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Unethical Behavior At Work

What fiction can teach us about moral decision-making.
Leadership

Podcast: Now’s the Time to Hone Your Moral Decision-Making Skills

Dilemmas are rarely black-and-white. On this episode of The Insightful Leader, we hear what fictional characters can teach us about today’s real-world quandaries.

Research on compartmentalizing reveals an unexpected benefit of working from home.
Leadership

Podcast: Sure, Take That Zoom Call in Your Sweatpants. It Might Make You a Better Person.

When we stop compartmentalizing our home and work selves, we tend to act more ethically. Find out why on this episode of The Insightful Leader.

When targeted with negative behavior at work, employees are most likely to retaliate.
Organizations

Most Employees Retaliate If They're Slighted at Work

Here’s how managers can break the cycle of office conflict.

A star employee brings her whole self to work.
Organizations

Could Bringing Your "Whole Self" to Work Curb Unethical Behavior?

Organizations would be wise to help employees avoid compartmentalizing their personal and professional identities.

A woman shakes a man's hand.
Organizations

Are Women More Ethical at the Negotiating Table? It’s Complicated.

Plus, how women are judged differently when they break the rules.

Illustration of power corrupting and causing unethical behavior
Leadership

Video: How to Restore Trust When It’s Been Broken

Plus, a way to encourage ethical behavior to avoid breaches in the first place.

The role of gender in telling the truth in negotiation.
Organizations

Are You Willing to Stretch the Truth While Negotiating?

It may depend on your gender and whom you are representing.

Employees share values
Leadership

Does Your Company Actually Live Its Values?

Stating corporate principles is great; embodying them is better.

Ego depletion can lead to unethical behavior at work.

Why Bosses Cut Some Employees Slack for Unethical Behavior

The same transgression can lead to different consequences. Here’s one reason why.

Self-dehumanization leads to unethical behavior.
Social Impact

What Makes Deceit Such a Hard Habit to Break?

New research gets at the psychology behind serial misconduct.

Being uncomfortably hot makes us less likely to help.
Organizations

Is It Too Hot to Help Out?

Why the thermostat may be the key to better customer service.

The spillover effect in offices impacts workers in close physical proximity.
Organizations

Sitting Near a High-Performer Can Make You Better at Your Job

“Spillover” from certain coworkers can boost our productivity—or jeopardize our employment.

An ex-offender tries to get hired despite his criminal record.
Organizations

Should You Hire Someone with a Criminal Record?

Companies that give ex-offenders a fresh start may be rewarded with employees who stick around.

The Volkswagon emissions scandal may have been caused by tightening environmental regulations.
Policy

What Volkswagen's Emissions Scandal Can Teach Us about Why Companies Cheat

Tighter standards may backfire in industries with fierce competition.

Illustration of power corrupting and causing unethical behavior
Leadership

How to Help Prevent the Powerful from Abusing Their Privilege

High expectations for ethical behavior can keep powerful people in line.

A businessman with unethical amnesia stomps through a city.

We Remember Our Coworkers’ Misdeeds, but What about Our Own?

“Unethical amnesia” helps preserve our positive self-image.

The final stretch of a job can prompt unethical behavior.

Employees Are More Likely to Cheat on Their Way out the Door

The temptation to act unethically is plentiful in the gig economy.

A vampire unethical boss tries to request unethical behavior from an employee.

How to Protect Yourself from an Unethical Boss

To ward off immoral requests, take a lesson from vampire lore.

Managing toxic employees can improve office morale.
Leadership

Podcast: How to Rid Your Company of Toxic Employees

Tips for how to avoid hiring them, manage their improvement, or decide when to let them go.

A toxic worker can cost a firm money, low quality work, and legal issues.
Organizations

Hire a Superstar or Dump a Toxic Worker?

Difficult employees are a bigger drag on your company than you think.

How Citibank’s Culture Allowed Corruption to Thrive

Leaders can learn from a whistle-blower’s case against CitiMortgage.

Leadership

Social Class Affects Why We Lie

The powerful are more likely to lie for their own benefit, and the powerless to help others.

How to deal with a bad boss depends on the situation.
Leadership

Why Bad Bosses Sabotage Their Teams

Bosses who crave power but fear they might lose it can undermine their teams’ productivity.

Leadership

Are Bean Counters More Selfish?

Emphasizing a “calculative mindset” encourages people to act more selfishly and less ethically when making decisions.

Organizations

Rich and Unhappy—and Fine with Unethical Behavior?

Ethics, income, and feelings of well-being influence each other in unpredictable ways