“Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices”

After reading the article, I found that the point that stood out most to me was “A positive example isn’t being set.” I have seen this firsthand in the workplace with managers or supervisors not actively following the rules in place and therefore the employees under them follow suit. This is also true on the contrary, where a good manager will be a role model in the workplace, and their employees will look up to them and do as they do. My manager for my summer job effectively shows this behavior. He was the general manager at the restaurant and always showed up on time, cared about the business, and would go above and beyond for the customers. This would in turn make me want to strive to be on his level because of the example that he would set.

This connects to the reading about the report on the Titan. The leader in charge of the expedition and project didn’t put proper safety protocols in place, and the team of engineers under them followed that leadership. The lack of a positive example will lead a team into disarray because there isn’t a person to enforce rules and set a baseline for what is needed. As Ron Carucci stated, “Organizations who don’t want to find themselves on a front-page scandal must scrutinize their actions to far greater degrees than they may have realized.” This relates directly to the Oceangate catastrophe because they didn’t diligently analyze their actions and act in an ethical way.

For the everyday person it is very easy to make unethical decisions in your life. The easy way out is not the right way, acting with morals and ideals in mind will lead you down the right path and help you in the long term.

“Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices.” Harvard Business Review, 16 Dec. 2016. hbr.org, https://hbr.org/2016/12/why-ethical-people-make-unethical-choices.