Posted by Chester Morton / Monday, 22 August 2016 / No comments
The reasons why Ghanaians misbehave at work
Definition of work
Work is any legitimate and socially
acceptable act that one performs to earn a living. It could also be seen as any
human effort directed at production.
The government is the largest
employer in many countries. It is the government, therefore, which formulates
labour policies, and initiates projects to employ people and creates an
enabling environment for individuals to set up their own businesses.
SOME WRONG BEHAVIOUR
THAT GHANAIANS EXHIBIT AT WORK
Lateness and irregularity
In many governments establishments,
reporting late at work is the commonest malaise. It is a habit displayed even
by the bosses who are supposed to act as a check on the junior staff. And
because of this, many bosses lack the moral nerve to check lateness by junior
workers. In some cases, too, workers are habitually irregular.
Laziness
People also exhibit laziness at work.
Many employees just fail to work to the best of their ability. E.g. A lot of
workers sleep during work hours, and some those who do not sleep habitually engage
in unproductive activities.
Pilfering at the workplace is also
very common
A wide range of items are often
stolen from the workplace by employees - electric switches, chairs, vehicle
parts, tools, and equipment, etc.
Falsification of accounts by
accounting staff
Some bursars and Accountants in Senior
Secondary Schools and in other state institutions have been exposed in this
behaviour through auditing of school accounts books.
Bribery and Corruption
There are bribery and corruption at workplaces,
many times, civil servants and other employees resort to foot-dragging or
red-tapeism when they are expected to render services to the public - services
for which they are paid monthly salaries. They resort to such delays as a
tactics to force people to give them bribes before they do their job. Sometimes
too, monies voted for government institutions are partly diverted into
individual pockets.
SOME REASONS
FOR THE WRONG BEHAVIOURS AT WORKPLACES
The Ghanaian mentality
There is a belief in Ghanaian that the
civil/public service work is government business’ so an individual must not put
in as much effort as he/she would if it was his/her own work.
Glorification of wealth
Ghanaians have the culture of
glorifying wealth, irrespective the mode of acquisition. This makes it easy for
people to embezzle their employer’s money and not to receive any reprimand from
society. Indeed those rather live their lives uprightly are considered to be
failures if they are unable to stash money away.
Absence of motivation
Low salaries and lack of adequate
incentives at the workplace force people into corruption and other vices at the
workplace. Cultural factors - The extended family system, for example, put
too many financial burdens on the ordinary worker. He/she is thus forced into
corruption, diversion funds, etc. as a means of survival.
Society’s negative perception of the
individual’s workplace
Most of our people see everyone’s
workplace his/her “gold mine”. Public reaction to embezzlement, corruption,
etc. seems to favour the culprits, because society feels that “where you work
is where you must”, So, for example, to build a mansion from illegal acquisitions
from the workplace is commended by many people.
THE EFFECTS
OF NEGATIVE WORK ETHICS OR BEHAVIOUR ON OUTPUT
Work becomes
unprofitable unproductive
The negative attitude to work results
in different kinds of loses to many government institutions. In many cases, the entire revenue of
public enterprises are less than expenditure. What this means is that the cost
of running establishments exceeds the revenues they generate.
Unemployment
After negative attitude to work has
resulted in the loss of productivity and profit, naturally, workers are laid
off. At the end of the day, thousands of people become unemployed.
POSITIVE
WORK ETHIC AND ITS EFFECT ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
A good sense of time
Where workers have a good sense of
time, it reflects in production targets and eventually the bottom-line.
Honesty at the workplace
Where the workers are honest and go
about their functions diligently, by demonstrating it in a general absence of
corruption, embezzlement, pilfering, etc., it accrues to the benefit of the entity
involved and subsequently in the success of the organization.
Hard work and dedication instead of
laziness
Workers work hard at their job
because it is their source of livelihood. Workers work to the extent they
should. Workers adopt a serious attitude to work, producing a lot at the end of
the day.
Loyalty
To show one’s loyalty, one must
demonstrate regular attendance at work, not allowing one’s private business
or activities to interfere with one’s job, etc. Coupled with a concerted effort
to increase productivity, this can contribute to the growth of the economy.
