The Hindu Business Line : Traps at work

One of the examples in The Ethical Executive by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey ( www.vivagroupindia.com) describes an experiment by Donna Gelfand at the University of Utah, which had, as its subjects, about 300 men and women, who were adult shoppers in two drugstores. “A shoplifter, a 21-year-old confederate, gained the attention of an unsuspecting shopper by dropping a store item. The confederate was given a signal when the shopper was looking at her. She stole several items and left the store.” When shoppers were later questioned about the incident, it was learnt that though all of the subjects had seen the shoplifting only 28 per cent of them had reported it. “If 72 per cent of people don’t report an illegal behaviour by a total stranger, imagine the percentage of people who ignore transgressions in a business environment, especially if the transgressor is your boss, who has the power to fire you – whistleblowing can be ‘career suicide.’”

They narrate the case of the Ford Explorer which initiated a massive recall in August 2000 in response to allegations that the tyres caused fatal accidents. “Ford Motor Company began an analysis of 13 million Firestone tyres that were still being utilised on Ford Explorers and trucks.” In May 2001, when Ford met with Firestone to talk about ‘tyre safety,’ Firestone wanted to talk about Ford Explorer. “Firestone ended its business relationship with Ford. Ford announced that it ‘did not have confidence in the tyre’ and replaced the 13 million tyres still in use.”

D. Murali

BookPeek.blogspot.com