Harvard Business School professor Michel Anteby’s research dwells in the “moral gray zone,” where workers break the rules with the unstated support of supervisors and the betterment of both.
A moral gray zone is a department store employee setting aside clothing to later purchase for himself when the item will be deeply discounted. It’s a mail carrier finishing her route early yet staying on the clock until the workday has officially ended. It’s a paramedic providing unauthorized medical care to an emergency patient in order to save a life. In all cases, says Anteby, these activities are known by supervisors but allowed to go on.
Why would management be so complicit? Out of a belief that the questionable activities provide hidden yet important benefits. It might be a manager’s way to reward an individual for great performance in the job. Or, in the case of a factory worker who uses company time and equipment to make an item to take home, he might be learning techniques the employer finds valuable.
In an interview with HBS Working Knowledge about his new book Moral Gray Zones: Side Productions, Identity, and Regulation in an Aeronautic Plant, Anteby outlines two implications for managers working in moral gray zones:
- These “leniencies” are part of the managerial toolkit. They allow work to be done.
- In the case of a physician who allows trusted paramedics to perform medical procedures in the field, “physicians cater to the paramedics’ occupational identities,” Anteby says. “Paramedics become who they aspire to be, namely ’saviors.’ These paramedics are also more likely to cooperate with the physicians in the future. Thus, moral gray zones enable both managers and workers to perform their roles.”
Anteby says his students constantly provide him examples of moral gray zones they have encountered in the workplace. Which ones have you seen? Do you think they helped the organization?
