Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It

Bazerman and Tenbrunsel describe why people with good intentions may fail to act in accordance with their own ethical standards. Relying on studies from the field of behavioral ethics, psychology, and other social sciences they demonstrate presence of "blind spots," or ethical vulnerabilities which are often outside of their own conscious awareness. "Without an awareness of blind sports, traditional approaches to ethics won't be particular useful in improving behavior" (p. 37). They note that approaches such as developing ethics codes, or giving mandatory lectures on ethics are often ineffective. Fortunately, they offer specific strategies to help the readers avoid "ethical sinkholes." They ask the readers to consider, for example, whether a problem is defined as an ethical issue or a non-ethical issue (such as a business decision or an engineering decision); whether prejudices that are outside of their conscious awareness may motivate their behaviors; whether informal or unwritten forces within the organization encourage employees to ignore or minimize the ethical implications of a decision; or whether isolation, uncertainty or time pressures may increase the likelihood of an unethical decision. Bazerman and Tenbrunsel look at ethics from the standpoint of individual, institutional, and societal decision making. Their book is clearly written with good examples and research results that are clearly explained and it has applications for business owners, employees, professionals, and everyday individuals.

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This book is an absolute must read for all business and technical professionals, law makers and enforces. It gives a good overview of comparative ethics, from which can be derived a greater understanding of some of the causes and mechanisms of unethical events. And by implication, what can be done to avoid or correct their occurrence.

To the point, good examples and cases, well developed and easy to read. Extremely useful.