Employees Compliance to Security Regulations: A Myth or Reality?

The basis for effective operation in most organizations, if not all, is the administrative rules, procedures and protocols that determine how and when decisions take place, let alone what those decisions should be. This makes rule compliance the backbone of organizations; especially high risk ones like airports. Yet, our recent research has suggested that low rule compliance is very common among security employees. How therefore can managers deal with this reality? An exploratory ethnographic study and a comprehensive field survey, as part of a larger EU sponsored research project, has demonstrated that employees do NOT always follow rules and regulations when making a security related decision, both during daily routines and during times of crisis. We found, however, that enabling and supporting the employees' tendency to consult others when making security related decisions reverses this trend; as decisions made by groups were found to be more likely to comply with rules and regulations. The practical implication of these findings and best practice insights are discussed.