An Exploration of Five Theories to Explain and Manage the Unethical Behavior of Public Employees

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This theory-based paper explores the unethical behavior of public employees according to five theoretical perspectives. The theoretical perspectives include Naturalism, Devil Theory, Pragmatism, Emotive Theory, and Social View Theory. The paper contends that while each theory provides some insight into the causes behind unethical behavior, Social View Theory offers the greatest insight into understanding the unethical behavior among public employees as well as suggesting a managerial strategy to control it. Social View Theory (Bahm 1974; Rosenthal and Shehadi 1988) addresses the ethical contract between an individual and his reference group. However; it is Fisk’s (1980) contribution to Social View Theory which provides the most useful framework in which to analyze and ultimately manage the unethical behavior of public employees. Fisk’s theory contends that ethical behavior varies according to group membership. Each group practices a potentially singular set of behaviors which safeguards and promotes the mutual interests of its group members. Varying group membership and differently perceived interests explain why groups of employees develop different ethical standards while working within the same organization. Fisk’s group ethics theory also explains why ethics codes which ignore the interests of cohesive groups within the organization are ultimately doomed to fail. In conclusion, Social View Theory as it is described and applied in this paper, offers public managers a way to orchestrate the disparate needs of cohesive groups while fostering a set of ethical behaviors that work in concert with the organization’s goals and objectives.

Stream: Economics and Management

Paper: An Exploration of Five Theories to Explain and Manage the Unethical Behavior of Public Employees

Dr. Strait began her career in the United States Navy where she served as an air traffic controller for four years. Upon finishing her tour with the navy, she held various positions in airport management. After completing her Ph.D., she served as a visiting professor of public management at Virginia Tech, and as a faculty member at Old Dominion University. Dr. Strait has published and written articles in both English and Spanish involving topics such as labor economics, immigration, and employee ethics. She has also been a speaker at several international conferences including: London, Quebec, Brussels, Vancouver, Valencia, Spain, Berne, Switzerland, and Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Strait currently serves as program chair of the Department of Human Resource Management and Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond.