Class 8 Flashcards
(14 cards)
H&M Case/ discussion
Why do people act unethically
Unawareness and insensivity
Selfishness
Defective reasoning
Unawareness and insensivity
Everyone does it; To get along, go along; it’s not my
problem/job/worry
selfishness
Implicit in all ethical theories is the notion of caring for and respecting others
defective reasoning
People constantly overestimate the costs of doing good and specially underestimate the cost of doing wrong
Neutralizations
- Denial of Responsibility
- Denial of injury
- Denial of the victim
- Condemnation of condemners
- Appeal to higher loyalties
- Everyone else is doing it
- Entitlements
Denial of responsibility
Pass the blame to someone else or to a
situation. I had no choice. It was an accident. I
was drunk. The superior asked me. Codes of
conduct can help here.
Denial of injury
Minimize the harm. It was just to create fear. I
didn’t steal, I just get it borrowed.
denial of the victim
He/she deserved it! “He started it”/righteous
vengeance/”punishing my employer”
condemnation of condemners
Reversing the blame. The police was corrupt
and was persecuting me. I cannot be punished
when nobody else is. “Legislation is not efficient
so I am above the law”
appeal to higher loyalties
“I did it for my family. I did it in name of my firm’s
interest”. “I did it to protect my investors or my
employees”. I did it for a higher moral interest.
everyone else is doing it
“Everyone does that, I need to do that to be
competitive, or to be accepted”. Its moral
accepted because everyone does that!
entitlements
“My company acts like that, so it is correct”. I
did it because of my position! I had no other
choice. I was acting on my rights. Government
cannot interfere in my company, because I
know how to behave here.
Solution for neutralization in business
Institutional design
=> It is important for managers to create institutional
environments that will promote ethical conduct
=> One way to do this is to create an environment in which the standard techniques of neutralization used to excuse unethical behaviour are not accepted!
