Understanding morality in organizations has important societal implications. While researchers have pointed out the particularity of morality within organizations, they still struggle to understand how this morality is constructed. We contribute to address this challenge through the case of coworker relationships morality. Through in-depth qualitative studies of two organizations we highlight the role of rationalization of beliefs to resolve the moral tension that arise between responsibility for the work (work ethic) and responsibility for coworkers (care ethic). This article contributes to research on organizational morality by unpacking how the phenomenon of ethical unawareness unfolds. Moreover, these empirical investigations shed a new light on the difficulty to enact an ethic of care in organizations.
