This document discusses sources of unethical decision making including implicit prejudice, in-group favoritism, tendencies to overclaim credit, and conflicts of interest. It notes that implicit or unconscious biases are widespread and contrary to conscious intentions. While trainings aim to reduce unethical decisions, simply trying harder may not be enough. To make truly ethical decisions, managers must become aware of their unconscious biases and collect data to counteract biases, shape environments that challenge stereotypes, and consider alternative perspectives to broaden decision making.

1. HOW
(UN)ETHICAL
ARE YOU?
GROUP 1
21PGHR009 Akshaya Rao
21PGHR024 Ayush Chauhan
21PGHR034 Harshita Jain
21PGHR048 Namjoshi Prasanna
21PGHR054 Parkhi Garg
21PGHR059 Shivika Garg

2. INTRODUCTION
Belief – “We are ethical
and unbiased”
Research – “Most of us
fall short of our
inflated self-
perception
1 2
Deluded by
“Illusion of Objectivity”
Notion that we are free
of biases which we
spot in others
3
Psychological
researchers have
exposed counter-
intentional and
unconscious biases
4
Flawed judgements are
ethically problematic
and undermine
managers work
5
Four sources of unethical
decision making –
Implicit Prejudice, Bias that
Favours own group, Conflict
Of Interest, Tendency to
overclaim credit
6
To address these
biases one must
abandon faith in their
own objectivity and
their ability to be fair

3. 1. IMPLICIT PREJUDICE
• Rooted in the fundamental mechanical of thoughts
• Arises from the ordinary and unconscious tendency to make associations.
For instance - grey hair and old age, which are not applicable in every encounter.
Young people can also have grey hair.
• University of Washington developed an experimental tool called the Implicit
Association Test (IAT) to study unconscious bias. Approximately 2.5 million tests
have been taken.
• Both IAT and traditional laboratory tests show implicit biases to be strong &
persuasive. These biases are also likely to be costly (both economically and
socially).
• Consider PWC v. Hopkins -
Despite logging more billable hours and bringing more revenue to the company,
Hopkins was turned down for partner and she sued the company for discrimination.
She won both in lower court and the Supreme Court. Princeton University stated that
there is potential for biased decision where a person has a ‘solo status’- a system
wherein the person is the only one of a kind.
WOMEN < MEN

4. ARE YOU BIASED?
• IAT reveal unconscious beliefs by asking takers to make split-second associations between words with positive or
negative connotations and images representing different types of people.
• Data gathered from 2.5 Million online tests and further research tells us that unconscious bias are –
Widely prevalent- At least 75% of test takers show an implicit bias favoring the young, the rich, the whites
Robust
Contrary to conscious intention.
Different in degree depending on group status
Consequential
Costly
How biased are you?
Do you feel the same way toward European-Americans as you do toward African-Americans? How about
women versus men? Or older people versus younger ones?

5. 2. IN-GROUP FAVORITISM
BIAS THAT FAVORS YOUR OWN GROUP
1
When people in the majority or those in
power allocate scarce resources such
as jobs, promotions, and mortgages to
people just like them, they effectively
discriminate against those who are
different from them.
4
2
3
Yet while discriminating against those
who are different is considered
unethical, helping people close to us is
often viewed favorably.
Think about the number of companies
that explicitly encourage this by
offering hiring bonuses to employees
who refer their friends for job
opportunities.
Thus for a wide array of managerial
tasks - from hiring, firing, and
promoting to contracting services and
forming partnerships - qualified
minority candidates are subtly and
unconsciously discriminated against
the minority.

6. 3. OVER CLAIMING CREDIT
• Many studies show that the majority of people consider themselves above average
on a host of measures, from intelligence to driving ability.
• We tend to overrate our individual contribution to groups, which tends to lead to an
overblown sense of entitlement.
• A good example to prove this statement is the outcome of a research study –
Sum of all individual contributions in a group must add up to 100%
Research showed that the totals averaged to 139%
Each individual rates themselves higher.
• However, claiming too much credit destabilized alliances or collaborations.
When each individual in a group is claiming to do more, they’re skeptical if the other
members are contributing their fair share, which has negative repercussions for the
collaboration later on
BIAS THAT FAVORS YOU

7. 4. CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Conflict of interest can intentionally
lead to corrupt behavior
Lot of psychological
experiments show that this
corrupt behavior may be
unintentional as well
In other words, where there is
conflict of interest, even an
experienced ethical
professional may unconsciously
make unethical decisions
1
2 3

8. TRYING HARDER ISN’T ENOUGH
Lot of companies are coming up with new courses and
training programs in ethics for their managers.
“Is a well-intentioned, try-harder
approach fundamentally improving the
quality of their decision making?
Managers can make more ethical decisions if they
become mindful of their unconscious bias.
How?
By helping managers develop conscious strategies to
counteract the pull of their unconscious bias.
3 Categories –
Collecting Data | Shaping Environment | Decision Making

9. 3 CATEGORIES
COLLECTING DATA
● Collecting data that will help us
reduce our unconscious bias.
● Data is easily but rarely
collected. One way of getting
this data is by examining our
decisions systematically.
● Knowing the magnitude and
pervasiveness of our own
biases can help direct our
attention to those areas of
decision making that are need
of examination.
SHAPING ENVIRONMENT
● According to research, external
cues in the environment can
shape implicit attitudes.
● Exposing oneself to images and
social environments that
challenge stereotypes is one
way to overcome implicit bias.
● Consider creating countervailing
experiences if an audit reveals
that the environment may be
encouraging unconscious
biased or unethical behavior.
BROADENING DECISION MAKING
● John Rawls' "veil of ignorance,"
which holds that only someone who
is unaware of his own identity can
make truly ethical decisions.
● Managers can expose bias by
collecting data before acting on
intuition, but they can also take
other preventive measures.
● When faced with a conflict of
interest or an opportunity to
overclaim, consciously considering
counterintuitive options can
promote more objective and ethical
decisions.

10. THANK
YOU!