Order Description
The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45. Psychological Traps That Every One of Us Falls Prey To. Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey
BOOK REPORT PAPER
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Focus area – Introduce the book and what it is about and that the three theories all relate to motivation
II. GENERAL THEORETICAL APPROACHES
Explain these three theories and how it works in Organizational Behavior
A. McClleands’s Theory
B. Self Efficiency Theory
C. Expectancy Theory
D. Theory comparison and contrast
*Compare and contrast the 3 theories
III. SPECIFIC THEORETICAL APPLICATION
Choose one of the theories in II. above and apply it specifically to one or more of the psychological traps in The Ethical Executive. Explain the trap from the book and how it correlates with one of the theories.
IV. SUMMARY
A. Theory critique
B. What I learned in doing this paper
D. Any Surprises
Premise:
most people most of the time want to be ethical, want to do the right thing.
They often tend to look for what an ethical and honest way to proceed when faced
with a challenge.
So they have, therefore, a sense of what the right thing to do is.
A problem arises with respect to whether they will do the right thing when there
are competing interests, often legitimate and even important ones.
What these
authors have done is catalogue these situations which they call traps.
This brief paper
describes what those traps are and gives examples of several of them.
What we wish to do in class is consider ways of dealing with such dilemmas in a
manner that is consistent with our values.
Hoyk and Hersey divided traps into two types, Primary and Defensive.
They are
listed and defined here with examples given for the first few.
Primary Traps
are circumstances or external pressures that entice us to abandon our
values and ethical beliefs. They make a gradual path toward unethical behavior look
rewarding and appealing. These traps sensitize our self-interest and encourage us to
wander from ethical desires.
Trap 1: Obedience to Authority
– Acting unethically because the actions follow
hierarchal power in the organization. What the boss says goes. If you want to keep
your job, you obey.
Example:
Scott Sullivan, CFO of World Com ordered controller David Meyers to hide
expenses.
Trap 2: Small Steps
– As unethical behavior occurs in small steps, it gradually becomes
more severe. Although the decision-maker may not act in this way all at once, he or
she may become more tolerant as the behavior is broken into a series of unethical
activities.
Example:
Fastow of World Com began by breaking 2 regulations when he created a
special
purposes entity on the balance sheet.
Kept going downhill from there.
Trap 3: Indirect Responsibility
– Distancing oneself from responsibility even if
seemingly insignificant actions are contributing to ethical behavior.
Example:
People who kept records for concentration camps.
“Doing paper work, not exterminating Jews.”
Trap 4: Faceless Victims
– Disguising the true affects of unethical behavior by
generalizing those who are affected. In its analysis of the Ford Pinto, the auto company
often referred to “dead injured persons” as “units”.
Example:
Laying people off by email, automated voice mail & the like.
B 52 Saturation bombing in Vietnam.
Treating death & injuries due to faulty gas tank on Pinto as statistics
within acceptable limits and calling victims “units”
