Why Good People Do Bad Things: The Psychology of Dishonest Employees 

The impact of white collar crime reaches far beyond the financial impact of employee theft, embezzlement, and fraud. Organizations who are victimized by dishonest employees also incur negative publicity, reputation damage, loss of stakeholder and public trust, and ultimately decreased stock value. Consider the consequences of fraud in organizations such as Enron, WorldCom, AIG, Countrywide Mortgage, Lehman Brothers, and Arthur Anderson, among others. Recognizing the warning signs will help you keep your company off that list.

In this course, participants explore the fields of moral philosophy and criminal psychology to answer the questions “What goes on inside the minds of employees who lie, cheat, and steal?” and “What makes good people do bad things, often without remorse?” The answers may surprise you!

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:  

• Examine the nature and cost of internal theft and employee fraud
• Differentiate between deontological and teleological ethical reasoning
• Recognize the “darn good reasons” that lead good people to do bad things 
• Attribute common excuses to a psychosocial theory of moral disengagement 
• Justify why raising a perception of detection conditions employees to be honest