Business Ethics: Program Evaluation and Organizational Learning

Ethics Today
April 20, 2005

The July issue of Ethics Today Online highlighted a new manual for corporate responsibility programs published in May by the U.S. Department of Commerce and co-authored by ERC Adjunct Senior Consultant Kenneth W. Johnson, Director of the Ethics and Policy Integration Centre (EPIC)

Chapter 10 of "Business Ethics: A Manual for Managing a Responsible Business Enterprise in Emerging Market Economies" addresses "the last of the eight fundamental questions owners and managers must ask themselves: 'How should we monitor, track, and report our performance as an enterprise and continuously learn from it?'"

In this chapter, the authors discuss the basic concepts and practices for evaluating a business ethics program, such as defining the purpose of program evaluation, tracking organizational culture, evaluating the process and defining expected program outcomes. The chapter also includes charts on measurable factors of organizational culture and measurable program outcomes, among others.

The full document can be downloaded for free at: http://www.ita.doc.gov/media/Publications/blurbs/ ethics2004blurb.html (Printed versions are available for sale also at that site.)

The EPIC website regularly updates the Manual and provides current resources that supplement the publication at: http://www.epic-online.net/manual_added.html