Employee Vice - Some Competing Models

Abstract

Much of the current discussion of evil within business and professions locates evil within the individual employee. Dennis Moberg (1997) has argued for conceiving of employee viciousness as a lack of self'Control. This paper argues, that while some evil behaviors may be well-modelled as instances of low self-control, this model does not fit much of what might qualify as evil (e.g., child-caregivers falsely accusing their fellow employees of ritual child abuse). The paper examines three altemative models of evil, two drawn from literature, one from theology, and shows why these altemative models are just as relevant for thinking about the nature and cause of evil as the Iow self-control model drawn from the criminology literature.