Week 7 - EI, Empathy, and Ethical Decision Making

Emotion

an organized system of feelings, physiological responses, bodily expressions, and action tendencies that flow from an almost instantaneous appraisal of a current situation’s relevance to the individual

Emotional Contagion

the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person's and
consequently, to converge emotionally

Affective Events Theory (AET)

Emotions experienced in connection with a succession of work events are hypothesized to cumulate to influence more stable attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and these in turn predict judgment-driven behavior such as turnover

Empathy

Sharing another person’s emotion with a certain degree of understanding of the other person’s emotional state

Affective empathy

• sharing another person’s emotions

• Develops first. Infants as young as 1 or 2 days old tend to cry more loudly in response to another infant's cry than nonhuman noise

Cognitive Empathy

• understanding other’s feelings

• taking a target's perspective, reading facial expressions, and accessing memories of relevant previous situations

Behavioural Empathy

• demonstrating an understanding of other’s feelings

• verbal and nonverbal behaviors (i.e., behavioral
  mirroring and/or empathic communication) that
  demonstrate affective and/or cognitive empathy

Empathic Accuracy

is defined as the degree to which individuals accurately infer
the thoughts and feelings of a target person

Mirroring Behaviour

unconscious imitation of the gestures, speech, or attitudes of another person

Perspective taking

the cognitive capacity to understand other’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or other mental states

Empathic Communication

intentional behaviour that demonstrates cognitive and/or affective empathy to others

• Listening

• Supportive tone

• Availability

Sympathy

Emotional reactions of concern or
compassion in response to understanding
another’s state.

Conversation as a tool to increase empathy

• sales performance

• positive interactions

• perceived performance

The Conservation of Resources Theory

argues that people always defend or conserve their various
resources and try to avoid threats that may result in
exhaustion of resources

• emotional intelligence can be regarded as an internal (emotional) resources

Emotional Labour

when they regulate their emotional display in an attempt
to meet organizationally-based expectations specific to
their roles.

• Type of emotion, range, frequency, intensity and duration

Surface Acting

Noticeable visible adjustments made in displayed
emotions designed to adhere to the rules of the
organization. The emotion actually perceived by the
individual does not conform to the performance rules
required by the organization

Deep Acting

The individual’s inner feelings which do not meet the
performance requirements of the organizational.
Through deep psychological processing (imagination,
thinking and memory) the individual stimulates
positive emotions or suppresses negative emotions, in
order to experience the emotions in line with
organization requirements

Emotional Dissonance

when feelings differ from
expressed emotions due to an incompatibility with
organizationally based expectations and

The Seven Universal Facial Expressions

• happiness

• surprise

• contempt

• sadness

• fear

• disgust

• anger

The Importance of Emotional Vocabulary

an extensive emotional vocabulary is fundamental to the development of EI.

the use of affective language has a physical effect on the brain and can alleviate negative emotions, an important skill in management communication, specifically supervisory confrontation

Emotional Intelligence 7 Factors

1. emotional stability

2. conscientiousness

3. extraversion

4. ability EI

5. cognitive ability

6. general self-efficacy

7. self-rated job performance

Ability EI: $ Branch Model

• self awareness

• social awareness

• self management

• relationship management

Developing EI at Work

• Being aware of your feelings and acting
  congruently

• Sharing your feelings in a straightforward and
  composed manner

• Treating others with compassion, sensitivity,
  and kindness

• Assessing potential reactions of others before
  acting and altering your actions based on this
  assessment

• Being open to the opinions and ideas of
  others

• Building and mending relationships

• Doing what it takes to bring about necessary
  changes

• Decisively confronting problem people

• Maintaining a balance between personal life
  and work

Ethics

standards of conduct that indicate how one should behave
based on moral duties and virtues arising from principles about right
and wrong

Business Ethics

the moral acceptability of the actions of management,
organizational leaders and their employees

Why are ethics important for managerial success

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)recently estimated that
businesses globally suffer annual losses of $3.5 trillion as a result of
fraudulent activity (2013).

Values

core beliefs or desires that guide or motivate attitudes
and actions

• Terminal Values (ends)

• Instrumental values (means)

How are values formed

• early in our lives and have a major impact on:

  • our perceptions

  • our behaviour

  • our ethical decision making

Ethical Climate

The shared perception of what is correct behaviour, and how ethical
situations should be handled in and organization

Ethical leadership

‘‘the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two way communication, reinforcement, and decision
making’

Asset Misappropriation

Theft of cash, theft of IP, check forgery, inventory theft, payroll
fraud, theft of services

Bribery and Corruption

Kickback, shell companies, bribes, contract manipulation, substitution of inferior goods (e.g. SNC Lavalin)

Financial Statement Fraud

Manipulation of stock price, increased bonuses, favorable loan terms,
indirect benefits.

Ethical Decision Making

provide all information accurately that another needs to make the best choice

Unethical Decision Making

prevents others from having all accurate information needed, so that they make a choice they would not have made with all the accurate information decline a choice they would have made if they had all the accurate
information

Propensity to Morally Disengage

an individual difference in the way that people cognitively process
decisions and behavior with ethical import that
allows those inclined to morally disengage to behave
unethically without feeling distress

8 Interrelated Cognitive Mechanisms

1. Moral justification

2. Euphemistic labelling

3. Advantageous comparison

4. Displacement of responsibility

5. Diffusion of responsibility

6. Distortion of consequences crime

7. Dehumanization

8. Attribution of blame

Moral Justification

it’s for the greater good

Euphemistic Labelling

be a team player

Advantageous Comparison

other people expense vacations

Displacement of responsibility

my boss said it was ok

Diffusion of Responsibility

challenger disaster

Distortion of consequences

the victimless crime

Dehumanization

they are not worth the same moral consideration

Attribution of blame

it is a crime to let a sucker keep his money

Moore et al. (2012). Why Employees do Bad Things: Moral Disengagement and Unethical Organizational Behaviour, Personnel Psychology,

• Focus: Examines why employees engage in unethical behavior within organizations.

• Key Concept: Moral disengagement allows individuals to justify unethical actions and avoid guilt.

• Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement:

  • Rationalizing harmful behavior (e.g., "Everyone does it").

  • Displacing responsibility onto others or the organization.

  • Minimizing harm caused or dehumanizing victims.

• Organizational Factors:

  • Unethical culture or leadership can normalize bad behavior.

  • Pressure to meet goals may lead to justifying shortcuts.

• Implications:

  • Organizations should foster ethical climates and discourage rationalizations for misconduct.

  • Accountability, transparency, and value alignment are key to reducing unethical practices.

Steps for Making Ethical Decisions

1. identify the ethical issue or problem

2. list the facts that have the most bearing on the decision

3. identify who might be affected by your decision and how

4. explain what each effected person would want you to do about the issue

5. list 3 alternative actions and identify pros and cons of each

6. determine a course of action

Legality test

Will I be violating either civil law or company policy?

Fairness test

Is it fair to all concerned in the short term as well as the long term?

Visibility test

Would I feel good if my decision were published in the newspaper?

Generality test

If everyone in similar position took the same course of action, would I be comfortable

Legacy test

With respect to my handling of this
situation, is this how I want my leadership to be
remembered?

Tests for ethical decisions

• legality

• fairness

• visibility

• generality

• legacy