# Emergent Deviance and Solidarity By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-06-08 A requirement of my undergraduate degree program was taking a corporate and government deviance course. This business ethics class focused on the emergence of deviant behavior within organizations and the role of individuals. As one of maybe three liberal arts classes I've ever taken, it left an impact as something distinctly different from the rest of my education. I appreciated the class at the time, but I've found the core ideas only resonate more with time and experience. I vividly remember learning how most whistleblowers regret blowing the whistle even when they are legally protected. Social stigmas and pressures weigh heavily on our biological programming. I also frequently think about how most organizational deviance occurs without any explicit decision to be deviant. Questionable behavior often comes from and propagates via nondecisions or inaction. There are many places to hide within organizations, and it's easy to say it's not my job or accountability. Based on the description of your role with the organization, you are right - regardless of what the HR training says. We are paid agents of the organization and are all more powerless than we care to admit. Even executive leaders are relatively impotent as the organization transcends all. Laws are created to curb extreme levels of fraud and deviant behavior, but there are so many things beyond the rule of law. As mentioned earlier, whistleblowers regret blowing the whistle even when legally protected. No matter how you slice it, emerging deviant behavior is a feature of current organizational structures. This primarily reflects our flaws as we are the creators of these organizations. We talk a lot about solidarity because of its importance in moving us and our organizations forward. If everyone's role in the organization was to explicitly and implicitly act in solidarity with others, would deviance still emerge at the current rate? Would whistleblowers be socially ridiculed? Authentic solidarity reengages our humanity, but it requires deep thought and reflection to achieve. This is where organizations are heading; it may happen many years after you and I die. But there is nothing stopping outliers from emerging today and in this very moment of history. #### Related Items [[Ethics]] [[Deviance]] [[Work]] [[Organization]] [[Business]] [[Solidarity]] [[Authenticity]] [[Education]] [[Liberal Arts]]