EXPLANATIONS FOR UNETHICAL ACTIONS
Former Penn State president Spanier who was fired by the board of trustees in November 2011, is quoted as saying in an interview with Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker online after the trial of Sandusky that ended on June 22, 2012, about how the university worked that “honesty, integrity, and always doing what was in the best interests of the uni- versity [italics added] was how everyone agreed to operate and . . . we’ve always operated as a family. Our personal and social and professional lives were all very intertwined.” 4
At Penn State, a culture existed that placed the interests of the university, as perceived by its leadership, ahead of the interests of the abused children and the public trust. The tone that was set by Paterno and Spanier was to cover up any potentially damaging information about the insti- tution and its football program. This happens in other organizations as well, such as Enron and WorldCom, where acting ethically took a back seat to self-interest, including maximizing earnings and share price. The culture of an organization should be built on ethical values such as hon- esty, integrity, responsibility, and accountability. While Penn State may have claimed to follow such principles, the reality was that its actions did not match these behavioral norms.
ETHICAL BLIND SPOTS Leaders of organizations who may be successful at what they do and see themselves as ethical and moral still culti- vate a collection of what Max Bazerman and Ann Trebrunsel call blind spots . 5 Blind spots are the gaps between who you want to be and the person you actually are. In other words,
most of us want to do the right thing—to act ethically— but internal and external pressures get in the way. These authors attribute blind spots to the concept of bounded ethicality; that is, psychological processes that lead even good people to engage in ethically questionable behavior that contradicts their own preferred ethics. At Penn State, bounded ethicality came into play because individuals such as Paterno decided to keep the scandal quiet, thereby ena- bling the abuse and harm to the affected children to con- tinue even though that harm was inconsistent with their purported beliefs and preferences.
Our workday lives can create ethical challenges where there is a difference between knowing the right thing to do and doing it. One reason is organizational goals (such as what is in the best interests of Penn State), rewards, com- pliance systems, and informal pressures, all of which can contribute to ethical fading, a process by which the ethical dimensions are eliminated from a decision and replaced by “avoiding bad publicity” or making the deal at any costs. Enron had a code of conduct in place, but that didn’t stop it from rewarding officers involved in conflicts of interest such as the former chief financial officer (CFO), Andy Fastow, who managed special-purpose-entities that dealt directly with Enron at the same time he served as Enron’s CFO.
As you read this chapter, think about the following ques- tions: (1) What would you have done if you had been in Joe Paterno’s position, and why? (2) What factors might have enabled you to act in accordance with your own values and beliefs? (3) What factors might have served as disablers and made it more difficult to act on your values and beliefs?
Ethics Reflection (Concluded)
Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity. W. Clement Stone (1902–2002)
This quote by William Clement Stone, a businessman, philanthropist, and self-help book author, underscores the importance of integrity in decision making. Notice that the quote addresses integrity in one’s personal life. That is because one has to act with integrity when making personal decisions in order to be best equipped to act with integrity on a professional level. Integrity, indeed all of ethics, is not a spigot that can be turned on or off depending on one’s whims or whether the matter at hand is personal or professional. As the ancient Greeks knew, we learn how to be ethical by practicing and exercising those virtues that enable us to lead a life of excellence.