Page 99 - University of Pretoria RESEARCH REVIEW 2018

Measuring the soft underbelly of business ethics
Gideon Pogrund and Marius Oosthuizen, GIBS
Ethical performance is vital for corporate sustainability, and business’ social license to operate. However, ethics has a ‘soft underbelly’ – in the absence of a metric, it’s difficult to assess and manage performance.
In response, Rabbi Gideon
Pogrund and Marius Oosthuizen at GIBS established the GIBS Ethics Barometer, an innovative instrument that measures expectations and perceptions about business conduct. It is a project of the GIBS Ethics and Governance Think Tank, which in 2018 was recognised by the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) – a network of over 800 business schools – as one of 31 ‘Innovations that Inspire’.
The Think Tank’s research agenda has emerged through its various activities and engagements: a national conver- sation, featuring prominent leaders, about business ethics; closed door cross-sectoral dialogue sessions between business, government and civil society leaders; collaboration with corporate managers working
in areas such as risk, compliance, ethics and sustainability; and links with international institutions including Harvard Business School, the Wharton School of Business, Nottingham Business School and Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.
The Barometer is based on the Global Business Standards Codex, a research tool developed by HBS academics to
test whether companies adhere to widely endorsed standards around business conduct. It has also been contextualised and localised, ensuring that it addresses South Africa’s specific issues and challenges - especially
with regard to transformation and the correcting of historical wrongs.
The Barometer examines organisational behaviours across six constructs: treatment of customers; treatment of suppliers; treatment of employees; organisational culture and practices; engagement with broader society; and avoidance of misconduct. Results are analysed in terms of various demographics, including population group; gender; business unit; grade; length of service; and age.
During the initial phase, 15 companies participated and over 8 000 of
their employees were surveyed.
They are among South Africa’s
leading corporations in the banking, insurance, mining, retail, property, leisure and legal sectors. Company- specific data is aggregated and anonymised into the general data, and the analysis of these results will be published in 2019.
In parallel with the engagement with companies’ employees, focus
groups have been conducted with representatives from the media,
trade unions, NGOs, churches and youth, seeking to better understand their expectations and perceptions of business and how these compare with business’ views of itself. This data will also be published.
The vision is to turn the Barometer into a longitudinal study, and expand the number of participating companies, sectors and markets.
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