The Clean Conscience At Work: Emotions, Intuitions And Morality

How do people decide what is right and wrong, and to what extent are their actions guided by such moral considerations? Inspired by philosophical traditions, early approaches to morality focused on rationality, and assumed that people arrive at moral standards by logical thought. More recently, however, psychologists have explored the influence of emotions and intuitions on morality, and evidence has been accumulating that moral decisions and behaviors are far from rational, but instead, are guided by intuitions and situational considerations. For example, seemingly irrelevant concerns such as keeping one's mind and spirit clean and pure can change people's moral judgment. Emotions can also influence behavior, and positive, uplifting emotions such as elevation and gratitude can be harnessed to produce beneficial outcomes for individuals and organizations alike. Furthermore, people appear to aspire to an equilibrium of moral self-worth, and engage in more or less ethical behavior depending on their currently perceived moral integrity. Thus, morality and ethical behavior is less likely to reside in the person than in the context, and thus, for the study of spirituality, it might be beneficial to focus on people's situational constraints in the workplace rather than their stable dispositions. Further, because of their potential to inspire positive action, organizations might aim to make positive moral emotions, such as gratitude, elevation, and awe part of everyday work contexts. Overall, in organizations and the workplace, the goal shifts from trying to identify the moral individual to providing the contextual conditions that appeal to spiritual concerns in order to foster moral behavior.