Explore our research by selecting from the list of topics on the left. To refine by audience or type of resource, use the filters below. A good way to get started is by exploring our research summaries.
Accounting
Accounting is the process of collecting, aggregating, validating, and reporting information about business performance. Until the last century, accountants focused almost exclusively on financial information generated from double-entry bookkeeping. Since then, their purview has expanded...
Barings Bank
EthicalSystems.org Case Study: Barings Bank A collaborative effort by Jennifer Fang and Joshua Elle “As my noble friend Lord Hollick argued, trading is all about the control of a collection of rogues—of strongly motivated,...
Behavioral Legal Ethics, University of Tennessee, 2017
Download syllabus for Behavioral Legal Ethics, taught at University of Tennessee in 2017 by Paula Schaefer.
Book Review: Margaret Heffernan’s “Beyond Measure”
Margaret Heffernan’s new book “Beyond Measure: The big impact of small changes,” is an original manifesto for business leaders. Creating strong organizational cultures does not require multi-million dollar programs; instead, small actions by each employee- from Custodian...
Book Summary: The Rule of Nobody
In The Rule of Nobody, Philip Howard describes how bureaucracy is stifling U.S. institutions as well as the spirit of autonomy and free will among Americans. We live within a system whereby layers upon layers of...
Bounded Ethicality
There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we...
Breaking the Fever Webinar Series
Preventable Surprises and Ethical Systems are pleased to invite you to Breaking the Fever, an online mini-series. We are convening thoughtful and creative experts to stimulate ideas on what we can do as individuals and institutions to tame the...
Cheating & Honesty
What is cheating? The simplest and most immediate answer is that cheating is breaking the rules. For example: not reporting income on one’s taxes, buying clothing with the intention of wearing it once and returning...
Cheating in College: Why Students Do It and What Educators Can Do About It
Cheating in College: Why Students Do It and What Educators Can Do About It by: Donald L. McCabe, Kenneth D. Butterfield, and Linda K. Treviño John Hopkins University Press (2012) Public Library Summarized by Jared Wolf From one-room...
Company Snapshot: “Don’t Buy Our Products” – Ethics at Patagonia
The second of three Company Snapshots, these research-based pieces by guest author Jessica Guo look at aspects of successful companies that can be examined for strategy and information of benefit to both active businesses and the academics that study them....
Company Snapshot: At Costco, Culture is King
The first of three Company Snapshots, these research-based pieces by guest author Jessica Guo look at aspects of successful companies that can be examined for strategy and information of benefit to both active businesses and the academics...
Company Snapshot: Conscious Capitalism- Core to The Container Store’s Success
The third of three Company Snapshots, these research-based pieces by guest author Jessica Guo look at aspects of successful companies that can be examined for strategy and information of benefit to both active businesses and the academics that study...
Compliance & Ethics Programs
Hammurabi’s Code, ca. 1772 BCE, included 282 laws, some of which often prescribed punishing noncompliance with the removal of one’s hand. INTRODUCTION Compliance and ethics (“C&E”) programs are organizational policies put in place to promote law...
Conflicts of Interest
INTRODUCTION Image: Giotto di Bondone, “Kiss of Judas,” via Wikimedia Commons Bribery, kickbacks, and other clear-cut forms of corruption are serious problems for genuine bad apples; however, much of the problem with conflicts of interest...
Contextual Influences
When we see someone doing something bad, we usually jump to the conclusion that the person is bad. Only later, if ever, do we consider the broader context—the social situation—which can strongly influence people’s behavior....
Corporate Culture
The ethical culture in an organization can be thought of as a slice of the overall organizational culture. So, if the organizational culture represents “how we do things around here,” the ethical culture represents “how...
Corporate Culture Assessment
Corporate culture, a rather nebulous psychological construct, is nevertheless part of an organization’s personality. It informs employees—via expectations, standards, prohibitions, and norms, both written and unwritten—how to behave, ultimately driving individual and group-level behavior. This...
Corporate Governance
INTRODUCTION Image: Eric Dan, boardroom at Roppongi Hills, via Flickr. Understanding ethical behavior in the context of corporate governance requires two levels of analysis: the internal concerns of corporate agency and the emergent effects on...
Corruption
The leading non-governmental organization in the anti-corruption field, Transparency International, defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.” The academic literature on corruption uses similar definitions—for example, Ashforth and Anand define corruption...
Cultivating Conscience
Cultivating Conscience: How Good Laws Make Good People by Lynn Stout (public library) Summarized by David Newman Overview Conscience, or unselfish prosocial behavior, is a real and powerful force. A growing body of empirical evidence...
Decision Making
It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one’s own faults as...
Designing a Good Life, University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, 2015
Download syllabus for Designing a Good Life, taught at University of Chicago Booth’s School of Business in 2015 by Nick Epley.
Ethical Fading
There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we...
Ethical Leadership in the Global Economy, Boston University, 2016
Download syllabus for Ethical Leadership in the Global Economy, taught at Boston University in 2016 by Laura Pincus Hartman.
Ethics Pays
Is good ethics good for business? Crime and sleazy behavior sometimes pay off handsomely. People would not do such things if they didn’t think they were more profitable than the alternatives. But let us make...
Ethics Pays
There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we...
Fairness
INTRODUCTION Image: J.-H. Janßen, “Justice” statue, via Wikimedia Commons Every organization must confront the challenge of motivating its work force. From research on fairness in organizational contexts (‘organizational justice research’) we know that fairness is...
Fixing a Hole
Fixing a Hole Prof. Robert Bloomfield, Cornell University This case is based on a real-life situation; names have been changed to protect identities. Digging a Hole Nancy Quine, Senior Vice President of Geriatric Products at...
Give and Take
Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant Penguin Group (2013) (public library) Summarized by Joshua Elle Overview Adam Grant combines personal accounts and contemporary research, both made readily accessible, to build...
Goals Gone Wild
There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we...
Head to Head: A conversation on behavioral science and ethics
Introducing Head to Head: A conversation on behavioral science and ethics, a new eBook created for anyone interested in improving the effectiveness of compliance and ethics (C&E) programs in organizations.
Human Rights
Since World War II and the founding of the United Nations, the established human rights framework under international law has focused on the responsibility of states to protect the rights of their citizens.
Incentives
Introduction Incentives in organizations take many forms. They can include monetary compensation and promotion as well as informal benefits, like influence or access, and social rewards (e.g. accolades, status, titles). They’re meant to improve employee...
Internal Reporting
Internal Reporting refers to any time that a member of an organization (or a former member) tells someone else about an illegal or immoral practice, if the telling is done in the hope that someone will...
Law
INTRODUCTION Image: William Hogarth, “The Bench,” via Wikipedia. Most of our research pages focus on the behavior of individuals, and the ways that individuals interact within companies. But the companies themselves are embedded in a...
Leadership
For better or for worse, leaders in organizations hold the power to guide the ethical behavior of employees—by establishing standards, modeling (setting a good example), and enforcing consequences. Philosophers have been discussing ethical leadership (as...
Leading With Values, University of Michigan-Ross School of Business, 2013
Download syllabus for Leading With Values, taught at University of Michigan-Ross School of Business in 2013 by Dave Mayer.
Managing Business Ethics
Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How To Do It Right by Linda K. Treviño and Katherine A. Nelson John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 5th ed. (2011) (public library) Summarized by David Newman Overview Treviño and...
Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want
Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want by Nicholas Epley Knopf, Borzoi Books (2014) Summarized by Bryan Turner Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want is a...
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics
What do economics, psychology, and experimental science have in common? As Richard Thaler implies in Misbehaving: The making of behavioral economics, most economists would say little to none — but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Misbehaving is, first...
Motivated Reasoning
There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we...
Negotiation
When people negotiate, they exchange information and solve problems interdependently. The process is rife with opportunities to use different strategies to achieve greater success, including various ethical and unethical behaviors. There isn’t just one way...
Nudge
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein Penguin Books, Revised & Expanded edition (2009) (public library) Summarized by Erick Rabin Introduction Choice Architecture involves organizing any context in...
Nudging for Ethics
There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we...
Personality & Personnel
Psychologists have identified a series of characteristics that predict patterns of unethical behavior by employees. At the same time, some people may behave honestly and with great integrity in their dealings with friends and family,...
Professional Responsibility, NYU Stern, 2017
Download syllabus for Professional Responsibility, taught at NYU-Stern in 2017 by Jonathan Haidt.
Remote Work
Remote work, also often referred to as virtual work, telecommuting, or work-from-home, has expanded rapidly during COVID-19, assisted by advancing technology. As we witness this monumental change, our understanding of ethical culture, leadership, and policy...
Sidetracked
Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan by Francesca Gino Harvard Business Review Press (2013) (public library) Summarized by Jennifer Fang Overview The adage “the best laid plans...
Speak Up Culture
There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we...
Speak-Up and Call-Out Culture
Companies thrive when potentially useful information is freely available and employees feel that they are valued, consequential members of the organization. Speak-up culture is crucial on both counts: it means that management can receive important...
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath Crown Business, 1st Ed. (2010) (public library) Summarized by Jennifer Fang Overview Change is difficult, or so most people believe....
Teaching Ethics
After each major business scandal, a chorus of voices calls for business schools to work harder to instill ethics into their students. But what exactly should they doOn this page we focus on what business...
The Ethics & Compliance Initiative Partners with Ethical Systems
ARLINGTON, VA, February 7th, 2018 – The Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI), the nation’s oldest ethics research and best practice community, today announces a partnership with Ethical Systems, a research collaboration comprised of the nation’s...
The Lucifer Effect
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo Random House Publishing Group, 1st Ed. Reprint (2008) (public library) Summarized by Joshua Elle Overview In a compelling story of his own life’s...
The Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See
The Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See By Max H. Bazerman Simon and Schuster (2014) Summarized by Bryan Turner What if you had the ability to make better decisions and all you...
Trust
Ethics and trust are inextricably linked. We are interested in ethics in large part because we are concerned, even obsessed, with the question of who we can trust is a world where there is risk...
Values Based Leadership, Northwestern University-Kellogg School of Management, 2015
Download syllabus for Values Based Leadership, taught at Northwestern University-Kellogg School of Management in 2015 by Adam Waytz.
What Social Media Is Doing to Us
In this video, produced by the Strand Book Store in New York City, Jon Haidt speaks with Chris Bail, author of Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing, about how social media...
Workplace Surveillance
Surveillance and monitoring in the workplace have evolved alongside advancing technologies, presenting ever-multiplying opportunities, risks, and emerging ethical questions. More pervasive and personal every year, the “datafication” of employee behavior attracts employers as it promises...