We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.  ~Aristotle

Ethics and morals: what are yours, really?  This is a question I was asking myself following a couple of trainings I did recently on business ethics.  One young man in the first training kept saying, “I think it’s morally wrong but I would do it anyway.”  I kept responding, “If you would do it anyway, then is it really part of your morals?”  In this case, the example was stealing drugs in order to save the life of a family member.  So while he thought that stealing drugs was morally wrong, he’d do it anyway in order to save the life of a family member.  For him, the life of a family member held a higher moral obligation than stealing.   Not everyone in the class agreed with this perspective.

Like the young man in my class, many of us find those moments when one of our morals or ethical obligations trumps another of our morals.  This is especially true, I think, if we’ve at least partially progressed through the stages of moral development.  Once we get beyond the legalistic stage we may bump up against more ethical dilemmas because answers are not as black and white as they may have been in previous stages.

The stages of moral development are very briefly described below and apply to both individuals and organizations.

Amoral: Leaders rule with power and authority, and they promote employees for obedience and for maintaining the status quo.  Profits and growth come before people and ethics.  The organization may break rules to boost profits.

Legalistic:  Managers are concerned with the legal rather than the moral ramifications of their decisions.  There are many rules and codes of conduct.

Responsive:  The organization shows some concern for its social duties and responsibilities.  Leaders react ethically to situations.  However, they usually simply follow what other organizations have done.

Emergent: Leaders are involved in ethics-related activities, they encourage ethics and social responsibility within the corporate culture, and they lead by example.

Ethical: Ethical values and behavior have permeated the corporate culture.  The organization respects employees and leaders for walking away from actions that violate the culture, or their values.  By its actions, the organization encourages competitors to follow its ethical lead.

Is your organization progressing through the stages, or are you stuck along the way?  If so, maybe check your own behavior and try to stretch your moral thinking to the next stage.  Take the ethical lead.