Promoting Ethical Behaviour Through Management of Bad Apples: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

The paper provides a conceptual analysis of multiple facets related to dynamics of bad apples in any organization-their behavior, characteristics, individual forces, organizational forces, and moderators that promote their existence and growth in regard to creating and sustaining ethical culture. It also emphasises the role of management to work efficiently considering the negative forces brought to the working space by these bad apples. More so, specific issues like ethical and unethical behavior, morality, and the environment under which the ethical behavior transforms into unethical behavior in the organization are also analyzed. Studies narrated that organizations can promote ethical environment through employee feedback, employee engagement, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), adherence to ethical code of conduct, social exclusion, sound reward, and whistle blowing policy. The paper further emphasizes the influence of moral intensity through probability of effect, proximity, social consensus, magnitude of consequences and temporal immediacy, on ethical behavior. Besides, people with personality trait of machiavellianism and self-monitoring are more likely to become/follow bad apples and have also been observed to accelerate the individual level of unethical behavior in the organization. The need for empirical study was felt taking into account the above mentioned variables to reach an objective conclusion on the proliferation and management of bad apples in any organization and promotion of ethical behavior.

Keywords: Bad Apples, Ethical and Unethical Behaviour, Moral Development, Moral Intensity

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