The impact of ethics on the organisational culture of a government department in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa has witnessed an increase in corruption in recent years, despite the President’s commitment to “building an ethical state in which there is no place for corruption”. This study sought to determine the factors that contribute to unethical behaviour, the attitudes and behaviours to unethical behaviour, and the impact thereof on the organisational culture. The research paper deliberated on whether leadership encouraged ethical behaviour. The study was carried out in the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic). A sample of 12 respondents who have worked at the dtic for longer than a year was selected using a cross-sectional selection sample. A qualitative research methodology was employed, using semi- structured interviews to obtain the information, and thematic analysis was used to analyse the information.

The main study findings were that there were many opportunities for unethical behaviour, exacerbated by lack of trust in leadership and inconsistent, irrational and sometimes non-transparent decision-making. Attitudes and behaviour of leadership to unethical behaviour and consequences for unethical behaviours applied only to junior staff and not management, creating an environment of distrust. Leadership generally did not encourage ethical behaviour, the mechanisms were insufficient to prevent unethical behaviour, and such unethical behaviours impacted on the culture of the organisation, hence ethics and mainly unethical behaviour has a direct impact on the organisational culture.