Unethical pro-organizational behavior

Ifeoluwa Tobi Popoola (Walter F. and Virginia Johnson School of Business, McMurry University Abilene, Texas, USA) (Management, University of Mississippi Oxford, Mississippi, USA)

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

ISSN: 0951-3574

Article publication date: 18 June 2019

Issue publication date: 18 June 2019

947

Citation

Popoola, I.T. (2019), "Unethical pro-organizational behavior", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 1204-1206. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2019-043

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited


Improving accountability is a collective project […] We should not allow incentives to crowd out […] Our commitment to the social-benefit quest.

(Novicevic, 2013)

Resisters yell […]

Your business is unethical,

Your tactic shady,

Your account dubious,

Your acts wrong,

Your way(s) impure!

Supporters respond […]

We are prone to human frailty,

We support the greater good,

We did nothing untoward,

We defend the oath avowed,

We are righteous!

Regulators claim,

“It is unethical!”

Employees claim,

“It’s ethical by organization’s norms.”

Rivals contend,

“It violates laws!”

Proles contend,

“It increases shareholder value.”

Realtors asseverate,

“It harms society!”

Workers riposte,

“It benefits the organization.”

Where is the jury?

When did the organization inflict injury?

Why reduce business to penury?

Who accuses us of usury?

What did the organization bury?

Why claim we operate in luxury?

Economic exchanges

Built on […]

social exchanges

accountability

trust

ethics institutionalization

organizational identification

and/or moral identification?!

It may be unethical […]

But, is it illegal?

It may hurt a few […]

But, does it not benefit a slew?

It may draw criticism from opponents […]

But, are there not exponents?

Why?

But, why care?

Why government policing?

Why close business down?

Why create unemployment now?

Whew!

We made a “honest” mistake!

Why cry wolf?

“Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB).”

What a term!

Employees defending the organization

At theirs,

[…] and society’s expense.

Diligently

[…] recruit good apples!

Lest saints become sinners.

[…] And stakeholders pay.

Accountants call it […]

“creative accounting”

Constabulary call it […]

“corruption”

Economists call it […]

“shady policy”

Faith holders call it […]

“sin”

Laymen call it […]

“window dressing”

And legalists call it […]

“bad faith”

Many (more) skins UPB wears.

But these remain true of it,

[…] it is unethical

[…] it benefits organizations

[…] it harms society

[…] it may harm employees

Reference

Novicevic, M. (2013), “The creed of good governance”, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 299-300.

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