Competition has traditionally received much praise, particularly from economists who point to its contributions in lowering market prices and also improving the quality of goods and services. However, recent research from schools including Marshall School of Business and UCLA Anderson School of Management has shown that intense competition can in fact naturally lead to unethical […]
Read More… from How Competition for Customers Causes Unethical Behaviour
It is well established, in research, that employees who are allowed to voice their opinions perceive decision-making procedures as more fair and are more likely to display pro-social behaviours and work in the collective interest. Relatively little, however, is known about what influences leaders’ decisions to grant ‘voice’ and act fairly. The results of the […]
Read More… from How Employees Win ‘Voice’ and Influence Decisions
New research, focusing on accounting ethics and using a carefully controlled experiment, reveals the power of social influence on the ethical standards of managers. After seeing honest budget reporting from another manager — a peer — a manager is more likely to be honest: despite an incentive to inflate costs to secure a bigger budget, […]
Read More… from How Peers Influence Ethics: Good Eggs and Bad Apples
Recent years have seen a surge in ‘unethical’ behaviours in the workplace, whether in the form of corporate scandals, fraud, or just disrespecting company values. As management research has focused on the drivers of such behaviours, increasingly sleep deprivation has come up; recent studies have found that sleep deprivation can deplete self-regulatory resources, which can […]
Read More… from How Sleep Deprivation Can Cause Unethical Behaviour
Why do unethical practices become ‘normalized’ in some organizations? Why do errant employees sometimes go unpunished for long periods of time? These are questions that many people will have asked in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at News of the World and the recent interest-rate-rigging scandals at major banks. One explanation is that […]
Read More… from Profits Vs Principles: Market Competition and Moral Transgression
The true measure of integrity in a firm is not comforting slogans on the home page of the company website, but how employees feel about whether top management, through its actions and behaviours, is living up to the promise. A culture of integrity exists when employees perceive top managers as trustworthy and ethical. "The higher […]
Read More… from How a Culture of Integrity Boosts the Bottom Line
High levels of ethical leadership can have unintended consequences, demotivating employees and making pro-social and co-operative behaviours less likely, according to recent research in Europe and the US. The research, based on three field studies and an experiment, finds a negative, linear relationship between ethical leadership and employee deviance: the more ethical the leader, the […]
Unconstrained exercise of power and high self-regard on the part of leaders can have damaging consequences for organizations. Previous research has consistently demonstrated the negative and potentially detrimental effects that these traits on the part of CEOs can have, which has led to the concept of humility being explored more and more in psychology and […]
Read More… from How Humility in the CEO Improves Management Performance
Integrity — defined as the ability to act with honesty and strong moral principles — is often considered a crucial character strength for top executives. But what about middle-level executives? These managers are in line for top-level leadership positions in future, and play a vital role in any organization, from leading many different people and […]
Read More… from How Valuable is Integrity for Mid- and Top-Level Executives?
Treat people with respect and you encourage the kinds of behaviours that create value for shareholders and stakeholders. The high-profile scandals that have engulfed both the private and public sectors in recent years have focused attention on unethical behaviour — and ways to prevent it. It’s been acknowledged that organizations have to do more than […]
Read More… from How Conducting Appraisals Well Builds Ethical Behaviour
