Many companies are running formal ethics programs to encourage the best behavior by their employees, but a new study shows that the success of such programs depends on whether employees think the company is ethical.
Linda Trevino, professor of organizational behavior at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, said, “When they perceive the organization to be unfair, employees engage in unethical behavior in order to rebalance the scales of justice and improve their own outcomes at the organization’s expense, by stealing for example.
“However, when they perceive that the organization treats employees fairly, they give back by going above and beyond the call of duty to help management, by reporting ethical problems,” Trevino said.
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