Moral residue
Ηθικό υπόλοιπο
What is left when two obligations were both genuine and only one of them could be met: the second one does not stop being an obligation because you chose the first. The term comes from moral philosophy. It names a mechanism, and it does not tell you which side should have won, because nobody can tell you that.
How to spot it
Write both obligations as one plain sentence each, with no word joining them. If both sentences still stand on their own, what you are carrying is a residue and not a mistake.
The research behind the term
The term is not our invention. It comes from published research, and what follows is what that research found — our own synthesis of the published abstract, not a translation of the original.
Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral Ethics in Organizations: A Review — doi:10.1177/0149206306294258
What it found
- Ethical behavior within an organization has been studied intensively, and the field now has a substantial body of knowledge about managing it.
- The influences are organized at three levels: individual, group and organizational — an ethical decision is not only a matter of character.
- Gaps in knowledge and obstacles that limit understanding of the phenomenon are identified.
How it found it
A review of the behavioral ethics literature in organizations, aiming at a coherent picture of the state of the field and proposals for future research.
What it means for ethical decision making
Acting ethically at work does not depend on you alone: the group and the organization largely determine what counts as possible — which is why the same decision is made differently in a different environment.
Practised in
The term does not stay a definition. It appears inside missions where the pattern happens in real time and you have to recognise it as it happens to you.
Two Things You Promised
Sources
Every claim on this page maps to published research. The citations link to the original source.
- Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral Ethics in Organizations: A Review — doi:10.1177/0149206306294258