Article archive / December 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 4. Source pages: 12.
The Ethical Executive by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey
In looking for a new approach to teaching continuing education courses on the topic of ethics, I happened upon the book The Ethical Executive by Robert Hoyk, a clinical psychologist, and Paul Hersey, a popular author in the field of leadership. Their collaborative effort draws on decades of psychological research to explore the question of why good people do bad things. The authors identify 20 primary psychological “traps” that prompt people to act in ways inconsistent with their general good intent, 17 defensive traps that result in good people repeating unethical conduct, and eight personality characteristics that make some people more vulnerable to the other 37 “traps.” Since most of the cited traps are long- known social-psychological dynamics and the personality characteristics are well known to most psychologists, it is not new information that makes the book interesting. It is the taxonomy of the various dynamics and the discussion of these dynamics as they relate to unethical conduct that makes it a worthwhile read. A caveat to acknowledge is that the intended audience for this book is business managers.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.