Do employers always value Honesty?

Honesty and integrity.

I teach an Ethics class at the Oregon Public Safety Academy. During one exercise, I ask students from law enforcement professions such as police, corrections, and parole and probation to rank their top 5 attributes or characteristics.
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And they almost always list honesty and/or integrity in their top 5. 
In fact, when I ask the students to reduce their list to 4, 3, 2, and eventually their top characteristic, one of those two characteristics usually survives.

Which makes sense.

As a society, we have high expectations of law enforcement professionals. We expect them to be honest and trustworthy. In fact, before we hire public safety professionals, we subject them to an intense background check. We “weed out” anyone we know has engaged in illegal or unethical behavior.

But are there professions where the opposite is true?

Do some professions tolerate or even expect lying and deception?

According to recent study by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the answer may be yes.
On the surface, such a tolerance--even preference--for lying (despite the moral and economic cost of fraudulent behavior, embezzlement, and corruption) seems puzzling. But researchers, hoping for more insight, designed a series of experiments to test their hypothesis.

Their work involved several phases. 

Initially, researchers asked participants to rate 32 occupations as being either “high” or “low” in selling orientation. A high rating meant the participant felt that the job required professionals to persuade others to buy something right away. A low rating meant the professionals had little requirement to sell something quickly. 

Once they had gathered that data, the researchers narrowed the list. They chose three occupations viewed as having the highest level of selling orientation – sales, investment banking and advertising. They also chose three occupations viewed as lowest in selling orientation – consulting, nonprofit management, and accounting.

Researchers then had the participants watch individuals performing a variety of tasks, such as reporting expenses after a business trip, or competing in a game with financial stakes. In so doing, the participants knew when the individuals were being honest and when they were lying.

When the activities were over, participants were asked to judge: Who was most successful? Who was most likely to be competent?

Overwhelmingly, the participants believed that liars would be more successful than honest people in high selling orientation occupations.

In fact, when given the choice to hire either an honest or deceptive individual to complete selling-oriented tasks, they were more likely to hire deceivers, even though they knew them to be liars, and even if their own money was at stake.
The study may explain why deception persists (and may be encouraged) within certain occupations. It also explains why hiring managers and other executives tend to view liars as being more competent for high-pressure sales roles. 
And why they tend to hire them.

The study concluded by saying that organizations can reduce deception by reducing high pressure sales.
Instead, the study recommended a customer-oriented approach. This approach emphasizes how an employee can fulfill their client’s long-term interests. The study believed such a shift would then impact the tendency for hiring managers to view deceivers as competent.

This, in turn, would reduce the temptation to hire them.

Until next time.

Keith


For more information and links to the actual study, please see:
University of Chicago Booth School of Business. "Why you may be prone to hiring a liar, and not even know it: New research finds deception is viewed as a sign of competence in certain occupations." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 June 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190611145136.htm>.

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