The power of ethical choice

Over the past five years, I have had the opportunity to research ethical decision-making in organisations with the University of Glasgow. I have spoken to many individuals on the subject, mostly fellow Maltese, and I asked: what does it mean to be ethical in organisations? I ended the journey with more questions than I started with but gained valuable insights.

The research was qualitative, focusing on the depth of experiences. While it is challenging to condense 70,000 words into a few hundred, one recurring theme stands out: the role of agency and power. As one participant noted: “It seems that ethics revolves around whether you have or don’t have options in reality… A rat does not attack a person but if you corner it, it will attack you.”

What can an individual do if everyone is acting the same? What if the culture – whether in teams, organisations, industries, countries or globally – pushes towards unethicality? Many feel helpless in the face of something bigger than themselves. The ‘it-all-depends’ aspect is striking. It depends on the country, industry and organisational culture. It depends on individual values, circumstances and even the mood of the decision-maker. It also depends on power and agency dynamics.

From a commercial business perspective, some argue that strategy, sales, negotiation and many other daily organisational functions require decision-makers to be astute, bordering on the unethical. It is as if unethicality is part and parcel of job descriptions.

Others argue for honesty but accept that honesty may lead to moderated profits and even business failures. People working in commercial business functions are often expected to be sly and achieve results at all costs. There seems to be a consensus that organisations and individuals should be ethical, yet, organisational interests and ethics often oppose each other at their core.

This was not only present in commercial entities but also in charities, which are always vying for donations, contributions and members’ time and efforts, as well as in government entities facing issues like employee quality over clientelism.

Blaming the environment is perhaps natural and founded but this often comes at the cost of not realising one’s own power to influence that environment.

While it is easy to get lost in a chicken-and-egg debate of whether the environment corrupts the individual or vice versa, a reflection on the power of personal choice is argued for, accompanied by consequences that are sometimes bitter. Personal choice may be within the individual’s remit much more than given credit for.

At times, it is not the expectation of others that conditions decision-makers the most but, rather, the interpretation of that expectation. For example, if an individual perceives that they are working within an open and honest organisation, then their decisions are conditioned by that perception, whether it is a reality or not.

In this research I classified unethical decision-making on a spectrum ranging from unawareness to awareness. There are instances where decision-makers are ethically unaware, not having the knowledge of the values pertaining to a situation. Think of a tourist in a faraway country who has no idea that it is disrespectful to show the soles of their feet.

There is no such thing as an entirely ethical or unethical person

But, then, there are also times when decision-makers deceive themselves by justifying their unethical decisions through excuses and lies that they themselves believe. Sometimes, unethical actions are masked as heroic and bringing justice to an unjust situation.

Decision-makers often feel that they have to obey orders, following on from prominent experiments in the 1960s designed to understand how normal human beings are capable of atrocities. There is also moral uncertainty where decision-makers know that there is an ethical dilemma and, yet, have no idea what the ethical decision to take is.

However, the most interesting level of the spectrum is ethical awareness. One participant argued, “I wish I could at least not know things. Because I would feel more at ease with my conscience” before going on to change jobs. There seems to be an invisible line (unique to each individual) below which unethicality can be acceptable but above which there is a resolute decision.

Above such a line, people may decide to go counter to pressures to conform, to acknowledge their own agency  and to redefine their relationship with what they view as authority.

In instances of ethical awareness, individuals felt a push from the environment to go counter to their values. They perceived risks to themselves, yet, they decided to act on their values and faced consequences, sometimes positive and sometimes not so positive.

The remarkable thing is that they all felt a sense of pride for acting in such a manner, irrespective of the consequences, whether ridicule or applause. At times, such stands brought them more respect; at other times, it meant risking their job when they had mouths to feed.

Not every ethical action is celebrated and not every unethical action is punished. This always was and always will be. Yet, there is an internal level of satisfaction when acting in accordance with one’s values, even if suffering results from standing up for what is believed in.

The biggest lesson I learnt? There is no such thing as an entirely ethical or unethical person. More like generally ethical or generally unethical (with big caveats as to what ethical means).

So when we view ourselves as unethical, it is good to recognise our ethical decisions and encourage ourselves to take more of those. And when we view ourselves as ethical, we’d best be reminded that we act unethically sometimes as well.

We are all glasshouses in one way or another. Throwing stones does not help in any way but removing weeds and nurturing flowers does.

This work has been partially funded by the Tertiary Education Scholarship Scheme (Malta) and concluded through a strong support system of family, friends, academics and participants. Not everything may be diplomas and degrees but education is key.

Corinne Fenech, PhD, is a lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University.