The article examines the formal process of ‘ethical clearance’ for social science research at a large university and illuminates how it functions to undermine its stated purpose. We find that rather than promoting ethical standards, the bureaucratic process creates negative and cynical attitudes and game playing. For almost all participants, the entire procedure is counterproductive and experienced as absurd, creating a boomerang effect. The findings reveal how a specific rationalization effort leads to widespread experiences of irrationality, where detailed and strict organization merges with experiences of the bizarre. The article develops concepts capturing the experience and resulting organizational type: ‘orbizzarization’ and ‘absurdocracy’. These concepts enrich our understanding of toxic/irrational organizations, including Kafkaesque organizations.

中文翻译：

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“值得这样做还是自杀更好？”：关于大学的道德审查

本文探讨了一所大型大学社会科学研究“道德审查”的正式程序，并阐明了它如何破坏其既定目的。我们发现，官僚程序非但没有提升道德标准，反而造成了消极和愤世嫉俗的态度和游戏玩法。对于几乎所有参与者来说，整个过程都是适得其反的，并且被认为是荒谬的，产生了回飞镖效应。研究结果揭示了特定的合理化努力如何导致广泛的非理性体验，其中详细而严格的组织与奇异的体验融合在一起。本文提出了捕捉经验和由此产生的组织类型的概念：“商业化”和“荒谬统治”。这些概念丰富了我们对有毒/非理性组织（包括卡夫卡式组织）的理解。