Do Emplyees Act like They Hunk! Exploring the Dichotomy between Moral Judgment and Ethical Behavior

Abstract

One frontier of ethics is a debate. Ethical scholars and psychologists look at how people act ethically and some argue that it is done from a point of view of rationality and others argue it is from habit or other less rational basis of decision-making. Some argue such decisions are made from a person's inner sense of morality which directly affects ethical behavior. Thus. morality is the result of long-term, irreversible cognitive development and the most dominant determinants of overall ethical behavior. A principled, highly moral person behaves ethic ally over the long haul and is, able to withstand short-term environmental pressures to act unethically. Others, argue that disconnect exists between moral thought and action. They say that moral development plays a less powerful role because the dominant factors affecting ethical behavior are more environmental, short-term, reversible, and manipulative. Thus, an otherwise highly moral person could be induced through brief but intense environmental changes to act quite unethically and even pathologically. This article addresses this debate.