Program Assessment
Assessing risk for misconduct allows organizational leaders to set priorities, address appropriate needs, and gather baseline data for measuring the effectiveness of an ethics program. Our organizational assessments provide detailed snapshots of a particular organization's ethical climate and vulnerabilities, and often include focus groups and one-on-one leadership interviews in addition to surveys. They can help identify:
- How often employees encounter situations that potentially violate the law or company standards;
- Whether employees are prepared to face difficult situations and make ethical decisions; and
- Areas for further company training and education.
Types of Assessment
Measurement of Ethical Risk
Revisions to Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO) effective November, 2004 now require that organizations "assess their risk." Beyond requirements to do so, it is an important effort for organizational leaders to identify:
- Extent to which employees encounter situations that potentially violate the law or company standards;
- Employee preparedness; and
- Areas for further company training and education.
Assessment of risk before implementation of a training or other ethics-related program allows organizational leaders to address the appropriate needs, and also to gather baseline data for measurement of effectiveness.
Measurement of Ethics/Compliance Program Effectiveness
An Ethics Program Assessment (EPA) examines an organization's current ethics program to maximize its effectiveness and expand its reach.
The best gauge of a company's ethics is feedback from employees, implemented through a systematic effort to measure ethics/compliance program effectiveness. Using our rich dataset collected from 1994 to 2005 through our National Business Ethics Survey, we help companies to:
- Collect information from their employees to gauge the effectiveness of their ethics/compliance efforts;
- Benchmark to peer organizations;
- Benchmark to national trends.
Additionally, ERC collects qualitative data and other supplemental information to conduct a rigorous evaluation.
