04-014 Ch01 pp5

3/10/04

4:53 PM

Page 66

Now answer the following questions in reaction

to the story:

Yes
______
______

______
______

______

______

______

______
______

No
______ 1. Would it be wrong for Heinz
to break into the store?
______ 2. Did the druggist have the
right to charge that much for
the product?
______ 3. Did Heinz have an obligation
to steal the drug for his wife?
______ 4. What if Heinz and his wife
did not get along? Should
Heinz steal the drug for her?
______ 5. Suppose Heinzs best friend
were dying of cancer, rather
than Heinzs wife. Should
Heinz steal the drug for his
friend?
______ 6. Suppose the person dying
was not personally close to
Heinz. Should Heinz steal the
drug?
______ 7. Suppose Heinz read in the
paper about a woman dying
of cancer. Should he steal the
drug for her?
______ 8. Would you steal the drug to
save your own life?
______ 9. Suppose Heinz was caught
breaking in and brought
before a judge. Should he be
sentenced to jail?

For individuals in the self-centered level of maturity, stealing the drug might be justified because
Heinzs wife had instrumental value: She could provide companionship, help rear the children, and so on.
A stranger, however, would not have the same instrumental value for Heinz, so it would be wrong to steal
the drug for a stranger. Individuals in the conformity
level would base their judgments on the closeness of
the relationship and on law and authority. Heinz has
an obligation to steal for family members, according to
this reasoning, but not for nonfamily members. A governing principle is whether or not an action is against
the law (or societys expectations). Principled individuals base their judgments on a set of universal, comprehensive, and consistent principles. Regardless of how
they answer the questions, their reasoning will be
based on their internal principles, not on externally
66

imposed standards or expectations. (They might feel

an obligation to steal the drug for anyone because they
value human life more than property.)
Research on Kohlbergs model of values development reveals some interesting findings that have relevance to managerial behavior. Moral judgment stories
were administered to college students who had earlier
participated in Milgrams (1963) obedience study.
Under the guise of a reinforcement-learning
experiment, Milgrams subjects had been directed to
give increasingly intense electric shocks to a person
who was observed to be in great pain. Of the respondents at the principled level (stages 5 and 6), 75 percent refused to administer the shocks (i.e., to hurt
someone), while only 12.5 percent of the respondents
at the conformity level refused. Higher levels of values
development were associated with more humane
behavior toward other people.
It should also be noted that Kohlbergs model has
been criticized by Carol Gilligan (1979, 1980, 1982,
1988) as containing a male bias. In her investigations of
moral dilemmas among women, Gilligan indicated that
women tend to value care, relationships, and commitment more highly than do men. The Kohlberg model,
which tends to emphasize justice as the highest moral
value, is more typical of males than females, she claimed.
Whereas Gilligans criticisms are somewhat controversial
among researchers (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000), they are less
relevant to our discussion here because of our emphasis
on the development of internalized principles for guiding
behavior, whatever their basis.
Becoming more mature in values development
requires that individuals develop a set of internalized
principles by which they can govern their behavior.
The development of those principles is enhanced and
values maturity is increased as value-based issues are
confronted, discussed, and thought about. Lickona
(1976: 25) notes, Simply increasing the amount of
reciprocal communication that occurs among people
is likely to enhance moral development.
To help you determine your own level of values
maturity, an instrument developed by James Rest at the
University of Minnesotas Moral Research Center was
included in the Assessment section. It has been used
extensively in research because it is easier to administer
than Kohlbergs method for assessing maturity.
According to Kohlberg (1976: 47), Rests approach
does give a rough estimate of an individuals moral
maturity level. Rather than placing a person on one
single level of values maturity, it identifies the stage that
the person relies on most. It assumes that individuals
use more than one level of maturity (or set of instru-

CHAPTER 1 DEVELOPING SELF-AWARENESS

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