the stage 4.The American constitution is at this stage where outside the boundaries of
legalities and contract there is a binding element of obligation

Stage 6: This is the highest state of personal consciousness where the right is defined by
decisions of conscience in tandem with self chosen ethical principles that appeal to ones
logical comprehensiveness, universality and consistency. There are no har and fast moral
rules but instead principles of justice, reciprocity and equality of human rights as well as
respect for the others, thus decision making by empathy. This stage is further debated via a
situation where a man breaks into a druggists store in order to steal an overtly price medicine
to heal his wife, as the druggist refused o lower his price as he had discovered the drug and
wanted to price his discovery according to his will. Thus the morality of the husband and the
druggist is at question, where a conclusion is arrived at by being in the shoes of the husband.
Thus his action is then justified as saving a life is the highest priority.