Abstract
Managing ethical behavior is a one of the most pervasive and complex problems facing business organizations today. Employees' decisions to behave ethically or unethically are influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors. Background, personality, decision history, managerial philosophy, and reinforcement are but a few of the factors which have been identified by researchers as determinants of employees' behavior when faced with ethical dilemmas. The literature related to ethical behavior is reviewed in this article, and a model for understanding ethical behavior in business organizations is proposed. It is concluded that managing ethics in business organizations requires that managers engage in a concentrated effort which involves espousing ethics, behaving ethically, developing screening mechanisms, providing ethical training, creating ethics units and reinforcing ethical behavior.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arlow, P. and Ulrich, T. A.: 1980, ‘Auditing Your Organization's Ethics’, Internal Auditor 39(4), 26–31.
Baumhart, R.: 1961, ‘How Ethical are Businessmen?’, Harvard Business Review 39(4), 26–31.
Bayes, P. and McKee, T.: under review, ‘Do CAP Firms Have Adequate Internal Control Over Hiring?’ (Unpublished manuscript).
Boal, K. B. and Peery, N.: 1985, ‘The Cognitive Structure of Corporate Social Responsibility’, Journal of Management 11(3), 71–82.
Brenner, S. and Molander, E.: 1977, ‘Is the Ethics of Business Changing?’, Harvard Business Review 55(1), 55–71.
Business Roundtable: 1988, Corporate Ethics: A Prime Business Asset.
Carroll, A. B.: 1978, ‘Linking Business Ethics to Behavior in Organizations’, Advanced Management Journal 43(3), 4–11.
Cavanagh, G., Moberg, D. and Valasquez, M.: 1981, ‘The Ethics of Organizational Politics’, Academy of Management Review 3, 363–74.
Crandall, R.: 1973, ‘The Measurement of Self-Esteem and Related Constructs’, in J. P. Robinson and P. R. Shaver (eds.), Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes (Institute for Social Research. Ann Arbor), pp. 45–167.
Davis, R. R.: December, 1984, ‘Ethical Behavior Reexamined’, CPA Journal 33–6.
Forsyth, D. R.: 1980, ‘A Taxonomy of Ethical Ideologies’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39(1), 175–84.
Forsyth, D. R.: 1981, ‘Moral Judgment: the Influence of Ethical Ideology’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 7(2), 218–23.
Forsyth, D. R.: 1985, ‘Individual Differences Information Integration during Moral Judgment’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49(1), 264–72.
Forsyth, D., Nye, J. and Kelley, K.: 1988, ‘Idealism, Relativism, and the Ethic of Caring’, Journal of Psychology 122, 3, 243–8.
Forsyth, D. R. and Pope, W. R.: 1984, ‘Ethical Ideology and Judgments of Social Psychological Research: Multidimensional Analysis’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 46(6), 1365–75.
Freeman, E. and Gilbert, D.: 1988, Corporate Strategy and the Search for Ethics (Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Fritzche, D. and Becker, H.: 1984, ‘Linking Management Behavior to Ethical Philosophy: An Empirical Investigation’, Academy of Management Journal 1, 166–75.
Goodpaster, K. E. and Matthews, Jr., J. B.: 1982, ‘Can a Corporation Have a Conscience?’, Harvard Business Review 60(1), 132–41.
Hegarty, W. and Sims, H., Jr.: 1978, ‘Some Determinants of Unethical Decision Behavior: An Experiment’, Journal of Applied Psychology 63(4), 451–7.
Hegarty, W. H. and Sims, H. P., Jr.: 1979, ‘Organizational Philosophy, Policies and Objectives Related to Unethical Decision Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment’, Journal of a Applied Psychology 64(3), 331–8.
Hogan, R.: 1973, ‘Moral Conduct and Moral Character: a Psychological Perspective’, Psychological Bulletin 79(4).
Jones, E. E.: 1985, ‘Major Developments in Social Psychology during the Past Five Decades’, in G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology (Random House, New York), pp. 47–107.
Leary, M. R., Knight, P. D. and Barnes, B. D.: 1986, ‘Ethical Ideologies of the Machiavellian’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 12(1), 75–80.
Levenson, H.: 1974, ‘Activism and Powerful Others: Distinctions within the Concept of Internal-External Control’, Journal of Personality Assessment 38, 377–83.
Luthans, F. and Kreitner, R.: 1985, Organizational Behavior Modification and Beyond: An Operant and Social Learning Approach (Scott Forsman, Glenview, IL).
Matthews, J. B., Goodpaster, K. E. and Nash, L. L.: 1985, Policies and Persons: A Casebook in Business Ethics (McGraw-Hill, New York).
Nielsen, R. P.: 1988, ‘Limitations of Ethical Reasoning as an Action (Praxis) Strategy’, Journal of Business Ethics 7, 725–33.
Nielsen, R. P.: 1989, ‘Changing Unethical Organizational Behavior’, Academy of Management Executive 3(2), 123–30.
Otten, A. L.: July 14, 1986, ‘Ethics on the Job: Companies Alert Employees to Potential Dilemmas’, Wall Street Journal p. 23.
Posner, B. and Schmidt, W.: 1984, ‘Values and the American Manager: An Update’, California Management Review 24(3), 206–16.
Preble, J. F. and Miesing, P.: November, 1984, ‘Do Adult MBA and Undergraduate Business Students Have Different Business Philosophies?’, Proceedings of the National Meeting of the American Institute for the Decision Sciences 346–8.
Raelin, J. A.: 1987, ‘The Professional as the Executive's Ethical Aide-de-Camp’, Academy of Management Executive 1(3), 171–82.
Ranken, N. L.: 1987, ‘Corporations as Persons: Objections to Goodpaster's Principle of Moral Projection’, Journal of Business Ethics 6, 633–7.
Robinson, J.: 1973, ‘General Attitudes Toward People’, in J. P. Robinson and P. R. Shaver (eds.), Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes (Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor), pp. 587–627.
Rosen, B. and Adams, J. S.: 1974, ‘Organizational Coverups: Factors Influencing the Disciplining of Information Gatekeepers’, Journal of Applied Psychology 4(4), 375–84.
Sackett, P. R. and Harris, M. M.: 1984, ‘Honesty Testing for Personnel Selection: a Review and Critique’, Personnel Psychology 37(2), 221–45.
Sammons, J. H.: 1988, ‘How Economics Threatens Quality Care: The Challenge of Medical Ethics Today’, Ethics in American Business: A Special Report, Touche Ross and Co.
Stead, W. E., Worrell, D. L., Spalding, J. B. and Stead, J. G.: 1987, ‘Unethical Decisions: Socially Learned Behaviors’, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality 2(1), 105–15.
Terborg, J. R.: 1981, ‘Interaction Psychology and Research on Human Behavior in Organizations’, Academy of Management Review 6(4), 569–76.
Touche Ross: 1988, Ethics in American Business: An Opinion Survey (Touche Ross and Co.).
Trevino, L. K.: 1986, ‘Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model’, Academy of Management Review 11(3), 601–17.
Vitell, S. and Festervand, T.: 1987, ‘Business Ethics: Conflicts, Practices and Beliefs of Industrial Executives’, Journal of Business Ethics 6, 111–22.
Wartzman, R.: October 9, 1987, ‘Nature or Nurture? Study Blames Ethical Lapses on Corporate Goals’, Wall Street Journal, p. 31.
Worrell, D. L., Stead, W. E., Stead, J. G. and Spalding, J. B.: 1985, ‘Unethical Decisions: The Impact of Reinforcement Contingencies and Managerial Philosophies’, Psychological Reports 57, 355–65.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
W. Edward Stead, Ph.D., is Professor of Management at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. His research interests include ethical behavior, cancer in the workplace, social strategy implementation, the ethical implications of cost-benefit analysis, and managing professional employees. His articles have appeared in Psychological Reports, Personnel Journal, Business and Society Review, and the Journal of Accountancy among others, and he has published cases in leading business policy and social responsibility texts.
Dan L. Worrell, Ph.D., is Professor of Management and Department Chairperson at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. He has published articles in such Journals as Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Business Horizons, and Psychological Reports among others. His research interests include managerial succession, ethical behavior and social responsibility.
Jean Garner Stead, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Management at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. Her research interests include ethical behavior, cancer in the work place, social strategy implementation, and the ethical implications of cost-benefit analysis. Her articles have appeared in Psychological Reports, Personnel Journal, Business and Society Review and the International Journal of Management among others, and she has published cases in leading business policy and social responsibility texts.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stead, W.E., Worrell, D.L. & Stead, J.G. An integrative model for understanding and managing ethical behavior in business organizations. J Bus Ethics 9, 233–242 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382649
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382649