The influence of organizational policies on office administrators’ ethics in selected financial services companies in South Africa

Abstract

This thesis sought to explore the alignment between individual ethical values and organizational policies and value systems that are embedded within decision-making processes within the financial services industry. The assumption was that financial services administrators are very often the first persons who are blamed for the ethical indiscretions that abound within the financial services industry. The financial industry is tainted with ethical scandals involving all levels of employees. Business ethics is viewed as an oxymoron with the perception that business and ethics cannot find common ground in relation to a harmonious partnership so as to generate a profit resulting in utilitarian consequences. Global and national economic developments have placed great demands on businesses to remain competitive. As businesses strive to achieve competitive advantage, employees are placed under extreme pressure to meet their own financial needs and the targets set by companies. A current tendency is to capture what is assumed to be generally acceptable ethical and behavioural belief systems of employees in policy documents to regulate operating processes leading to compliance. It has always been assumed that ethical conduct of workers is always influenced by institutions such as religious or cultural affiliations within an egalitarian society. The need to survive is the predominant reason amongst employees why they work, and this need results in obsessive egocentric approaches to achieving sales targets thus ignoring social teachings that were supposed to be their moral guide. Employees are always ambivalent around their own value systems, company policies and their own material desires that need to be satisfied. Businesses are faced with challenges relating to ethical management and corporate governance forcing them to implement ethical codes of conduct mitigating against all kinds of risks they face. The theoretical foundations used by business to inform their ethical guide is found in social norms and standards of behaviour captured within legislation utilized within the macro-economic environment in which they operate. Given the above the study reviewed process modelling for policy formulation within organizations and endeavoured to develop a process for decision-making underpinned by structuration theory. The study was further motivated by the fact that in most organizations and in particular, in the financial service industry, there is a wide gap between what policies and values hope to achieve and what employees do. It is argued that the problem that organizations are faced with is to find congruence between organizational codes of ethics, policies, individual ethics, and decision-making. The study used a theoretical framework that provides new insights into how organizational policies and individual ethics impact on decision-making within the financial services industry. The study was conducted using empirical evidence derived from 220 questionnaires as the primary measuring tool from a 45% response rate. The main findings exposed the notion that ethical codes of conduct or policies direct the behaviour of employees. The result of this research indicate that structure is the medium for action and that employees interact with a structure that is formed by rules in whose formation they have participated. Structure therefor has a greater influence in individuals than individuals have on structure. The outcome of the study illuminates the fact that organizational policies have an impact on the decision-making of office administrators and that greater participation in the formulation of policies results in greater compliance. The implication is that employees must be the custodians of the structure that underpins process and rules.