The next step in a VCR analysis is one that refers to the consequences of actions and is called the "teleological" theory of ethics. Here the most important categories are items like the results, the outcomes and the consequences of actions. For the teleologist, an action is ethically right if and only if its consequences are good; ethically wrong if its consequences are bad or evil.
Many human endeavors are teleological in nature. Business, for example, understood as a productive activity, is consequence oriented. Business professionals are interested in future returns on investments, in creating products that will have a widespread appeal in the market or in providing a service that many will find useful. In all of these various business activities, the consequences of business decision making is what guides the business professional. That is why in corporations business planning is such a crucial function.
Consequences are an important consideration in our ethical decision making. What gets produced by one's actions will have an impact upon others for good or for ill and people will be judged in part according to how their actions effect others. Yet, care needs to be taken in using the notion of consequences as a guide to one's future actions. Here one runs the risk of "letting the end justify the means."
We need to ask: "Has a stakeholder acted in such a way that good consequences are produced or did they act in ways that produced evil or harm?" This second approach in our analytic framework will require an intelligent understanding of the benefits and the harms of the actions that professionals choose to engage in. And we need to be conscious of the consequences that will arise whenever we choose an option for a profession or professional to follow in resolving ethical issues, problems and dilemmas.