The Effects Of Circumstances On Ethics

It is likely that the incident that is most remembered about the Salt Lake Olympic games of 2002 will be the failure of one figure skating judge to act fairly in her duties. What a shame it will be to overlook the magnificent performance of hundreds of the world’s best athletes, the fine weather, the excellent preparations by the host city and to miss the dozens of human interest stories to concentrate on a failure of ethics. But, so often this is the case; an ethics failure has a more widespread effect than just on the individual who fails. Acting in isolation, this individual would not consider acting unfairly. Somehow the circumstances or situation around her changed to influence her to commit an act that would have widespread effect upon her, the athletes, the sport, the whole community of judges and the ultimate memory of the event. We may never know all of the details of this incident. It is worthy of our consideration to examine the situation at the time of her decision to surmise what factors might have influenced the ultimate decision. Determining some of the facts, we should examine what can be done to deter future ethics failure

When events of this type happen it always poses the question –why? What events in the person’s life triggered this failure? Ethics failures do not seem isolated to one particular community of humanity. The frequency with which they happen seems even stranger when behaviorists of many fields all seem to agree that seldom does of person commit a wrong act without knowing about it before the act is complete. Why can one person face a situation and avoid it and another commit the wrong act?

Is there a simple solution to this problem that all humans face? Probably not! But, I would like to look at three remedies that could possibly limit the failures. The three areas can be labeled with these words:  Preparation Commitment, and Readiness. Our focus in this seminar is on the world of the warrior. Therefore, I shall limit my remarks to areas that relate to that community.

First, I perceive that many failures occur because an individual faces a set of circumstances that are new, strange or unfamiliar. Second, the alternatives to a course of action are few and one course appeals to some of the baser elements of humanity, i.e. gratification of various types, anger, escape or preservation, to name a few, more than another. Third there is no commitment on the part of the individual to an ethic, purpose or cause that sways their decision in support of the ethic. Finally, no leader is present that either denies the wrong behavior or whose example is strong enough to influence the individual to overcome the temptation to fail.

Lets examine some examples and see how this phenomenon works. I’ll begin with the ancient and well-known story of King David and Bathsheba. As you all know King David was at his leisure on the roof of the palace when he noted a naked lady bathing on the roof of the house next door. He ordered her brought to him, they had sexual relations and later she is found to be with child. King David conceived a very elaborate plan to exonerate himself. But, commitment to duty on the part of the lady’s husband disrupts the plan. The end result, David has the faithful soldier killed, and takes the lady to be his wife. The child is born, dies very shortly afterwards and a second son is conceived and ultimately become the successor to David.

As you analyze this account you find that the sound of broken ethics is deafening. Let’s cite a few. David has sex with a married woman. Under Jewish law she in now an adulterous and subject to be stoned to death. General Joab willingly participates in a murder plot without so much as a word of protest. The nation is thrown in to tumult over divided opinion as to what has happened. David’s own family is thrown in to turmoil and the result is a bitter split between father and son results. You cannot claim that a little secret dalliance doesn’t cause harm. Discarded ethics have a way of growing in to catastrophes, particularly when they are carried out in the public sector.

This again is a “how can this happen” situation. David, by this time has enough wives and other consorts that he could have a morning, noon and night wife 365 days a year. So female companionship is not the problem. One factor seems to be that he is not involved in his normal spring occupation, which is leading the army to battle. In other words he is lonesome, bored and looking for a diversion from the normal routine of the palace. He is unaccountable to anyone. None of his inner circle of associates and servants would dare dispute his order to bring the women to him. In fact, even Nathan the priest has to concoct a fable to confront David with his misdeeds. His focus is turned from the good will of his subjects to the desire for self-gratification. It is a classic misuse of office.

Very few facts are known surrounding the incident at the Salt Lake Olympics. However, it is not difficult to speculate as to possible reasons. One or two reasons come to mind. First, national prestige and economics would constitute a worthy prize. The value of a gold medal from the Olympics is more than just an award for performance by an individual. The fiscal rewards from endorsements by athletes and publicity for equipment makers are significant. Second, every committed citizen wants to take pride in the society that they are a part of that produced a champion. It is pride by association. A guaranteed winner would constitute a very attractive offer.

The incident in Vietnam involving Lt. Calley and his troops has been looked at from every angle. My only observation is that it was a two-part failure. One, it was a failure of leadership. Lt. Calley let the circumstances of the immediate battle blind him to his responsibilities as a leader to maintain good disciple and prevent unlawful acts of war. Second, it was a failure to maintain a commitment to the mission at hand. Circumstances, including casualties, infiltration and a hidden, unknown enemy caused the troops and the leader to lash out at any human target visible. A brave helicopter pilot who landed his aircraft between the troops and the cowering civilians stopped the carnage. His actions brought sanity back to a rapidly deteriorating set of events.

So, what do we learn from these discussions? The beginning of the departure from ethical behavior is when the individual disregards the mission, objective or purpose for which they have been selected as leader. Consider King David. His role is to be leader, protector and standard for all the people. To be thoroughly effective he must often set aside his own personal desires for the good of the people and his nation. In the case cited he placed his desires above the reputation of the lady and ultimately the life of her husband.

A second aspect of the abandonment of principle comes when the leader become un-accountable to any authority other than themselves. Note at what great lengths the prophet Naaman had to go to call to mind David’s failure. A frontal confrontation might have even cost him his position or even his life. In each of the other two examples it appears the individual acted without submission to any other authority. It should be noted that this situation could be duplicated when the leader or the individual is alone and without recourse to a second opinion regarding intended actions.

When the appearance of gain of any kind appears to outweigh the advantage of adherence to an ethical standard the stage is set for failure. Lt Calley undoubtedly considered destruction of any potential enemy, rather their potential was real or not, was a better course of action than any further loss of his own men. And so in a fit of anger and a suspension of ethical behavior he allowed his troops to engage in the slaughter of innocent civilians; mostly women, children and elders.

When the current set of circumstances becomes the entire reference point for future action this can lead to decisions that frequently are divergent from ethical behavior. The Olympic judge considered that voting in compliance with the pressure from outsiders would bring release from that pressure. This would bring closure to the event and thus would be the end. But, a less than perfect performance by the Russian skaters only highlighted the erroneous decision to bow to pressure on her part.

These are real life illustrations. They are situations that individuals face every day. What can be done to reinforce the importance of ethical behavior versus caving in to taking actions based on the circumstances at hand? This is a major challenged facing a leader.

Preparation begins when the individual and those in positions of responsibility consider all or most of the possible situations that will be faced and develop strategies for facing them. The first action to take is to repeatedly drill in to the minds of subordinates the pattern of expected behavior, i.e. the ethic involved. Proper response to a situation can only be expected when the individual has knowledge of what might be the circumstances and given the time in a non-threatening environment to work out defenses against the situation.

A number of procedures can be set up to aid the individual or the group in preparing for ethical challenges. A network of resources for help and accountability up and down the line of responsibility can be established so that the individual knows well that help in making the proper decision is available.

Both the leader and the individual should be alert to situations where they place themselves or their subordinates in isolated circumstances. Most military leaders will be quick to realize that most of the mischief committed by the troops occurs when they are off-duty, off post or ship. As much as practical the two-by-two rule should be adhered to. That is. keep individuals paired up so that each one is accountable to the other for behavior.

Talking through the potential scenarios and determining possible responses is a suggested tactic, Role-playing of the more severe of these scenarios is recommended. A friend who is a fighter pilot uses this example of the need to determine courses of actions in advance. The pilot who encounters engine failure on take off cannot at that time begin to learn the procedures for use of the ejection system.

It is quickly acknowledged that if the will of the individual is to vary from ethical behavior little can be done in advance to prevent it. Even the threat of punishment, regardless of how severe, is seldom deterrent enough to prevent willful disobedience. Peer pressure seems to be the best deterrent for this behavior.

Without question the most difficult part of establishing a pattern of ethical behavior is acquiring a commitment to comply. Terms and words such as, “but, I”, “you don’t understand”, “you weren’t there”, “but I thought” usually are the first indications there has been a break down in ethical behavior and a failure to comply with the ethical standard. Repeated emphasis on pride in the unit, personal pride, and unit performance is a tried and true method.

Several years ago a US Navy Cruiser, the USS Turner set performance standards in all aspects that were the amazement of the entire Atlantic Fleet. There were no professional standards that were not achieved, no behavior standards better anywhere. I happened to live next to the Executive Officer. So, in our off duty hours I plied him with questions as to how he and his leaders achieved such performance. His answers were quite simple. They repeatedly told the crew they were the best. And the best only acted in certain ways. And the officers and leading petty officers consistently demonstrated those ways before them. They coined a term that was heard throughout the base, “Turneriffic”. In implied that anything a Turner sailor did was the best and the results were terrific. It worked because the crew knew what was expected of them and were committed to acting it out. This commitment to excellence continued as long as there was the reinforcement of the need to be committed by the leaders of the ship.

 The ultimate achievement of any military organization is readiness. A commanding officer can take pride in his accomplishments when he is able to state, “ready in all respects to carry out my mission.” Preparing a unit and the individual therein for ethic readiness should occupy as much effort as the preparation for combat. The rationale behind this statement is that often in the heat of battle is when ethic lapses occur. The temptation to loot, murder, inflict unnecessary casualties or damage and take personal liberties with non-combatants most frequently occurs in these situations.

Training for ethical readiness should take as high a priority as training for combat readiness. Simulations, exercises and practical demonstrations should be included along with the combat or mission training. The training team should determine at what point in the mission training opportunities exist for ethical failure. For example, in training for street-to-street, house-to-house combat contact with non-combatants is most likely to occur. These are occasions where opportunities for practice of the above mentioned excesses are present. Scenarios should be inserted into the training that highlights this and opportunities given to speak in support of the ethics involved.

In spite of all of our efforts ethics failures occur. About the best that can be hoped for is a reduction in the number and severity of the occurrences. This can be achieved by preparing in advance for the types and kinds of lapses that can occur. Then train the individuals in actions that limit lapses and work to get the commitment to set of ethic standards. Then practice, drill, practice, drill and practice until the proper response is second nature to the individuals involved.