Chapter 3

What things can impact good ethical judgement?

1. Fact gathering 2. Thinking about consequences 3. Thinking about integrity 4. Relying on your gut instincts - good or bad? 5. Unconscious biases

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)

A cost-benefit analysis is the process of comparing the projected or estimated costs and benefits (or opportunities) associated with a project decision to determine whether it makes sense from a business perspective. Such simplification can remove moral criteria from the decision-making process and reduce ethical awareness.

What is the "slippery slope" in terms of ethics?

A person on the slippery slope committed increasingly serious ethical infractions over time. ("It's no big deal")

What individual differences that influence ethical judgement and action?

Cognitive moral development, locus of control, machiavellianism, and moral disengagement

Illusion of Superiority

Faulty idea that one always has above average integrity or better than everyone else.

Thinking about integrity

If your thoughts about yourself are controlled by illusion rather than reality, how can you make a good decision about your integrity? Ppl will unconsciously filter and distort information in order to maintain a positive self-image; illusion of superiority and illusion of mortality. In addition, it notes that virtue ethics approach suggests that you rely on the ethics of your profession (or other relevant moral community) to guide you.

What stage are most people at, and why is this important?

Kohlberg's research placed most American adults at this conventional level, as well as most managers.

cognitive moral development

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory proposes that moral reasoning develops sequentially through three broad levels (Preconventional, Conventional, and Postconventional or Principled), each composed of two stages. As individuals move forward theory

Euphemistic Language

The practice of describing unethical acts using inoffensive terms or code words

ethical awareness

a person recognizes that a situation or issue is one that raises ethical concerns and must be thought about in ethical terms.

Examples of thinking about consequences:

a. Reduce the number of consequences you consider b. Consequences for yourself vs. consequences for others c. Consequences as risk

unconscious biases

a. the implicit association test (IAT) and race bias b. the role of emotions

confirmation trap

all of us have the tendency to look for information that will confirm our preferred answer or choice and to neglect to search for evidence that might prove us wrong.

escalation of commitment

an increased commitment to a previous decision despite evidence it may have been wrong. "throwing good money after bad". Invested into your dream car, and now it needs maintenance and it keeps needing maintenance - so you keep get maintenance because you invested so much into it already.

Locus of control

an individual's perception of how much control her or she exerts over life events. It can also be thought of as a single continuum from a high internal locus of control to a high external locus of control. An individual with a high internal locus of control believes that the outcomes of his or her actions are primarily the result of his or her own efforts, whereas an individual with a high external locus of control believes that life events are determined primarily by fate, luck, or powerful others.

What is script processing?

cognitive frameworks that guide our thoughts and actions

One example about fact gathering

confirmation trap

Second type of moral disengagement

distorting consequences or reducing personal responsibilitiy; displacement of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, and distorting consequences

moral disengagement

engaging in unethical behavior without feeling bad about it. There's 3 types of this thing.

Relying on your gut

good but not always reliable (a combination of your gut and an informed brain will help you make better decisions).

Implicit Association Test (IAT) and race bias

help us understand the potential (often negative) role of the unconscious in certain type of ethical thinking

What leads to better ethical awareness?

if they believe that their peers will consider it to be ethically problematic. if ethical language is used to present the situation to the decision maker. if the decision is seen as having the potential to produce serious harm to others.

Consequences for yourself vs. consequences for others:

including and assessing consequences for yourself as well as others. Ignore the consequences that only affect a few.

Dehumanization

individuals make those who would be harmed less worthy of ethical consideration because they're thought to be different, stupid, or not even human.

Machiavellianism

individuals who act in self-interested, opportunistic, deceptive, and manipulative ways to win no matter what the cost or how it affects other people.

diffusion of responsibility

individuals will reduce personal accountability by looking to others or the group ("It's not my job," or "My team made the decision").

displacement of responsibility

individuals will reduce personal accountability by thinking of their actions as resulting from an authority figure's dictates ("my boss made me do it").

Distorting consequences

individuals will think of negative consequences as less serious than they are ("It's no big deal' to fudge the numbers on my expense report").

Attribution of blame

lays blame on the victims of harm for a variety of reasons ("It's their own fault").

illusion of mortality

members believe the decisions they make are morally correct, ignoring any arguments to the contrary

Illusion of Optimism

overestimate the likelihood of good future events and underestimate the bad

illusion of control

people's belief that they can influence events, even when they have no control over what will happen

Third type of moral disenegagement

reducing personal identification with the victim; dehumanization and attribution of blame

Consequence over time:

the prescription to think about consequences fails to account for the fact that decisions are not isolated choices, but often become part of a series of choices within the context of investment in a larger decision or project; escalation of commitment.

What is known about people high in Machiavellianism?

they are significantly more likely to have unethical intentions and engage in unethical action such as lying, cheating, and accepting kickbacks.

Consequences as risk:

think of consequences in terms of decision making about risk; illusion of optimism and illusion of control.

One type of moral disengagement

ways of thinking about our behvaior that makes bad behavior seem more acceptable; euphemistic language, moral justification, and advantageous comparison

role of emotions

we often act not because we have coolly and rationally decided on the best course of action, but rather because it "feels" like the right thing to do at the time

advantageous comparison

whereby people compare their own behavior to more reprehensible behavior and thus make their own behavior seem more okay.

moral justification

whereby unethical behavior is thought to be okay because it contributes to some socially valued outcome.