WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Definition and rationale
Definition of corruption differs depending on discipline and mechanisms used to explain the phenomenon. Corruption is behavior which deviates from the formal duties of a public role and violates the rules. Scott (1969), Oliver (1999), Szeftel (2000) and Nassir (2002), define corruption as the misuse of public or private office for personal gain. What is a lesson from this simple definition is the existence of a gap between country law and personal behavior. Heidenheimer, Johnston, and Levine (1990). Clarify about the gap by defining corruption as an act of an official or fiduciary person who unlawfully and wrongfully uses his station or character to procure some benefit for him, while the act is unlawfully and wrongfully.
Ethics and professionalism can be defined as a service based on rules and standards that spell out what is right and wrong (that is moral) in official work the public will judge a public servant by the way he or she behaves in terms of those ethics; while professionalism resides in how skillfully and how well a public servant performs his /her factions and duties, includes integrity, courtesy, honesty and willing compliance with the highest ethical standards. It fosters respect and trust and efficient that demands people be treated with dignity and respect.
This study therefore explores the relationship between promoting ethics and professionalism and the perception of corruption among the civil servants in
Literature
Review
Theoretical research on corruption Tanzania dates back at least to the 1970 with Scott (1969) and Oliver (1999), among others making pioneering contributions to understanding the phenomenon of corruption and rent-seeking behavior. In recent years Heilman and Ndumbaro (2002) has modeled corruption as a gamble for civil servants at every level and finds, among other things that the probability of punishment diminishes with the general level of corruption. Shleifer and vishny (1993) have shown that the structure of government institutions of political process affects corruption levels and the illegality and secrecy associated with corruption exacerbate its distortion effects. Szeftel (2000) and Nassir (2002) discuss how efficiency wages may be ineffective in combating corruption among tax collectors under certain circumstances. Rijckeghem and Weder (1997) find a negative correlation between civil service wage level and the level of corruption. Leite and Weidmann (1999) find support for their hypothesis that natural resources abundance promotes rent-seeking behavior.
Mbaku (1996). It is argued that in
Two previous researches which are associated with this study is from Heilman and Ndumbaro (2002) Traced the evolution of corruption in
Why this study is necessary? Heilman and Ndumbaro (2002) observe corruption in Tanzania has become part and parcel of daily life and is tolerated, accepted and institutionalized to the extent that both people who give and receive bribes have internationalized that behavior. There is a need to enact or revise the leadership code and enforce laws against the corrupting. Like in 1995 corruption was the central issue in
The second previous research article is about Corruption politics and societal values in
According
to this study Heilman, Kamata and Ndumbaro (2000), one of the major
characteristics of Max Weber rational legal administration is the separation of
official activity from the sphere of private life. According to Weber, public
officials neither own part of the organization for which they work nor are
allowed to use their position for private gain. When there is little separation
of public from private the national legal model set new ethical standards for
public administration. The breaking of the organic link between the state and
society is a key to understanding corruption in Africa .
During the socialist transformation year from 1967 to 1985 abstract corruption
grew roots. Despite the leadership code and other socialist norms, public
officials, at the managerial level of parastatal organizations continue to use
their office for private gain. Smuggling was rampant, as was public officials
accepting bribes and favors in return for allocating scarce resources;
officials' salaries fell to below the incentives to look for side incomes. From
1985 to 1995 corruption seemed to spiral out of control, because corruption
became increasingly sophisticated as the relationship between the state and the
private sector grew in complex.
Key
Hypothesis
This
study is going to examine the why corruption is growing in Tanzania . In analyzing this
situation the study is hypnotizing that “ignoring the code of ethics and
professionalism create an opportunity for corruption among civil servants”
This temptation can be reduced by creating an environment where corruption is difficult to be practiced and when one tries it does not pay. Ethics and professionalism are an ideal attempt in fighting against it therefore corruption is an activity initiated, organized and adopted by people for their own profit and their own purpose, while ethics and professionalism look at the following:
q The
aim to control behavior of individuals who hold office not to take bribes
q Create
more moral trustworthiness of its citizens and leaders.
q Transform
officials by molding their attitude behavior and perception by acting with
fairness, justice honesty accountability and with respect.
q Application
of check and balance regarding their knowledge they possess.
q Therefore
to be sound administrator it is essential to perform with high ethical and to
promote efficiency and effectiveness
q Is
a form of self discipline and inner check on the conduct of public servants?
q The
analysis of this problem is that corruption has not yet been bound by ethical
and professional standards, may be by promoting it can help to solve the
problem
.
Research
design
This study is using descriptive design to answer descriptive research questions: What is happening? How is something happening? Why is something happening? The aim of this proposal is to analyze why ignoring the code of ethics and professionalism create an opportunity for rampant corruption among civil servants in Tanzania and whether the promotion of ethics and professionalism strategies is the right way to stop the spread of corruption in Tanzania.
Limitations
This study can face the problem when we look at the basic rule that all individuals must have an equal chance of being selected. Sampling error can be reduced by increasing the sample size or minimizing the random errors in the data collection process. Large enough number of population to minimize the variable sampling error in the estimate. Most costly modes of administration, longer data collection period and the problem of Interviewer concerns and that the use generalizable to the total population of interest should be taken carefully.
Possible intervening variables
The aim of every research study is to manipulate all variables, despite the fact that there are some intervening variable which sometimes are not measurable and can also have an impact on the study. In this study the intervening variable is a culture of the organization is very crucial in monitoring the spread of corruption in the organization. Culture is the foundation stone for good practice because it's more than ethics and professionalism because it is guided by the concept do no harm. Unethical practice arises when corporations fail to pay explicit attention to the ethical risks that are created by their own system and practices. In such system the culture is so structured that management finds. When a culture of corruption is allowed in organization and little lies grow bigger ones and such stretches of truth eventually get out of hand turn into big problems, and people just think that it is right to lie and start manipulating issues in order to enrich themselves.
Variables
This research paper explores the relationship between promoting ethics and professionalism and the perception of corruption among the civil servants in
An insecurity public civil servant of being paid with counterfeit money brings insecurity and creates the environment for them to deter from asking for bribes in the future. When state lost its ability to pay public servants a living wage official salary when fell below subsistence needs creating incentives to look for side incomes. The harsh realities of scarcity and poverty overwhelmed the deduction to good service and corruption grew strong societal roots.
In this study
there is one Independent variable that is: Ethics and professionalism, and one Dependent variable that is: Corruption
Analysis of the study
Ethics and professionalism are operations as honest implies both truth telling and responsible behavior that seeks to abide by the rules. While corruption for this study is defined as dishonest behavior that violates the trust placed in public officials, It involves the use of a public position for private gain when officials in public sector civil servants improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them by the misuse of the public power entrusted to them such kind of behavior included illicit payments, the sale of official posts, positions or promotions which undermine the creation of a professional career extortion and abuse of public office
A crucial role to safeguard of a high standard of public ethics and professionalism has to fall on the ability citizens and people’s organizations and associations to hold public officials accountable for their acts and also to ensure that public institutions fulfill their functions properly and responsibly. The roots of corruption a combination of economic social and administrative factors creates favorable conditions for corruption low salaries for civil servants
In this situation when the window civil servants put aside the ethics and professionalism aspects and see a window of opportunity to enrich is open because of the loopholes in laws, this makes them unaffordable and inaccessible to the ordinary citizens who need these services most. How to solve the problem is here when the plea of promoting comes in by establishing a public service integrity system that is characterized by openness transparency and accountability and all public servants be the custodians of the high standard of executing their responsibilities accordingly.
Measures to enhance ethics and professionalism against corruption have been the major plea of ordinary citizens who are most affected by corruption. The increase in incidence of unethical and unprofessional has contributed to the following:
q Contributing
to economic difficulties in Tanzania .
q Greasing
rampant corruption in all major sectors like police judicial educational and
health services
q Patronage
nepotism embezzlement self enrichment bestowing of favors on relatives and
friends and absenteeism
Majority of Tanzania argues that corruption is rampant because of low salaries and other benefits provided to civil servants: There are four main reasons to believe that low salaries foster corruption or corrupt behavior:
- If the wages of public officials were the similar to their private sector counterparts they would not risk accepting bribes. The potential gain from corruption would therefore be too low.
- When civil servants are remunerated poorly then the opportunities for corruption may become the motivation for aspiring a job in the public sector. This means the flow of many incompetent and dishonest applicants for the public sector. It might be that when a government believes that civil servants earn sufficient income from the corruption they may reduce or at least won’t raise their salary. The easiest solution would be the replacement of unethical official by an ethically sound person. But if the system is corrupt what do you expect?
- When civil servants are paid fair wages they might feel more guilty when acting corruptly and therefore they would be more likely to resist bribery. It is sometimes assumed that if workers were compensated accordingly for the performance they would be less interested in acting corruptly.
- When income is low then even the smallest supplement to the income can have an important impact on a family’s living conditions. The combination of monopoly power in granting permits and low wages for officials creates incentives for corruption.
Some citizens believe
that even if ethics and professionalism might be promoted there will be no
major changes until the fundamental problem surrounding corruption is solved.
This group observed that weak legal system can be the main source when you look
at ineffective legal system may encourage the elite to use it for personal gain
and consequently reduce the effectiveness of the laws and their enforcers
through corruption activities.
A minority of Tanzanians they don’t know what is going on around the country to them corruption is part and parcel of their life given that corruption grease the social life and economy and they deny such phrase as rampant corruption in
From this analysis the majority of Tanzanians believes that there is a need to develop strategies ways and punishment to fight corruption in public organizations. And to them promoting ethics and professionalism is the best approach. A crucial role of government should be to safeguard a higher standard of public ethics and professionalism to all government employees where corruption is rampant and hold public officials accountable for their wrong acts.
Conclusion
The conclusion which can be drawn from this study is that when one deals with corruption, it is not a good idea to come to a conclusion looking at one aspect. In this study one can hypothesize that higher salaries for officials induce lower level of corruption. Low salaries in public services attract only incompetent or even dishonest applicant which results in an inefficient and unethical behavior. In this case the empirical results, has shown that brings together effort on promoting ethical and professionalism as a positive way to stop rampant corruption. Generalized trust in the rules and duties in attitudes and behavior are still important
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