The leader's role in creating an ethical climate: rotten apples or rotten barrels?(Leadership Training Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin)

Nation's Cities Weekly, December, 2007 by Prince, Howard T., II

This is the second in a series of articles on the topics and issues that will be presented at the "Leading Innovation and Change in Local Government" Leadership Training Institute seminar scheduled for January 24-26, 2008, at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Most Americans view ethical choices and behavior as being determined mainly by a person's character. The assumption is that if people know what is right, they will do what is right. And conversely, if they don't know what is right or have bad character they are more likely to behave unethically.

This common idea is based on what psychologists call the "fundamental attribution error."

The fundamental attribution error simply means that people tend to...