Posted by / Monday 22 August 2016 / No comments

The reasons why Ghanaians misbehave at work



THE WORLD OF 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. 
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