How have you educated your boss, peers, or direct reports about what you are learning in class?
We hold bi-weekly team meetings to ensure cohesive communication. Over the last month, I presented the ethics benchmarks to our team and we discussed how it applied to our organization. The staff became highly engaged in these exercises, as it brought us together to think about how our organization conducts itself in a more ethical manner. The owner of our organization, also present in the meetings, was engaged in these discussions and was open to new initiatives presented by our checklist review.
System Category % Yes Strength Weakness Recommendation
Hiring Ethical Job Candidates (6 items) 100% Ethics mentioned in job postings; Conduct reference and background checks; Ask difficult ethical questions in both first and second interviews Do not utilize standardized personality tests Research how to acquire and administer personality tests and determine monetary feasibility to implement
Codes of Ethics and Conduct (6 items) 66% Managers vocally support and exemplify the Code of Ethics as continuous role models for employees Code of Ethics is not publicly displayed Publicly display the code of ethics in the offices
Ethical Decision-Making (3 items) 100% Managers and employees regularly discuss best care standards No regular training done in this area Research training opportunities and resources to determine monetary feasibility to implement
Ethics Training (6 items) 83% Some ethics training is conducted by the trusted and respected owner of the organization Employees could benefit from someone other than owner conducting ethics workshops Research training opportunities and resources to determine monetary feasibility to implement
Employee Diversity (7 items) 42% Diversity initiatives supported by managers; flexible work schedules Lack diversity training; nobody in charge of diversity Assign manager to receive training and oversee diversity
Ethics Reporting Systems (5 items) 80% Management ensures employees can confidentially raise issues No anonymous internal reporting system Create and implement an anonymous reporting system
Ethical Leadership, Work Goals, and Performance Appraisals (10 items) 90% Managers reflect continual commitment to ethics; they are honest, credible, respectful and fair, and take appropriate actions as needed No specific and/or measurable goals are offered Explore goal setting with employees, and how goal accomplishment can be measured
Empowering Ethical Employees (10 items) 50% Managers request and encourage employee input; provide go-getters with autonomy Managers are not proficient in working with adversarial or fence-sitter employees Managers be trained how to confront adversarial or fence-sitter employees to increase productivity and improve overall team spirit at work
Environmental Management (8 items) 25% Managers discuss environmental impact issues; minimal product packaging Environmental goals are not established, monitored or assessed Create specific environmental goals to decrease carbon footprint
Community Outreach (8 items) 63% Donates money and services to organizations; uses community service as team building. Lacks a strategic partnership with any organization; does not promote its community impacts with the community Develop a strategic partnership with a local community organization to better promote and offer support to the community
Organizational Assessment (7 items) 71% Managers benchmark with the industry’s best practices, collect information from suppliers and clients, and take corrective actions as needed Does not benchmark itself with the Optimal Ethics Systems Model Explore benefits of benchmarking with the Optimal Ethics Systems model to improve ethical performance
Action Plan for One Recommendation [(1) Clearly Stated Problem, (2) Goal, (3) Strategy, and (4) Measurement of Success], Change Agent Response, and Outcome:
1) Problem: Organization does not have a