Answer true or false: " I am an ethical manager." If you answered " True" here's an uncomfortable fact: You are probably not. Most of us believe that we are ethical and unbiased. We imagine we are good decision makers, able to interview & select candidate or close venture deal and reach a fair & national conclusion that's in our & our orgz best interests. But more than two decades of research confirms that in reality most of us fall woe fully short of our inflated self perception. We are deluded by illusion of objectivity, the notion that we are free of very biases we're so quick to recognize in others. What's more these unconscious or implicit biases can be contrary to our consiously held explicit beliefs. We may believe with confidence and conviction that a job candidate;s race has no bearing in our hiring process or that we are immune to conflicts of interest. But psycological research routinely exposes counterintentional, unconscious biases. The prevalence of these biases suggests that even the most well meaning person unwittingly allows unconscious thoughts and feelings to influence objective decisions. These flawed judgements are ethically problematic and undermine managers fundamental work - to recruit and retain superior talent, boost the performance of individuals and teams and collaborate effectively with partners.
There are 4 sources of unintentional unethical decision making
- Implicit form of prejudice
- bias that favors one's own group
- conflict of interest
- tendency to over claim credit
Because we are not consciously aware of these sources of bias they often can not be addressed by penalizing people for their bad decisions. Nor are they likely to be corrected through conventional ethics training. Rather Managers must bring a new type of vigilance in themselves. To begin this requires letting go of the notion that our conscious attitudes always represent what we think they do. It also demands that we abandon our faith in our own objectivity and our ability to be fair.
If you answered "true" to the question at the beginning of this blog, you felt with some confidence that you are an ethical decision maker. How would you answer it now ? It is clear that neither simple intention nor conviction is enough to ensure that you are ethical practitioner you imagine yourself to be. Managers who aspire to be ethical must actively collect data, shape their environments and broaden their decision making. What's more, an obvious redress is available. Managers should seek every opportunity to implement affirmative action policies- not because of past wrong doings done to one group or person but because of the everyday wrongs that we can now document are inherent in the ordinary every day behaviour of good, well intention people. Ironically only those who understand their own potential for unethical behaviour can become the ethical decision makers that they aspire to be.
Are you listening ??
