CORPORATE crime is increasingly coming under the spotlight and slackers, as much as thieves, are in for a hiding.
Slow or sloppy work, taking fake sick leave and inefficiency will all come under a definition of deviant behaviour as defined by Knowledge Forensic Investigations (KFI).
KFI, a privately owned company, assesses corporations? vulnerability to crime and re-engineers their structures to reduce opportunities for criminals. The company broadened its definition of crime beyond theft, bribery and traditionally criminal behaviour to include all ‘cost behaviour’. If an employee’s actions, or lack of actions, are costing a corporation money, they will be given the metaphorical kick that they need to start performing. Inefficiency affects everyone, the company says, and perpetuates a loss of morale and a lack of faith in the system.
KFI founders Erica Binkin and Sharon Chilvers came up with the idea of combating corporate crime, a trend that has become phenomenal in South Africa’s corporate echelons.
One of the problems, says Binkin, is that ‘corporations have no faith in the [judicial] system’. Companies that have been the victims of crime do not want to prosecute the perpetrators, they just want to recover their money. The price of crime is not high enough for criminals within a corporation – they know the worst that can happen is to lose their job. In which case, they’ll be back in the job market to be picked up by another company.
KFI has developed a system of forensic assessment that identifies weak spots within an organisation’s structure – areas vulnerable to white-collar crime. Once this is done it looks at ways of restructuring an organisation to close all possible loopholes. One forensic method it uses is focus groups to assess the employees. Those identified as high-risk would then be moved into departments in which they would have fewer opportunities to commit crimes.
KFI says educating the staff about a corporation helps in preventing corporate crime. Chilvers cites the case of theft by an employee of a popular supermarket chain. The theft, she discovered, occurred as a direct result of lack of awareness as to how a business is run. Employees were seeing their colleagues retrenched because the company said it was in financial trouble. But every day workers watched as cash poured into the tills. As a result employees thought they were being taken for a ride by their employer and resorted to stealing, which they thought was justified under the circumstances.
In this case, says Chilvers, ‘teaching numeracy and business skills meant the justification for crime fell away’.
Combating corporate crime was a focal subject earlier this week when the Department of Public Service and Administration announced the launch of a study to assess the practice in South Africa.
The department’s study, co-funded by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, will look into the modus operandi of corruption and corporate crime in South Africa and its impact on productivity and investment. The study will also investigate corruption in the public service, including bribery of government officials by corporations and in the issuing of tenders. The results of the study are expected to be released in two months’ time.
In 1998 the Commercial Crime Study found that 60% of businesses considered crime to be a serious problem. Most companies said they experienced some employee theft, fraud and bribery. Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi says ‘corruption undermines the efforts of the government and law-abiding citizens to build a better life for all, and left unchecked it has destabilising socio-economic and political effects’.
UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention representative Rob Boone says: ‘Emerging and non-stable markets tend to attract ‘quick and dirty’investments.’ In the long term this leads to a decrease in government revenues, lower expenditures on citizens and lower business delivery. He spoke of the UN’s ‘strong support and political commitment to join forces to fight [corruption and bribery]’.