University of Applied Sciences

Campus Zweibrücken

Study semester paper

Subject:

Moral Courage

Students:

 Andreina Kalallari Introduction, effects and case study

 Prabin Silwal Determinants
 Pramod Subedi Definition and similar terms
 Hassan Assif Frequency

Course:

Human Resources Management

Prof. Dr. Susanne Bartscher-Finzer
Words: 3612

Date of submission:
14.02.2020
Moral Courage

Table on Contains:

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................2

2 Literature review ............................................................................................... 3

2.1 Similar terms and illustrations ....................................................... 3
2.2 Frequency of moral courage ........................................................... 5
2.3 Determinants of moral courage ...................................................... 6
2.3.1 Role of norms................................................................................................. 6
2.3.2 Role of angers ................................................................................................ 6
2.3.3 Personality ...................................................................................................... 6
2.3.4 Organizational Directives ........................................................................... 7
2.3.5 Social pressure .............................................................................................. 7
2.3.6 Desire to act ................................................................................................... 7
2.3.7 Self-Efficacy and outcome expectancies ............................................... 8
2.3.8 Social identity ................................................................................................ 8
2.3.9 Weakness of will ........................................................................................... 8
2.4 Effects of moral courage ................................................................. 9

3 Case Study .......................................................................................................10

4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................12

5 References........................................................................................................13

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Moral Courage

1 Introduction

This paper explores the term of moral courage while giving a literature review
regarding the definitions of moral courage. To better understand what moral
courage is, there will be given synonym terms for it, how they are like each
other and where they differ from one another. Thus, the first part of the paper
intends to clarify the moral courage concept and make clear the fact that it
needs to be classified as a sole pro-social behavior.

In addition, it is also of great importance to understand the frequency of moral

courage actions in everyday life and in the workplace. Hence, this essay
includes brief information about the three methods that may be used to
measure the frequency of moral courage. Moreover, throughout a small
experiment that was made in the lecture class, there will be given some
conclusions about how frequent moral courage decisions are in reality.

What follows the frequency of moral courage, are the determinants that make a
person act or not act with moral courage. There will be demonstrated the main
influences that drive people’s emotions and decisions. Following this, it is also
necessary to recognize what are the consequences of acting with moral
courage. The effects are divided into positive and negative ones, concerning
mostly the main actor who decides to act with moral courage.

The last part consists of a case study used to explain better moral courageously
decisions through a real story. It examines real-life decisions of people involved
in the Chernobyl disaster and the effects that these actions had during and after
this tragedy happened.

In conclusion, there will be given a personal evaluation regarding the whole

topic in general and what we learned about it.

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Moral Courage

2 Literature review

During our everyday life, we are often required to make difficult decisions
usually based on our judgments about what is right or wrong and our highest
ideals. Moral courage means to do what is right even at the risk of discomfort,
punishment, unemployment or loss of social status (Lion's Whiskers, 2011). It
requires that we recognize our responsibilities and understand the
consequences of our actions.

(Bierhoff, 2002) defines moral courage as a prosocial behavior where the main
actor does not expect rewards but incurs high costs. Moral courage has also
been defined as “the expression of personal views and values in the face of
dissension and rejection and “when an individual stands up to someone with
power over him or her for the greater good” (Lopez, O'Byrne, & Peterson,
2003). Thus, there seems to be an imbalance that weighs the disadvantages on
the side of the person who acts courageously moral. (Greitemeyer, Osswald,
Fischer, & Frey, 2007) define moral courage “as brave behavior accompanied
by anger and indignation which intends to enforce societal and ethical norms
without considering one’s own social costs”.

2.1 Similar terms and illustrations

When discussing about moral courage we usually get the idea that it has to do
with ethics or just doing the right thing without considering the effects that it may
have for the main actor. This happens because we often use as synonyms of
each other terms which in fact have important differences between them. A
similar term to moral courage is helping behavior, which is defined as a
voluntary action with the intention of helping others by getting a reward
regarded or disregarded. Here lies the difference between these two kinds of
social behavior: while in helping behavior you can expect positive
consequences like congratulations or plaudit, in a moral courage situation you
are faced with negative social consequences like being insulted, excluded or
even attacked.

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Moral Courage

Moral courage shows also certain similarities with heroism. (Becker & Eagly,
2004) define heroism as taking risks “on behalf of one or more other people,
despite the possibility of dying or suffering serious physical consequences”.
Taking into consideration the possibility of suffering physical consequences,
moral courage and heroism overlap. It was already mentioned that a person
acting with moral courage takes the risks of negative social consequences like
being offended, but this situation can also lead to physical violence. But still,
there needs to be emphasized the fact that in the immediate situation, a hero
can expect positive social consequences like profound respect and admiration.
On the other side, in the same moral courage situation, a helper does expect
the same outcome.

Social control is another term associated with moral courage. Social control
means an intervention that curbs impolite or uncivil behavior such as verbal or
nonverbal communication through which individuals indicate that they
disapprove of deviant, conflicting conduct of another individual. Social control is
seen by writers as primarily a reaction to uncivil behavior. Uncivil behaviors are
counter-regulatory behavior, which occur in urban environment and reduce the
quality of life but they are not serious or dangerous. That is the reason why
social control over uncivilized behavior, varies from moral courage
(Greitemeyer, Osswald, Fischer, & Frey, 2010)

To better understand what moral courage looks like in our everyday life and in
the workplace, the following paragraph shows some examples that illustrate a
moral courageously decision.

1. Standing up to a bully on the playground

2. Participating in a protest
3. Moving away from an abusive relationship
4. Telling a supervisor about how your co-workers frequently doctor their
timesheets
5. Disclosing illegal accounting practices to an external auditor
6. Releasing incriminating confidential documents to the media
7. To stand up to your manager for workplace safety

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Moral Courage

2.2 Frequency of moral courage

The moral courage is a pro-social behavior with high (social) cost as it is difficult
to measure it in laboratory because there is danger of unreasonable
psychological stress. Researchers did many studies on pro-social behaviors but
there are few studies for moral courage because they were unable to
distinguish between moral courage and helping behavior. Before the moral
courage scale, the helping scale was introduced by (Rushton, Chrisjohn, &
Fekken, 1981) to measure the moral courage. Validity analysis discovered the
moral courage as compared to helping scale and helping scale better predicted
the helping behavior as compared to moral courage scale.

But according to recent studies, researchers have suggested that moral

courage should be separately studied from other pro-social behaviors especially
helping behavior. The recent research has presented two scales to measure the
moral courage but both of the scales partly measure it. The moral courage scale
has three factors: moral courage at the workplace, moral courage in situations
of physical violence and moral courage against racism. On the other hand
Wood-Pury Courage Scale(WPCS-23) consists of four subscales: (1)
work/employment courage, (2) patriotic, religious or belief-based courage, (3)
social-moral courage and (4) independent and family-based courage. Social-
moral courage seems to be the scale which is most closely related to moral
courage (Greitemeyer, Osswald, Fischer, & Frey, 2010)

Despite of this importance of moral courage, there is no practical implication till

now. Our group has presented the moral courage topic in the class. We
showed the students a case study in which there was a data analyst for a major
casino. He logged into his coworker computer to get the missing data for his
work. By doing that he saw that his coworker was gambling. So, we asked the
class that what they will do, if they were in his place. They would report the
crime but doing so they will lose the job for violation of company’s information
technology regulations or do nothing. Out of 25 people, only one was willing to
report the crime. So, we can see there is very less frequency of moral courage
in real life.

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Moral Courage

2.3 Determinants of moral courage

Various moral situations occur from time to time in our daily life while following
forces guide us to take the relevant actions and decisions on the moral
scenarios.

2.3.1 Role of norms

(Merton, 1973) defined the term “norm” as a right action binding on the
members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate appropriate and
acceptable behavior. Every individual and group has its own significant
values and norms. As a result, they become more aware and involved in
these moral scenarios even when they have to bear the negative
consequences. (Greitemeyer, Osswald, Fischer, & Frey, 2010) tested the
effects of norms on moral courage and found those who are more attached to
the societal and ethical norms are more involved in such situations.

2.3.2 Role of angers

Anger refers to the situation resulted from the irritation, annoyance, and
displeasure from the action of others. (Greitemeyer, Osswald, Fischer, & Frey,
2007) in their research discovered the empathic anger or moral outrage is the
major cause for moral actions. Therefore, such irritating actions make the
individuals more furious to act in a morally courageous manner.

2.3.3 Personality

Personality refers to the distinctive character of an individual. Therefore, based

on various personality traits, their moral decisions are also different.
(Greitemeyer, Osswald, Fischer, & Frey, 2010) concluded that individuals and
groups are easily carried by the emotional factors than those who are introvert
and conscientious in nature. They are more sensitive and emotional towards
moral situations and are quickly guided to such cases. Moreover, those who are

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Moral Courage

sociable, talkative and expressive are more aware of the moral scenarios than
those who have lower values on group works and openness.

2.3.4 Organizational Directives

Generally, Institutions‘ codes of conduct and their standard working philosophy

are known as Organizational Directives. These directives are created and
implemented to organize every actions, decisions, and procedure of an
organization. (Detert & Bruno, 2017) found that people in the workplace peruse
self-interest and self-protection rather than the collective purpose and even at
the time of injustice and personal abuse, they often tolerate such things and do
not try to move further.

2.3.5 Social pressure

The act of trying to make someone else do something by arguing, persuading,

etc is the part of social pressure. Human beings are the social creature and are
bounded by social attributes. They are influenced by their family, friends,
religion, culture, lifestyle and so on. Therefore, fulfilling the responsibilities
towards these social members, a person may or may not stand on the morally
courageous issues because of the other members‘ influence.

2.3.6 Desire to act

Cambridge Dictionary defines desire as the strong feeling of wanting something.

It is believed that when a person feels willing to do or get something, he does
not wait to think twice to get success. Hence, the emotional factor of willingness
guides the individual to involve in the moral scenarios. (Sekerka & Bagozzi,
2007) states that, “the differences and impact of automatic and conscious
influencers that moderates the effect of first-order desire to act on the decision
to act with moral courage.” The desire that happens voluntarily with personal
standards, therefore, directs individuals to act according to the moral scenarios.

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Moral Courage

2.3.7 Self-Efficacy and outcome expectancies

Self-efficacy refers to one's ability to succeed in specific situations or

accomplish a task. In general, people make their goals and objectives on the
basis of their skills and abilities. (Sekerka & Bagozzi, 2007) also draws the
conclusion of greater the outcome expectancies of success towards their act,
the stronger will be the person’s desire to act with moral courage.

2.3.8 Social identity

Oxford Dictionary defines identity as the characteristics, feelings or beliefs that

distinguish people from others. (Maslow, 1943) states that when a man fulfills
his one need then he shifts to other needs. From the fulfillment of a
psychological need to the highest level of self-actualization, individual wish for
the respected role and position within the society. Therefore, to acquire a higher
status and privilege in society, both individuals and organizations are motivated
to act in a moral courageous way to get some benefits or bear negative
consequences during the process.

2.3.9 Weakness of will

Greek Philosopher Aristotle defines weakness of will as “Akrasia” which means

“lack of self-control or command”. In general, the level of confidence and the
commanding abilities determines an individual’s decisions and actions.
Therefore, to act in moral courageous, a person must have the commanding
and self-controlling abilities which can help them to take sound ethical and
moral decisions.

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Moral Courage

2.4 Effects of moral courage

Taking a morally courageous action means having both its benefits and
disadvantages. It affects not only the person who shows moral courage but also
the others and society in general. For instance, acting courageously may lead
the actor to experience peace of mind, lack of remorse, or an enhanced sense
of integrity. It can allow individuals to embrace and enact new identities which
reduce friction between self and social identity aspects.

Furthermore, they can have long term benefits like being seen as having
executive and higher managerial potential or being actually higher performers.
In addition, a courageous decision fosters innovation and creativity, increases
citizenship behaviors and leads to higher ethical standards and ethical
leadership in organizations. Other effects on the organization involve an
awakening sense of possibility and an inspiration for others to act. Hume,
writing in the 18th century noted that doing a courageous act increases the level
of bravery in those individuals around the main actor. Moral courage can also
question long-established workplace traditions relating to race, gender and
sexuality. For instance, having the moral courage to put forward allegations of
sexual harassment, has the power to ensure that no other woman experiences
the same problem in the organization (Detert & Bruno, 2017).

On the other side, the person acting with moral courage is usually faced with
negative social consequences. They can be physically harmed and
psychologically shamed. In the workplace, they may be excluded from the
group and isolated from colleagues, threatened to reputation, be ashamed of
their actions or even loss of employment. These will eventually reflect in their
emotions making them feel anxious or frightened which will then have an
important impact in their future decisions when faced with an ethical or moral
courageously decision (Greitemeyer, Osswald, Fischer, & Frey, 2010).

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Moral Courage

3 Case Study

The case study for this paper will be from a real story that shows both sides of
moral courage: acting accordingly and the decision of not to act. It is also a
good illustration of the effects of courageously moral decisions. More specifical-
ly it is about the Chernobyl disaster, the decisions that were made and the con-
sequences that these choices later had.

In the early hours of 26 April, a plan to simulate a power outage in the Cherno-
byl Nuclear Power Plant 4 reactor resulted in an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
Around 1:23 a.m., the reactor exploded and the atmosphere emitted radioactive
waste. A few seconds later a second explosion followed. These explosions
caused the reactor to catch fire that would take more than a week to contain.
Two employees were reported killed from the explosions, but later another 28
people died from acute radiation poisoning (Newspapers.com Topics, n.d.)

The first key point related to moral courage is linked with the main factor that
caused the incident. From different documents, it has been revealed that the
engineers that were making the experiment the night when the explosion hap-
pened, were young and inexperienced. They were all following the rules of their
superior. However, it is crucial to mention that the young engineers knew that
what they were doing was wrong and that they were not following the rules.
Nonetheless, they refused to say anything to their supervisor due to the fear of
losing their job. This is a great example that shows the importance of acting with
moral courage and making the right decision.

The consequences of the Chernobyl explosion would have been much greater
not only for Ukraine but for the whole Europe, if three volunteer divers would not
have offered their help. The divers of Chernobyl had the responsibility of clean-
ing the water pool below the reactor which was filled with radioactive materials.
The liquid was feared of causing a massive steam explosion in Europe that
would generate a great deal of damage. The three volunteers risked their own
lives by being exposed to high levels of radiation, in order to save thousands of
people’s lives. Unfortunately, the divers suffered from radiation sickness follow-

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Moral Courage

ing their exposure to radiation, and later the three of them died. Unlike the engi-
neers in the previous paragraph, this is a case of high levels of moral courage,
where for the greater good, the main actors sacrifice themselves.

The person who played a crucial role in the Chernobyl history is Valery Legas-
ov, a Soviet chemist who was part of the commission investigating the Cherno-
byl disaster. Valery Legasov provided a comprehensive account of the incident
to hundreds of experts during the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vien-
na, demonstrating its shocking causes and the tragic consequences. This frank
presentation which shared the mistakes made by skilled people in the Soviet
society was rather unusual and even unimaginable. Valery Legasov had made
a true description of what happened in stark contrast to the usual secrecy dis-
played by his political leaders. What followed next after his declaration of the
truth, was not in his favor. He lost his job, his status and also the ownership of
all articles and books that he had written. After two years, physically weakened
and demoralized, he comitted suicide. Valery Legasov represents the figure of a
person with great moral values and his acts are a strong example of moral
courage.

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4 Conclusion

In conclusion of this paper, it is important to emphasize that moral courage

needs to be distinguished from other pro-social behaviors such as heroism,
helping behavior and social control. The main difference between moral cour-
age and other pro-social actions is the negative social consequences that
someone should fear while acting with moral courage.

Furthermore, there are currently very few studies about moral courage and es-
pecially about the frequency of moral courage in everyday life. From the exper-
iment we did, it is significant to mention the fact that in reality only a few people
decide to act with moral courage. The majority decides to not act at all even
though they know what is the right thing to do. This indicates another key point
which suggests that moral courage is not only knowing what to do but most im-
portantly, acting accordingly.

Moreover, there are several determinants that affect the action of moral courage
but in our opinion, personality is the most important one. Personalities vary from
a person to another and these diverse personalities have a crucial impact in the
decision making process of acting with moral courage or no. Regarding the
consequences of moral courage we should emphasize the negative social ef-
fects that the person acting with moral courage faces after the decision.

To conclude, we want to mention that after the research and articles we read
about moral courage, this term is now understandable to us and we can explain
and give good examples for it. In addition, we understand how important it is
nowadays to act with moral courage and make a difference in the society.

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Moral Courage

5 References
Becker, S. W., & Eagly, A. H. (2004). The Heroism of Women and Men. American
Psychologist, 59(3), 163-178.
Bierhoff, H. W. (2002). Prosocial Behaviour. New York: Psychology Press.
Detert, J. R., & Bruno, E. A. (2017). Workplace courage: Review, synthesis, and future
agenda for a complex construct. The Academy of Management Annals, 11(2),
593-639.
Greitemeyer, T., Osswald, S., Fischer, P., & Frey, D. (2007). Civil courage: Implicit
theories, related concepts, and measurement. The Journal of Positive
Psychology, 2(2), 115-119.
Greitemeyer, T., Osswald, S., Fischer, P., & Frey, D. (2010). What is Moral Courage?
Definition, Explication and Classification of a Complex Construct. In C. Pury, &
S. Lopez, Psychology of Courage (pp. 149-164). Washington: American
Psychological Association.
Lion's Whiskers. (2011, February 23). Retrieved from What is Moral Courage?
Lopez, S. J., O'Byrne, K. K., & Peterson, S. (2003). Profiling courage. In S. J. Lopez, &
C. R. Snyder, Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and
measures (pp. 185-197). American Psychological Association.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychologycal Review, 50(4),
370-396.
Merton, R. K. (1973). The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical
Investigations. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Newspapers.com Topics. (n.d.). Retrieved from "Chernobyl Disaster".
Osswald, S., Greitemeyer, T., Fischer, P., & Frey, D. (2010). What is Moral
Courage?Defination, Explication and Classification of a Complex Construct.
Psychology of Courage, 149-164.
Rushton, ChristJohn, & Fekken (1981) cited by Osswald, S. G. (2010). Psychology of
Courage, 149-164.
Rushton, J. P., Chrisjohn, R. D., & Fekken, G. C. (1981). The altruistic personality and
the self-report altruism scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 2(4), 293-
302.
Sekerka, L. E., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2007, April). Moral courage in the workplace:moving
to and from the desire and decision to act. Business Ethics: A European Review,
16(2), 132-145.

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