Role of Emotions in Ethical Decision Making- Week 7 Notes

Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius

2 philosophers who had enormous influence on how role of emotion in ethical decision making has been perceived, saw emotions as needing to be controlled and avoided since they interfered with logical deliberation and solutions

1. general affect 2. specific emotions' effect on decision-making

2 levels of thinking about emotion based decisions

1. emotional 2. traditional/ rational/cognitive/brute force

2 main processes for ethical decision making

1. legal (determine if legal issue to consider w/ decision) 2. codes of ethics (see if something legal is deemed unethical) 3. ethical decision making process (occurs when absence of legal or codes of ethics provision)

3 steps to go through when faced with decision

1. reduces number of alternatives you see in decision 2. all stages condensed b/c don't consider everything 3. disadvantages when highly emotional state involved 4. advantages when highly emotional state involved

4 emotional decision making consequences

1. angry leaders tend to create angry followers 2. angry leaders tend to be more polarizing 3. negative traits in leaders are related to ratings of leadership ineffectiveness and low ratings on transformational leadership 4. happy leaders who demonstrate positive traits experience higher follower ratings of leadership effectiveness and transformational leadership

4 follower responses to leadership emotion according to leadership theory

1. "compartmentalize" emotion from the ethical decision at hand 2. have higher sense of urgency to resolve problem 3. prioritize the problems or issues at hand and focus specifically on resolving the most important 4. admired and through of as being "level-headed"

4 ways emotion can improve ethical decision making

1. other condemning (contempt, anger, disgust) 2. self-conscious (shame, embarrassment, guilt) 3. other suffering (compassion) 4. other praising (gratitude)

4 ways moral emotions can be categorized

1. classical vs. contemporary view on role of emotion in edm 2. emotion may be primary edm mechanism and clouded by logic 3. effect of positive vs. negative emotions 4. trickle down effect of leaders emotions 5. edm not unbiased or objective

5 considerations/topics regarding emotions and ethical decision making

1. how we view ethical decision making process 2. emotions may be primary mechanism to make ethical decisions and logic may cloud the process 3. positive and negative emotions affect ethical decision making process differently 4. leaders' emotions may have trickle-down effect on followers' emotions and how they make ethical decisions 5. ethical decision making not unbiased, unemotional or objective

5 ways emotions affect ethical decision making

1. define problem too narrowly 2. fail to consider all possible options 3. weigh your options differently than you would have had you not been as emotional 4. make decisions more hastily than you would have without the emotional overlay 5. failed to make decision at all b/c level of emotional stress so high

5 ways high levels of emotion can negatively affect ability to make decision

1. increases efficiency of decision-making 2. increases use of heuristics 3. increases consideration of multiple sources of information in making decisions 4. increase use of broader categories of sorting information 5. increases flexibility in organizations 6. increases diversity in making associations

6 ways positive affect has potential to influence ethical decision making due to associative networks in memory having many more links to positive emotions than negative

reason, emotion

Historically, _______________ has been seen as the highest order of decision-making and _______________ has been seen as a distraction and destructive force

emotional, rational/cognitive

________________ approach to EDM is more intuitive, whereas the ____________________ approach to is more forced

faster, less accurate decision

affect of happy managers being less likely to access relevant information in a meticulous way

biases

affects way we receive, process, and interpret information, we all possess. implies we can't always trust intuitive decision making

positive emotions

b/c of associative networks in memory what kind of emtoions have mor elinks

1. recognized ethical dilemma 2. have ethical intentions in line with their level of moral development 3. carry out those intentions of emotional arousal

emotional arousal affects the extent to which individuals (3 areas)

moral emotions

emotions that are linked to the interests and welfare either of society as a whole or at least of persons other than the judge or agent and are those most worthy of consideration from ethical perspective

decision making speed

evolutionary advantage of using emotions to guide decision making

emotional/intuitive process

extremely fast process of ethical decision making and allows for decisions to be made quickly (survival mechanism for managers); can lead one astray due to biases we all have

positive affect

influences access to affectively congruent information in memory

anger

moral emotion that is interesting for several reasons: -most frequent response to violations of rights and fairness -felt toward those who have violated rights of third parties -motivate passion which directs action to repair social order

1. overestimate contributions to a task when outcomes are positive 2. underestimate contributions to a task when outcomes are negative

negative impacts of positive affect making individuals more likely to

Marcus Aurelies

philosopher who took view of stoic philosophy and believed emotions should be avoided when making decisions

Aristotle

philosopher who warned mistakes in making decisions based on emotional processing

SW Airlines peanuts fare

real life example demonstrating an alternate more effective approach to a problem that brute force: chairman challenged other chairman to arm wrestle to settle issue of stealing slogan which resulted in decreasing legal fees and gaining publicity

logical analysis, moral reasoning

recent research has implied that emotion may not be just an impediment to _____________ but that it may be a separate approach to _____________________

affective research

research perspective on how emotions influence ethical decision: multidisciplinary and includes biological, anthropological, and psychological approaches to understanding affective phenomena (e.g., emotions, motivations, moods, stress, well-being) assumed more importance in role of emotions in managerial decision making and started with some important work in psychology and management in early 1980s

cognitive research

research perspective on how emotions influence ethical decision: states that individual decision making is result of how individuals store, categorize, retrieve, evaluate, and synthesize information. was prevailing paradigm until early 1980s.

social psychological research

research that states emotions have been shown to play a much larger role in decisions regarding individuals rather than decisions regarding institutions

leadership research

research that suggests leaders who are highly aroused tend to create high levels of arousal in followers, even if followers are not highly aroused on issue on their own

anger

specific emotion that has greatest effect on decision making and is most likely to lead to quick action

affective research

this research focuses on: overall affect/general levels of emotional arousal valence- direction of the emotional state (either positive or negative) whether emotional state is a "trait"- permanent characteristic of individual or a "state"- temporary state of emotion based on transitory situational characteristics

positive emotions

type of emotions that have more links to memory and allow us to activate and access more than alternative type

unhappy managers

type of managers who are more deliberate (slower) at decision making but consider more information and make a more thorough analysis of the altenrative

Stoic philosophers

types of philosophers who saw emotions as needing to be controlled and avoided since they interfered with logical deliberation and solutions

state happiness vs. state unhappiness

under what 2 conditions are there significant differences b/w decision-making in managerial decision-making in association w/ emotional state

modern research

view of ethical decision making that acknowledges advantages of emotional based EDM and highlights the uses of different parts of brain vs. rational process

contemporary view

view on role of emotion in ethical decision making that emotion is an integral and necessary part of the ethical decision making process

classical view

view on role of emotion in ethical decision making that emotion is hindrance to rational, logical thought

emotional perspective, moral reasoning

when individuals experience a moral issue they process the information first from an __________________ and then apply the principles of __________________ to justify their emotional, visceral response