Organizational design and ethics: The effects of rigid hierarchy on moral reasoning

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between organizational design and ethics. It argues that an organization designed in a rigidly hierarchical structure restricts the moral development of its members and ultimately adversely affects their ethical behavior. Prior research suggests members of organizations structured in a rigid hierarchy exhibit less autonomous behavior when compared to less rigid organizations. As autonomous behavior is also a sine qua non for higher levels of moral development, then the study hypothesizes a negative relationship between rigid hierarchy and moral development. To empirically test this hypothesis, the study compared the moral development of individuals from a rigid hierarchy with individuals from society-at-large and from less-rigid organizations. The study used Kohlberg’s six-stage moral development framework to operationalize different levels of moral judgment, and employed Rest’s Defining Issues Test (DIT) as a measurement instrument. The DIT was administered to a cross-section of 480 members of the U.S.

Citation

White, R.D. (1999), "Organizational design and ethics: The effects of rigid hierarchy on moral reasoning", International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, Vol. 2 No. 3/4, pp. 431-456. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-02-03-04-1999-B008