L6

Situational Influences on Ethical Decision Making

Learning Outcomes:
- Outline situational influences on ethical decision-making

Are equally or more important than individual influences

Situational influences on ethical decision-making depend on:
- Issue related factors
- Context related factors

 We are social animals influenced by social norms, expectations, rewards and

punishments, corporate culture, etc

Issue-related factors (Influences recognition of moral status and action)

• Relative importance of issue, intensity of the issue (Jenny’s case)
• How the issue represented in the organisation (moral framing)

Context-related factors (influences our actions)

• Group norms, expectations, roles we are faced with
• Nature of the climate we work in
• Rewards and punishments as a result of our actions
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Issued Related Factors:

 Moral Intensity –
Refers to the nature of the issue, how important is it to the decision maker
Jones (1991:374-8) proposes that the intensity of an issue will vary according to six
factors:
o Magnitude of consequences (issue felt more intensely if consequences are
significant)
o Social consensus (issue felt more intensely if it is deemed unethical by
others)
o Probability of effect (issue felt more intensely depending on likelihood if
harms/benefits will happen)
o Temporal immediacy (issue felt more intensely depending on the speed with
which the consequences will occur)
o Proximity (issue felt more intensely if it is closer – physical, social, cultural,
psychological)
o Concentration of effect (issue felt more intensely if consequences are
concentrated heavily on a few rather than lightly on many)

 Moral Framing –
How important is the issue in the organisation?
The same problem or dilemma perceived differently according to the way issue is
framed
o Language is an important aspect of moral framing (using moral language
likely to trigger moral thinking)
Many people in business are reluctant to ascribe moral terms to their work even if
there are moral consequences - this is known as moral muteness

Managers may not use moral terms

= Can reframe moral actions for reasons of
• Practicality
• Organisational interests
• Makes economically good sense

Moral terms in business are not used due to concerns regarding perceived threats
to:
• Harmony: can provoke confrontation, recrimination etc.
• Efficiency: time-consuming, difficult.
• Image of power and effectiveness: associated as being idealistic
•
• Ethical issues can be viewed with suspicion and managers can make decisions based
on corporate rationality and corporate self-interest

Moral framing can occur after the event has occurred for example:
Corporate restructuring
facilitation payment
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How Ethical Decisions are Justified: Rationalization Tactics

Context-Related Factors:
 System of Rewards –
People are likely to do what they are rewarded for.

- “What is right in the corporation is not what is right in a man’s home... What is right
in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you. That’s what morality is
in the corporation” (Jackall, 1988:6)

Ethical principles and standards should be rewarded not punished.

Ethical violations that go unpunished are likely to be repeated.

 Authority –
o People do what they are told to do – or what they think they’re being told to
do
o Instructions from the boss may leave them with no option but to act in a
questionable manner
o Managers influence subordinates’ ethical behaviour by setting an example

 Bureaucracy –
- Formal organisation based on rational principles, detailed rules and regulations,
impersonal hierarchical relations and fixed division of tasks
- Bureaucracy has a number of negative effects on ethical decision-making (Jackall,
1988; Bauman,1989, 1993; and Bos,1997)
• Suppression of moral autonomy (need to follow rules and procedures)
• Instrumental morality (focus on efficient achievement of company goals)
• Distancing (bureaucracy can suppress morality by distancing the employee
from the consequence of their action)
• Denial of moral status (eg. employees – human resources)
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 Work Roles –
o People are assigned to specific tasks or roles
o There are patterns of behaviour associated with a position – functional or
hierarchical
o These are built up during our education, training and experience
o Work roles can encapsulate a whole set of expectations about what to value,
how to relate to others, and how to behave
o Our morality can be stifled
o Example: Case study of Stanford prison experiment

 Organisational Norms and Culture –

o Group norms delineate acceptable standards of behaviour within the work
community - E.g. ways of talking, acting, dressing or thinking
o Group norms may conflict with official rules or procedures
o Shared values, beliefs, behaviour – organisational culture
o Organisational culture and ethical decision making are interwoven
o Example: Enron

 National and Cultural Context –

o Consider the nation in which the decision is actually taking place, regardless
of the decision-maker’s nationality
o Different cultures have different views of what is right and wrong
o Example: Danish HR manager working in Indonesia may consider the issue of
employee working conditions differently compared to people in Denmark

Aristotle’s Golden Mean of Virtues: (Theory of Virtue Ethics)

• Interesting philosophy for virtues
• Take the middle ground in choosing a moral action