Navigating Ethical Issues in Teams

Navigating Ethical Issues in Teams

Unethical conduct in organizations remains a pervasive and costly problem, producing substantial harm to both organizations and individuals. At the same time, organizations operate in environments characterized by increasing societal expectations, regulatory pressures, and heightened attention to integrity and transparency. While formal rules and policies provide guidance, many ethically relevant situations arise in everyday work where expectations are not fully defined and employees must interpret situations and decide how to act.

In such situations, employees rarely act in isolation. Instead, they exchange perspectives with colleagues, interpret observations, and reflect on how particular situations or behaviors should be understood. Through these everyday interactions, shared understandings of what is considered “right” and “wrong” gradually develop and evolve over time.

Our research focuses on how employees navigate morally relevant situations in organizational settings and how shared understandings of appropriate behavior take shape in everyday work contexts. We are particularly interested in the social processes through which individuals and teams interpret situations, exchange perspectives, and respond to morally relevant challenges in their work.

Illustrative research interests

• How shared understandings of „right“ or „wrong“ behavior emerge in teams
• Social interactions and team dynamics in addressing moral and ethical issues
• How teams navigate morally ambiguous situations in everyday work contexts
• Speaking up about ethical concerns (ethical voice)
• The effects of norm deviations, moral conflicts, and ethical team processes on team performance, collaboration, and decision quality

We are open to collaborations with industry partners and study how teams deal with ethical issues in everyday organizational contexts and how shared moral standards for appropriate behavior emerge.

If you are interested in our research area “Navigating Ethical Behavior in Teams”, please get in touch with us and contact Marie-Christin Schmid (Schmid.Marie@lmu.de, 089-2180-9546).