‘RULE-BENDING’ AND PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONAL ETHICS

ABSTRACT

This study examined ‘rule-bending’ and public sector organizational ethics in Edo State Civil Service within the timeframe of 2010 – 2020. The overall purpose of this study was to understand positive rule-bending as an ethical behavior, the relationship that exist between positive rule-bending and public sector ethics, the ethical climate in the Edo State Civil Service, identification of the major challenges of the ethical standards in place in the Edo State Civil Service and to have a clear understanding of the ethical boundaries within which public officials should bend rules in order to ensure accountability and transparency in the Civil Service. The research problem investigated in this study was that despite the good intentions of the positive rule-bending practice, it posed significant ethical dilemmas and potential consequences as this behavior blurs the line between ethical decision making and adherence which can undermine effective governance and accountability mechanisms, hence, this study addressed this issue by encouraging ethical discussions and decision-making. One of the problems also investigated in the course of this study was to examine the intent of the rule-bender as the risk of creating a slippery slope where bending rules becomes the norm rather than the exception becomes plausible. The design adopted for this study was the survey research design. In course of this study, the analysis, in which the Pearson’s correlation analytic tool was deployed revealed that there is a correlation between positive rule-bending in the public sector and the need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery, ethics, public interest and innovation. In a nutshell, the research revealed that civil servants would bend rules they perceive as unnecessary or out of line with the ethical standards of the organization, so as to improve on public service delivery, ensure fairness, promote creativity, enhance team performance and ethics, curb ethical challenges by engaging in whistle blowing, criticisms of ineffective management and disregard of counterproductive instructions which are all considered to be positive deviant behaviors.