John M. Darley - Social influences on ethical behavior in organizations

Cover

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LEA's Organization and Management Series
Arthur Brief and James P. Walsh, Series Eitors

Ashforth Role Transitions in Organizational Life: An Identity-Based Perspective

Beach Image Theory: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations

Darley/Messick/Tyler Social Influences on Ethical Behavior in Organizations

Garud/Karne Path Dependence and Creation

Lant/Shapira Organizational Cognition: Computation and Interpretation

Pearce Organization and Management in the Embrace of Government

Thompson/Levine/Messick Shared Cognition in Organizations: The Management of Knowledge

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Social Influences on Ethical Behavior in Organizations

Edited by
John M. Darley
Princeton University
David M. Messick
Northwestern University
Tom R. Tyler
New York University

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Copyright 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of the book may be
reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform,
retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written
permission of the publisher.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, NJ 07430

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Social influences on ethical behavior in organizations /
edited by John M. Darley, David M. Messick,
Tom R. Tyler.
p. cm.(LEA's organization and management
series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8058-3330-7
1. Organizational behaviorMoral and ethical aspects.
2. Social influences. I. Darley, John M. II. Messick, David
M. III. Tyler, Tom R. IV. Series.
HD58.7 .S637 2001
174'.4dc21
00-057682
CIP

Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.

Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Arthur P. Brief
Tulane University
James P. Walsh
University of Michigan

For too, too long, organizational scientists have not attended adequately to the problems of unethical behavior in and of organizations. Of course, the literature is punctuated with an occasional article, chapter, or book on the topic, but the subject matter is worthy of much more than this. It should be a central concern of the field, because of the human consequences attached to organizations and their representatives engaging, for instance, in fraud and deception, bribery and corruption, marketplace manipulations, and an array of civil liberty violations ranging from racial discrimination and sexual harassment to political repression and marketing of unsafe products. We in the organizational sciences have an ethical obligation to place such unethical behaviors at or very near the top of our research agenda.

Darley, Messick, and Tyler's collection of essays provides the stimulus needed to help move the study of unethical behavior to center stage in the organizational sciences. The book does so by posing one provocative question after another that not only entails a concern for understanding unethical behavior, but also strikes at the very core of how and why organizations function as they do. The book, for example, addresses the asymmetries in power and influence created by hierarchies that give rise to ethical problems; the tactics that might reduce the effectiveness of improper influence attempts; and how the inappropriate use of influence diffuses, for example, through a market. The curious organizational scientist not now interested in ethics surely will be after sampling from Darley et al.'s enticing book.