The Tragedy of Ethics: Why Good Organizations Do Bad Things

Abstract

Instead of explaining the unethical behavior of employees in terms of their bad organization (the so-called bad barrel theory), this article examines how a good organization can explain employees’ unethical behavior. The basic premise is that the more ethical an organization becomes, the higher, in some respects, is the likelihood of unethical behavior. This is due to four threaten-ing forces that become stronger when an organization becomes more ethical. Each of the forces is illustrated with two effects and each effect is ex-plained by a specific theory. This tragedy of ethics, where goodness breeds badness, opens new research directions.

Keywords: business ethics, compliance, unethical behavior, ethical organization, ethics program, pardox