Week 1 Discussion 2: How (Un)ethical Are You?
Due: Day 4
Weight Percentage: 5%
Purpose: To think about how an individual's hidden personal beliefs, attitudes, and
especially their unconscious biases may lead to injus
...
Week 1 Discussion 2: How (Un)ethical Are You?
Due: Day 4
Weight Percentage: 5%
Purpose: To think about how an individual's hidden personal beliefs, attitudes, and
especially their unconscious biases may lead to injustices in the workplace and how
these ethical lapses may be counteracted.
1. Read the following article in your course pack and focus your thinking on the
associated discussion questions.
"How (Un)ethical Are You?" Banaji, Mahzarin R.; Bazerman, Max H.; Chugh, Dolly.
In Harvard Business Review, Case #R0312D. Published 12/01/2003, Harvard
Business School Publishing.
Discussion Questions:
Can you cite any examples of implicit prejudice, in-group favoritism, or
overclaiming of credit from your own work experiences?
Do you believe that research measures like the IAT tests might be a
helpful step in addressing the issue of unintentional unethical behaviors in the
workplace?
How might the IAT approach be integrated into your own organization?
Hint: To view and try these research tools yourself see the following Web
site: http://implicit.harvard.edu.
o Post your answer in the thread titled How (Un)ethical Are You? by
end of Day 4. You will have an additional 24 hours to respond to one other
participant's comments. Postings that build upon the ideas of other classmates are
also encouraged.
Post your initial response by the end of Day 4, and respond to your
classmates' comments by Day 5.
I work for a Property Tax Firm with a very small work force – 22 people including me.
To my surprise, I found many examples of unconscious implicit bias. Even today I
encountered implicit prejudice when my manager felt comfortable to once again
claim that our exemption “department” (1 person) - who for decades has been
exemplary in her role and work - is actually lazy and manipulative because she is
Jamaican and that’s how “those people are”.
Our largest department, IT (4 people), all work to streamline procedures, processing
of data, and reducing error in an effort to improve our operations, yet the member
that is good friends with the Head Partner will claim the most credit for work done.
Because of his close friendship to authority, he will be believed over all others that
he was crucial in the completion of a project and as a result has been promoted to
department supervisor – a clear sign of in-group favoritism.
After taking some IAT tests myself, I believe using tools such as these might not
actually be helpful. One of the things to determine the results of implicit bias,
according to John Hopkins Medicine’s website, is the measure of judgment speed
[1]. If the speed at which an association is made determines your implicit bias then
how does that hold up when someone has to take a little longer to make sure they
are picking the correct key for the association set? I myself had to do this after
getting the first few wrong because I was accustomed to the previous set’s
grouping. When I took the same test a second time, my bias result changed. S
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