Unethical behavior is not unique to a time or place and it happens in organizations of all types and across industries: The U.S. Army and Central Intelligence Agency personnel was humiliating prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Volkswagen managers cheated on emission standards inspections, and Wells Fargo recently reached a $3 billion settlement after employees opened millions of accounts without customer consent. In scandals like these, the conversation often turns to individual “bad apples,” but the real culprit is more often the climate of the organizations where unethical behavior happens.
How Common Is Unethical Behavior in U.S. Organizations?
The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence conducted a survey to find out.
March 20, 2020
Summary.
In scandals, the conversation often turns to individual “bad apples,” but the real culprit is more often the climate of the organizations where unethical behavior happens. The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence in collaboration with the Faas Foundation conducted a national survey of more than 14,500 employees across industries to better understand how Americans experience work. The sample represented the U.S. economy in the distribution of industries represented and demographic diversity. In this survey the authors found that 23% of workers reported experiencing unethical behavior. While it often goes undiscovered, this behavior puts too many businesses – and, unknowingly, their customers – at risk.
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