ABSTRACT
Individual integrity unfolds as self-narratives that forge a coherent self across one’s commitments and actions. Integrity rests on self-control and responsibility. It requires self-awareness of values with the self-discipline to reflect, decide and act. Integrity enables persons to overcome personal interests and commit to intentional action such as public purposes. Public integrity involves a cognitive frame to structure reflection. The framework builds on a managerial triangle of person–position–prudence. People know their values and character align these with the obligations of office/position and account for the power and resources needed for resilient outcomes. Exercising integrity needs a strong network of personal support. Public integrity requires anticipating and addressing the organizational threats to integrity. These threats involve personal isolation that distorts decision making. The anxiety and cost of making decisions tempts managers to deny responsibility using rigid, by-the-book decisions. Peer culture and subcultures lead organizations to underperform, hide moral harm or discourage initiative. Integrity is further threatened by dominant informal actors and tensions that arise from conflicts focused on structural inequality and working with vulnerable and diverse populations. Cultures of silence endanger integrity and protect wrongdoing and cliques of power, corruption or injustice.
