Most decent people tend to live by their laid down principles and code of conduct that they believe ethical and acceptable. However, the external environment greatly influences how the majority behave, disregarding their core principles and adopting some inhumane traits. The workplace is the main external environment determining people's behavior. Employees in different organizations follow a set of rules which sometimes conflicts with their beliefs but compromise for fear of consequences. For instance, in Yoo and Bacon's scenario, it seems that the newcomer, Yoo, is appalled by what is required of her, but her choices are limited since the other option is to quit. As stated by Bacon, Yoo is required to get convictions while treating justice lightly. The objective is not justice but rather conviction. From the scenario, displacement responsibility and disregard or distortion of the consequences (Bandura, 1990) will best illustrate the employees' behavior in the District Attorney's office.
Displacement of responsibility shifts the blame from the doer to the system. The individual involved in the action detaches themselves from the actions claiming that they are only following the rules (Kathiemm, 2010). In Yoo's situation, she will have to get as many convictions as possible if she wants to keep her job because that's the office's rule. It will be immoral to force convictions from innocent people, but she will have to do since she's just following the orders.
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On the other hand, disregard or distortion of consequences minimizes the consequences of wrongdoing. When one understands that they are shielded from the impacts of wrong actions, they grow bold in executing the actions (Montier, 2019). In an organization like the district attorney office, Yoo will have little consequences by getting convictions from the defendants due to the community's assumptions that chances are they are most guilty. Besides, working in such a powerful office will be seen as an achievement rather than wrongdoing.
In conclusion, Yoo is fresh from college, and how she's stunned to hear Bacon's explanation on how work is in the district attorney's office shows that she's a sincere person. However, her workplace will have to determine her character henceforth if she will have to do it. The scenario is clear evidence of how external influences dictate one's character.
References
Bandura, A. (1990). Selective activation and disengagement of moral control. Journal of Social Issues , 46 (1), 27-46.
James Montier. (2019). The conditions that turn good people bad . PerformanceTrading.it. https://www.performancetrading.it/Documents/JmAbuGrahib/JmA_Conditions.htm
Kathiemm. (2010, October 11). Displacement of responsibility (Moral disengagement, Part 5) . https://engagingpeace.com/?p=41
