Two studies published within days of each other suggest that if you want people to make ethical decisions, corner them in a small office in early morning.
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One of the age-old problems in ethics is whether and when it is permissible to lie. While most of us might agree in principle that truth and transparency are critical ethical principles and that lying and deception are intrinsically wrong, we don’t always agree on how to apply this to everyday life. Is truth always required? And if not, just when is it okay to lie?
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Ask anyone if slavery is unethical and you’re almost sure to get a resounding yes. But the cold truth is that the practice continues in many forms and in many places, even here in the U.S. So a much more relevant question has to do with our ethical responsibility to do something about the problem: Do we have one and what exactly should we do?
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I’ve been struggling with some ethical inconsistencies in the world of sports. Maybe you can help me think them through. Consider the following:
In golf, the honor code rules. Players routinely assess their own penalties if they accidentally move a ball or otherwise violate a rule. This doesn’t seem to happen in any other sport. Try to imagine a first baseman turning around to a baseball umpire after an “out” call and saying, “No, actually my foot slipped off the bag and he’s safe.” (No, I can’t imagine it, either.)
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A new study suggesting that business school admissions inadvertently favor candidates prone to unethical behavior has caused quite a stir, largely because of some provocative stories that stretch the point to drum up web traffic.
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You hire a roofer. He shows up late and takes two days longer than expected. He does an adequate job but isn’t very good about cleaning up. As he leaves, he offers you a $50 rebate for any referrals who sign with him. Do your recommend him to your neighbors? If you do, do you tell the neighbors you’re getting a rebate? Do you split the rebate?
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On Aug. 1, the Eagle-Tribune, a daily newspaper in North Andover, Massachusetts, took a courageous step. It stopped allowing users to comment anonymously on its Web site.
In a column announcing the decision, Executive Editor Al White said that while he understood that some people were unable to comment freely under their own names, allowing anonymity created bigger problems. “Too many used the feature to spew vitriol, bigotry, obscenity, cheap shots and juvenile taunts, no matter how hard we worked to keep the conversation civil.”
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In some ways, we’re all victims of circumstances, but a new analysis by Alfred Mele and Joshua Shepherd suggest we can overcome the negative influences inherent in certain situations and still do what is ethical.
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Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Utah confirmed what has been obvious for eons: Money changes the way we think and the way we behave, and not in a good way. But the researchers went further to see why money has such a corrosive effect.
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