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was truly remarkable, there was a long, silent pause. When from panel discussions at the 2015 Western, Midwestern, and
the lead author followed up and asked for clarification, one Academy of Management meetings.
student initially hesitated and then blurted out that they had to
adopt the framework that it was never acceptable to cheat as Declaration of Conflicting Interests
that perspective was much easier to defend than the premise The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
that cheating is acceptable under certain circumstances. to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
So, nothing appeared to change. The class consensus
remained the same. Cheating (and lying and stealing as well) Funding
depends entirely on the context in which the individual finds The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support
oneself. Thus, for many of today’s students, the stated goal to for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The
be moral has not simply been overpowered, it has become interview with Steve Kerr was made possible with funds from the
displaced by the desire to maintain control of their desired Larkin Distinguished Professorship at Fordham University’s
(but unstated) pursuit of pure self-interest and entitlement. Gabelli School of Business.
Left unattended, it can get even worse. Giacalone and
Promislo (2013) suggested an even more troubling and References
extreme consequence, which they termed the stigmatization Adorno, T., Frankel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford,
of goodness. According to their thesis, more and more of our R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. New York, NY:
students are not only themselves becoming morally bankrupt Harper.
(willing to lie, cheat, or steal), but also disparaging of those American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and sta-
students seen as living moral lives (in this case those not tistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA:
willing to cheat). Far too many of our future leaders appear American Psychiatric Publishing.
to consider any failure to commit a high-benefit crime asso- Ariely, D. (2012). The (honest) truth about dishonesty: How
ciated with a low expected cost as an indication of not acting we lie to everyone—Especially ourselves. New York, NY:
in a rational manner. Fortunately, there is hope. But the time HarperCollins.
to act is now. Although the 3-H approach to character devel- Asch, S. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: I. A
opment has been shown to have positive results in limited minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological
Monographs: General and Applied, 70(9, Whole No. 416),
situations (Wright, 2015), it bears further examination. 1-70.
Examples of the 3-H approach involve various forms of role- Babiak, P., & Hare, R. (2007). Snakes in suits: When psychopaths
playing, the development of a character-based vocabulary, go to work. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
and the identification of character role models. We encour- Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
age our colleagues to consider the positive benefits of includ- Prentice Hall.
ing a 3-H approach in their classes. Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of
inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3,
193-209.
Concluding Thoughts Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator vari-
Kerr’s observations of so-called “odd” phenomena led him able distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual,
to write one of the most influential management articles of strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
all time. However, it is more than just, “It’s the reward sys- Batson, C. D., Kobrynowicz, D., Dinnerstein, J. L., Kampf, H. C.,
tem stupid.” As Kerr’s compelling interview and the present & Wilson, A. D. (1997). In a very different voice: Unmasking
discussion clearly indicate, it is more than faulty reward sys- moral hypocrisy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
tems that have allowed these malfunctions to continue. As a 72, 1335-1348.
result, the “Folly” remains as prevalent today as it did more Batson, C. D., & Thompson, E. R. (2001). Why do moral people
than 40 years ago. This raises a number of important ques- act morally? Motivational considerations. Current Directions
tions regarding what we need to know regarding the creation in Psychological Science, 10, 54-57.
of better functioning organizations (and better functioning Batson, C. D., Thompson, E. R., Seuferling, G., Whitney, H., &
people who populate them). Kerr’s “odd” phenomena are Strongman, J. (1999). Moral hypocrisy: Appearing moral to
real and worthy adversaries for scholars interested in creat- oneself without being so. Journal of Personality and Social
ing meaningful change and fostering more overlap between Psychology, 77, 525-537.
scholarship and practice toward the ultimate goal of “discov- Bazerman, M. H., & Tenbrunsel, A. E. (2011). Blind spots: Why we
ering” better functioning organizations. fail to do what’s right and what to do about it. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Becker, G. S. (1974). Crime and punishment: An economic
Acknowledgments approach. In G. S. Becker & W. M. Landes (Eds.), Essays in
The authors thank Steve Kerr for his generous display of time and the economics of crime and punishment (pp. 1-54). Ann Arbor,
talent. The genesis for both the interview and context article came MI: UMI Publishing