You are a manager in a medical devices manufacturing company. A colleague indicates that while there would be marketing benefits
to underreporting the device malfunction rate, he indicates that he would not recommend it because the penalties are too severe if he were caught. According to Kohlberg’s research on Stages of Moral Development, at what level of moral reasoning is your colleague operating?
According to Kohlberg's research, your colleague is operating at the pre-conventional morality level.
Explanation:
Notice that your colleague's reason for not underreporting the malfunction is to avoid punishment. This is typical of the very first stage of moral reasoning, the pre-conventional level. At this stage, the individual perceives goodness as a way to avoid being punished. Your colleague did not worry about "the right thing to be done" or that "the malfunction might harm others." His reasoning was basic and, in a sense, quite selfish.
