Ethical Learning: The Workplace as a Moral Laboratory for Character Development

Abstract

In contrast to the view that businesses corrupt and bring out the worst in people, we propose that people's experiences at work can also lead to profound ethical learning and growth, and that organizations can be designed to help workers strive to become their best moral selves. To this end, we selectively review literature from the fields of organizational behavior, moral psychology, and behavioral ethics to identify five key barriers to ethical learning at work: defensiveness, overconfidence, selfishness, inexperience, and negative social influence. Then, to help leaders establish an organizational environment that helps workers overcome these barriers and promotes ethical learning and character development, we present five guiding principles (i.e., create an ethical culture, develop psychological safety, promote moral humility, foster prosocial motivation, and institutionalize moral reflection) and offer specific recommendations related to each.

The Hindrance of Moral Emotions: Using Leader Role Modeling to Foster Morally Courageous Behavior in Employees

“…The hypotheses six, seven and eight regarding the mediation of moral sympathy, moral contempt and moral anger and disgust in the relationship between Leader Safety Role Modelling and Morally Courageous Behaviour, have been accepted by the results of this study, and other studies propose as well that, supervisor or subordinate relationship is very crucial in creating a safe climate at the workplace (Amabile & Pratt, 2016;Brender-Ilan & Sheaffer, 2019). Several researchers have proposed that, leader role modelling relating to the safety of the employees in an organization will prove very benefi-cial because it will lead towards a high-quality exchange relationship among them (Shaikh & Siddiqui, 2020;Smith & Kouchaki, 2021).…”

“…The first hypothesis "Leader ethical role modelling is significantly related to morally courageous behaviour among employees" is rejected by the results of this study, and the results resonate with the studies of (Tang, 2019;Xiao, Zhang, & de Pablos, 2017;Zhang, Zheng, Cheng, & Zhong, 2020). The second hypothesis, "Leader safety role modelling is significantly related to morally courageous behaviours among employees" has been accepted by the results of this study, and the studies of (Shaikh & Siddiqui, 2020;Smith & Kouchaki, 2021;Sosik, Chun, Ete, Arenas, & Scherer, 2019) also propose that, the leader acts as a motivational role model for the employees because they follow his or her every practice in an organization so that he or she can get success in his career. Hypothesis three, four and five regarding the mediation of moral sympathy, moral contempt and moral anger and disgust in the relationship between leader ethical role modelling and morally courageous behaviour, have been accepted by the results of this study.…”

Energy Efficiency Measures in Public Sector: An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Adoption of Low-Cost Energy Efficiency

“…Ethical leaders cultivate a work environment that fosters integrity, wisdom, sustainability, and endeavors to minimize moral conflicts. The goal is to establish organizations that not only thrive in business but also operate with high ethical standards (Smith and Kouchaki, 2021). Within this ethical leadership approach, organizational members are empowered to think creatively and generate innovative solutions that align with sustainable practices.…”

Four investment areas for ethical AI: Transdisciplinary opportunities to close the publication-to-practice gap

“…Trained facilitators can help, but it is unrealistic to require their involvement in all ethical product decisions, especially those implemented at the same cadence as agile software development. Even when facilitators are available, for the deliberations to be instructive, participants have to be given resources before, during, and after the process to help them develop interpersonal skills supporting introspection, openness to feedback, and participation in sometimes emotionally-charged disagreements (Smith and Kouchaki, 2021). The success of such efforts are deeply impacted by whether the participants feel psychologically safe and are empowered to take actions based on the results of the deliberations (Findlay and Seah, 2020; Smith and Kouchaki, 2021).…”

“…Even when facilitators are available, for the deliberations to be instructive, participants have to be given resources before, during, and after the process to help them develop interpersonal skills supporting introspection, openness to feedback, and participation in sometimes emotionally-charged disagreements (Smith and Kouchaki, 2021). The success of such efforts are deeply impacted by whether the participants feel psychologically safe and are empowered to take actions based on the results of the deliberations (Findlay and Seah, 2020; Smith and Kouchaki, 2021). These types of issues have been largely left out of Ethical AI conversations, allowing them to thwart Ethical AI Publication-to-Practice efforts (Rakova et al, 2021).…”