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Home > May 2008 Newsletter

Do Ethics in Government Matter?

A major ethics scandal may soon unfold in the public sector unless government agencies, particularly local and state governments, institute strong ethics programs, according to the Arlington, Va. - based Ethics Resource Center’s (ERC) National Government Ethics Survey released in January. Almost one-quarter of the public sector employees responding to the survey said there is a great deal of pressure to compromise standards in their work environments. About 63 percent of the local government employees in the survey said they had observed t least one type of misconduct in the previous year. While federal employees reported less inclination toward misconduct on their jobs, 86% of state and local employees reported a lack of a strong ethics program in their workplace, while only 7 percent of state employees and 9 percent of local government employees said they see a truly ethical culture on the job. The report is available at www.ethics.org/download.asp?fid=104

 

Global Economy Survey

The Ohio Department of Education conducted a recent global economy survey of a thousand or more businesses and organizations in Ohio to determine current and future skill, knowledge and behavior characteristics of the labor force to match education with employment. One hundred ten companies or organizations responded, which is an adequate sample.

To ensure that Ohio is competitive in the new global economy, the State Board of Education will use the results from the survey to help develop policy recommendations and define next steps in reforming Ohio’s education system.

Respondents were asked to predict the most important skills, knowledge and behaviors for students in the new global economy, as well as in the present. The number one answer for the future involves analytic, creative thinking and problem solving. For example, one administrator emphasized the "Ability to be a creative problem solver, looking at all sides of an issue before making a decision. Synthesizer of data to inform decision making."

Question 1 asked: Looking ahead to 2020, what will be the most important skills, knowledge and behaviors for students to acquire to provide Ohio with competitive advantages in the new global economy?

Skill, knowledge, behavior
#
Analytic/Creative Thinking/Problem Solving
53
Technology Skills
50
Communication Skills
47
Multicultural/Foreign Language Skills
40
Work Ethic/Reliable/Dependable/
Professional/Good Character
37
Reading/Writing/Literacy Skills
28
Teamwork/Team Player/Work Well With Others
28
Math Skills
21

Question 2 asked: What skills, knowledge and behaviors do you value in current employees and/or are you looking for in new hires today?

Skill, knowledge, behavior
#
Work Ethic/Reliable/Dependable/
Professional/Good Character
67
Analytic/Creative Thinking/Problem Solving
50
Communication Skills
44
Teamwork/Team Player/Work Well With Others
27
Technology Skills
26
Reading/Writing/Literacy Skills
14
Math Skills
7
Multicultural/Foreign Language Skills
7

While in some ways each question provided similar sets of answers, a few important differences should be noted:

More respondents identified technology skills and multicultural/foreign language skills as important for the new global economy than necessarily valued currently.

Interestingly, the No. 1 most valued response for current employees and new hires relates to work ethic, dependability, and character (67 responses). However, this characteristic was not nearly as important when thinking of future characteristics (37 responses).

Educators versus Non-Educators

Percent breakdown of those giving the following responses to Question #1:

Analytic Thinking
Technology
Educators 57% 50%
Non-Educators 43% 50%

Commun-ication Cultural Work Ethic
Educators 43% 55% 41%
Non-Educators 57% 45% 59%

Reading Teamwork Math
Educators 43% 71% 43%
Non-Educators 57% 29% 57%

Percent breakdown of those giving the following responses to Question #2:

Analytic Thinking
Technology
Educators 48% 50%
Non-Educators 52% 50%

Commun-ication Cultural Work Ethic
Educators 43% 57% 46%
Non-Educators 57% 43% 54%

Reading Teamwork Math
Educators 36% 59% 29%
Non-Educators 64% 41% 71%

Types of business/industry: 47% reported working in education, 26% in health care, 15% in non-profit, and 8% in government. Numerous other business or industry categories were represented by at least one respondent.

Organization size: Organizations of vastly different sizes are represented as 44% responded as having between 101-1000 employees, 32% have more than 1000, and 23% have less than 100.

International presence: While all of these organizations are headquartered within the U.S., about a third (32%) conduct business in languages other than English, 18% import/export goods and services with other countries, and 11% have offices outside the U.S. Six respondents work for organizations that have offices in more than 20 countries.

Role: A quarter of respondents (25%) are CEOs, 13% are HR pro-fessionals, and 7% Board Members. About half of the respondents (52%) represented some other role in their organization such as consultants, administrator, teacher, manager, etc.

 

Contents

Feature Article

Meetings
Officers

Meetings

Next Meeting: May 9th, 2008, noon lunch, Dino's I-90 and Route 306, Willoughby. Cost: $13 members, $16 nonmembers

Speaker: John Meehl, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship, Lake Erie College

Call Ann at 350-2740 for reservations

NEXT TRUSTEES MEETING:
May 13th, 2008, 8 a.m., FirstMerit conference room, 7800 Reynolds Road, Mentor
Get map of to Dino's

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Officers

Ernie Brass, President
Money Concepts

Jeffrey Shibley, Vice President
Yours Truly

Bob Debevec, Sec.-Treas.
Debevec & Co., CPA

Steve Tsengas , Past President
OurPets

Dave Gilmer, Ex. Director
440-350-2974

TRUSTEES

Tim Cahill - FirstMerit
Mark Tyler - Lubrizol
John Crocker, L.C. Treasurer
Don Crellin
Laura Freeman - L.C. Bus. Journal
Bruce Herold - Chase
Sylvia Hoffmanbeck - CBH Realty
Martin Kuula - First Energy
Kevin Lynch - AT & T
Jim Martin
Ray McGuinness - Broker
Keith Palmer
Marie Pucak - Mentor Chamber
Neil Sawicki - Global Real Estate
Jeffrey Shibley - Yours Truly
Tom Thielman - MEACO
Darrell Webster - L.C.Planning

COMMITTEES

Membership
Jim Martin, Chair

P.R./Program
Randy Horst, Laura Freeman, Chairs

Agribusiness
Ernie Brass, Chair

Legislative Breakfast
Jeffrey Shibley, Chair

Economic Forum
Steve Tsengas, Chair

International Folk Festival
Jennifer Forster, Chair

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