Investigating the relationship between leadership and employee work ethics at eThekwini Municipality Libraries and Heritage Departments

Abstract

Leaders play a key role in respect of providing a healthy employee work ethic and influencing behaviour across all organisations, particularly within the public sector. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between leadership and the work ethic of employees within the public sector, with reference to eThekwini municipality’s libraries and heritage department. This area of focus is in light of the serious complaints from the public that senior management should be blamed for the unethical conduct of certain employees over the years.

The study employed a quantitative methodology where a questionnaire was used to gather data from a sample of 230 employees, selected from a population of 2300 using the systematic random sampling technique. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20 and excel. The major findings of the study indicate that there was no significant relationship between leadership and an employee’s ethical behaviour. However, employees were aware of what was expected from an ethical point of view, in addition they were also aware of the importance of ethics. The study revealed that employees viewed unethical practices as a serious matter leading to such practices being reported by colleagues. The study highlighted that behaving in an ethical manner was not rewarded by the organisation.

The study recommended that the need to consider rewarding employees who display the appropriate ethical conduct, furthermore a position of “ethics” officer should be created to ensure that ethical behaviour and standards are part and parcel of municipal obligations. It is important to be mindful of the fact that the study focused on a single department – the library and heritage, the study recommended further studies be undertaken across the other departments, encompassing the entire municipality in order to have balanced views of ethics at eThekwini Municipality.