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[Megan] I think it is sometimes expected of us
just to go along with whatever the business is doing.
[Professor Robert Prentice] Sometimes organizational and psychological pressures
cause even good people to act unethically.
In a lawsuit over a car wreck,
an insurance company representing the defendant
demanded the right to have its doctor examine the plaintiff.
When he did,
the doctor found that the plaintiff had a life-threatening brain aneurysm.
Because it would have disadvantaged the insurance company's defense,
the doctor did not tell the plaintiff,
who did not find out for two more years.
Why would a doctor keep this vital information from an injured man?
Obviously, the doctor viewed his job
as protecting the insurance company's financial interests,
Hippocratic Oath be damned.
This is an example of something ethicists call role morality.
Role morality has been defined as
feeling that you have permission to harm others
in ways that would be wrong if it were not for the role that you are playing.
[Kelly] I worked a lot of my summers at like retail stores,
and a lot of them were like bigger name retail stores.
One of the things when you are checking out at the register
was to ask them if they wanted to open up a credit card.
It was one of the things that they always told you, you kind of had to ask.
I would feel kind of guilty
if I had succeeded
but if I did not succeeded
I would feel a little guilty because there was so much pressure put on us to sell those things.
Role morality often involves people acting in ways
that they would view as clearly unethical
if they were acting on their own behalf,
but because they are acting on the behalf of their employer or a client,
they view their actions as permissible.
In a detailed study of a corporation,
sociologist Robert Jackall
found that many employees segregated
their personal beliefs from the ethics of their workplace.
He quoted an officer saying:
"What is right in the corporation is not what is right in a man's home or in his church.
What is right in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you.
That is what morality is in the corporation."
One of my co-workers would target
people who did not speak English
and kind of tell them that signing up for the credit card was a part of the checking out process.
When people check their personal moral code at the door,
they can suddenly become capable of doing horrendous things.
After World War II,
Albert Speer,
Hitler's Minister of Armaments and War Production,
said that he viewed is role as an "administrator."
As a mere administrator,
he convinced himself that matters relating to human beings,
including, of course, the Holocaust,
were not his concern.
This man checked his humanity at the door.
[Shawna] You know it does not, I do not think it reflects my own moral character
because I am, you know, doing something for someone else.
[Nathan] I did not feel anything afterwards,
it was just another job.
I guess it was in my interest too,
so I can keep my job,
I do not know, I do not know.
A study by professors at Brigham Young University
found that family businesses
are more likely to act in a social responsible way
than bigger companies.
The family name is on the door
and officers want to act in ways that reflect well upon their family.
However, people working in bigger corporations
find it easier to separate their personal feelings
of how business should be done
from their role inside the company.
We cannot leave behind our personal beliefs as to right and wrong
when we walk through our office doors.
[Francisco] Everyone works for someone so you will
align yourself with that person
in order to please them, or in order to be noticed.
[Michael] The tough part about today's culture
there is sort of always somebody else to really pin the blame on.
There is a change that is needed, if it is your business, your career
where you are living... whatever,
there needs to be a change if you ever feel like
you are not as ethical as you were the day before.
You can get things done the right way.
And it sometimes it might seem that those who take shortcuts
get things done faster, or easier,
or get there first,
but I think if you do it right,
you will get to where you are supposed to be.