Steven Wright Krummeck © 2005 -
Ethics and Integrity Thermometer
Why carry out an Ethics and Integrity Thermometer within your business / organisation?
Good Corporate Governance and sound Ethical Practices are key elements to
ensuring business and organisational success. Determining the level of integrity
and the prevailing ethical climate inside a company / organisation is an integral
part of good Corporate Governance and sound Ethical Practices. Over and above
this, The King report on Corporate Governance for South Africa (King IV)
requires that a company should demonstrate its commitment to organisational
integrity by qualifying its standards in a code of ethics. A Total Ethics
Management Programme (TEMP) will ensure a business / organisation (hence forth
referred to as business) meets Johannesburg Stock Exchange listing requirements, conforms to international best practice (such as the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organisations {FSGO 1991} and the UK Cadbury Code), as well as effectively to diminish any possibility of Senior Executive being exposed to litigation. As required by Section 29.1.1 of the Treasury Regulations prescribed under the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999), your business is required to prepare and implement a Fraud Prevention Plan (FPP) in order to effectively manage the fraud risk to which the business is exposed.
Ethics is not just one of the best-
The (W)Right Coaching CC recommends your business at least complete this Integrity Thermometer survey within your business. The survey results will give a strong indication of the level of integrity and prevailing ethical climate in your business, thus indicating the degree to which a Code of Ethics and TEMP needs to be implemented.
In view of the foregoing, you are urged to implement the Integrity Thermometer within your business, ensuring all employees at ALL levels’ of the organisation complete it. The Ethics Thermometer was developed after a great deal of research into similar tools resulting in this abridged Thermometer Survey. Employees are requested to respond to a range of statements that may include elements of the following areas:
- Understanding of the organisations policies;
- Awareness of and familiarity with the organisations standards and policies;
- Reliance to learn about the organization’s standards of conduct;
- Communication and training on the organization’s standards of conduct;
- Reactions to violations of the organisation’s standards;
- Perceptions about the commitment of senior executives, managers and supervisors;
- Where employees go to find advice about ethical and unethical behaviour;
- Where employees go to report un-
ethical behaviour; - Potential consequences of violations of a Code of Ethics and unethical behaviour;
- Reasons for violations and unethical behaviour;
- First-
hand knowledge of unethical behaviour.
The ethical performance of a business is the end result of the ethical performance
of every individual who works for it. Every employee owes the business a duty of
honesty, diligence and integrity in terms of his or her common-
Feel free to contact Steve Krummeck on 011 7041395 (international dialing code -
The fee per thermometer / per person is R120.00
To enable the completion of the Ethics and Integrity Thermometer within your business / organisation, you must first register as a client of IFacts (click on the foregoing “register as a client” link to register).
IFacts is one of our associates and they host the Thermometer. Once registered you will be able to complete your own questionnaire, and or distribute anonymous Ethics and Integrity Thermometer questionnaires to your employees (if so desired) for them to complete online.
We recommend you complete the process / the full assessment process yourself once you are registered. This will enable you gain insight into the process, how the Thermometer is positioned to those completing it, as well as the questions asked in the thermometer.
