Business ethicists claim that the current spate of business leaders, particularly bankers, who have admitted to unethical behavior, is not surprising. In fact, these experts describe that when rewards are high and risks are low, the brain often provides the green light to cheat. So how to stop unethical corporate cultures that arise from such a natural human response?
Mark Frame, a psychology professor at Middle Tennessee State University who focus in workplace psychology, says to start by communicating solid business values to stakeholders. "If you advertise that you are trying to be ethical, you are going to wind up hiring more ethical people. It's kind of that field of dreams thing: If you make it, they will come," he says.
But words must be followed by actions, so the next step is to thwart unethical behavior. Operating under the tacit rule that "it's okay as long as we're not caught" is insufficient. UC Berkeley professor Barry Staw says companies need to make their stance clear: When employees cross a legal line, they will lose their job and perhaps be reported to authorities. Such a strategy invokes fear of punishment over reward for good behavior.
Making ethical options may not be innate, but people will be taught why making moral choices is eventually in their best interests, says Dave Mayer, a management professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. He tells his students that the best way to test whether an action is ethical is to ask oneself: Is what I'm planning to do the right thing or is it simply in my own self interest? If the answer is the latter, it's probably not the best way to go.
Assignment Instructions: If you were in a corporate culture in which you witnessed cheating, explain what would you do? How will a business make a culture that encourages its workers to be ethical? Do you think morality and ethics begin at home?
1. Now prepare your own three page descriptive and persuasive essays about the case study above and answer the three questions in the assignment instructions.
2. Describe which guidelines you used in the essay. Also be sure to include why your essay was ethical, using ideas from Cialdini's article in your paper.
Write a persuasive essay (3 pages) using guidelines from Conger, Cialdini, and/or Bowman.
Describe which guidelines (about 200 words) you used in your memo and include why your memo was ethical.