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Moral Psychology and
Organizational Ethics
Dennis Wittmer
University of Denver
Building a Behavioral
Model
What factors influence ethical
/ unethical behavior or
decisions in an organizational
context?
Some Factors from Videos and Reading: What
Implications for leading and managing?
• Leadership Style (Kurt Lewin) – Autocratic,
Democratic, Laissez Faire
• Group Conformity (Solomon Asche)
• Beach Bystander Request
• Positive Role and Responsibility (Langer)
– flight simulator and vision
• Authority (Milgram Experiments)
Dan Ariely– “(Honest)Truth about Dishonesty”
• Most people will cheat a little…”up to the
level that allows us to retain our self-image
as reasonably honest individuals”
• Reminders matter to cheating – 10
Commandments before opportunity to
cheat
• Psychological distance – cheating in golf
• Less cheating –cash vs. tokens
Other possible factors
•
Organizational
– Reward structure
– Behavior of peers
(significant others)
– Modeling of leaders
– Commitment of top
management
– Formal polices and codes
– Ethical work climates
– Opportunity
– Training programs
– Centralization /
Decentralization
– Control mechanisms
•
Individual
– Level of cognitive moral
development
– Ethical sensitivity /
awareness
– Experience / tenure
– Locus of control
– Ego integrity
– Machiavellianism
– Gender
Kohlberg’s Theory of Cognitive Moral
Development (Features and Assumptions)
•
•
•
•
Focus is on “structure” not “content”
– Process or reasoning used, not outcome or conclusion
– Heinz and the Drug
• Not steal or not steal, but what kind of reasoning led to the
conclusion
Developmental Stage Theory
– Follows and extends Piaget (cognitive psychology)
Highest Correlates
– Age and Education
• Cognitive disequilibrium – challenging adequacy of reasoning
Correlation of CMD and Behavior
– Significant but modest (R-squared = .3+)
– Other factors (e.g. ego strength or susceptibility to authority)
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
•
•
•
Preconventional Level
– Stage 1: Obedience to authority / reward– punishment
• “It’s wrong because mommy said it is.”
– Stage 2: instrumental exchange / quid pro
• “Wrong to take Joe’s CD, because we made a deal (i.e. he
won’t take my CD).
Conventional Level (Loyalty!)
– Stage 3: Peers (Group Solidarity)
• “Good Boy / Nice Girl (group norms make it right)
– Stage 4: Society (Social Stability)
• “Law and Order” (What would happen if everyone acted that
way?)
Postconventional Level
– Stage 5: Social Contract (fair process, good law)
• Prior to society rights / Human rights
– Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles
• independent rational, and universal principles
• Reversible and universal principles
What do we know to date?
• “…
we might say that more ethical decision making
behavior tends to be associated with those who have higher
levels of moral development, who have greater awareness or
sensitivity to the ethical dimensions of situations, who have
greater sense of personal control, who are older and more
experienced, who are female, and who are less
manipulative.”
•
“Generally there is support that ethical decision making is
affected by the behavior of peers and associates, by the
actions of supervisors and top management, by the
existence of policies and codes of conduct, by the reward
and punishments, and by the general atmosphere of the
organization.”
Leadership Styles Applied to Kohlberg (Jill Graham)
Relating Leadership, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors,
and Level of Cognitive Moral Development
Relating Leadership, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, and Level of Cognitive
Moral Development
•
Preconventional
– Leader - Autocratic and coercive using unquestioning rules
• OCB: Dependable task accomplishment
– Leader – Path-Goal or Transactional with exchange agreements
• OCB: Dependable task accomplishment
•
Conventional
– Leader – Member Exchange with interpersonal role obligations
• OCB: Work group collaboration
– Institutional Leadership to fulfill duties as group member and cultural
expectations
• OCB: Work group collaboration
•
Postconventional
– Transforming or Servant Leader: costs and benefits for all stakeholders,
principles of justice
– OCB: Constructive participation in organization’s governance
*
OCB = “organization citizenship behavior”
“Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business ethics myths” – Trevino
and Brown (Academy of Management Executive, 2004)
The Myths
1. It’s Easy to be ethical
1.
2.
3.
4.
Complex decisions
Moral awareness
Multi-stage process
Organizational context
2. Unethical behavior in business is simply the result of ‘bad
apples’
3. Ethics can be managed through formal ethics codes and
programs (only) -- Arthur Andersen (Barbara Toffler – Final
Accounting)
4. Ethical leadership is mostly about leader integrity
5. People are less ethical than they used to be
“Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business ethics myths” – Trevino
and Brown (Academy of Management Executive, 2004)
• What executives can do: Guidelines for
effective ethics management:
“The overarching goal should be to create a
strong ethical culture supported by strong
ethical leadership.”
“Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business ethics myths” –
Trevino and Brown (Academy of Management Executive, 2004)
What to do:
1. Understand the existing ethical culture
2. Communicate the importance of ethical
standards
3. Focus on the reward system
4. Promote ethical leadership throughout the
firm