Exploring the moral foundations of crisis management

Abstract

Crises are complex, multi-faceted, and ill-defined systems of highly interconnected problems. Profound ethical issues are among their prime components. Therefore, any attempt to manage them is unprofessional at best if it does not include ethical and moral standards. The link between ethics and crisis management, however, is seriously underdeveloped. We explore a pluralistic framework, Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), to take a step toward developing this important link.According to MFT, nature imbues us with “moral intuitions” which are continually shaped by our lifelong experiences. In particular, MFT has two sets of Foundations. We argue that MFT's Individualizing Moral Foundations emphasize the necessity of treating stakeholders fairly and protecting them from potential and actual harm; whereas its Binding Foundations emphasize the necessity of expanding the organization's moral compass to include a broad set of stakeholders, establishing trust and coalitions with them, and creating a culture within which expertise and diverse opinions are respected, and open-mindedness and critical thinking are highly valued. We discuss how organizations can manage moral intuitions to create an environment in which fast, automatic, habitual yet moral and rational judgments consistent with the moral standards of an organization and society at large, can flourish.