Want to create an ethical workplace? Doing so is not about teaching best practices or promulgating rules and imposing sanctions for violating them. It’s about constant reminders to employees of ethical obligations and the enormous power of humbleness and forgiveness.
Dan Ariely nails the periodic part in his book “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.” In his experiment, there are three groups of subjects. Each subject is given a work sheet provided by Ariely with numbers on it, and they have five minutes to circle adjacent numbers that add up to 10. Everyone’s answers are placed in a lottery drawing. If the subject’s answer is picked, the lottery winner gets $10 for each correct match.
