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Some people argue that women are more ethical than men and point to whistleblowers as proof of this. Sherron Watkins, Coleen Rowley, and Cynthia Cooper reported Enron, WorldCom, and the FBI respectively. What could that tell us? Perhaps women are more likely to challenge wrongdoing because they have higher moral standards. However, we could probably all name men we think are ethical, as well as women we think are not.

However, it could be argued that women tend to think more about the effect of their actions on other people than men. They are generally more relationship oriented and worry about the impact of their decisions on others, sometimes to their own detriment. It is debatable whether these traits make them more ethical. What is more true is that women take into account different issues when addressing an ethical issue. And there is research evidence to back that up.

Harvard professor Dr. Carol Gilligan investigated gender differences and published her work in a book “In a Different Voice” (1982). According to Dr. Gilligan, men think in terms of rules and fairness, while women focus more on caring, compassion, and relationships. This inevitably means that men and women approach ethical dilemmas differently,

Linda Klebe Trevino cites research that has investigated people’s strategies for making moral judgments by presenting hypothetical moral dilemmas. Subjects were asked to say what they would do and to give a justification.

In one scenario, subjects were put in the position of manager of a toy store and asked if they would break a promise to a previous customer and sell a scarce toy to a woman who claimed that her son was very ill. The “correct” ethical choice in the situation described was intentionally highly debatable.

Twice as many women as men said they would break their previous promise and, out of sympathy, sell the toy to the woman with the sick child. Men were more likely to keep their previous commitment “ for justice. ” The investigation revealed the following:

• Women found this dilemma more troubling than men.
• Men tended to describe what they would do with short, declarative responses, while women wrote much more.
• Women worked harder than men to imitate imaginative ways of solving the problem to the satisfaction of all parties.
• Many more men than women questioned the honesty of the mother of the sick child.

In another scenario, subjects were told to imagine that they were a medical supply salesperson who knows that a competitor has a superior product. They have to decide whether to share this knowledge with a surgeon who is about to perform an operation. This scenario involves important relational issues including trust and credibility, as well as the health and future of the patient. Women were significantly more likely to disclose the information.

The reasons given by the subjects for their decisions showed a clear difference between men and women:

• Relatively few men discussed the dilemma in ethical terms, while most women did.
• Men were more likely to justify disclosure by saying it would enhance their credibility and increase sales potential in the future.
• Men often emphasize the belief that their primary obligation is to sell the product of the company they work for.
• Women were more likely to devise indirect ways, such as “clues,” to provide information.
• Men’s responses were expressed in practical terms, while many women used passionate and emotionally charged language.

If, as this research suggests, women are compassionate and men righteous, who is more ethical? If female managers make ethical decisions with greater concern for relationships and feelings and less for rights and rules, does that contribute to better ethical decision-making?

Roger Steare from Cass Business School and Pavlos Stamboulides conducted research that sheds interesting light on this topic. They conducted an online “test” of ethical perspectives on decision-making. Nearly 21,000 people from 162 countries responded. The survey explored human behavior in relation to three moral philosophies: “Compliance with the rules”, “Social conscience” and “Principle-based conscience”.

Steare and Stamboulides define these three philosophies as follows:

Compliance with rules: “The right thing is to do what they tell us; don’t think, just obey. ‘

Social conscience: “The right thing is the best for others; friendship, empathy, kindness ”.

Principle-based awareness: ‘What is correct according to the virtues of our internal moral compass; courage, justice, self-discipline, trust, love and compassion ”.

Steare points out that there is a clear hierarchy in terms of maturity with greed and fear, a kind of moral childhood, at the bottom of the scale.

The results of this research showed that 28% of the respondents complied with the rules; 35% were driven by Social Awareness; and 37% were motivated by Principled Conscience. The research also showed that Principled Conscience takes over when we go from being dependent on others, such as in our childhood and adolescence, and have to stand on our own two feet, on average, by the age of 33.

The results showed that women score much higher than men in the three categories of rule compliance, social awareness, and principle awareness.

In addition to suggesting that women are in fact more ethical than men, the research certainly points to the need to involve both men and women in ethical decision-making. Doing so will undoubtedly mean that better decisions are made because the diversity of perspectives is greater.

It is clear that applying the female perspective can help ensure that an organization is more ethical in a number of ways, including:

• More empathy and therefore more care with customers
• More creative approaches to problem solving
• More effective relationship building
• Greater trust between employees and customers
• More comprehensive and comprehensive management styles

Clearly, it is best for men and women to work together so that both sets of strengths are put to use with the goal of raising ethical standards.

And men, especially those at the top, must educate themselves to understand and apply different moral perspectives.

Some practical steps organizations can take are:

• Involve both genders when drafting a code of ethics and / or handling ethical issues. Research has shown that women often perceive ethical issues in policies or practices where men do not.
• Use a mix of men and women as mentors who are available to staff when they need help identifying and / or managing an ethical issue.
• If your organization has recurring ethical problems, gather a group of men and women to find out how best to solve the problems.
• Involve both men and women in training programs so that each can learn from the other the value of different modes of moral reasoning.

I present these suggestions with caution, as the danger is bringing in the symbolic woman to play the role of ethical police officer. The idea, of course, is not to do that, but to make sure that both men and women understand and learn from each other’s perspectives. And let men, in Roger Steare’s words, “cheer up.”

References

C. Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Development of Women (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982).

LK Treviño, “Moral Reasoning and Business Ethics: Implications for Research, Education, and Management”, Journal of Business Ethics, May 1992, pp. 445.

Roger Steare and Pavlos Stamboulides