Team building and ethical behavior

I suspect Fosco that the influence on a project and its team would greatly depend on how visible the unethical behaviour is to the stakeholders.

If people are even gossiping about unethical practices, the project will operate under a cloud of suspicion and very little initiative.

Thankfully, I never had to deal with such situations. The closest I ever came was when we had to confront a project team member about personal grooming.

I would say behavior is viral fever.... if you or team member behaves unethical it will influence others also to do the same or if not then surely will decrease their interest in project. You will loose their commitment to the project which inturn will cause more serious problems in project.
There will groups within a project which is again a matter to worry for project manager. Because not all people behave unethically, but few. And when there are small small groups within a project team building will not happen. There will always be a trust deficit among team members.

As you read me in others discussion about this topic determine what is ethical or not is an ancient discussion. Because of that each organization has its own code of ethics most of them very clear about what is ethical and what is not for the organization. If somebody do not perform the role as the code describes the organization has means to denounce that.

In my experience, it also depends on the environment that is running within the project. Likewise, if the project lead / manager is encouraging openness then team members would behave in same manner. I handled this kind of situation in my previous project. Despite of project situation, always project lead / manager should show his confidence & happy face to the team. This what reflects the positive influence in my view.

Our behaviour may influence ethical behaviour of subordinates and colleague. If one is indulged in unethical activity, the team use it as an excuse to deviate. There are no rules which can set ethical behaviour in organisation if it is not accepted by heart. Team easily follows the examples set by the leader. In advance stages, It leads to distrust among each other.

I am not mentioning any example but Bribes and fake invoicing can be seen at many places around the world. Once this culture starts no-one can stop it.