Abstract:
This study entitled Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, You Are Never Cool: Consenting Government
Organization to Deviants at Work explored the concept of a black sheep and how it could exist
in the government office setting. The purpose of this study was to determine the cause and effect
of the existence of a black sheep in the work setting. Specifically, the black sheep qualities of the
government employees were also sought.
The framework of the study heavily involved the concepts of deviance, recalcitrant, and
dissent. Moreover, the aspects studied were the presence of organizational deviant
characteristics, the norms of the given organization, the employees‘ work performance, and the
existence of power structures. The resulting framework included the unforeseen aspect of power.
The primary research methods employed were case studies and grounded theory.
Through the use of interviews, five cases of government employee experience on black sheep
were gathered. Grounded theory was applied in the data gathering method of observation and
mostly in the analysis and interpretation of data.
The findings were as follows. The black sheep do exist in the government offices with
various qualities that can be harmful to both their coworkers and the organization. However, the
deviance perceived in the government offices has been considered a norm by the participants.
Hence, the organization itself has achieved a level of deviance that allows the proliferation of the
deviants. The politics of the government office was also included in developing deviant
characteristics.
