Leadership Begins Review of Ethical Culture Indicator
In September, Georgia Tech employees were asked to provide feedback to leadership on the state of the Institute’s ethical climate and culture. More than 50 percent of employees did so, and all will soon have a chance to learn the full findings of the assessment.
Last week, representatives of the University of North Georgia’s BB&T Center for Ethical Leadership — which was contracted to facilitate the survey — briefed a preliminary draft of the Ethical Culture Indicator (ECI) with President G.P. “Bud” Peterson and senior leadership. The briefing was the first step in a plan to share the survey results with employees.
“With more than 6,000 employees and graduate students responding to the ECI, the feedback we received will really serve as the voice of employees as we work toward creating an ethical culture everyone can embrace and be proud of,” Peterson said.
This week, representatives from the BB&T Center began meeting with senior division leaders to explain the specific results for their division and department or college. Those meetings will prepare leaders to share the results deeper within their units, with the intention of having the findings presented to all employees by March 2019.
Georgia Tech’s executive leadership will use the survey to address steps that can be taken by leadership to improve the ethical culture of the Institute. The study also sought to better understand how comfortable members of Tech’s community feel about reporting concerns involving ethics.
Peterson has emphasized the need for a stronger ethical culture at Georgia Tech. At his direction, the Institute has undertaken a number of initiatives and activities in recent weeks to ensure that ethics is a priority across the organization. Feedback provided by employees through the Ethical Culture Indicator will be used to help leadership shape their actions, decisions, and initiatives.
Employees can expect to hear updates on a final report from the ECI in the first part of the Spring semester.