| dc.description.abstract | Touting, as practised by conveyancers in the four Northern provinces of
South Africa, is reaching alarming proportions. Owing to the institutional
nature of the attorneys' profession, rules and regulations are applied to
establish and manage the ethical behaviour of members of the profession.
The question arises as to whether there could be an alternative way of
management with a value system and ethical conduct as the underlying
principles. According to the organisational behavioural science, the
alternative method is to manage an organisation by means of value driven
leadership style.
The research questions of this study are:
1. Which teleological and deontological values will be suitable as
elements of a shared value system for the attorneys' profession?
In order to reach this goal, the following objectives are established:
2. To obtain exhaustive knowledge of the concepts 'values' and
'value-driven' by means of a literature study and empirical research
in order to understand the phenomenon touting, as practised in the
attorneys' profession.
This objective was reached through an investigation of the concepts
values and value-driven. The focus was particularly on the following
aspects:
J the development of the concept values
J the principles of values and ethics
4 the division and classification of the concept values
4 the role and application of the concept values in management science
and
J values and leadership
Based on the results of the limited availability sample, the empirical findings
were that the respondents are ethically sensitive. It is evident that touting is a
deliberate and unconstitutional disregard of instrumental and terminal values,
and that the promotion of self-interest leads to the detriment of the principal,
the profession and the public.
3. To establish the shared values of the attorneys' profession from the
perspective of the deontology and teleology.
This objective was reached through a literature study into the concepts value driven
and shared values. From this investigation, it is evident that a
relationship no doubt exists between terminal and instrumental values on the
one hand and teleological and deontological values on the other hand. The
investigation further found that specific effective teleological and
deontological values are contained in the sources of knowledge of the
attorneys' profession. These values can be used to develop a shared value
system for the attorneys' profession.
The results of the study, based on a limited availability sample indicate that
the majority of respondents could not identify the critical value, namely to
guard against self-interest. The absence of this value implies touting within
the context of this investigation.
4. To identify and describe the ways and means of the transformation
of the attorneys' profession from a rule-and-regulation orientation to
a value-driven orientation with regard to ethical behaviour.
In order to reach this objective, an empirical investigation was undertaken into
the perceptions of respondents of a specific availability sample in regard of
the existing rules applicable to ethical behaviour and their perception of the
Law Societies of South Africa. The empirical investigation in regard to the
perceptions show that a substantial portion of the respondents perception of
the Law Societies of South Africa is negative - founded on the reality
experience that the Law Societies of South Africa is not capable of cracking
down on touting. The literature study demonstrates that the attorneys'
profession is a learning organisation with an institutional culture.
Transformation from a rule-and-regulation orientation to a value-driven
orientation in regard to values and ethics, among others, requires a
transformation of way of thinking in regard to basic assumptions concerning
values and ethics.
In summarising, it can be stated that this investigation produced evidence
that effective teleological and deontological values are contained in the
sources of knowledge of the attorneys' profession, that can be used to create
a shared value system for the profession. | |
