Characteristics of Work and Cognitive Moral Development

The work is important in continuing the adult moral development that Kohlberg proposed

in his longitudinal research and in demonstrating that adults' cognitive moral development

extends beyond their school years (Colby, Kohlberg, et al., 1983). Role-playing opportunities

and responsibility for moral dilemma resolution are two qualities of a profession that may

contribute to continued adult moral development. Taking on a role is defined as taking into

consideration the needs of others, the viewpoint of others. The individual's importance in group

discussions and decision-making boosts role-taking chances. It's thought that those who have a

lot of money have a lot of problems. Work either allows or forces people to participate in these

activities. Complex role-playing is more likely to persist in the future, to progress in

the cognitive and moral growth stage. These could be people in positions of democratic (rather

than dictatorial) leadership. Democratic leadership positions necessitate role play sensitivity to

the views of group members in addition to group communication (Kohlberg, 1969)

The individuals who work and hold the responsibility for the moral conflicts are the ones

who are more likely to advance their cognitive moral development stage based on speculation.

While Kohlberg's moral growth hypothesis has been questioned, it was instrumental in the

establishment of the science of moral psychology. Researchers are still looking into how moral

thinking develops and changes throughout life, as well as if these stages are universal.

Understanding these stages can help you understand how children and adults make moral

decisions, as well as how moral thought can influence decisions and behaviors.

Organizational Culture and Cognitive Moral Development

 The culture of a company determines how employees should conduct themselves within

the company. Leaders build shared views and values, which are then conveyed and reinforced

through numerous techniques, ultimately impacting employee perceptions, behaviors, and

understanding. It is also referred to the mission, objectives, expectations, and values that a

company's personnel are guided by. Because they have procedures in place that promote

employee performance, productivity, and engagement, businesses with an organizational culture

are more successful than those without one. The organization's culture can play a role. Allowing

organizational members to make decisions contributes to an individual's moral development by

imparting a sense of accountability and enabling career opportunities. In a democratic society,

for example, members may be urged to participate in the culture decision-making authority, and

the ability to handle problems on the job lower organizational levels as well as to consider

several points of view and interests are taken into consideration.

This type of culture has the potential to improve things. When a company's aims and its

employees' motivations are all pulling in the same direction, it is said to be aligned. Exceptional

businesses work to ensure that their vision, purpose, and goals are always in sync. A public

commendation, a congratulating message, or a promotion are all examples of appreciation. A

culture of gratitude is one in which all members of the team routinely acknowledge and thank

others for their accomplishments. An organization's ability to function depends on its ability to

build trust. When there is a culture of trust, team members can be themselves and know that

others will support them when they try something new. When teams rely on one other to make

decisions, analyze findings, and build partnerships, authenticity, like trust, is fundamental. This

feature of culture relies heavily on honesty and transparency. Organizations that are innovative

can make the most of alternative approaches, resources, and markets. A culture of innovation
means that you think creatively about everything you do, including your cultural initiatives. And

those are the qualities that can develop more the cognitive moral of an individual.

The cognitive and moral development of an individual. In an authoritarian or mechanistic

organization, on the other hand, roles are tightly regulated and formal authority, as well as a

moral authority, are used to make decisions, it’s possible that progress may be halted or that

expression will be suppressed and it's possible that you'll be repressed at work. (Higgins &

Gordon, 1985). In addition to having an impact on cognitive and moral development, situational

considerations moderate the development. Relationship between intellect and conduct. It is to be

expected that most adults, while they work at a higher level, these cultural and employment

context variables have an impact on traditional levels of cognitive moral development (stages 3

and 4) under conventional.

Organizational Culture and Ethical/Unethical Behavior

According to Schoeman (2012), an ethical organizational culture implies that employees

make decisions by considering all stakeholders, organizational values, laws, and rules. Creating

and sustaining an ethical organizational culture requires a common understanding among

employees of ethics and its implications. When executives neglect their roles to define ethical

standards and support them by establishing appropriate organizational policies, and unethical

organizational culture is inevitably established (Sims and Brinkmann 2002).

Normative Structure. The communal norms that guide behavior can also be found in

culture. A solid culture has a normative structure when it comes to moral content. Shared and

utilized to influence behavior are collective norms regarding what is and is not suitable behavior.

Organizational members share common values and goals, as well as the organization's mission
and beliefs (Higgins & Gordon, 1985). These enable people in determining what is proper and

who is to blame in a given situation (Higgins, Power, & Kohlberg, 1984).

11. says that more agreement among organization members about what is appropriate which is

what we called ethical or inappropriate/unethical behavior is a culture that has strong

normative. Values, goals, and purposes are all compromised in a weak culture. The values and

principles of the entire company are unclear. There are likely to be numerous subcultures, each

with its own set of assumptions. As a result, he or she is more prone to rely on norms established

by his or her relevant subculture or referent people (Schein, 1984).

12. Subcultures create their own set of cultural, political, and sexual norms and values and that

is where the organization members are relying upon them to have guidance regarding

ethical/unethical behavior because they have a weak culture.

Referent Other. Referent others have been discovered to have a major impact on ethical

decision-making in businesses. This observation is in line with the argument of social learning.

The absence of a model can evoke either ethical or unethical behavior in terms of ethical

decision-making behavior (Rosenhan, Moore, & Underwood, 1976). This research suggests that

organizations should focus on knowing and identifying appropriate referent others through the

organization’s choice of heroes and heroines if they are interested in influencing the ethical

behavior of their members.

13. Managers' ethical/unethical behavior will be influenced significantly by the behavior of

referent others.

Obedience of Authority. There are two distinct methods. The definition of power

relationships and the sense of personal responsibility for the consequences of actions are two
ways that corporate culture can influence ethical/unethical behavior. First, in organizations

where legitimate authority is an established component of the workplace, most people are

expected to follow the instructions of those in positions of legitimate authority, even if those

orders conflict with their own sense of right and wrong. There is compelling evidence that people

can inflict harm on others if they are asked to do so by an authoritative person. Milgram-type

obedience experiments, in which subjects are allegedly involved in a scientific experiment

focused on the impacts of penalties on behavior, are frequently quoted learning. They are

required to give individuals harsher electric shocks. Despite clear harm to the subject and

obvious discomfort with their action, the proportion of the respondents continue to defy the

experimenter's authority and shock the learner (Rosenhan, Moore & Underwood, 1976).

14. The significance of the demand of authority figures will be influenced by the managers’

ethical behavior.

Responsibility for Consequences. Schwartz suggested in his research that awareness of

one's acts' implications on others, as well as self-ascription of responsibility, are required

variables for the activation of one's moral norms and influence on conduct. He discovered that

where an individual focuses primarily on both attributions of responsibility and knowledge of

consequences, the correlation between norms and conduct was lowest, and it was highest where

the individual scored high on both measures. By proving an external meaning of responsibility

based on formal role definitions, structure, and jurisdiction of authority, the organizational

culture may provide something to avoid responsibility for the consequences of those actions.

(Maclagan, 1983). For example, an employee asked the finance department to have some data

that is not capable of them having, yet the department doesn’t agree but the employee still gets

those, His manager knew it and did a diffusion of responsibility by saying that the higher
authorities will not know and he would take the responsibility. The consequences are your

responsibility. If organizations want to encourage moral action, they should emphasize

individual responsibility for action repercussions at every level of the organization, according to

this theory. If this isn't done, organizational concerns may transcend moral ones in determining

what is and isn't acceptable behavior (Turiel & Smetana, 1984).

15. Where the corporate culture motivates the individual manager to be aware of the

implications of his or her actions and to accept responsibility for them, the correlation between

value principle and behavior is substantially higher.

Codes of Ethical Conduct. Formal codes of ethical conduct are the other way that an

organization attempt for them to guide their members’ ethical behavior. The effectiveness of

formal codes in changing attitudes or behavior has not been proven. It suggests that in order for

those to be effective, the ethics must be consistent with the organizational culture and must be

enforced.

16. Ethics codes will have an impact on what is ethical and what is unethical only if they are

consistent in their actions will they have an impact are in sync with the company's culture

enforced.

Ethical Decision Making and Managerial

Performance/Organizational Effectiveness

The model does not formally establish a connection between ethical decision-making and

managerial performance. However, whether managers' ethical decision-making is associated to

more broad metrics of management effectiveness is an intriguing subject that needs to be

investigated further. A moral judgment project is expected to predict managerial effectiveness in

jobs where the manager is frequently called upon to solve complicated ethical challenges.

Identifying those positions will take more time. A recent study indicated that the level of

cognitive moral judgment is a valid indicator of clinical performance among pediatricians,

supporting the postulated association (Sheehan, Husted, Candee, Cook, & Burgen, 1980). As an

outcome of the unethical behavior, one or perhaps more managers' or unlawful judgments.

Lawsuits could be filed against a company may have serious financial ramifications and/or

potentially harm the company's public image. The process of analyzing the moral implications of

a course of action is known as ethical decision-making. Managers and leaders must be conscious

of their own ethical and moral convictions in order to draw on them when dealing with difficult

decisions. Several considerations must be examined when making ethical decisions.

Implications

The proposed model suggests that the combination of personal and situational

characteristics can better describe ethical decision-making behavior. The preceding examination

of the concept contains a number of practical implications. Complementary cognitive and

behavioral techniques are among the potential therapies available to businesses. For starters,

firms may employ cognitive moral development assessments to pick managers for roles where

ethical decision-making is a critical component of the work. Second, the organization could

enhance critical moral awareness and understanding among its members by implementing

training programs based on cognitive moral growth or by giving opportunities for role-playing

and moral dispute resolution. Of course, it may be proposed that traditional members continued

moral development is a desirable goal in and of itself. Reinforcement of ethical behavior,

the establishment of the ideological foundation through organizational culture, encouragement of

managerial accounting for the possible consequences, and so on are examples of complementary

behavioral treatments. The model suggests that combining cognitive and behavioral approaches

will result in greater ethical behavior than that of any approach alone. Individuals who are

principled (stages 5 and 6) are expected to be ethical regardless of situational pressures to act

unethically.

Most importantly, the suggested model establishes a foundation for comprehending that

most people look to others for help in ethical situations. As a result, educational institutions and

organizations both have essential responsibilities to play in offering opportunities for growth and

an environment that encourages ethical behavior. As the industry and labor force continue to

transform, ethical decision-making in enterprises will become increasingly crucial. These shifts

include positions in the service and information industries rather than conventional, repetitive

jobs. Workers in these positions have more discretion and interact with the environment more

frequently, creating more opportunities for ethical decision-making.