Ethics and honesty in organizations: Unique organizational challenges

Ethics and honesty in organizations deserve unique attention as the workplace context adds additional complexities to be considered. We organize the development in research into three areas: (a) the move from the traditional view of looking at unethical behaviors in organizations as motivated by self-interest to the one looking at some motivated by the desire to benefit others; (b) honesty in organizations and the different motivational tensions at work that add to its complexities; (c) interventions to curb unethical behaviors and encourage honesty at work. In the process, we identify and typologize how different pillars within the organization-hierarchy, goal interdependence, and coordination and teamwork-bring about unique psychological tensions and challenges that make ethics and honesty in organizations particularly complex. We conclude by encouraging more observer- versus actor-centric future research.