How (Un)Ethical Are You Most of us believe that we are ethical and unbiased. We believe that we: Make good decisions Are objective, and Reach fair and rational conclusions Research shows that in reality most fall short of our inflated self-perception, where we have the illusion of objectivity These unconscious or implicit biases can be contrary to our consciously held, explicit beliefs As leaders we need to let go of the notion that our conscious attitudes always represent what we think The prevalence of these biases suggests that the most well being person unwittingly allows conscious thoughts and feeling to influence our objective decisions This article explores four related sources of unintentional unethical decision-making: Implicit forms of prejudice Bias that favours one’s own group A tendency to over-claim credit Conflict of interest 1. Implicit Prejudice: Bias that emerges from unconscious beliefs Research shows that people judge according: to unconscious stereotypes attitudes, or implicit prejudice We learn to associate things that commonly go together and expect them to inevitably co-exist Example: Thunder and rain, grey hair and old age. We automatically make such associations to help us organize our thoughts. We grow to trust these stereo-types, however, they are binding and typically not accurate Because implicit prejudice come from the ordinary and unconscious tendency to make associations, it is distinct from conscious forms of prejudice This explains why people who are free of conscious prejudice still demonstrate biases Example: People who had strong implicit biases were less likely to select women for positions who exhibited “masculine” personalities qualities, such as ambition or independence The biased perception was that these women possessed less social skills than men. 2. In-Group Favouritism: Bias the Favours Your Group Have you ever helped someone get a position by asking a favour. Few people set out to exclude anyone through such acts of kindness In-group favouritism amounts to giving extra credit to someone within your group Yet while discriminating against those who are not part of the group is considered unethical, helping people seemingly close to us is often viewed favourably Research shows that where people are equally qualified and similar in all respects, the person who is considered “part of the group” will unconsciously be seen to be more qualified There is no hatred or hostility….this behaviour is the root of discriminatory favouritism An example of this is where minorities, who are sometimes more qualified, are unconsciously discriminated against 3. Overclaiming Credit: Bias that Favours You People generally hold positive views about themselves Studies show that the majority of people consider themselves above average. The more we think of our own contributions, the less fairly we judge others Research also shows that the more people think o ...

1. How (Un)Ethical Are You
Most of us believe that we are ethical and unbiased. We believe
that we:
Make good decisions
Are objective, and
Reach fair and rational conclusions
Research shows that in reality most fall short of our inflated
self-perception, where we
have the illusion of objectivity
These unconscious or implicit biases can be contrary to our
consciously held, explicit beliefs
As leaders we need to let go of the notion that our conscious
attitudes always represent what we think
The prevalence of these biases suggests that the most well being
person unwittingly allows conscious thoughts and feeling to
influence our objective decisions
This article explores four related sources of unintentional
unethical decision-making:

2. Implicit forms of prejudice
Bias that favours one’s own group
A tendency to over-claim credit
Conflict of interest
1. Implicit Prejudice: Bias that emerges from unconscious
beliefs
Research shows that people judge according:
to unconscious stereotypes
attitudes, or implicit prejudice
We learn to associate things that commonly go together and
expect them to inevitably co-exist
Example:
Thunder and rain, grey hair and old age. We automatically make
such associations to help us organize our thoughts. We grow to
trust these stereo-types, however, they are binding and typically
not accurate
Because implicit prejudice come from the ordinary and
unconscious tendency to make associations, it is distinct from
conscious forms of prejudice
This explains why people who are free of conscious prejudice
still demonstrate biases

3. Example:
People who had strong implicit biases were less likely to select
women for positions who exhibited “masculine” personalities
qualities, such as ambition or independence
The biased perception was that these women possessed less
social skills than men.
2. In-Group Favouritism: Bias the Favours Your Group
Have you ever helped someone get a position by asking a
favour. Few people set out to exclude anyone through such acts
of kindness
In-group favouritism amounts to giving extra credit to someone
within your group
Yet while discriminating against those who are not part of the
group is considered unethical, helping people seemingly close
to us is often viewed favourably
Research shows that where people are equally qualified and
similar in all respects, the person who is considered “part of the
group” will unconsciously be seen to be more qualified
There is no hatred or hostility….this behaviour is the root of
discriminatory favouritism
An example of this is where minorities, who are sometimes
more qualified, are unconsciously discriminated against

4. 3. Overclaiming Credit: Bias that Favours You
People generally hold positive views about themselves
Studies show that the majority of people consider themselves
above average. The more we think of our own contributions, the
less fairly we judge others
Research also shows that the more people think of themselves ,
the less other people want to collaborate with them
People overclaiming can destabilize alliances
Where people are in relationship and one takes too much credit
for their contributions, they become skeptical about whether the
other person is doing their fair share
As a result both parties reduce their own amount of effort in the
relationship
Unconscious overclaiming can be expected to reduce the
performance and longevity of groups
4. Conflict of Interest: Bias that Favours those who can
Benefit You
Conflict of interest can lead to intentionally corrupt behaviour
Research shows how much conflicts can unintentionally skew
decision-making
Example:

5. You have cousin who cheats on his taxes. You work for the tax
department. You have a very close relationship with him. He is
a builder and renovates your house for you at a reduce “family”
rate. He is not doing well financially. Your neighbour also
worked on your house. You discover that he cheats on his taxes
as well
Question: Who would you report
Are you :
objective,
unbiased,
benefitting
Has your decision-making been unintentionally skewed
Were your actions in the best interest of all involved: your
cousin, your neighbour, you
There is a built-in conflict of interest because of the family
relationship
This built-in conflict makes it impossible for you to see the
implicit bias in your flawed decision-making
There is also in-group favouritism
There is also Implicit Prejudice by association: “Blood is
thicker than water” – an automatic unconscious association
What do we do?

6. Trying harder is not enough
To overcome these bias many companies are trying harder to
focus their ethical teaching on broad principles of moral
philosophy:
to help leaders understand the ethical challenges
Trying harder is not the trick
Ethics training needs to focus on how our minds work and
expose leaders directly to the unconscious mechanisms that
underlie biased decision-making
Leaders can make wiser choices if they are aware of their
unconscious biases
Leaders need continual conscious strategies to counter the pull
of their unconscious biases
Collect data
The first step to reducing unconscious bias is to collect data to
reveal its presence. People are often so surprised by their bias
That is because people tend to rely and trust in their own
intuition
People need to unpack and examine the facts surrounding the
bias

7. Unpacking means evaluating the fairness of the claims of the
bias
Knowing the magnitude and pervasiveness of your own biases
can help direct your attention to areas of decision-making that
are in need of examination
Shape your environment
Research shows that implicit attitudes can be shaped by external
cues in the environment
Study findings suggest that one remedy for implicit bias is to
expose oneself to images and social environments that challenge
stereotypes
Don’t remain in an environment that reinforces your bias.
Create new or alternative environments
If the environment is promoting unconscious biased or unethical
behaviour, consider creating countervailing experiences
Broaden you decision-making
Would you be willing to ever be in a group where you were
disadvantaged by your own decision
How would your decision differ if you could make theme
wearing various identities not your own? John Rawls calls this
the “veil of ignorance”

8. He says that if you can put yourself aside/deny your own
identity, then you could make real ethical choices
To deny your identity would be to by-pass your biases
The Vigilant Manager
If you answered in the beginning of this chapter that you were
an ethical person, how would you honestly answer it now.
People who aspire to be ethical must:
challenge the assumptions that they are always unbiased and
acknowledge that cognitive vigilance, even more than good
intentions, is a defining characteristic of an ethical manager.
They must actively:
Collect data
Shape the environment
Broaden their decision-making
Only those who understand their own potential for unethical
behaviour can become the ethical decision makers that they
aspire to be.