Countering Moral Neutralisation

Abstract

AbstractThe communication climate in an organisation can serve as a platform for expressing disagreement and dissent against efforts to justify unethical behaviour. This chapter describes how alternatives to act against one’s moral convictions and standards can create moral dissonance, a mismatch between something one can be tempted or ordered to do and one’s morality. In such circumstances, one option is to dismiss the alternative, while another is to engage in moral neutralisation, a practice of finding excuses and justifications for going forward with this alternative. This process can lead to a normalisation of questionable behaviour. In a well-functioning communication climate, decision-makers are challenged in the critical quality moments when they start to engage in moral neutralisation.