Ethical Climate Survey - Assignment Example

 Ethical Climate Survey Organizational description Company A had been having certain issues with respect to ethical conduct and the issue was raised with the BOD who agreed to look into it. Some changes have been implemented in the organization and the management has considered some of the employees’ input in the establishment of a better ethical conduct that would reflect the culture of the overall organization. These changes were officiated because the organization understood that the establishment of a commitment to ethical conduct plays a critical role in development of an organizational culture that values the same. Specifically, the issue facing the organization was related to how it paid teenage employees and serving dangerously unhealthy fast foods to people. It is clear that these actions were unethical because the organization was exploiting the most able employees who are the teenagers and at the same time, serving products that would potentially harm the customer’s health by becoming obese, which can cause heart disease and ultimately death. Some steps were taken by the admin to eliminate the same and currently, the organization wants to have the employees’ views on the progress so that they can possibly come up with additional strategies based on the outcomes. Steps in creation of a strong organizational culture The establishment of a corporate culture is crucial to the success of the overall organization and requires certain steps to accomplish and realize the anticipated results. The culture defines the behaviors exhibited by the employees in the subject organization. The first step incorporates understanding what is important to the employees so as to incorporate that in the culture to be established. Specifically, the leader should take responsibility in determining what motivates the employees and this step relies heavily on communication where the employees hold a conversation with the leader. Here, the two parties outline what is expected of each other. While the leader communicates the goals, the employees communicate how they would like to benefit from the business and with the business. The second step involves taking action while taking the interests of the employees into consideration. After developing the culture, it is then defined to the involved parties who are then involved in the third step of contributing and providing ideas. This should be considered so as to make them feel responsible for its creation. The fourth step involves taking responsibility in following it while the last step is mostly concerned with measuring the success of the established culture and rewarding it through recognition, which depends on the results of the measuring undertaken (Weinzweig, 2015). Survey introduction There exists a close link between organizational culture and ethical conduct. Since an organization’s culture defines and is comprised of the beliefs that the employees feel are right, it is directly related to ethical conduct because what is being practiced in the organization is what the employees and other shareholders feel is the right thing and that it reflects corporate social responsibility. Ethical issues are only identified through ethical climates that are in turn facilitated by the established culture in the organization (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). In order to determine the ethical climate established in an organization, surveys incorporating questions that the employees and the key stakeholders should participate in. Since the surveys incorporate the ideas of individual employees, they signal positive message to the employees especially that both them and their opinion are taken very seriously and are valued (McDowell & Tabuena, 2007). In addition, it signals that their input in being applied in making positive changes in the organization and the most probable outcomes include increased compliance and better integrity. Although surveys can, at times, do more harm than good, when the appropriate measures are taken, the outcomes are reliable and could justify crucial changes in the organization. Groups to take part in the survey Two different groups in the organization should take the survey; the lowest level supervisors and the employees in the lowest levels of the organization. The reason as to why these groups should take the survey is that they are the ones that can give accurate information as it relates to the changes that were taken in the organization. In addition, the lowest level employees were affected by the discrimination on compensation implying that they are the ones that would give accurate information on the perceived improvements and changes. Moreover, the lower level supervisors interact on a regular basis with the customers or even the employees who interact daily with the customers. This gives them information concerning how the customers are perceiving the changes that were implemented on the quality of the foodstuffs offered. Participation invitation As a valued employee in Company A, you have been invited to participate in a survey whose main purpose is to give feedback to the management concerning the recent changes on teenage employee payment re-evaluation. In addition, feedback on the improvement of foodstuffs offered by the company would also be required as part of the survey. Since you were directly involved in the decision-making process concerning the re-evaluation of the salaries and the foodstuffs offered by the organization, the organization assumes that you would be in a better position to participate in a survey based on the same. Please note that your response will be kept confidential and no names will be required to be provided in the survey. There are few open-ended and closed questions that should take approximately 15 minutes to complete answering. We hope that your response will be accurate because it will be used to make future decisions especially in the establishment of an organization that you can be proud to be associated with. Company A values your feedback. Survey Criteria The target audience is the lower level supervisors and low-level teenage employees of Company A. They were selected according to the possibility of providing accurate information because they are directly involved with the matters to be discussed in the survey. The survey will be administered from an online platform to improve convenience and try to improve anonymity because the survey response can be submitted from any place. This will also improve convenience because they will not be required to participate in the survey at specific time of the day or at company premises. The participants will be provided with a web link where they can download the questionnaire and then print the results after which they would be dropped at a designated area with no surveillance. Individual questions 1) Do you think Company A has an organizational culture? Yes No 2) If so, is it fair in that does it include your interests as an employee? Yes No 3) If the organizational culture has not been effective in taking care of your needs, what changes would you like to see being implemented? 4) What is your opinion on the existing ethical climate in the organization? Does it fulfill its mandate? 5) What, in your opinion, has the climate failed to address? 6) What, in your opinion, has the climate addressed adequately? 7) In your opinion, are the existing training programs effective? Why? 8) What section of the training program would you like to see improvements on? 9) Would you attribute the current success of the organization to the ethics-training program? If so, why? If not so, what would you attribute as the key reason? 10) Has the management led the organization in an ethical manner? Please state your reason for the response. 11) Are you satisfied with how the management has led the organization with respect to ethics? If not so, why? 12) Would you say that the workplace has improved basing your argument on the previous changes? Please explain yourself and give a recommendation. Conclusion Surveys are important in showing value to the employees and in giving the management an idea of how the employees feel concerning certain processes. It also gives the management information concerning potential improvements. Since ethical surveys are closely related to the behavior of the organization, the subject organization is required to have an established culture. References McDowell, T. & Tabuena, J. (2007). Measuring your Organization’s Climate for Ethics: The Survey Approach. Retrieved from http://www.corporatecompliance.org/Portals/1/PDF/Resources/Compliance_Ethics_Professional/0807/CnE0807_11_McDowellTabuena.pdf Weinzweig, A. (2015). Five Steps to Building an Organizational Culture. Retrieved from http://www.zingtrain.com/org-culture-steps Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W. (2011). Organizational behavior. 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