Why Companies Don’t Operate According To Moral Norms

Think about “reciprocity.”

I don’t really understand a lot of legal concepts, but I did think it was funny when the Supreme Court seemed to rule a few years ago that corporations were essentially people (at least in terms of giving money, I believe). The schism between “a corporation” and “a human being” — at least in my mind — is about 39 trillion Grand Canyons wide. And indeed, that’s starting to be backed up by research.

Here’s a study from a Stanford professor and a future UVA professor. (I’ve actually quoted the Stanford professor before, as well.) Here’s the bouncing ball on their study:

• Reciprocity (repaying one kindness with another) is an universal component of the moral code that governs human behavior.
• With person-to-person interaction, you see this often (hence the “universal component” idea above).
• With corporation-to-person interaction, you see it much less.
• But it would seem advantageous for a company to show kindness to its people, right? Because then they’ll stay and work harder and you won’t have to re-train and re-learn and all that?
• So why is this?

Here’s the rub:

“People operating in organizations…