Organizational Behaviour: A Study of Ethics and Deviance at Sahara Group, Ghana

Abstract

Deviant behaviours in organizations is costing firms in terms of resource loss and goodwill. Deviant practices and its triggers are of concern to all stakeholders of organizations and this inform the current study to examine ethics and deviance in one of the Multinational Company (MNC) in the downstream oil and gas company, Sahara Group. The study used a mixed method by employing both in-depth interviews and survey techniques. Forty-five respondents were sampled using purposive sampling techniques. Ethical guidelines were considered throughout the study to obtain the findings. The findings indicated that respondents have knowledge about the nature, laws and ethics of deviant behaviours at Sahara Group. This knowledge is positively translated to actual behaviours where majority of respondents opined that they do not engage in major deviant practices such as stealing, drug abuse, harming co-workers but are fraught with some traces of minor deviances such as leaving work early, resource wastage at some point, engaging in accepting and showing favouritism. Also, it was found that, the main predictors of deviant behaviours in the research settings were employees who intends to leave and employees with lower education level. The study makes recommendations for consideration which includes; an increase in employee involvement so that there is higher reporting and action by management to nip in the bud minor deviances which was prevalent and seen as normal. Moreover, equitable implementation of policies too is strongly recommended so that applied sanctions within the disciplinary code of Sahara Group can be exacted on any employee who breaks the provisions without favour and in a consistent manner.