By Lekshmy Sankar | 11-Mar-2018
I was in a meeting this week where a group of people who – prior to the meeting – were individually very passionate in their views about a decision. As soon as the meeting began, the individual with the greatest positional power expressed his view and, lo and behold, suddenly everyone abandoned their own view and latched onto this person’s viewpoint. I chuckled to myself because it reminded me of high school and the overwhelming need to follow the popular crowd despite one’s beliefs that a different course of action may be best. Another way to think about it is “don’t rock the boat” or “stay in your lane.”
It got me thinking about Kohlberg’s cognitive moral development (CMD) theory, mostly because it is the only ethical theory that I remembered from my university days. Before I share my opinion and analysis on organizational ethics, here is a summary of how I would explain Kohlberg’s CMD theory (you can Google the theory to learn more and maybe even fact check me). But boiled down to a very basic framework, Kohlberg believed in three levels with various stages to describe how people make moral decisions:
Level 1 – Pre-conventional level
Level 2 – Conventional
Level 3 – Post-conventional
This is obviously a very high-level summary of the theory but it does help you understand or somehow categorize how organizations shape ethical behavior. It can be a little confusing so I created the bullets below to help:
In particular, because of my own experiences working in the public sector, I look at stage 3. I am not really exploring here whether stage 3 is good or bad. It’s just what my experience has been. I am, however, curious to understand how an organization can move from one stage to another – if it so desired. I’m also curious about whether it’s possible for an individual who predominantly views their world at a Stage-5 level to survive working in a Stage-3 organization?
Do I think an organization is stuck in one stage? No, absolutely not. I do believe that organizations can move between various stages depending on the circumstance or moral intensity of the situation. But I guess I’m wondering if it’s possible to consciously encourage one level over another. Or maybe I’m over-simplifying it.
What do you think? Do you think an organization has the power to shape an individual’s ethical behavior? Do any of the stages speak particularly to your experience? Let me know in the comments below.
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