Thoughts on anti-corruption and leadership

I had the pleasure of giving a short lecture on corruption and anti-corruption. And since I had a feeling that it relates us back to the topic of leadership and culture, I brought it back into the blog.

It has become unpopular to see corruption as pure cultural phenomenon, because it takes us down the road of making corruption justifiable. Economists have taken over to explain corruption through causal relationships and this makes us feel we can look at it with more objectivity. However theory points also towards culture as a driving force behind corruption.

In his outstanding paper “CAUSES OF CORRUPTION:TOWARDS A CONTEXTUAL THEORY OF CORRUPTION” Gjalt de Graaf lists 6 major theories which explain corruption:

1. Public Choice Theory
2. Bad Apple Theory
3. Organizational Culture Theory
4. Clashing Moral Values Theory
5. The Ethos of Public Administration Theory
6. Correlation Theories

I will go through them briefly just to see where this will lead us in a sense of leadership.

1. Public Choice Theory

Public Choice, as part of institutional economics, basically states that all individuals are utility maximizing, which includes your standard public service employee. This employee or the manager just weighs the benefit of being corrupt with that of the cost of being caught and punished and makes his or her decision. If law enforcement and judiciary is weak, then the public service leader will siphon away millions to Swiss bank accounts.

1. Bad Apple Theory

This theory has become rather unpopular in corruption research, because one tends to see corruption a failure on the system level. It basically states that the individual has a faulty character and wrong values and thus displays criminal behavior. Causes could be faulty socialization.

1. Organizational Culture Theory

Here we meet again the concept of organizational culture which is reenacted by its members. If my work buddy policeman x takes a bribe instead of giving a ticket, I can and must surely do the same to avoid being excluded from the group?

1. Clashing Moral Values Theories

Fukuyama in his book “State Building: Governance and World Order in the Twenty-First-Century” relies heavily on this model. If the values which bind me to my family are stronger than those which obligate me towards my employer, I tend to use the resources of the organization for the benefit of my clan, family or personal interest group.

1. The Ethos of Public Administration Theory

Quite a new theory, which builds on the assumption that after having reform the public sector using business practices and ideas, public administration becomes “hollow”, lacking its fundamental values, since its ultimate aim is not to behave like a business but to serve the greater good of society.

1. Correlation Theories

Certain variables in societies are explored and correlation to corruption affirmed, such as:

• Poverty
• Colonialism
• Ethno-lingual Fragmentation
• Organized Crime
• Democracy
• Freedom of Press
• Political Stability
• Income of public servants

Apparently long-term stable democracies seem to be less corrupt than instable regimes, with low accountability to their citizens.  Not a big surprise there.

Many anti-corruption programs always a multi-pronged approach and have a formal and an informal component to them, such as judicial reform and creation of code of conducts. Rather like one needs intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to overcome corruption. In any case, there is broad consensus that anti-corruption programs are only successful if the top government level drives it forward and wants to see success.

Perhaps there is a lesson for leaders: Leading requires leading through polarities. One needs a strong set of control systems and regulation to raise the cost of corruption, but on the other hand a value system must be created to which public servants can relate to and to they which feel loyal to.

Above example shows: Anti-corruption, or let’s just say –  integrity-  is a leadership duty. And leaders have to use the means at their disposal to ensure integrity in their systems. True leaders should thus always ask themselves:  What example are we giving and why are we doing this work? What do we want to achieve? What means do we have to stay true to our cause?

Sources

De Graaf, G.( 2007) CAUSES OF CORRUPTION: TOWARDS A CONTEXTUAL THEORY OF CORRUPTION , PAQ SPRING

Francis Fukuyama

State Building: Governance and World Order in the Twenty-First-Century

Profile Books; New Ed (7. Juli 2005)

ISBN-10: 1861977042

ISBN-13: 978-1861977045

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