THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE DISSATISFACTION WITH
THEIR EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE DISHONESTY
The
Research Problem
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>This
study will be focusing on the relationship of staff dissatisfaction and staff
dishonesty. Alternatively, a breakdown in some normally well functioning
organizational system may occur, leading to unanticipated suboptimal outcomes.
However, my search of the sociological literature for theories and concepts
with explanatory power shows that whatever the role of chance or system
breakdown, much organizational deviance is a routine by-product of the
characteristics of the system itself. Organizational deviance, in its generic
form, can be understood as routine nonconformity: a predictable and recurring
product of all socially organized systems.
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The word fraud encompasses many
types of acts; hence, it is important to carefully define how it is used in
this study. The authoritative auditing literature distinguishes two types of
irregularities: management fraud and employee frauds (AICPA, 1988). Management
fraud refers to such things as fraudulent financial reporting that result in
misleading financial statements. The term employee frauds refer to the
misappropriation of assets, thus including such acts as theft and embezzlement.
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Dishonesty can create problems
for any company; it can occur in almost any facet of a business and can be
committed by any number of individuals. Despite a company's size or internal
safeguards, there is no getting around one simple fact: Dishonest individuals
are everywhere. Motivated by the belief that they cannot or will not be caught,
dishonest employees can find ways to circumvent a company's policies and
procedures. All companies need to be mindful of fraud and at least appear
vigilant to deter employees that might consider breaking the law. (Fishman,
2001)
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Employees have always committed
crimes at the workplace. However, as technology has advanced, so too have
opportunities for employees to steal. Employees still commit the more
"blue-collar" type offenses, but technology has enabled them to
defraud companies in previously unheard of ways.
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>When people talk of employee
theft, they typically are referring to the so-called blue-collar crimes. These
include stealing office supplies, parts and inventory for personal use or resale,
making long-distance personal telephone calls on company lines, and falsifying
time cards. Although these activities have been historically simple, even they
are becoming more sophisticated. With this increased sophistication, it is
becoming more difficult to distinguish the blue-collar criminals from the
white-collar criminals.
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>White-collar crimes by employees
are by far the most costly to the employer and are often the most difficult to
detect and prevent. Some of these crimes include using the company's computer
for personal business (sometimes running entire operations on the company's
time and with a free computer), (Parker, 1984) embezzlement, and falsifying
financial statements.
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>With the advent of the computer
and other technology, employees are finding more innovative ways to steal.
Employees are using modern laser printers and copiers to forge documents and
are employing computers to switch funds electronically from company accounts to
personal accounts. (Dumain, 1988) Of course, employees still commit the
all-time favorite crime of voiding sales and pocketing the cash. (Buss, 1993)
Another crime that is particularly difficult to detect is accepting kickbacks
from unscrupulous vendors. (Dumain, 1988)
Theoretical Perspectives and Concepts
Moreover,
organizations that alienate workers through their organizational and human
resource practices will be less effective and efficient. Satisfied employees
usually work harder and better than frustrated ones (Etzioni, 1964; Gross &
Etzioni, 1985; Ostroff, 1992). Along these lines, survivors' work behaviors and
attitudes are likely to be influenced by the layoffs of coworkers with whom
survivors often identify (Greenhalgh, 1982; Brockner, Davy & Carter, 1985),
and these attitudes can negatively affect productivity.
Mutual
obligations and benefits defining the employee-employer relationship are the
essence of an employment compact (Rousseau, 1989). Employees agree to make
specific contributions to an organization in return for benefits from the
employer (Nicholson & Johns, 1985). Research has shown that employee'
perceptions of employer-employee obligations dramatically change over the first
few years of employment (Robinson, Kraatz & Rousseau, 1994). In addition,
the greatly changed (and changing) worklife settings of contemporary firms must
be factored into the picture. Robinson et al. (1994) suggest that the manager
should pay more attention to managing beliefs regarding mutual responsibilities
of employees and employers, particularly, organizational actions maintaining
rather than breaching the employer-employee contract, or risk dysfunctional
results. Employees expect employer behaviors that are ethical and trustful.
With the enormity of changes affecting organizations and the workplace,
Employee Relations Compact (ERC) must encompass employers' staffing planning
and the traditional range of human resource matters, including self-directed
benefits and savings for retirement. Equally important to strategic ERC
considerations are the existing corporate culture, past employment
relationships, stability of the company, competitive and financial outlook, and
organization vision for the future.
In
the past, traditional firms have typically been autocratic, non-participative,
and rigid entities. They have exchanged financial rewards for adequate task
completion by employees. Employers' needs and interests dominated the
employment relationship. In exchange for loyal service, employees assumed they
would enjoy the comfort of lifetime employment, and the benefits of such things
as company-sponsored health insurance and retirement pensions.
The
mutual obligations of employer and employee play a subtle but powerful role in
employment relationships. A number of factors affect the appropriateness and
sophistication or refinement of employee and employer relationships. These
includes the volatility of the market (domestic or global); financial
conditions of the company - obviously, if a company is facing bankruptcy it is
hard to spend money on employee training; corporate culture traditions and
quality of past employment relationships; criticality of the human factor to
enterprise success, and willingness to change these as needed; demographics of
the company - many companies still have to face past biases and inaccurate beliefs
regarding women, minorities, and older workers that affect training
expenditures; and lower quality of education - new workers may need more
training and education due to declining educational standards of a considerable
number of countries. (Robinson et al, 1994)
Moreover,
the existence of nonconformity as a result of a dissatisfied workforce is
seemingly apparent and thus the focus of this study. Conventionally, in the
theories of organization, the setting comprises the channels and other kinds of
interorganizational affairs as well as the prevailing circumstances such as the
political, technological, economic, legal, demographic, ecological, and
cultural aspects of society. Hall (1996) have characterized it as a convoluted,
hostile, developing, pretentious, and transmitting blows to undoubting
organizations. This environmental incertitude is a notion recurrently
homologous with routine nonconformity. Thus, unanticipated abrogating outcomes
are probable even when the introductory ambient factors affect their
prospective activities since organizations have pitfalls in unerringly
evaluating several aspects that might influence their future activities.
(Pressman & Wildavsky 1973, Wilson et al 1996). Moreover, indisposed
understanding of social circumstances even could result to the declination of
the organization to succeed.
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>On
the other hand, the concept of power is utilized as the fundamental
illustrative concept of nonconformity, the center change from the firms
refitting to an ambiguous setting to organizations that is aggressively
defining, creating, and shaping it to suit their needs (Perrow, 1991). Power
struggles are practicable results in co-optation and deposition of goals, both
of which are archetypal theories pertinent to customary nonconformity (Selznick
1949). To persist, organizations in general must contend for means that may aid
them in meeting their respective fundamental purposes. Frequently the said
means are dearth because of many independent factors. It could be caused by the
nature of the resource having a naturally limited supply. It could be also
caused by the scrupulousness of suppliers by hoarding these products thus
making it difficult to acquire. It could also be because of the courses of
action engaged upon by regulators, rivals, and suppliers that make the supply
limited. And it could also be a result of inherent responsibilities that
demarcate organizations from acquiring the means that they require. In this
contention, the concept of power is an instrumentality to a purpose. Co-optation,
the procedure of transmitting denunciation to the balance of the environment by
enthralling contemporary ambient factors into the leadership or
policy-determining composition of a firm, could produce in finding a
advantageous medium that divert organizations from its initial thrusts, thus
the result depart from standard norms or contemplation.
To
these theories may be affixed two contemporary rationales that come across
grounds of routine nonconformity in the organization. These include Powell and
DiMaggio’s (1991) new institutionalism and the economic embeddedness
perspective of Granovetter (1985). The new institutionalism stipulates that
organizational models and demeanor reverberate the predominant values and
beliefs that have become sanctioned as the norm. Moreover, cultural codes
compose actors such as states, organizations, professions, and individuals,
thus ascertain lawful objectives for them to endeavor and influencing practice
and significance at the local level. Furthermore, impartiality in the
institutional domain can be not only a mechanism to some objectives, but an
objective in itself. This is due to the universal discipline of the
institutionalized environment are repeatedly indecorous to particular
circumstances, consequence may be suboptimal and, to some extent,
unpredictable. For Granovetter, attempts at purposive action are embedded in
concrete, ongoing systems of social relations that affect them (1985:487). In
contrast to the new institutionalism, agency is central to the embeddedness
perspective. Both contingency and constraint explain economic action; thus, the
embeddedness perspective is another tool for explaining the systematic
production of organizational deviance. Granovetter points out the ironic link
between the bright side and the dark side: The very concrete social relations
and structures (or networks) in the environment that play a role in generating
trust and discouraging wrongdoing in economic exchange also increase
opportunities for deceit and deviance (1985:491-93).
Research Methods
A
greater understanding of the relationship of staff dissatisfaction and staff
misconduct is a fundamental thrust of this study. For this study, primary
research and secondary research will be used. Primary research will be
conducted using anonymous questionnaires that will be sent to employees of the
respondent organizations. The questionnaires will be used to collect
quantitative data and the interviews will be used to provide qualitative
insights into the data collected.
The
data will be analyzed and compiled for the correlation of the hypothesis. The
data will then be presented by means of graphical representations and
illustration and the difference would be highlighted. A negative correlation
between the variables would suggest that the hypothesis is null, that is, the
level of staff dissatisfaction is directly proportional to the occurrence of
staff misconduct in the organization.
Research requires an organized data
gathering in order to pinpoint the research philosophies and theories that will
be included in the research, the methodology of the research and the
instruments of data interpretation. In this study, the Research Process “Onion”
will be utilized so that the findings of the study can be thoroughly
established. The inner part of the onion describes the methodology portion
whereas the outer part discusses the strategies that can be utilized in
interpreting the results of the findings.
The descriptive research method
uses observation and surveys. In this method, it is possible that the study
would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest unanticipated hypotheses.
Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and
especially infer causations. Thus, this study will use the descriptive
approach. This descriptive type of
research will utilize observations in the study.
research, Creswell (1994) will guide the researcher when he stated: Descriptive
method of research is to gather information about the present existing
condition. The purpose of employing this
method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of
the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. The researcher
opted to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to
obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and
sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The research described in this
document is partly based on quantitative research
methods. This permits a flexible and iterative approach. During data gathering
the choice and design of methods are constantly modified, based on ongoing
analysis. This allows investigation of important new issues and questions as
they arise, and allows the investigators to drop unproductive areas of research
from the original research plan.
font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This study also employs
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>qualitative
research method, since this research intends to find and build theories that
would explain the relationship of one variable with another variable through
qualitative elements in research. These qualitative elements does not have
standard measures, rather they are behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs.
Furthermore,
as we define the qualitative research it is multimethod in focus, involving an
interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that
qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to
make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to
them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of
interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter
at hand.
font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The primary source of data will come
from the researcher-made questionnaire and interview questions. The primary
data frequently gives the detailed definitions of terms and statistical units
used in the study. These are usually broken down into finer classifications.
The secondary sources of data will
come from published articles from social science journals, theses and related
studies on personnel administration, particularly in the field of compensation.
Acquiring secondary data are more convenient to use because they are already
condensed and organized. Moreover, analysis and interpretation are done more
easily.
For
this research design, the researcher will gather data, collate published
studies from different local and foreign universities and articles from social
science journals; and make a content analysis of the collected documentary and
verbal material. Afterwards, the
researcher will summarize all the information, make a conclusion based on the
null hypotheses posited and provide insightful recommendations on
employee-employer relations in reference to employee fraud.
"Times New Roman"'>The researcher shall use a combination of cluster and random
sampling. First, a self-administered questionnaire, containing 18 to 20
questions and to be filled out by the employees with information regarding
their employers shall be formulated. Another set of questionnaires will be
prepared for the interview with the employers themselves gearing towards their
perception of their relationship with their employees. Ideally, the
respondents will grade each statement in the survey-questionnaire using a
Likert scale, with a five-response scale wherein respondents will be given five
response choices.
The equivalent weights for the answers will be:
Agree
0.00 – 1.49 Strongly
Disagree
For validation purposes, the researcher will initially submit a sample
of the set of survey questionnaires and after approval; the survey will be
conducted to five respondents. After the
questions were answered, the researcher will ask the respondents for any
suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and
validity of the instrument. The
researcher will again examine the content of the interview questions to find
out the reliability of the instrument.
The researchers will exclude irrelevant questions and will change words
that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, to much simpler terms.
The researcher will exclude the five respondents who will be initially
used for the validation of the instrument.
The researcher will also tally, score and tabulate all the responses in
the provided interview questions. Moreover, the interview shall be using a
structured interview. It shall consist of a list of specific questions and the
interviewer does not deviate from the list or inject any extra remarks into the
interview process. The interviewer may encourage the interviewee to clarify
vague statements or to further elaborate on brief comments. Otherwise, the
interviewer attempts to be objective and tries not to influence the interviewer's
statements. The interviewer does not share his/her own beliefs and opinions.
The structured interview is mostly a "question and answer" session.
font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;
mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>When all the survey questionnaire will have been
collected, the researcher will use statistics to analyse all the data.
The statistical formulae to be used in the
survey questionnaire will be the following:
font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;color:black;mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>1.
Percentage – to
determine the magnitude of the responses to the questionnaire.
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> n
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>% = -------- x 100
– number of responses
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> N N
– total number of respondents
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:
Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>
font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;color:black;mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>2.
Weighted Mean
font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;
mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> f1x1 + f2x2
+ f5x5
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>x =
---------------------------------------------
;
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> xt
where: f
– weight given to each response
x
– number of responses
xt
– total number of responses
The researcher will be assisted by the SPSS in coming up with the
statistical analysis for this study.
Anticipated Problems
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The
dissertation shall be divided into five chapters in order to provide clarity
and coherence on the discussion of the relationship of employee-employer
relations and the frequency of employee dishonesty. The first part of the
dissertation will be discussing the problem uncovered by the researcher and
provide ample background on the topic. The chapter shall constitute an
introduction to the whole dissertation, the hypothesis, and the statement of
the problem in order to present the basis of the study. Moreover, the chapter
shall also have a discussion on the scope of its study as well as the
significance of the study to society in general and specific effects on the management
of firms.
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The
second chapter shall be discussing the relevance of the study in the existing
literature. It shall provide studies on employee-employer relationship, human
resource management and morale. After the presentation of the existing related
literature, the researcher shall provide a synthesis of the whole chapter in
relation to the study.
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The
third part of the study shall be discussing the methods and procedures used in
the study. The chapter shall comprise of the presentation of the utilized techniques
for data collection and research methodology. Similarly, it shall also contain
a discussion on the used techniques in data analysis as well as the tools used
to acquire the said data.
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The
fourth chapter shall be an analysis on the tabulated data. After the said
tabulation, the data are statistically treated in order to uncover the
relationship of the variable involved in the study. With the said data, the
chapter seeks to address the statement of the problem noted in the first
chapter.
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The
last chapter shall comprise of three sections, the summary of the findings, the
conclusions of the study, and the recommendations. With the three portions, the
chapter shall be able to address the verification of the hypothesis stated in
the initial chapters of the study.
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The
study intends to investigate the relationship of staff dissatisfaction and
staff misconduct. Specifically the study intends to answer the following
questions:
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'>1.
How does the company measure the level
of motivation and dissatisfaction of the employees?
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'>2.
How does the level of satisfaction
affect the performance of the staff?
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'>3.
How do the employees perceive the
attitude of their employers?
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'>4.
How does the employees view the
relationship they have with their employers?
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'>5.
How do employers view the reason why
their company apperceives employee dishonesty?
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Moreover,
the study intends to test the following null hypothesis:
“
Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The
level of staff dissatisfaction is directly proportional to the occurrence of
staff misconduct in the organization.”
font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>This study will primarily benefit future employees and managers of
organisations. The future employees,
especially those intent on a career in these companies will find out what is
expected of them by the industry, what future does these companies has for
them, and what they have to do to be competitive career-wise, in this type of
industry. As for the future managers and
employers, this study will show if future recruits of these companies can meet
their expectations and goals. Through
feedback, they would be able to voice out their concerns regarding the quality
of people they need to cope with their demands and the ever-changing needs of
the industry.
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This
study would also be of help to those organisational scholars who are interested
in finding out the social implications of the boom and the bust phases of the
industry based on the relationship of the top management and its workforce.
Moreover, educators can gain from this study, as they find the connection
between how they have designed their curriculum and what are the actual needs
of the industry. In that way, they would
be able to make immediate changes, if necessary, or continued improvement of
their programs, through further studies.
Furthermore,
human resource specialists will have a better understanding of the needs of
their industry and what the graduates of the academe can offer to them in terms
of type of training and skill. Both the
academe and the industry can then address any deficiencies in skills training
so that there won’t be any labour shortages in that field. Finally, this study
would benefit future researchers in this kind of industry, education, human
resource management, business and the social sciences since it depicts the
relationship of these companies through selection, proper indoctrination and
development of new recruits.
References
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York
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"Times New Roman"'>Buss, D. (1993) "Ways to Curtail Employee Theft,"
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"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Creswell, J.W.
(1994) Research design. Qualitative and
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Oaks
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"Times New Roman"'>Dumaine, B. (1988) "Beating Bolder Corporate
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"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Etzioni, A. (1964)
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Fishman, N. (2000) Signs Of Fraud: A
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"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Gross, E, & A
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Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985.
"Arial Unicode MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Ostroff, C. (1992)
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"Times New Roman"'>Parker, D. (1984) "Better Laws can Deter Computer
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