Participant Feedback

One month after the Ethics Seminar, follow-up questionnaires are sent to participants asking how the discussion on ethics helped them on the job and asking for examples of any supervisory "ethical dilemma" they might have faced since the training. The following are actual examples of the type of feedback received from seminar participants . . .

• The discussion on ethics made me more aware of how differently people can perceive the same issue.

• I overheard a conversation where the clerk was describing the antics and attitudes of some of her trainees. The person she was speaking to was a personal friend . . . but also an employee of [the company]. The dilemma: do I acknowledge that I heard this conversation and reprimand her . . . or, was I also acting unprofessional for "eavesdropping"?

• One of my employees has been working at the same job for over a year. She is very good and recently a position in another area came up which is a grade higher. She is the best worker I have. If I give her the position, I would have a problem with backlogs, errors, and production rates. Because of this, my boss won't allow me to offer the employee the position. Although I see both sides, I find it ethically wrong to hold her back.

• As a result of the ethics discussions, I have become more aware of my responsibilities - - both to myself and to my employees. I have become more concerned about making what I consider to be the right choices, exercising sound judgment and giving more thought to a situation before a determination is made.

• An employee under my supervision requested that I write a letter to the IRS asking that he be excused from a scheduled appointment. I refused.

• Any supervisor can make a bad decision, but to lose peers' or subordinates' respect because of an ethical transgression can be very damaging.

• Pertinent and provocative -- it addressed issues so important to our daily work lives. I have not heard the word "ethics" ever mentioned before at [company name].

• Probing questions in a relaxed setting. Not what I expected. Participants not "judged" for questions or answers.

• I enjoyed this session because it was about a subject NOBODY discusses, yet it effects [sic] our staff and our company daily.