How Well the Employees Are Aware of the Ethics Codes, Assessment Example

The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect primary research data that can provide a solid interpretation of how well the employees are aware of the ethics codes of conduct for the organization. The organization has been experiencing lacks in enforcement of the ethics codes which has led to situations of sexual harassment and abuse of power (Stanwick & Stanwick 2013).

This questionnaire will be distributed to all members of the organization with the purpose of evaluating their knowledge and awareness of the code of ethics. The approximate time for completion is estimated to take around four weeks. As all employees are busy with their daily work for the organization, they must be given adequate time to complete the questionnaire with their full attention in order to obtain the most accurate results. The questionnaire will be sent out electronically to all members of the organization where they will be asked to complete and submit it within a four week time frame from when they receive it (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2013).

It is also important to note that all regards to confidentiality and anonymity will be fully enforced for this questionnaire. All members of the organization participating in this questionnaire will be notified that their confidentiality will be protected. The purpose is to analyze data from the organization as a single entity and not to analyze individual results. So, for this reason, names and employee identification numbers will not be necessary (Zikmund, 2013).

The research questions are as follows.

• Upon employment into the organization, did you receive ethics training and certification?
• Have you been provided with a copy of the organization’s code of ethics?
• Have you ever taken time to review the code of ethics outside of work?
• Have you ever unknowingly violated the code of ethics and found about it afterwards?
• Have you ever witnessed a peer violate the code of ethics unknowingly?
• Have you ever corrected or reported another peer in violation of the code of ethics?
• Have you ever been a victim of sexual harassment?
• Have you ever witnessed sexual harassment in the work environment?
• Have you ever wanted to report sexual harassment offenders, but were too afraid to do so in fear of losing your job or tarnishing your reputation?
• On a scale from 1 through 10, with 10 being the highest level of enforcement, how well do you think the code of ethics is being enforced by the organization?

Question one will help to meet the objectives of the research proposal because it will provide evidence towards whether or not employees are receiving the proper code of ethics training and certification upon employment. If the percentage is under 90%, then this will demonstrate a significant lack in required ethics training and certification. Question 2 will provide an idea of how well the organization superiors are reminding their employees on the importance of the code of ethics. Question 3 will show how seriously the employees take the code of ethics. If they are not compelled for some reason to study the code of ethics outside of work, then there is evidence of lack of enforcement. Question 4 and 5 will help meet the research objectives by showing how well the employees are actually aware of the code of ethics and how well they apply it to their actions at work; as well as the actions of their peers. Question 6 will provide how well employees’ integrity stands with the code of ethics (Hair, Money, Samouel, & Page, 2007).

Questions 7 and 8 are geared towards the primary violation in the code of ethics which is sexual harassment. These questions will help meet the research objectives by providing data of how existent sexual harassment is in the organization. Question 9 will provide to the research objectives how fearful employees are of reporting violations to their superiors. This may also provide evidence of how corrupt, if at all, superiors are in abiding by the code of ethics themselves. Finally, question 10 will give a general perception from the organization of how well they feel the code of ethics is being applied (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2014).

References

Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2014). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Cengage learning.

Hair, J. F., Money, A. H., Samouel, P., & Page, M. (2007). Research methods for business. Education+ Training, 49(4), 336-337.

Stanwick, P., & Stanwick, S. D. (2013). Understanding business ethics. Sage.

Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., & Griffin, M. (2013). Business research methods (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.