Module 4 - From Ethics codes to Ethics Culture Flashcards
Ethics codes inefficiency: three ethical models in the organisational context:
a) reactive: reaction after the irregularity has been committed, stressing control more than ethics
b) partial: concerned only in several misconducts related to organisational culture
c) formalitic: the main aim is regulatory compliance not ethical culture
There is a necessity of going beyond the formal Organisation aspects: rules, heroes, Rituals, language, myths, sagas and stories
What is the relevance of an ethical culture within a sport organisation?
It is the moral ethos of an organisation. The meanings and asessments of an organisation through the realisation of its activities.
What is the difference between ethical code and ethical culture (in a ethic code)?
- Values and principles: ethical codes
Formal elements:
* Ideals, objectives, purposes and rationalisations of
the organisational activity itself
* Leadership, structure, policies, remuneration
systems, guidance and training programs and
decision-making processes. - Ethical culture
* Unrationalised or unconscious values and beliefs,
capable of determining perception and behaviour.
* Heroes, rituals, language, myths, sagas and stories
Daniel Kahnemanns System of Thinking
System 1
System 2
System 1: quick, instinctive, automatic, emotional, little, no effort, unconcious
System 2: concious, rational, slower, complex decisions, more logical, effortful
Behavioral Psychology
It explores the internal Dimension of decision-making especially cognitive biases. The Analysis of human skill.
People are not, either individually or in a group, perfect rational
agents who process information in an exclusively reflective way,
nor do they exhaustively calculate every step they take.
Human nature consists of a rational and an irrational dimension,
from which decisions are made and action are taken. These are
not omniscient agents, but limited, in both cognitive and
emotional terms.
Cognitive biases and heuristic representations are mental
patterns that lead to biased -partial- visions or interpretations
and, therefore, to erroneous judgments
Social Psychology
Explores the external Dimension (the context and process) of such decision-making.
Conformity and compliance, authority, Aggression, Altruism, the group process etc.
In group dynamics, individual decisions can be conditioned by
the so-called situational forces (context and process), which
means that individuals do not always behave according to their
internal disposition.
When accessing new areas, individuals tend to assume new
patterns of behavior, without fully perceiving it.
This influence of situational forces is often imperceptible: roles,
norms, rules and authority, anonymity, pressures to obtain
conformity or collective identity
What kind of biases do exist?
a) Hindsight (späte Einsicht) bias: This bias is that once individuals know the
outcome of an event they tend to think
that they could have foreseen that
outcome in advance
b) Confirmation bias:
tendency of any human
agent to select the
information she/he
receives, so that,
unconsciously, she/he
seeks, chooses and
overestimates the evidence
or reasoning that confirms
his own initial conception,
and underestimates - or
even disregards - the
evidence and arguments
that do not support it
c) Overconfidence bias:
Overconfidence in one’s
own ethics usually leads
the agent to uncritically
accept his own
decisions without any
serious moral reflection; tendency for individuals
to overestimate their
abilities and therefore
to believe that they are
better than the average
person
d) Conformity bias: (example with the elevator) tendency of any agent to agree with the opinion of
the majority of the reference group, even if their
personal convictions are different. Thus, in working
groups, the new employee sets and learns from the
rules and protocols of the environment, in order to
meet the expectations of the group.
e) Role bias: the behaviour that subjects assume
when they internalise their role within a
structure or group, or with respect to a
situation
f) Obedience bias: (Malgrim experiement) tendency of any agent to agree
with the opinion of the authority,
even if their personal
convictions are different.
–> these effect are transferable to organisations and their internal psychological functioning.
What should a compliance programme include?
- training courses aimed at the prevention,
detection and, where appropriate,
neutralisation of cognitive biases and
situational forces; - legal advice programs that provide information
on the consequences of assuming certain
patterns of behaviour; - Systems of constant control over the tendency
of the subjects (and the group) to cognitive
biases and the harmful influence of the context
What does nudging mean?
a ‘nudge’ is any factor in the
architecture of choice that alters the
behaviour of individuals in a
predictable way without prohibiting
other choices or significantly
changing their economic
incentives”.
Ethics concern in companies & organisations arrises because…
A) a real, genuine and honest concern
B) the need to react to corruption scandal
What does organisational Ethos mean?
- the way values are internalized by the Organisation
- necessity going beyond any formal rules, heroes, rituals…
- Adoption of practices are respectful of the rules and ethical principles
- Meanings and assessments that are shared in an Organisation through the Realisation of its activities
- talking about the nature of the values and the way the Organisation actually works
Behavioural Psychology two maxims (Homo oeconomicus)
a) limited rationality: Any agent operates with cognitive limitations (errors, biased judgments etc.)
b) limited willpower: the Human agent, having limited self-control, that can lead to assess short-term benefits above all
The six different biases that occur in group context are transferable in organisations and their internal psychological functions: what is the danger ?
It can strengthen and nourish the cohesion and loyalty but it can also end up providing support for cover-ups (Verschleierung).
Nudge theory presupposes (vorraussetzen) a human being who:
a) far from being entirely rational, is predictable irrational
b) Processes Information in a biased way
