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• Article | Academy of Management Perspectives | February 2019

  Bounded Ethicality and Ethical Fading in Negotiations: Understanding Unintended Unethical Behavior

  McKenzie Rees, Ann E. Tenbrunsel and Max Bazerman

  The business scandals in the past several decades led to the rising importance of ethics as a topic central to management scholarship. Behavioral scientists in particular were attracted to the topic in far greater numbers, and the study of ethical decision-making emerged as a core subfield (Messick & Tenbrunsel, 1996). This paper draws on that framework and applies it to negotiations, arguing that not all unethical behavior is intentional; rather, negotiators fall prey to bounded ethicality, engaging in behavior that is contradictory to their values without realizing they are doing so. We further argue that ethical fading—when individuals do not “see” the ethical implications of the situation or their action—is central to explaining why this occurs. Relying on past empirical research, we identify negotiation “cues” that have been linked to unethical behavior and explore how they make a negotiator particularly vulnerable to ethical fading, resulting in subsequent unethical behavior. We discuss several opportunities for future research in the negotiation discipline and other disciplines that draw on motivated social exchange or assume intentionality and conclude with a call for scholars to define normative standards as they pertain to negotiator ethics.

  Keywords: Ethics; Behavior; Negotiation; Situation or Environment; Perception;

  Citation:

  Rees, McKenzie, Ann E. Tenbrunsel, and Max Bazerman. "Bounded Ethicality and Ethical Fading in Negotiations: Understanding Unintended Unethical Behavior." Academy of Management Perspectives 33, no. 1 (February 2019): 1–17.  View Details

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• Article | Negotiation and Conflict Management Research

  Raiffa Transformed the Field of Negotiation—and Me

  Max Bazerman

  Howard Raiffa was a role model, friend, and inspiration. He transformed the field of negotiation, and he transformed my career. This brief article provides a recollection of how Howard revolutionized the field of negotiation and how those insights are now affecting broader areas of the social sciences. Howard received the 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Conflict Management.

  Keywords: Negotiation; Decision Making; Analysis; Game Theory; Personal Development and Career;

  Citation:

  Bazerman, Max. "Raiffa Transformed the Field of Negotiation—and Me." Negotiation and Conflict Management Research 11, no. 3 (August 2018): 259–261.  View Details

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• Article | Management Science

  If You're Going to Do Wrong, at Least Do It Right: Considering Two Moral Dilemmas at the Same Time Promotes Moral Consistency

  Netta Barak-Corren, Chia-Jung Tsay, Fiery Cushman and Max Bazerman

  We study how people reconcile conflicting moral intuitions by juxtaposing two versions of classic moral problems: the trolley problem and the footbridge problem. When viewed separately, most people favor action in the former and disapprove of action in the latter, despite identical consequences. The difference is often explained in terms of the intention principle—whether the consequences are intended or incidental. Our results suggest that when the two problems are considered together, a different judgment emerges: participants reject the intention principle and embrace either the principle of utilitarianism, which favors action in both problems, or the action principle, which rejects action in both problems. In subsequent studies, we find that when required to choose between two harmful actions, people prefer the action that saves more lives, despite its being more aversive. Our findings shed light on the formation of moral judgment under normative conflict, the conditions for preference reversal, and the potential polarization of moral judgment under joint evaluation. Organizational implications are discussed.

  Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Judgments; Problems and Challenges; Conflict and Resolution;

  Citation:

  Barak-Corren, Netta, Chia-Jung Tsay, Fiery Cushman, and Max Bazerman. "If You're Going to Do Wrong, at Least Do It Right: Considering Two Moral Dilemmas at the Same Time Promotes Moral Consistency." Management Science 64, no. 4 (April 2018): 1528–1540. (Published early online: February 16, 2017.)  View Details

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