Assessing organizational ethics: measuring the gaps

Purpose – Ethics in organizations has become a critical issue, one which requires an accurate assessment of ethical vision and of the alignment among various elements of the organization. Moreover, the sensitive nature of the concept requires a measurement methodology which counteracts the bias potential of self‐report assessment. This article proposes a way to address these requirements. Design/methodology/approach – It reviews the importance of addressing the ethics issue and delineates a methodology based on the logic of decision making rather than on taxonomies, codes, and self‐report. The basic understandings of axiology and axiometrics are described, as well as an axiological ethics model. Preliminary organizational analysis yields data addressing the issues of the relative importance afforded to key components of ethics by management and employees, and perceptions of the degree to which an ethical climate exists. Findings – The data collected indicate that the organization studied had uneven alignment. Management misjudged the level of congruence between management's vision and employees' vision, and there were often wide gaps in both groups between vision and perceived reality. Moreover, some issues that were primary among employees received little attention by management. Originality/value – The article proposes that this new axiometric methodology transcends the limits of both conventional self‐report and observation measures of sensitive issues, and provides an ideal resource for understanding an organization's targets for ethical training and transformation.