We May Not Be as Ethical as We Think We Are.

• Author: Kaplan, Jeffrey M.
• Position: Ethics Corner

Judge Learned Hand famously said: "The spirit of liberty is the spirit that is not too sure that it is right." Many believe it was a profound statement. But what--if anything--does it have to do with ethics?

It may be very relevant, if one credits the research findings of various behavioral ethicists showing that we are not as ethical as we think, and so should be not too sure that we are right in these matters.

Behavioral ethics research looks at the reasons people make ethical--or unethical--decisions. It has shown that it's not as simple as knowing right from wrong. Most people are subj ect to powerful influences, such as peer pressure, organizational norms and internal biases that can cloud their ethical compasses.

A book by business school professors Max H. Bazerman of Harvard and Ann E. Tenbrunsel of Notre Dame, Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It, provides an excellent and comprehensive resource on this topic. This and other behavioral research offers a number of findings worth considering.

One is that the act of doing good can "morally license" doing something bad later on. This is strikingly counterintuitive, but there is a lot of data behind it. It certainly supports the broader notion that we are not as ethical as we think.

Perhaps surprisingly, researchers have also found that disclosing a conflict of interest can actually increase the likelihood of conflict-driven harm occurring. This is contrary to the received wisdom on the importance of disclosure of conflicts.

Additionally, various facets of everyday work life can contribute to "ethical fading," which diminishes dimensions in decision-making. One of these is the process by which ethically fraught choices are deemed "business decisions," magically removing them from the realm of scrutiny. Moreover, "outcome biases" can permit us to ignore bad decision-making if it happens to lead to desirable results, which can encourage future bad decision-making.

Another finding: power really does corrupt. Understanding this phenomenon can be valuable, particularly in dealing with powerful people in an organization who may tend to resist the notion that they can be the source of out-sized risk and thus should be the subject of heightened compliance measures.

Another set of circumstances that can lead to an ethical shortfall is where we do not know who may be impacted by a contemplated act. This has been called the phenomenon of "victim distance." As Ben...