when good people behave badly, what will you do?

WHEN GOOD PEOPLE BEHAVE BADLY, WHAT WILL YOU DO?

BY: CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB

WHAT IS HUMAN BEHAVIOR?

Is an attempt to understand HOW and WHY humans act the way they do.

Is a product both of innate human nature and of individual experience and environment

CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB

TWO CATEGORIES: STANDARD OF GOOD AND BAD BEHAVIOR

FIT FOR PURPOSE--fitness implies appropriateness of the act.

MORALLY ADMIRABLE--something is moral, we say an act is good or bad based on the accepted moral standard in the society


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY1. TUNNEL VISION

Setting and achieving goals is important, but single-minded focus on them can blind people to ethical concerns.CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB

REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY

The use of nicknames and euphemisms for questionable practices can free them of their moral connotations, making them seem more acceptable.

2. THE POWER OF NAMES



3. SOCIAL BOND THEORY

In large organizations, employees can begin to feel more like numbers or cogs in a machine than individuals.CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB


4. THE GALATEA EFFECT

Self image determines behavior. People who have a strong sense of themselves as individuals are less likely to do unethical things.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY5. TIME PRESSURE

When given ample time, almost all helped. When they were deliberately let out late, only 63 percent helped. When encouraged to go as fast as possible, 90 percent ignored the man.CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB


6. ACCEPTANCE OF SMALL THEFTThose small thefts are ignored. So are slightly larger ones, like over-claiming expenses or accepting unauthorized business gifts. It doesn't take long for people to begin pushing those limits.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY7. SELF-SERVING BIAS

Few people believe they're average; most think they're smarter and more ethical than those around them. Those feelings, and overestimation of other's biases can lead to unethical behavior.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY8. CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION

Extreme wealth, or environments that reflect it can lead to unethical behavior. The mere presence of money makes people more selfish, as they focus on success and individual needs over other factors. CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB


9. THE PYGMALION EFFECTThe way that people are seen and treated influences the way they act. When employees are viewed suspiciously and constantly treated like potential thieves, they are more likely be thieves.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY10. ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE

Employees reflect their environment. If corruption, major or minor, is a part of their workplace, they become blind to its occurrence and its possible costs and that the more willing they were to accept or give bribes.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY11. REACTANCE THEORY

Rules are designed to prevent unethical behavior, but when they're seen as unjust or excessive they can provoke the opposite reaction.This is known as reactance theory. People resent threats to their freedom, and they often manifest that resistance by flouting certain rules.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY12. OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

is ingrained in our culture and workplace. When someone in a position of authority asks an employee to do something unethical or illegal, they can find it difficult to say no. It's easier to justify bad behavior, and when people see themselves as an instrument of another's wishes, they feel less responsible.



13. THE BLINDING EFFECT OF POWERPowerful or influential people appear more corrupt because they're caught more publicly. However, a recent study found that when given power, people set ethical rules much higher for others than they do themselves and considered as morally distinct from their employees, and not subject to the same rules.CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB


14. BROKEN WINDOW THEORYWhen people see disorder or disorganization, they assume there is no real authority. In that environment, their threshold to overstepping legal and moral boundaries is lower.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY15. THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

"If nobody else steals stationary, the company won't notice if I do. If nobody else in the area pollutes, they won't notice if a tiny bit of waste is released."Positive and ethical behavior can sometimes engender an opposite reaction. If total damage is limited, people feel as though they can take more liberties.



16. THE FOOT IN THE DOOR

When a figure in authority asks someone to skirt the rules, they want to seem like a team player. Giving in modifies self perception. A person may begin to think of themselves as extremely loyal, someone who gets things done. In that frame of mind, they may be willing to do increasingly unethical things.CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB

REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY17. WINNER TAKE-ALL COMPETITION

In situations where there is a clearly-defined winner and loser, people are more likely to cheat. They desperately want to avoid the financial and reputational costs of losing.CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB

REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY18. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND RATIONALIZATION

When people's actions differ from their morals, they begin to rationalize both to protect themselves from a painful contradiction and to build up protection against accusations.The bigger the dissonance, the larger the rationalization, and the longer it lasts, the less immoral it seems.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY19. PROBLEMATIC PUNISHMENTS

Attaching fines or other economic punishments to immoral behavior can have an undesired effect. Once something is cast in those terms, it loses its moral connotation and becomes an entirely different calculation.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY20. LACK OF SLEEP AND HYPOGLYCAEMIA

Research has found that tired participants asked to complete math tasks significantly over-report correct answers. While being tired or hungry won't make someone embezzle, it leaves them more open to moments of weakness.



21. ESCALATING COMMITMENTBig thieves usually start out as small thieves. One way such actions become a slippery slope leading to ever greater misconduct is the feeling that there's no way out. CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB


22. THE INDUCTION MECHANISMPeople compare their present behavior to what they've done in the past. Another way people slide down the slope of unethical behavior is to stop seeing that behavior as bad.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY23. MARKET AND SHAREHOLDER PRESSURE

"As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance" (the leveraged buyout market in 2007)-- Before the collapse, there was intense pressure for managers to join in on the huge and risky profits, despite the evident bubbliest of the market.



24. THE COMPENSATION EFFECTSometimes people, having been moral and forthright in their dealings for a long time, feel as if they have banked up some kind of "ethical credit," which they may use to justify immoral behavior in the future.


REASONS WHY PEOPLE ACT BADLY25. NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF TRANSPARENCYTransparency usually

serves to reduce unethical behavior, as it increases the likelihood of getting caught. Experiments examining the publication of conflicts of interest have found a perverse effect.The effect comes from something called "moral licensing." CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO; MPA,LlB


26. BAD COMMUNICATIONIssues of corruption and morality are often treated as black and white, wrongdoers are badly punished, and gray areas are not discussed.That can lead to an environment where rather than sounding out ideas that border on unethical, people push and test their limits.



27. THE PRESSURE TO CONFORM

Nobody likes being a nuisance. In order to fit in with a group, people do things they might not otherwise. That can lead them to ignore abuses for the sake of peace or unity and go along with questionable decisions.


RESEARCH SHOWS:

"People are more likely to cheat and make immoral decisions when their transgressions don't involve an explicit action," says Rimma Teper, PhD

HANDLING TOXIC PEOPLEToxic people defy logic. Some are blissfully unaware of the negative impact that they have on those around themOthers seem to derive satisfaction from creating chaos and pushing other people’s buttons.

Either way, they create unnecessary complexity, strife, and worst of all stress.

1. SET LIMITS (ESPECIALLY WITH COMPLAINERS)

WAYS SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE HANDLE TOXIC PEOPLE

Complainers and negative people are bad news because they wallow in their problems and fail to focus on solutions.

A great way to set limits is to ask complainers how they intend to fix the problem. They will either quiet down or redirect the conversation in a productive direction.


2. Don’t Die in the FightWhat’s important is to live to fight another day, especially when your foe is a toxic individual. In conflict, unchecked emotion makes you dig your heels in and fight the kind of battle that can leave you severely damaged.


3. RISE ABOVEToxic people drive you crazy because their behavior is so irrational. Make no mistake about it; their behavior truly goes against reason.

The more irrational and off-base someone is, the easier it should be for you to remove yourself from their traps. Quit trying to beat them at their own game.


4. STAY AWARE OF THEIR EMOTIONSMaintaining an emotional distance requires awareness. You can’t stop someone from pushing your buttons and you’ll find yourself in situations where you’ll need to regroup and choose the best way forward. When engaged in similarly derailed thinking, it’s best to just smile and nod. If you’re going to have to straighten them out, it’s better to give yourself some time to plan the best way to go about it.


5. ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES

This is the area where most people tend to sell themselves short.Once you’ve found your way to Rise Above a person, you’ll begin to find their behavior more predictable and easier to understand. This will equip you to think rationally about when and where you have to put up with them and when you don’tstick to your guns and keep boundaries in place when the person tries to encroach upon them, which they will.


6. THEY WON’T LET ANYONE LIMIT THEIR JOY

It’s impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don’t have to compare yourself to others, and you can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt. No matter what toxic people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within. Regardless of what people think of you you’re never as good or bad as they say you are.


7. DON’T FOCUS ON PROBLEMS—ONLY SOLUTION

Where you focus your attention determines your emotional state. Quit thinking about how troubling your difficult person is, and focus instead on how you’re going to go about handling them. This makes you more effective by putting you in control, and it will reduce the amount of stress you experience when interacting with them.


8. THEY DON’T FORGETEmotionally intelligent people are quick to forgive, but that doesn’t mean that they forget. Forgiveness requires letting go of what’s happened so that you can move on.

It doesn’t mean you’ll give a wrongdoer another chance. Successful people are unwilling to be bogged down unnecessarily by others’ mistakes, so they let them go quickly and are assertive in protecting themselves from future harm.


9. SQUASH NEGATIVE SELF-TALKSometimes you absorb the negativity of other people. There’s nothing wrong with feeling bad about how someone is treating you, but your self-talk can either intensify the negativity or help you move past it. Negative self-talk is unrealistic, unnecessary, and self-defeating. It sends you into a downward emotional spiral that is difficult to pull out of. You should avoid negative self-talk at all costs.


10. LIMIT THEIR CAFFEINE INTAKE

Drinking caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the source of the “fight-or-flight” response, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. The fight-or-flight mechanism sidesteps rational thinking in favor of a faster response.


11. GET SOME SLEEPWhen you sleep, your brain literally recharges, shuffling through the day’s memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams), so that you wake up alert and clear-headed. A good night’s sleep makes you more positive, creative, and proactive in your approach to toxic people, giving you the perspective you need to deal effectively with them.


12. USE THEIR SUPPORT SYSTEMIt’s tempting, yet entirely ineffective, to attempt tackling everything by yourself. To deal with toxic people, you need to recognize the weaknesses in your approach to them. This means tapping into your support system to gain perspective on a challenging person. Everyone has someone at work and/or outside work who is on their team ready to help them get the best from a difficult situation.

SOLUTIONBRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

...the plasticity of the brain allows it to mold and change as you practice new behaviors, even when you fail. Implementing these healthy, stress-

relieving techniques for dealing with difficult people will train your brain to handle stress more effectively and decrease the likelihood of ill effects.

THANK YOU FOR READING

CHELDHAYE

when good people behave badly, what will you do?

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