Ethical Slips - The Urge To Cheat

Not a month goes by without some highly publicized ethical scandal.

Cheating isn’t limited to those in positions of power. While power is certainly fraught with opportunities, each of us faces daily choices that involve doing the right—or wrong—thing.

The same ethical traps lie in your path. Often, people feel an urge to cheat—a strange pull to try to get away with something.

Ethical Roots

Psychology and other social sciences offer a huge body of experimental studies that demonstrate the allure of cheating.

Many of these traps are psychological in nature, creating “webs of deception” that distort our perception of right and wrong. Such rationalizations lead us to believe our unethical behavior is normal and appropriate, and they have contributed to large-scale corporate disasters like the Enron and WorldCom affairs.

The Brain Science of Traps

Fish are caught in wire cages with funnel-shaped entrances, which are designed to direct the fish to swim inside.

In the same way, individuals and organizations move in a certain direction—one that may trap them if they fail to reverse an ill-fated course.

We may desire a specific outcome so strongly that it propels us to move in an unsound direction. Anxiety and stress may also compel us to make choices that alleviate our short-term distress, yet lead to irrevocable long-term consequences.

Four Basic Tribal Drives

Some experts believe we’re motivated by four basic human drives that have evolved from our primitive ancestors:

1. The drive to acquire and improve our status in the tribe

2. The drive to bond with others

3. The drive to learn and acquire knowledge

4. The drive to defend and protect

These drives are especially evident in modern cultures. We work hard to provide for our families, far beyond our survival needs for food, clothing and shelter. Many of us are highly motivated to land the best job, home and/or salary possible. It’s human nature to want to acquire things that make our families comfortable and happy. Many of us are driven to be the smartest or most prestigious person in the room.

Much of our energy goes toward protecting what we have and defending our territories, families, positions, rights and freedoms—a strong drive that explains why nations go to war.

Organizations are like theaters, where actors play out their desires to acquire, bond, learn and defend. There’s no better stage to demonstrate our tribal drives, and nowhere are there more daily opportunities to choose between right and wrong.

Root Causes of Traps

In business, people don’t abandon their ethics simply because they want to maximize profits. Rather, their drive to acquire and improve their status lures them into a trap.

This often happens in small steps. If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will jump out quickly. But if you place it in the pot and slowly increase the heat, it will remain there and be cooked.

Small steps and choices create minor ethical transgressions that do little harm, but they set the direction that eventually leads to major, irreversible violations.

Primary Traps

In The Ethical Executive (Stanford University Press, 2008), Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey describe 45 ethical traps inherent in any organizational environment. They include:

1. Obedience to authority

2. Small steps

3. Indirect responsibility

4. Faceless victims

5. Lost in the group

6. Competition

7. Self-interest

8. Tyranny of goals

9. Money

10. Conformity

11. Power

12. Obligation

13. Time pressures

Carefully review and understand these traps so you can prepare for—and avoid—them. This will help ensure your choices are sound and your moral compass remains intact.

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