Room to improve Room to improve
nergy Systems and ORNL ethics officers Charlene Edwards and Steve Stow have received the results of last fall's ethics survey, broken down into data for the Energy and Environment Sector and for both ORNL and Energy Systems. The results' raw numbers, for those who would like to peruse them, are available on the internal Ethics home page,
www-internal.ornl.gov/ethics/.
Last fall's survey of 40 questions related to ethics and human resources issues drew responses from approximately 30 percent of ORNL and Energy Systems employees, a response rate well above the 1995 survey that preceded it. All employees received a copy of the survey.
"We had enough responses this time so that we believe we have a good representation of how people feel," Edwards, Energy Systems' ethics officer, said.
Those data, however, indicate a less-than-rosy scenario in the ethics arena. "The Energy and Environment Sector, as a rule, scored below most, if not all, of the other corporate sectors," Stow, ORNL's officer, said. "We are in the process of analyzing the data, and it's pretty clear that there are areas where we must focus on improving. At the same time there are some areas in which we fare quite well."
Issues reflected in the survey range from ethics awareness to commitment to those values by oneself, managers and supervisors and co-workers. Feelings about openness, fear of reprisal and complaint satisfaction were also monitored, as were observations of ethical misconduct. Last fall's survey also contained 20 questions about human resources issues such as job and pay satisfaction and communication within the organization.
New E&ES President Bob Stevens has tasked senior managers with bringing the sector in step with the rest of the corporation. Energy Systems President Bob Van Hook and ORNL Director Al Trivelpiece are already responding.
"It is imperative that there be appropriate responses and actions to the information available from surveys such as these," Trivelpiece said. "Some work needs to be done to understand the underlying messages.
"I plan to meet personally with some employees selected on a random basis to learn from them their views on the survey and its message. In addition, the Lab will have some focus group discussions on the survey as preparation for a response.
"The lack of favorable movement in the answers to the questions troubles me and I plan to learn what I can to improve our situations."
Van Hook stresses that, in a time of transition and a new relationship with DOE, Energy Systems employees should be especially aware of ethics issues that may arise.
"As Energy Systems focuses on defense programs and advanced technology at the Y-12 site, its collaborative arrangements with ORNL and the orderly transition of the EM work to Bechtel Jacobs Company, it becomes even more imperative that we pause to take stock of how each of us conducts our daily activity.
"If we also focus on the six tenets of Lockheed Martin's 'Setting the Standard' approach—Honesty, Integrity, Respect, Trust, Responsibility, and Citizenship—as we face this new future, I believe we will be a much stronger organization. We will demonstrate that we have concern for people and can work together as we face these challenging goals—our company values."
Van Hook, Trivelpiece and other Energy Systems and ORNL managers plan to address the ethics survey findings and issues in upcoming editions of Ridgelines. —B.C.
