6.3 Causes of unethical behaviour among some principals and educators
6.3.3 Pressure from the service providers
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followers. Conger and Riggio (2007) posit that employees are affected similarly when they observe sanctions of misconduct and rewards for positive conduct. As a consequence, it is possible for Department of Basic Education to reduce or eradicate the existing lapses of ethics in the sector by sanctioning unethical practices of school principals. Messick and Bazerman (1996) and Werner (2011) argue that principals and teachers need to understand that they are accountable to various stakeholders. Sadly, Hallak and Poison (2005), and Belle and Canterelli (2017) believe that the level of unethical behaviours has connection with the level of accountability, hence principals continue engaging in unethical practices because there is a dearth of punishment for non-compliance.
Moreover, Werner (2011) maintains that there is a myriad of factors that affect the ethical conduct in the organisations as people join organisations with their unique values and beliefs, therefore the Department of Basic Education has a duty to provide support and establish ethical culture in the organisations. Nzimakwe (2014) insist that principals as public leaders have to conform to public accountability and transparency. Eisenbeiss (2012) maintains that principals as leaders have a responsibility towards themselves and the community they serve. Pushpa (2012) offers advice to leaders that they need to go beyond their personal egos and individual goals to recognise that the value is in the success of the organisational goals for the benefit of all the stakeholders. Similarly, Lašáková and Remišová (2015) argue that, when the leader is self-centred, self-protective and self- serving, it tends to compromise the organisational goals as his/her practices are driven by egoism, thus leaders’ interests get prioritised over everything else.
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endowed with strategies to execute corruption by enriching school leaders and making them believe that there is no harm in what they are doing.
Meanwhile, Mr Ngobese was very quick to suggest that sometimes one gets into unethical behaviour due to those who sell various products to schools. This is what he had to say:
Sometimes a representative from a particular company will come to you when you are really broke and have a lot of debts that you need to settle and tell you that if you buy his product you are guaranteed 10%. Tell me what do you do in that case?
You just fall into the trap of becoming unethical. Fortunately for me our school is under section 20 so everything is ordered by the Department of Education on our behalf as a school. But I must say it is highly tempting.
(Mr Ngobese, principal of Zakhele Primary school)
Mr Pelepele had this to say: “Temptation to school principals is caused by the existing trend that if you want to supply anything to the school or searching for a job then you must bribe the principal, even those who want promotions have to bribe school principals”. (Mr Pelepele, the principal of Ikhethelo Primary School)
Similar sentiments were echoed by the principal of Iphothwe Secondary who had this to share:
The guy who supplies books and stationery, when he was at school for the quotation, said to me if you buy books or stationery from me, you will get something in your pocket. I can give you 10 % from the order you would have made. Further indicated that some other principals he works with do take the proposal or offer. I also encountered the same challenge with the one who was selling desks who suggested that I can get 20% per desk as the desk will be quoted higher than the normal price.
(Mr Ndlovu, principal of Iphothwe Secondary school)
Meanwhile the foregoing assertion was corroborated by that of Mr Mnguni, who reported that these people who supply schools with stationery have all the tricks to defraud the state and they make it sound easy to do it. Regarding one supplier, whom he had phoned to supply the school with toner and inks said:
If there is something you want me to do for you, you must tell me so that I include your share in your invoice. However, you will have to understand that there are
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charges at the banks, and I will have a share in the amount you ask for. Believe me there is no challenge in this, I do this with most of my clients.
(Mr Mnguni, the principal of Intuthuko Secondary School)
Mhlophe had this to share:
Principals are like any other people. They get into their positions and want to balance their positions and their achievements. They start to behave unethically by stealing school finances to balance their status and their lifestyle. Basically, it is the pressure from their surroundings. They find it easy to steal because they control all the school resources including finances of the school.
(Mhlophe, post level one educator from Ikhethelo Primary School)
Drawing from the voices of the participants, there are numerous failures on the part of the Department to curb unethical behaviour in the sector mainly by school principals. It is evident that the surface is fertile for corruption to prosper. The pressure exerted by service providers finds principals who are in a compromising financial status hence they easily get caught up into colluding with service providers. This is bound to be perpetual because these service providers work with numerous schools and have sophisticated strategies to defraud school funds. When service providers make mention of numerous principals who benefit from the strategy, it obviously tempts the ethically weak principal to fall into unethical conduct. There was a consensus among the three principals that the suppliers of stationery and books have a tendency to tantalise them with some kickbacks if they give them work. They further give them strategies of how to steal from the school funds.
Meanwhile, Maicibi and Yahaya (2013) posit that theft, embezzlement and misappropriation are the forms of corruption that infest organisations. Askew, Beisler, and Keel (2015) corroborate the latter assertion and further contend that it is important to know the employees’
intentions to make unethical decision as preventative measure can be taken before the unethical conduct is executed. Trevino and Brown (2004) aver that peer pressure is not only affecting teenagers but even school principals and educators because peer influence is so powerful. In accentuating their points, Brown and Trevino (2004) argue that principals and teachers emulate what their colleagues do. They argue that the environment in which principals and teachers operate supports the reinforcement of unethical behaviours.
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Similar sentiments were shared by Eranil and Ӧzbilen (2017), who maintain that individuals’
behaviours in organisations are directly impacted by their organisational environment.
Therefore, employees develop various kinds of behaviour and attitudes in relation to their organisational atmosphere. Kaptein (2011) avers that principals participate in corrupt or unethical behaviours because they fail to uphold ethical standards that they are custodians of and further explains that schools became fertile ground of unethical behaviours as a result of the principal violating ethical standards, as employees tend to mimic their leader’s behaviour.
Singh and Twalo (2015) argue that the rise in accusations of principals’ having committed unethical behaviours calls for close scrutiny by the learners. Boes (2015) avers that principals with a weak moral compass are easily influenced, as they are readily encouraged by temptations, they find themselves confronted with to behave unethically. Principals are exposed to a myriad of temptations to behave unethically, for example; they have full control of school cheque books and other resources. As a consequence, it is easy for the school principals to steal from the school funds to enrich themselves.