ABSTRACT
Managerial leaders have a strong obligation to recognize, anticipate, uncover and rectify ethical slippage and corruption. Three common and relevant classes of unethical behavior involve: 1) violations of trust; 2) self-dealing; 3) conflict of interest. By identifying asymmetrical stakes and difference tensions between external actors and organizations, public ethics can anticipate ethical slippage and vulnerability at the point of task performance. This approach directs strategic ethical interventions. Slippages are aggravated by insufficient authorized power, mission commitment, training and expertise, discretion, technology or resources and compensation. To address these insufficiencies, managerial leaders invest in managing expectations, peer norms, inequality tensions, diversity challenges, strong boundary management and using technologies to insulate activity from corruption. The range of unethical behavior and organizational corruption covers: incompetence, abuse of power, lying, favoritism, disrespect, discrimination, bribery, inefficiency, collusion, kickbacks and conflicts of interest. This inventory gives content to an active obligation to search for ethical slippage and corruption. Stewardship and other obligations motivate personnel to seek out, prevent and tackle these issues.
