Sociology, social psychology, and criminology suggest insights that can help an organization encourage individuals to adhere to a code of ethical behavior (Bainbridge 1997, 2004). For example, an industrial corporation may have established very enlightened standards of behavior with respect to environmental pollution, workplace hazards, and intellectual property rights. But this may not do much good if social disorganization, pressures to overachieve, and internal conflict impel many members of the organization to violate these rules. Here are three suggestions that can be applied to work with nanotechnology but that also apply very generally:
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