In summary, Chris decided to ask Alison to set a company through which to identify

possible candidates for open positions at Chris workplace. Chris and Allison end

overbilling for Allison’s service, crossing the legal line. While hiring Allison was not

illegal from the company policy point of view, it was a conflict of interest and the onset of

overbilling, crossing the ethical line. The 5 barriers to ethical organizations contributed to

the behaviours.

Ill-conceived goals are shown though the company’s culture of ‘get it done’, and Chris’

broad goal of getting people into the company at the right positions. This culture of

achieving the goal, irrespective of method, creates Chris’ 1 st negative behaviour. The

pressure to succeed and unclear goal, leads him to hire his wife in a clear conflict of

interest, underpinning the rest of the issues, and to continue using her even while

overbilling, as the company goals were being met. The slippery slope is shown when Chris

states that if he was to tell himself that he was going to ‘steal’ $1.6 mm he would have

never done it. However, the overbilling and the amount that was overbilled was a behaviour

that developed gradually and becomes ‘normal’, thus making it easier to rationalize.

Furthermore motivated blindness also played a role. Alison had to raise the overbilling to

Chris, who is described by her as a ‘distorted mirror of each other’. Clearly, as both were

benefiting from the financial situation, and Chris success at work, it remained in their

interests to remain ignorant of the situation, rather than step in and stop it. Indirect

blindness also played a role. While Alison was carrying the transactions, and was not a

third party per say because of her link to Chris, it was easier for Chris to deflect his

attention from the situation as he only had to press ‘enter’ to approve invoices. The budget

and expenses of Alison’s work were approved by several levels above Chris, so it wasn’t

only Chris approving the invoices. Thus it easier to rationalize the unethical behaviour, as a

‘third party’ is approving the situation as well. Finally overvaluing outcomes is present

through the perceived benefits of the overbilling. Not only was the couple profiting
financially, but also they saw that the work Alison was doing was “proving value” to the

firm. This made it easier to rationalize the situation.