4.2 Moral ecologies in corporate governance  (Page 3/8)

Just as the Milgram experiments have been used to demonstrate the weakness of character in the face of situation-based pressures, Zimbardo’s experiments have been used to demonstrate the fragility of moral and personal identity. Powerful roles overwhelm moral integrity and conscience; individuals give way to the corrupting demands of immoral roles.

Nevertheless, Milgram and Zimbardo both pull up well short of this extreme position. Milgram talks of a former subject who used the knowledge he gained about himself as a subject in the obedience to authority experiment to strengthen his character and successfully take a leadership role in the protest movement against the Vietnam war. And Milgram also profiles two individuals who offered firm and resolute disobedience when asked to continue the experiment over the objections of the victim/learner. When the experimenter prompted Jan Rensaleer that he “had no other choice [but to continue],” he replied, “I came here on my own free will.” Gretchen Brandt, a woman who spent her youth in Nazi Germany, responded similarly. To the same prompt she replied, “I think we are here on our own free will.” During the post-experiment debriefing, both emphasized not giving over responsibility for their actions to others and acknowledged that their experience with the Nazis (Rensaleer lived in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation) may have helped them in carrying out their acts of disobedience. In reflecting on her reason for disobedience, Brandt also added, “Perhaps we have seen too much pain.”

Zimbardo also thinks that individuals can develop strategies, skills, and practices to keep hold of their moral selves in the face of strong situation and role-based pressures. These consist of exercises to gain distance and perspective on the situation and to recall oneself to one’s character and personality. Here are some examples from The Lucifer Effect of his “Ten-Step Program:”453-454

• “I am responsible.”
• “I will assert my unique identity.”
• “I respect just authority but rebel against unjust authority.”our second item here
• “I will not sacrifice personal or civic freedoms for the illusion of security.”

From gyges, milgram, and zimbardo to moral ecology