The majority of us consider ourselves good people. Under one percent of men have a psychopathic profile, and the proportion is even lower for women. So why do people do bad things? Our latest research explains why good people do bad things.
Broadly, there are six reasons or psychological contexts which lead to bad behaviour. In this series, we’ll look at two different reasons per post, and explain how to mitigate against that risk. We are going to start small and work our way up to the more serious factors. The first two factors wouldn’t be out of place in a playground.
To learn more about how to create an ethical culture, download our white paper: The only way is ethics: why good people do bad things and how to stop us.
Would you speak to someone whilst maintaining eye contact with someone else? Or brush your teeth or apply deodorant at your desk? Let’s say you board a train carriage that’s entirely empty but for one person… do you sit right next to them?
There’s always an exception, but most of us will answer these with a ‘no’. There are unspoken rules that compel us to behave in a prescribed way. We may not even be aware of them, but they shape what we do each and every day. What are these unspoken rules that define our world?
They’re often called social norms, and they arise because of the behaviour of those around us. It’s a silently agreed code of conduct – what we can get away with and what we can’t.
But they do more than stop us from clipping our toenails during meetings… social norms can have a dark side. If the unsaid rules tell us that it’s normal to claim expenses that weren’t work-related or lie to customers, we’re much more likely to feel fine about unethical behaviour.
We need to consider the social norms in our own workplace. It can help to hold conversations on what social norms are acceptable and what it means to be ethical, but there’s more you can do to create an ethical climate at work.
‘It’s not fair!’. These three words might seem like a playground protest, but feelings of being unfairly treated stay with us way past our school years.
If someone asks you what percentage of housework you do, we’re afraid research shows us that most of us overestimate. The combined estimates from couples consistently exceed more than 100%. It takes time to do the housework, so our own contribution sticks out in our mind as more significant than the short minute it takes to notice the other person’s efforts. And once we think there’s a difference in effort, we seek evidence which confirms that belief. We notice when they don’t do the washing up and ignore the times they do.
If everyone experiences a slightly different reality biased in their favour, ‘perceived unfairness’ is going to prey on our minds – and that includes the workplace. Researchers have found that when we feel unfairly treated, we try to redress the balance. At work, this can affect productivity, or even lead to small acts of bad behaviour such as turning up late – or it can mean larger, more damaging acts of sabotage.
How can we increase workplace loyalty, and help people see fairness where they otherwise might perceive inequality, bias or discrimination?
There are two sides to us. The person we want to be, and the person we actually are. Ideally those two are quite well aligned, but when we’re caught unawares in an ethical dilemma we can do things we later regret. Or do we?
Humans are brilliant at justifying our acts to make ourselves feel better – protecting us from the unpleasant feeling that we did something wrong. But this has a long term effect as gradually, the person we are gets further away from the person we originally wanted to be. So how do we make sure we don’t drift from our ideal when we’re under pressure to do something we probably shouldn’t?
For a start, we can remind ourselves more frequently of our ideal moral self and ask “What are the red lines I should never cross?”
We can also employ tactics to stay cool in the moment, so that we can avoid the risks when emotions are running high. This is when we’re most challenged to stay true to our ideal, so it’s important to hold onto our best self.
Does wearing replica sunglasses make you a bad person? Sounds unlikely, right? Psychologists found, in a recent experiment, that people who thought they were wearing fake designer sunglasses were more likely to condone unethical behavior than those who thought they were wearing the real deal. It transpires that ignoring minor ethical lapses can be a bigger problem than we might have thought.
Think of it like a snowball rolling down the side of the mountain. It’s far easier to stop it in its tracks when it’s the size of a cricket ball, slowly sliding downhill than when it’s grown, gathered speed and taking the rest of the mountain down with it.
Unfortunately, it’s not long before seemingly harmless transgressions escalate into something far more damaging. As managers, how do we sweat the small stuff before it gets out of hand, without looking petty and losing the respect of our team?
Would you rat out your best friend? What would a close family member have to do for you to report them to the police?
We all know the difference between right and wrong, but loyalty can cloud that judgement. If we have any kind of allegiance with someone we’re likely to ignore or miss them committing any kind of unethical behaviour.
Good relationships are obviously crucial, but for our own and others’ wellbeing, we can’t let loyalty interfere with our moral compass and stop us standing up for what we believe in.
So how do you speak up without selling out? We can start by pointing out small things early and tactfully, showing we have their best interests in mind and be honest about our own ethical dilemmas. Get this right and we can be sure to do the right thing without ruining our relationships.
Picture the scene. You’re under pressure, unsupported and facing very dreary consequences if things don’t go your way. Your job, reputation and financial security depend on delivering on this project and hitting tough goals. What if there was a shady way to cut corners and a chance that nobody would ever find out… would you take it?
Research shows we all cheat a little bit when we think we can get away with it. It helps us get ahead or keep up and usually feels harmless and victimless. Sometimes we worry that there are real consequences to doing the right thing – for example, being honest with a client when we’ve made a costly mistake, or leaving a reporting error which makes our performance look better than the reality.
But where do you draw the line? Research suggests that we’re all capable of doing unethical things when we feel there’s no option but to ‘do whatever it takes’ to achieve our targets. It’s a slippery slope from one minor misdeed to a large scandal with far-reaching consequences – just ask the Enrons of the business world.
Creating a climate of ethical behaviour helps individuals and organisations do the right things… even when the pressure is mounting.