Reasons Why People Make Unethical Decisions

Week Six Research Paper – Part I
Gena Cummings
American Public University
April 28, 2015
Week Six Research Paper – Part I
Introduction
The subject of ethical decision-making is attracting a lot of attention from scholars and practitioners from different industries. For instance, Shariff and Scandura (2015), and Yusoff et al., (2011) have published articles on the subject of ethical decision-making. The term ethics could be elucidated as a structure of moral principles. It is crucial for scholars and practitioners to understand the dark side of ethics because it will help them appreciate the effects of making unethical decision. Critical to the discussion is the fact that employees’ ethics are driven by environmental, issue-specific, and individual factors. By recognizing these factors, which define the cause for making unethical decisions, employers can create an environment that encourages ethical behavior. This paper discusses the dark side of ethics by arguing that even though people make unethical decisions; such people could be managed using techniques such as appropriate hiring of employees, and establishing an organizational code of conduct.
Reasons Why People Make Unethical Decisions
People make unethical decisions for reasons such as issue specific factors, individual reasons, and the environment. To begin with, employees make unethical decisions because of individual reasons such as pressure, gender, attitude, and perceived importance. As evidence, from Sharif and Scandura (2015), argue that pressure from clients and middle-level managers could corner employees into making unethical decisions. In fact, such demands often arise because demanding stakeholders do not appreciate the need for ethical decision-making. Instead, they are always concerned with personal gain. The same authors cite a study to highlight how individual reasons force employees to make unethical decisions. This owes to the reality that the study established a significant relationship between compensation due to unethical behavior and employee performance. In simple terms, employees who produce results or perform accordingly are likely to receive lenient treatment for unethical behavior.
Employees could also make unethical decisions for reasons such as gender. It is notable that several studies examining the relationship between gender and unethical decision-making have been conducted. Crucial to the discussion is the reality that there is an inconclusive evidence on whether or not gender affects ethical decision-making. As evidence, Chiu and Spindel (n.d) assert that some studies establish a significant relationship between gender and ethical decision-making while others do not. However, there are instances where gender is known to be a cause for unethical decision-making. It is particularly evident in the hiring process because some employers discriminate against women in their hiring process. It is because female employees are entitled to a maternity leaf, which cuts into otherwise productive time for employers. In addition, Chiu and Spindel (n.d) argue that female employees are likely to succumb to pressure and make unethical decisions. Therefore, gender could affect an individual’s ability to make moral decisions.
Attitude and the perceived importance for making decisions also influence how employees make ethical decisions. Critical to the discussion is the fact that different employees have different attitudes that effect how they make decisions. For instance, Piff et al (2011) argue that people from different social classes have different attitudes towards greed. The author further asserts that people with high propensity for greed often make unethical decisions in order to reap benefits from such decisions. Moreover, such people believe that their benefit is of utmost importance. As a result, they make decisions while considering how the decisions benefit them instead of whether their decisions are ethical or unethical. This implies that personal attitudes such as greed and perceived importance affect how employees make their decisions. It follows that individual reasons could corner employees into making unethical decisions.
It is also crucial to note that employees make unethical decisions because of issue specific factors. For instance, conformity among peers could force employees into making unethical or ethical decisions. According to Yusoff et al., (2011), employees conform to work and social norms that have been established by their peers or the industry. This owes to the reality that employees could incur high costs for making unethical decisions when their peers are making ethical decisions. The same author reveals that peer pressure could affect the ability of an employee to make his/her desirable decision using statistical evidence. Moreover, key industry players share information, which often influences employees’ ability of making ethical decisions. It is because most businesses fear being sidelined for making different decisions from other businesses in the same industry. Simply, employees are likely to make unethical decisions if workers from different businesses in the same industry make unethical decisions. It follows that conformity among peers contributes to unethical decisions from employees.
As aforementioned, the degree of harm inflicted on victims also influences employees’ ability to make ethical decisions. However, the degree of harm’s influence does not cut across the table because idealists and non-idealists have different opinions regarding the subject. As evidence, idealists believe that harming others at the expense of making unethical decisions is unworthy. On the contrary, non-idealists believe that harm is necessary for producing ‘good’. It follows that non-idealist employees are likely to make unethical decisions as long as the decision produces a certain ‘good’ (Kish-Gephart, et al., 2010). The philosophy particularly applies when employees are driven with a sole motive of maximizing profits because they are likely to make unethical decisions in order to maximize profits. The degree of harm also influences unethical decision-making because; most employees would make decisions that harm others at the expense of harming themselves. It also applies if the degree of harm is less than the ‘good’ produced from making an unethical decision.
Another cause for unethical decision-making in organizations is the environment. In such a case, the environment could be understood as organizational culture and climate that promote ethical or unethical decision-making. According to from Kish-Gephart, et al., (2010), the term organization climate could be elucidated as the beliefs that define right and wrong behavior within an organization. The author proceeds to state that the benevolent climate and the egotistic climate are the two main climates that influence unethical decision-making. For instance, an egotistic organizational climate promotes unethical behavior by encouraging employees to make decisions based on self-interest. In contrast, Kish-Gephart, et al., (2010) reveal that a benevolent organization climate encourages employees to consider the effects of their decisions on the community, other employees, and customers. Therefore, a benevolent organizational climate promotes ethical behavior while an egotistic organizational climate promotes unethical behavior.
It is notable that Kish-Gephart, et al., (2010) also define organizational culture as organizational procedures, systems, ...