Morrill’s article provides a review of the academia on the subject of deviance in relation to cultural origins and ethical implications. He brings up a few major examples of widespread deviance that could be explained by corporate cultures, such as the Challenger crash, the Enron bankruptcy, and the 1980s savings and loans disaster, among various others.
The idea Morrill supports is that there are two dimensions to these issues, both cultural and ethical. The cultural dimension is that all organizations where widespread deviance is found are high-risk cultural organizations. Their corporate culture is aimed at achieving short-term benefits at all costs, often to the detriment of shareholders, customers, safety, and the environment.
The ethical implications of such a culture are mostly negative – not only does it support putting the benefits of a select few over the greater whole, but it also makes employees more liable to breaking the rules to achieve their own ends. They ethically justify their actions by pointing out the general lack of concern for themselves or their wellbeing and see deviance as an act of retribution.