Question

Describe how diffusion of responsibility influence managing ethical behavior.

Answer 1

Diffusion of responsibility occurs when people who need to make a decision will wait for someone else to take the responsibility to act on it. It is a psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely to take action when they are present in the large group. Normally, people are supported by their community. Community members don’t encourage their people to take responsibility of their decision. Therefore, Community is the reason why people don't support each other.

If more people are involved and it is most likely to happen that each person will do nothing because they believe that someone else from the group will probably respond. This can be proved with the help of an experiment which was set up by psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané where a distress call was made that someone nearby has suffered an injury. When the subject heard the cry of the injured person and thought they are the only ones who heard it, 85% of them helped. If the subject thought that there is other person who heard the cry than only 62% of them helped. Moreover, if the subjects thought that there are four other people who heard the cry than just 31% who took the action.

There are two conditions where this phenomenon occurs:

• Pro-social Conditions: This is when an individual present in the group want to take an action but the presence of everyone holds them back. This condition can cause because of lack of confidence or competence. These individuals don’t know if they are doing the right thing as so many people are watching them.
• Anti-social Conditions: This is when an individual present in the group has an easier time to act negatively because the group replace his person hood and grant her or him a temporary anonymity.

Diffusion of responsibility influences the Ethical Behavior.

• False beliefs: It influences ethical behavior by creating a false belief among the people because they believe one of two things. First, they think that so many people are present so someone is bound to take responsibility. Second, they think that so many people are present then they would never be accountable for their inaction. By taking no action on responsibility is an unethical behavior.
• Affects the Leadership trait: If the person is not taking the responsibility for both individually or as a team then this will affects the leadership trait which every organization seeks in every employee. This behavior of employee is unethical.
• Affects Integrity: Ethical person demonstrate personal integrity and courage by doing what they think is right even there is a great pressure to do it. They are honorable and principled and they fight for their beliefs. If the person is unknown of what he/she doing is right then it will affect the integrity.
• Concern for others: If any person is having diffusion of responsibility then he/she will not care about others who need a genuine support from them. Just in above stated experiment, people are not concerned with the fact that person who is seriously injured needs medical attention rather they were wasting their time in looking at other people who will take the responsibility on their behalf to take that person to hospital.
• Discrimination and Biases: If the group member holds discriminatory position towards individual then the other individuals may less likely to take action in that group such as gender, race, socioeconomic status etc. This is an unethical behavior of an individual.