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My dissertation was on corporate whistle-blowing. Only a small percent of employees will report wrong-doing above and beyond the normal channels of informing a supervisor. Whistle blowing generally won’t occur if people are uncertain regarding the severity of the wrong-doing, or when people don’t believe that corrective action will be taken. Neither of those conditions seemed to occur in the Penn State events.
Several organizational issues emerge for me as I reflect on the Penn State tragedy revealed last week – power structures, corporate social responsibility, conformity, shadow, deniability, personal loyalties. Spiritual and moral qualities of courage, integrity, honesty, and responsibility seem to have been in short supply in this story.
Enter the Shadow
Corporate whistle-blowing often doesn’t happen because people don’t recognize or appreciate the gravity or negative impact of an incident. That University officials, Tom Curley and Gary Schulz, described the behavior to the university president as “horsing around in the shower” with a youth rather than recognize it as a possible criminal offense (let alone morally unacceptable) is amazing. What’s even more amazing is that Pres. Dr. Spanier, who has a background in sociology and family counseling, didn’t take this description of behavior more seriously and investigate it further. A more classic example of shadow in organizations could not be told as in the grand jury report. The leaders at Penn State chose not to investigate more to find out the facts.
The shadow occurs in organizations when people are willing to turn a blind eye to disturbing news. Rather than investigating further, they’d rather take the expedient route. Truth is forsaken. Product safety issues, embezzlement, sexual harassment all get perpetuated in organizations when leaders, and front line staff, fail to confront shadow behavior within their ranks. Speaking truth to power is challenging in organizations even in the best of circumstances.
Moral Courage – Stepping in and getting muddy
Most people would rather not get muddy than step into a deep puddle. Conformity and diffusion of responsibility are powerful factors affecting organizational behavior. In fact, most people don’t report wrong-doing for fear of retaliation. So what can we learn from this tragedy? Honor, courage and integrity aren’t ideals in a vacuum. They are lived values.
I learned from my research that it takes a lot of moral courage to report wrong-doing to other authorities or take direct action to stop wrong-doing in organizations. In my research with accountants and engineers, the few who did report beyond the normal chain of command often lost their jobs. Some were even black-balled from their careers for several years. Yet they persisted. Why? Because they had a strong sense of professional ethics and clear moral compass.
This tragedy is yet another wake-up call and reminder to take stock of corporate values and priorities. On a personal level, what do you want to model and display for your staff? What values run deep for you, that you want to demonstrate by your actions?
What are you willing to do and not do to save your job, save someone else’s job? Values such as integrity and honesty shed light on the shadow. It takes courage to look into one’s shadow, acknowledge what you see, and take action to address what you find.
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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.
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Linda is a keynote speaker on such topics as business ethics, leadership, and employee engagement. Contact her at info@lindajferguson.com to learn more about her work.
