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Stop Ignoring Bad Behavior: 6 Tips for Better Ethics at Work

by Pamela Reynolds

People routinely overlook wrongdoing, even in situations that cause significant harm. In his book Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop, Max Bazerman shares strategies that help people do the right thing even when those around them aren't.

Empower Your Employees to Make Better Decisions

by Pamela Reynolds

The impact of wise decisions can ripple out in an organization. In the book Decision Leadership, Max Bazerman and Don Moore explore how the choices of influential leaders, such as athlete Colin Kaepernick and Humu's Jessica Wisdom, motivate others to do better.

How to Make the World Better, Not Perfect

by Michael Blanding

If we want to do more good for the world, we must first change how we think about our behavior, says Max Bazerman in his book Better, Not Perfect. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Is the 'Experimentation Organization' Becoming the Competitive Gold Standard?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP: Digital experimentation is gaining momentum as an everyday habit in many organizations, especially those in high tech, say James Heskett's readers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Why Ethical People Become Unethical Negotiators

by Dina Gerdeman

You may think you are an ethical person, but self-interest can cloud your judgment when you sit down at the bargaining table, says Max Bazerman. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Sexual Harassment: What Employers Should Do Now

by Dina Gerdeman

Organizations are realizing they are not doing enough to stop the inappropriate behavior that can lead to an awkward office environment, lawsuits, and reputation damage. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

5 New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep (With the Help of Behavioral Science Research)

by Carmen Nobel

As 2017 begins, we share some well-researched tips—based on the findings of behavioral economists at Harvard Business School—to help our readers keep some common New Year’s resolutions. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

by Carmen Nobel

There’s a pervasive paradox in academia: Research conducted at business schools often offers no obvious value to people who work in the world of business. Professors and practitioners weigh in on how to enhance the relevance of research. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

September 6, 2016

Carmen Nobel

How to make the other side play fair...Why organic agriculture thrives in some countries but not others...When humor works

Is Group Loyalty a Force for Good or Evil?

by Michael Blanding

Many organizations try to foster employee loyalty, but at a risk. Angus Hildreth, Francesca Gino, and Max Bazerman discover when group loyalty fosters ethical behavior—and when it fosters corruption. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Is Too Much Focus a Problem?

by James Heskett

Summing Up—In a lively debate, Jim Heskett's readers see a downside to the too-focused manager. What do YOU think? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Eyes Shut: The Consequences of Not Noticing

by Max H. Bazerman

In his new book The Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See, Max Bazerman explains how and why many executives fail to notice critical information in their midst. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Morality Rebooted: Exploring Simple Fixes to Our Moral Bugs

by Ting Zhang, Francesca Gino & Max H. Bazerman

Although scholars know far more now than they used to about the conditions under which individuals are likely to behave, current understandings are still primarily descriptive. This paper responds to the challenge of advancing knowledge of unethical behavior from largely descriptive research to a framework aimed to reduce or even eliminate unethical behavior in organizations. The goal is twofold: First, the authors identify approaches to mitigating unethical behavior based on empirical evidence from existing research in moral psychology and behavioral ethics. Second, they develop a framework for evaluating different strategies with prescriptive recommendations on how to reduce unethical behaviors. Overall they find that ethical fixes emerge in two broad categories: values-oriented and structure-oriented approaches. Values-oriented approaches shift people's preferences to be moral, whereas structure-oriented approaches seek to design incentives, decisions, and tasks such that the unethical option is less tempting. Based on theory and empirical findings, the authors propose that adopting both values-oriented and structure-oriented approaches mitigates the risk of adverse effects from one strategy taken from a single approach. Key concepts include: This paper discusses the power of subtle changes and shows how they can point our moral compass toward a more ethical direction. The distinction the authors draw between values-oriented and structure-oriented approaches demonstrates that there is no one right approach to reduce unethical behavior in organizations and society more broadly. The prescriptions based on ethics research discussed here are grounded in economic and psychological models of unethical behavior. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

5 Weight Loss Tips From Behavioral Economists

by Carmen Nobel

Behavioral economists study what motivates people to buy, save, donate, and any other number of actions that build society. The following studies reveal proven methods of encouraging healthy eating and exercise. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Better by the Bunch: Evaluating Job Candidates in Groups

by Maggie Starvish

The key to avoiding gender stereotyping in the hiring process lies in evaluating job candidates as a group, rather than one at a time. So says new research by Iris Bohnet, Alexandra van Geen, and Max H. Bazerman. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

When Performance Trumps Gender Bias: Joint versus Separate Evaluation

by Iris Bohnet, Alexandra van Geen & Max H. Bazerman

Gender-based discrimination in hiring, promotion, and job assignments is difficult to overcome. This paper suggests a new intervention aimed at avoiding biased assessments: an "evaluation nudge," in which employees are evaluated jointly rather than separately regarding their future performance. While joint evaluation is common for most hiring decisions, especially at the lower levels, it is rarely used when job assignments and promotions are being considered. The research shows that a joint-evaluation mode succeeds in helping employers choose based on past performance, irrespective of an employee's gender and the implicit stereotypes the employer may hold. While it is not always feasible to bundle promotion decisions and explicitly compare candidates, the research suggests that, whenever possible, joint evaluation would increase both efficiency and equality. Findings have implications for organizations that want to decrease the likelihood that hiring, promotion, and job-assignment decisions will be based on irrelevant criteria triggered by stereotypes. Key concepts include: In addition to being a profit-maximizing decision procedure, joint evaluation is also a fair mechanism, as it encourages judgments based on people's performance rather than their demographic characteristics. In experiments, employers tasked to choose an employee for future performance were influenced by the candidate's gender in cases where candidates were evaluated separately. In contrast, in joint evaluation, gender was irrelevant. Employers were significantly more likely to choose the higher- rather than the lower-performing employee. Companies concerned about discrimination in these phases of employment might choose to review how, for example, career-relevant jobs are assigned and how promotion decisions are made. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Behavioral Ethics: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Moral Judgment and Dishonesty

by Max H. Bazerman & Francesca Gino

What makes even good people cross ethical boundaries? Society demands that business and professional schools address ethics, but the results have been disappointing. This paper argues that a behavioral approach to ethics is essential because it leads to understanding and explaining moral and immoral behavior in systematic ways. The authors first define business ethics and provide an admittedly biased history of the attempts of professional schools to address ethics as a subject of both teaching and research. They next briefly summarize the emergence of the field of behavioral ethics over the last two decades, and turn to recent research findings in behavioral ethics that could provide helpful directions for a social science perspective to ethics. These new findings on both intentional and unintentional unethical behavior can inform new courses on ethics as well as new research investigations. Such new directions can meet the demands of society more effectively than past attempts of professional schools. They can also produce a meaningful and significant change in the behavior of both business school students and professionals. Key concepts include: Shifting the modes of thought can lead to profound differences in how we make ethical decisions. This has implications at the individual and at the societal level. Until recently, little empirical attention was given to how people actually behave when they face ethical dilemmas and decisions or to how their behavior can be improved. A behavioral ethics approach does not teach students how they should behave when facing ethical dilemmas, nor inform them about what philosophers or ethicists would recommend. Instead it sees an opportunity in helping students and professionals better understand their own behavior in the ethics domain, and compare it to how they would ideally like to behave. Behavioral ethics identifies levers at both the individual and the institutional level to change ethically questionable behaviors when individuals are acting in unethical ways that they would not endorse with greater reflection. Prior to the 1990s, it was rare for professional schools to have a significant focus on the area of ethics (or business ethics more specifically) in the courses offered to students. Courses that were taught used philosophical approaches or suggested that morality is a rather stable personality trait that individuals develop by going through differences phases of development. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

It’s Alive! Business Scholars Turn to Experimental Research

by Carmen Nobel

Business researchers are turning increasingly to experiments in the lab and field to unlock the secrets of what motivates CEOs, consumers, and policymakers. Key concepts include: Interest in experimental research may have been ignited by prominent behavioral economist Danny Kahneman, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, and by journalist Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink. Researchers use field and lab experiments to better understand the logic of real-world decisions, which sometimes fly in the face of established economic theory. Experimental research can be considered a leg on a three-legged stool that also includes field data and theory. While agreeing to be part of a field experiment can be time-consuming for a company, the results can be invaluable—and more cost-effective than paying a market research firm or a consultant. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

How Ethical Can We Be?

by Jim Heskett

Summing Up Managers like to think they act ethically, but at the end of the day ethical action is subjective, readers tell Jim Heskett. Reaction to the new book Blind Spots. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Blind Spots: We’re Not as Ethical as We Think

by Sean Silverthorne

Even when we think we are making principled decisions, recent research reveals we are not as ethical as we would like to believe. Professor Max H. Bazerman discusses his new book, Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It. Plus: Book excerpt. Key concepts include: Good people do bad things without being aware that they are doing anything wrong. Motivational blindness is the tendency to not notice the unethical actions of others when it is against our own best interests to notice. The "want" self—that part of us that behaves according to self-interest and, often, without regard for moral principles—is silent during the planning stage of a decision but typically emerges and dominates at the time of the decision. Organizations can monitor how they are creating institutions, structures, and incentives that increase the likelihood of unethical actions, while individuals can "precommit" to intended ethical choices. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.