Investors, customers and employees increasingly expect organizations to take responsibility for the social impact of their activities. This book applies theory and research on moral psychology and social identity, to offer a new perspective on organizational social responsibility and business ethics. The authors use their unique approach to highlight recurring moral challenges in organizational behavior, such as leadership, work motivation, diversity, organizational change and stakeholder relations. Their analysis explains that people are reluctant to acknowledge and confront moral flaws in their workplace behavior, because this constitutes a source of identity threat. Common strategies to cope with this threat invite justifications and symbolic actions - and prevent moral improvement. Each chapter draws together a wealth of research findings and organizational cases. These not only identify and clarify common moral pitfalls, but also show ways to enhance the likelihood that organizations acquire the knowledge, willingness and ability to build an ethical work climate.

Provides an authoritative up-to-date survey of the current research in the area, with the goal of offering a clear picture of key developments in the discipline and the way in which new ideas are challenging traditional viewpoints. Includes varied contributions from authors who, all together, represent a broad array of social psychological research methods (including explicit and implicit self-report and behavioural measures, as well as neuroscientific research techniques). An essential and comprehensive resource for students and academics in psychology, philosophy, social psychology, and anyone interested in the psychology of morality and moral behaviour.

Morality indicates what is the 'right' and what is the 'wrong' way to behave. It is one of the most popular areas of research in contemporary social psychology, driven in part by recent political-economic crises and the behavioral patterns they exposed. In the past, work on morality tended to highlight individual concerns and moral principles, but more recently researchers have started to address the group context of moral behavior. In Morality and the Regulation of Social Behavior: Groups as Moral Anchors, Naomi Ellemers builds on her extensive research experience to draw together a wide range of insights and findings on morality. She offers an essential integrative summary of the social functions of moral phenomena, examines how social groups contribute to moral values, and explains how groups act as 'moral anchors'. Her analysis suggests that intragroup dynamics and the desire to establish a distinct group identity are highly relevant to understanding the implications of morality for the regulation of individual behavior. Yet, this group-level context has not been systematically taken into account in research on morality, nor is it used as a matter of course to inform attempts to influence moral behavior. Building on social identity and self-categorization principles, this unique book explicitly considers social groups as an important source of moral values, and examines how this impacts on individual decision making as well as collective behaviors and relations between groups in society. Throughout the book, Ellemers presents results from her own research to elucidate how social behavior is affected by moral concerns. In doing this, she highlights how such insights advance our understanding of moral behavior and moral judgments for of people who live together in communities and work together in organizations. Morality and the Regulation of Social Behavior is essential reading for academics and students in social psychology and related disciplines, and is an invaluable resource for practitioners interested in understanding moral behavior.

Social identity research is very much on the ascendancy, particularly in the field of organizational psychology. Reflecting this fact, this volume contains chapters from researchers at the cutting edge of these developments.

Psychological research on the origins and consequences of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping has moved into previously uncharted directions through the introduction of neuroscientific measures. Psychologists can now address issues that are difficult to examine with traditional methodologies and monitor motivational and emotional as they develop during ongoing intergroup interactions, thus enabling the empirical investigation of the fundamental biological bases of prejudice. However, several very promising strands of research have largely developed independently of each other. By bringing together the work of leading prejudice researchers from across the world who have begun to study this field with different neuroscientific tools, this volume provides the first integrated view on the specific drawbacks and benefits of each type of measure, illuminates how standard paradigms in research on prejudice and intergroup relations can be adapted for the use of neuroscientific methods, and illustrates how different methodologies can complement each other and be combined to advance current insights into the nature of prejudice. This cutting-edge volume will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, graduates, and researchers students who study prejudice, intergroup relations, and social neuroscience.

Psychological research on the origins and consequences of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping has moved into previously uncharted directions through the introduction of neuroscientific measures. Psychologists can now address issues that are difficult to examine with traditional methodologies and monitor motivational and emotional as they develop during ongoing intergroup interactions, thus enabling the empirical investigation of the fundamental biological bases of prejudice. However, several very promising strands of research have largely developed independently of each other. By bringing together the work of leading prejudice researchers from across the world who have begun to study this field with different neuroscientific tools, this volume provides the first integrated view on the specific drawbacks and benefits of each type of measure, illuminates how standard paradigms in research on prejudice and intergroup relations can be adapted for the use of neuroscientific methods, and illustrates how different methodologies can complement each other and be combined to advance current insights into the nature of prejudice. This cutting-edge volume will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, graduates, and researchers students who study prejudice, intergroup relations, and social neuroscience.

Social identity research is very much on the ascendancy - particularly in the field of organizational psychology. Reflecting this fact, this volume contains chapters from researchers at the cutting edge of these developments and presents findings from a range of key international research programs. Its seventeen chapters are organized into six sections dealing in turn with the nature of identity, motivation and performance, communication and decision-making, leadership and authority, change and change management, and perceiving and responding to inequity. The chapters address a broad range of topical issues including diversity, discrimination, goal-setting, groupthink, mergers, negotiation, and culture. Not only do they present a compelling framework for theoretical advance in each of these areas, but they also discuss wide-ranging issues of practical intervention and application. The result is a text that will be essential reading for students and researchers in social and organizational psychology, as well as many others who are interested in social identity and group behaviour at work.

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Morality indicates what is the 'right' and what is the 'wrong' way to behave. It is one of the most popular areas of research in contemporary social psychology, driven in part by recent political-economic crises and the behavioral patterns they exposed. In the past, work on morality tended to highlight individual concerns and moral principles, but more recently researchers have started to address the group context of moral behavior. In Morality and the Regulation of Social Behavior: Groups as Moral Anchors, Naomi Ellemers builds on her extensive research experience to draw together a wide range of insights and findings on morality. She offers an essential integrative summary of the social functions of moral phenomena, examines how social groups contribute to moral values, and explains how groups act as 'moral anchors'. Her analysis suggests that intragroup dynamics and the desire to establish a distinct group identity are highly relevant to understanding the implications of morality for the regulation of individual behavior. Yet, this group-level context has not been systematically taken into account in research on morality, nor is it used as a matter of course to inform attempts to influence moral behavior. Building on social identity and self-categorization principles, this unique book explicitly considers social groups as an important source of moral values, and examines how this impacts on individual decision making as well as collective behaviors and relations between groups in society. Throughout the book, Ellemers presents results from her own research to elucidate how social behavior is affected by moral concerns. In doing this, she highlights how such insights advance our understanding of moral behavior and moral judgments for of people who live together in communities and work together in organizations. Morality and the Regulation of Social Behavior is essential reading for academics and students in social psychology and related disciplines, and is an invaluable resource for practitioners interested in understanding moral behavior.

Investors, customers and employees increasingly expect organizations to take responsibility for the social impact of their activities. This book applies theory and research on moral psychology and social identity, to offer a new perspective on organizational social responsibility and business ethics. The authors use their unique approach to highlight recurring moral challenges in organizational behavior, such as leadership, work motivation, diversity, organizational change and stakeholder relations. Their analysis explains that people are reluctant to acknowledge and confront moral flaws in their workplace behavior, because this constitutes a source of identity threat. Common strategies to cope with this threat invite justifications and symbolic actions – and prevent moral improvement. Each chapter draws together a wealth of research findings and organizational cases. These not only identify and clarify common moral pitfalls, but also show ways to enhance the likelihood that organizations acquire the knowledge, willingness and ability to build an ethical work climate.

Public debates tend to see social inequality as resulting from individual decisions people make, for instance with respect to their education or lifestyle. Solutions are often sought in supporting individuals to make better choices. This neglects the importance of social groups and communities in determining individual outcomes. A moral perspective on social inequality questions the fairness of insisting on individual responsibilities, when members of some groups systematically receive fewer opportunities than others. The essays in this book have been prepared by experts from different disciplines, ranging from philosophy to engineering, and from economics to epidemiology. On the basis of recent scientific insights, World of Difference examines how group memberships impact on individual outcomes in four key domains: health, education and work, migration, and the environment. This offers a new moral perspective on social inequality, which policy makers tend to neglect.