Will harsh penalties for rude government staff work? What psychology tells us
MANILA, Philippines — True to the brand of justice that catapulted him to fame and power, Sen. Raffy Tulfo is mulling legislation that will punish government workers found to be "rude and snobbish" with dismissal from service and perpetual disqualification from public office.
Tulfo said Wednesday that he plans to craft an "anti-taray" bill that will impose tougher penalties on government workers guilty of misconduct, harassment, and even human rights violations.
"It’s time to punish government workers who are rude, boorish, yelling and abusive towards our countrymen who go to their offices to transact. Government employees must be patient and service-oriented, not snobbish!" Tulfo said in Filipino in a statement.
The senator has filed a resolution seeking a Senate inquiry on these reported incidents, including that of Filipino traveler Cham Tanteras who was offloaded from her flight to Israel after an immigration officer asked her what Tulfo called "unreasonable" and "unnecessary" questions.
"The Tanteras incident has sparked massive concerns about the capacity, not only of Bureau of Immigration employees, but all government officers and employees, especially frontliners in general, in performing their duties with utmost integrity, compassion, and in accordance with the Code of Conduct governing government staff," Tulfo said in Senate Resolution No. 554.
According to a source familiar with exit procedures, immigration officers may ask follow-up questions when a travelers' circumstances — like not having enough pocket money or a visible source of income — raise suspicions. Those with active working visas to a third country could also come under scrutiny, the source said.
There is no standard set of follow-up questions.
Reward and punishment
The Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees already prescribe norms for government officials and workers, such as professionalism, justness and sincerity, and responsiveness to the public.
Enacted in February 1989, the code mandates all government officials and employees to "not discriminate against anyone, especially the poor and the underprivileged" and to "extend prompt, courteous, and adequate service to the public."
Unlike Tulfo’s proposal, the code does not provide penalties for violations of these norms and instead directs the Civil Service Commission to "adopt positive measures" so that government officials and employees observe the standards provided by the law.
In psychology, behaviors can be modified either through reinforcement or punishment, both of which can be positive — which means something is being added — or negative — which means something is being removed.
"Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior," reads a general psychology textbook from the University of Central Florida.
One example of positive punishment is spanking, which a review of 50 years of research suggests can lead children to defy authority, increase antisocial behavior and aggression, and contribute to cognitive and mental health issues.
Positive reinforcement, on the other hand, provides an incentive to increase the likelihood of a behavior.
A 2014 study found that positive reinforcement, whether it comes to workers as an extrinsic reward such as a pay increase or an intrinsic reward such as praise, is positively linked with the performance of employees.
"Positive reinforcement is seen to be the most effective way of motivating staffs to perform better in organizations. Employees are encouraged to do better as they know when each desired behavior is shown, they will be rewarded," researchers Leong Teen Wei and Rashad Yazdanifard said in their paper.
They added, "Punishment is another technique applied to reduce or remove certain behavior. Those who are given penalty show better discipline. However, punishment is often not favored as it may bring down some of them."
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