NCAA Misconduct

Problems are manifested in NCAA violations and misconduct.  Lack of oversight is the structural deficiency.  It is steeped in the misguided belief that just placing good people in the right positions will ensure compliance.  Good people are human.  A structure can be a rigid a flexible as leaders want it to be.  A structure can mitigate human error and save the individual from bad decisions that would effectively hurt the organization.

 Humphreys and Ruseski (2009) conclude in a study that elite private schools, service academies, and schools from low profile conferences were least likely to cheat.  The study also concludes that penalties of “usual suspects” were lessened by self-reporting. 

Mark P. Pritchard and Rick Burton (2014) research factors that motivate compliance in.  Deontological ethics maintain that moral standards about the right or wrong of an action depend on its intrinsic qualities, not on the nature of its consequences.  DE is intrinsic motivation.  Teleological ethics is a case of the ends justifying the means.  Essentially, external factors can be the impetus of motivation.  In terms of compliance, these theoretical principles can help to understand what ensures compliance within an athletic program. “Some studies observe that relying on rewards and punishments, ‘sticks and carrots’, for ethical conduct ends up leading employees to operate at Kohlberg’s lowest level of moral reasoning.” (Pritchard & Burton, 2014, p. 94) suggesting that individuals obey rules for fear of the consequences (as opposed to deviating from an internal moral compass).