My Blind Spot

            To be honest, finding the ethical gaps and uncovering the “blind spots” described in Max Bazerman’s text has proven to be quite difficult for me. Upon finishing the required readings for this assignment, I sat at my desk searching through my memories and experiences trying to uncover such a blind spot. I began by thinking about the examples in the text. In particular, I went over the Enron scandal in my head multiple times. My father was actually a Partner in Arthur Andersen in 2001 when the Enron scandal emerged, so the fall of the energy company juggernaut hits quite close to home. It is amazing to think about how the ethical fadings of the few can be detrimental to the thousands. I am a double major in Accounting and MIS, so I have quite an expansive knowledge of the wrongdoings taken by the corporate managers involved in many of the fraudulent accounting cases. As I went over the Enron case, one moment in my own life finally found its way into my thought process. I found my blind spot!

             The first real job I had was as a studio associate in a small photography studio. There were only four employees total. The studio had one manager and three associates, myself included. The studio was located within a popular mall. Although I soon emerged as a decent photographer and began spending most of my time actually taking photos, I spent a few weeks working with the other associates on front-office related duties. As a result, I got to know them quite well and we would talk daily. One of their main responsibilities was studio outreach. They were required to wander out into the mall and try and convince shoppers to sign up for our rewards program in exchange for photo coupons and special deals. This was a dreadful practice in reality, and the two other associates absolutely hated having to interrupt a stranger’s day at the mall to make a sales pitch. At the end of our shifts, they would turn in the customer sign-up list that included the phone numbers and email addresses of the individuals they were able to convince to join the rewards program. Enter the blind spot.

            Due to the large size of the mall and a studio manager who seemingly shared the distaste for the project, my fellow employees realized they could simply write down fake names and phone numbers. They were not paid extra for gathering a certain number of names, and very few of the people they did sign-up ever actually came into the studio. They had a motivational blindness. They were motivated to ignore the unethical practice of lying, to rid themselves of having to perform this dreadful task. At first, they legitimately searched for people, and only added a few fake names to the list. They would talk about it with me, and I remember telling them to keep going even though I thought it was a bad idea. I was a dumb teenager. They even asked me for some names and numbers of my relatives so that they could create a customer log with at least somewhat real information. Soon, this slippery slope led to an ethical fading and the two started to create a good amount of fake names. We all took the rest of our responsibilities very seriously, and apart from this one requirement, the two associates were fantastic employees. As a group, we just did not like this outreach activity. We would talk about it from time to time, and I would even defend their actions by saying the outreach project was destined to fail. My opinion was obviously very bias. I had no motivation to turn them in, and they were my friends. I knew it was wrong, and although I wanted to be an honest associate, I chose to allow my friends to keep collecting fake information.

            I have never really given much thought to this part of my past. Looking back on it, I would have to say that they were using System 1 thinking. It was very emotionally driven. They were not happy about being forced to approach customers at the mall, only to be received with mostly annoyed responses from these strangers. I went out with them into the mall every once in a while if I didn’t have an appointment coming in, and I can vouch for how awkward the practice was in reality. The other studios in our district also did not like the outreach project, and the entire rewards program was found to just be a dumb idea and was abandoned after about two weeks. I worked at the studio for four months, and this was the only moment I can remember where my fellow employees and I encountered a blind spot. I remember when they first started writing down fake names, I was a bit ashamed of them. I wanted to be the honest associate who would stand in the face of wrongdoings, but they were my friends and I agreed with their opinion about the lame outreach effort. I can honestly say that I am more than a bit embarrassed to admit I took part in this by allowing it to happen and even lending a helping hand in coming up with some realistic fake names for them to write down. At least looking back I can learn from this ethical gap. I have never been associated with anything like this since, but I am glad I have rediscovered this memory and evaluated it under the microscope of ethical judgment. I am convinced that everyone encounters these ethical gaps in their lives, and learning from them is the only way to develop an enhanced level of ethical standards.