Thesis (MTech. degree in Public Management.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / Unethical behaviour prevails in all three spheres of government in South Africa. The local government sphere is not an exception and thus this study will focus on the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Service, a department within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. The Tshwane Metropolitan Police Service was established in February 2002, with the purpose to assist the SAPS and the traffic department in providing traffic safety; combating crime; enforcing the municipal bylaws; providing guard services; licensing and community safety. These services must be rendered in a balanced and affordable manner and there are codes of conduct that regulates their behaviour.

Corruption and unethical management is a legitimate global concern as it can have a direct and substantial impact on the longevity and the success of an organisation, and a country. As a result much attention has been given to unethical behavior and organisational ethical violations over the last decade. Recent events have indicated that ethics management is an organisational concern with mammoth implications for organisations. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of strategies for the promotion of ethics and the impact of unethical conduct on an organisation. A direct link exists between employee behaviour and the organisational environment. The desired ethical environment is negatively affected if the employees cannot distinguish between right and wrong and do not act ethically when confronted with ethical dilemmas. Proposed ethics strategies may also be impacted on by the unethical behaviour of the leadership of organisations, compliance with legislation and poorly managed ethics strategies. The main research problem in this study was to identify what strategies could be adopted to create an ethical culture within an organisation. To achieve this objective a model was developed, proposed and supported with literature and the research study. A research questionnaire was designed to obtain the relevant data that was distributed to previously identified respondents. The results indicated that the majority employees were of the view that the organisational environment and leadership was not ethical and that the majority of employees were not actively pursuing an ethical environment. Findings indicated that the majority of employees felt that contributing factors to achieve an ethical environment was present, but ethic strategies were ineffective and poorly managed. The proposed study model, when implemented successfully, would allow the organisation the effective application of ethic interventions.

The research entailed an exploration of the reasons behind corruption and related offences in selected Gauteng police stations of the South African Police Service (SAPS). Corruption refers to the illegal and unlawful activities performed by police officials when they enrich themselves by taking money and other valuable property from offenders, victims and other people they come into contact with. The participants in this study were purposefully chosen and comprised of two groups. The first group included ex-police officials convicted and sentenced for committing corruption and related offences. The second group were active police officials suspected to have committed corruption and related crimes and some in this group were dismissed by disciplinary tribunals. The research was done at four of the police stations in Gauteng Province. There were 18 participants interviewed and nine were chosen from these police stations, with the remaining nine from two correctional facilities in Gauteng. The participants were asked an open-ended question which aimed at exploring convicted police officials’ reasons for having committed corruption. The interviews were recorded with the participants’ permission. The recorded data were transcribed verbatim and analysed. The five main themes that emerged are the high incidence of corruption involving all levels of police, multiple environmental factors which contribute to corruption, forms of corruption, dynamics resulting from corruption and anti-corruption mechanisms to prevent corruption. The themes were described using “in vivo” quotes from the transcribed data. To learn other trends about corruption, the nature and extent of corruption in the political, economic and the governmental sphere were discussed. In the summary of the research recommendations and conclusions were provided. A model has been identified which consists of preventative and reactive mechanisms, including selection, recruitment, the code of conduct, supportive leadership, supervision, mentoring and coaching, targeted inspections and auditing. Life style audits, disciplinary measures, dismissals and prosecution in these corruption case hearings also form part of the proposed model. / Corrections Management / D.Litt. et Phil. (Criminal Justice)