I read a TOI article on Wednesday August 9, 2006. It was captioned ' Stress in Iraq driving US soldier’s nuts'.
It explained the stress that soldiers were going through in Iraq. One of the soldier reported ' the unit was full in despair." Another soldier said ' It drives you nuts. You feel like every step you might get blown up. You are just walking a death walk'. Soldiers often drank whisky and took painkillers to relieve the stress of not knowing whether the day would be their last. These soldiers reportedly went to a house, killed a girl’s parents and then raped her.
Psychologists have reported many ‘situations’ where one behaves beyond what is considered to be normal. Stanford experiment where ‘normal people’ told to become ‘guards’ used ‘dangerous and inhuman punishments’ on the ‘prisoners’ is well known. It is well accepted that normal human beings, can behave very differently, if the ‘context’ is appropriate. For instance, normal ‘honest’ citizens are known to ‘hide’ their ‘incomes’ to save income tax. They alter the very definition of honesty to suit their behavior.
Surprisingly, despite the huge amount of evidence, human beings still refuse to ‘accept’ the power of a ‘situation’ ( context) that can change one’s behavior. For instance, when told about this US soldiers, they refuse to agree that, in a similar context, they may also behave in a similar way.
However, I have found countless situations in organizations where individuals do behave ‘abnormally’ in a situation. Sales people are often seen to make claims about their products which are blatantly untrue by speaking a ‘white lie’. Or production departments often book ‘sales’ to show high quarterly sales that will look good in a balance sheet. Or HR executives often go back on promises they make while recruiting by citing that they did not promise anything in ‘written’. Or bosses often make grand promises, even when they know that they cannot keep their promises.
All these are normal individuals who behave ‘differently’ in a given situation. Although it may look ‘unethical’, the behaviour is absolutely understandable when one accepts the power of ‘context’. However when Enron behaviour happened, all organizational executives sound ‘shock’ and claim that they will never behave in the same fashion. But I am sure, that in the same situation, we all (almost all of us) would behave in a similar manner.
Psychologists have reported many ‘situations’ where one behaves beyond what is considered to be normal. Stanford experiment where ‘normal people’ told to become ‘guards’ used ‘dangerous and inhuman punishments’ on the ‘prisoners’ is well known. It is well accepted that normal human beings, can behave very differently, if the ‘context’ is appropriate. For instance, normal ‘honest’ citizens are known to ‘hide’ their ‘incomes’ to save income tax. They alter the very definition of honesty to suit their behavior.
Surprisingly, despite the huge amount of evidence, human beings still refuse to ‘accept’ the power of a ‘situation’ ( context) that can change one’s behavior. For instance, when told about this US soldiers, they refuse to agree that, in a similar context, they may also behave in a similar way.
However, I have found countless situations in organizations where individuals do behave ‘abnormally’ in a situation. Sales people are often seen to make claims about their products which are blatantly untrue by speaking a ‘white lie’. Or production departments often book ‘sales’ to show high quarterly sales that will look good in a balance sheet. Or HR executives often go back on promises they make while recruiting by citing that they did not promise anything in ‘written’. Or bosses often make grand promises, even when they know that they cannot keep their promises.
All these are normal individuals who behave ‘differently’ in a given situation. Although it may look ‘unethical’, the behaviour is absolutely understandable when one accepts the power of ‘context’. However when Enron behaviour happened, all organizational executives sound ‘shock’ and claim that they will never behave in the same fashion. But I am sure, that in the same situation, we all (almost all of us) would behave in a similar manner.
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