Ignorance-Concealing Use of Low-Moral Means by Outsider Managers, A Covert Corrupting Practice that Nurtures Amoral Executives

Abstract

Executives’ morality and ethics became major research topics after recent business scandals, but research missed a major explanation of executives’ amorality: career advancement by ‘jumping’ between firms that causes ignorance of job-pertinent tacit know-how and phronesis (Greek for practical wisdom), tempting ‘jumpers’ to conceal managerial ignorance (hereafter: CoMI) by detachment and/or autocratic seduction-coercion. CoMI causes a distrust and ignorance cycle, which engenders mismanagement that bars performance-based career advancement and encourages low-moral careerism (L-MC), advancing by bluffs, power abuse, scapegoating and other self-serving subterfuges. Though L-MC is a known malady of large organizations, its explanation missed ‘jumpers’ choice of CoMI, probably because the latter remained on organizations’ dark side through secrecy and conspiracies of silence. A 5-year semi-native anthropological study of five ‘jumper’-managed automatic processing plants and their parent inter-kibbutz co-operatives found common CoMI-induced L-MC among executives, 80% of CEOs and 72% of plant managers, versus only among some 25% of mid-levellers. This gradation of morality accorded power, authority and status ranking that made practicing CoMI-L-MC easier the higher one’s position; it is consistent with findings that show lower morality the higher one’s status (Piff et al., 2012) and supports the hypothesis that ‘jumping’ careers tend to nurture amoral executives. Ideas for remedies for this corporate malady are suggested, and further study of ‘jumpers’ coping with ignorance is called for.