Lesson Series

Business Ethics

Lesson Focus

Employee Ethics

Time to Complete

10 Minutes
Why don’t good people always do the right thing? For example, why don’t we stand up to a bully after saying we would? Or why would we abandon a cause we intended to support? 

Doing the right thing is simple ... in theory. But when we need to take action, we don’t always live up to our own ideals. We go with our instinct, ignore our conscience, or take the easy way out. We may not even do it consciously. 

The gap between ideals and reality is why making ethical decisions can be difficult. In this lesson, you’ll learn some common rationalizations we use to excuse our behaviour, the conflict of interest that causes those rationalizations, and four tips to overcome them.