MN7181-What are Ethics?-Blog 09

Ethical Guidelines for HRM

The guidelines set out below relate to how employees are treated in general and to the major HRM activities of organization development, recruitment and selection, learning and development, performance management, reward management and employee relations. They also relate to employment practices concerning the work environment, employee well being, equal opportunities, managing diversity, handling disciplinary matters and grievances, job security and redundancy.

(Figure 1: Leading an ethical organization)

General guidelines

 ● Recognize that the strategic goals of the organization should embrace the rights and needs of employees as well as those of the business.
● Recognize that employees are entitled to be treated as full human beings with personal needs, hopes and anxieties.
● Do not treat employees simply as means to an end or mere factors of production.
● Relate to employees generally in ways that recognize their natural rights to be treated justly, equitably and with respect.

Ethical Dilemmas

Ethics will be enacted in situations of ambiguity where dilemmas and problems will be dealt with without the comfort of consensus or certitude (Clegg et al, 2007).
Morality concerns choice first of all it is the predicament human beings encounter when they must make a selection among-st various possibilities. (Bauman & Tester, 2001).

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

The following check list will be helpful when dealing with dilemmas and be able to help solve them.

• What are the known facts about the situation and is it possible that there are facts or circumstances that have not come to light, and if so what can be done to uncover them?
• In disciplinary or conduct cases, to what extent does the conduct contravene the organization’s code of ethical conduct (if one exists) or any other relevant organizational policy guidelines and rules?
• In disciplinary cases, are there any mitigating circumstances?
• Have different versions or interpretations of the facts and circumstances been offered and, if so, what steps can be taken to obtain the true and full picture?
• Do the facts as established and confirmed justify the proposed action?
• Is the proposed action in line with both the letter and the spirit of the law?
• Are the proposed action and any investigations leading to it consistent with the principles of natural, procedural or distributive justice?
• Will the proposed action benefit the organization and if so how?
• Is there any risk of the proposed action doing harm to the organization’s reputation for fair dealing?  

(Video 1: Ethics in HRM)

The Ethical Role of HRM

In very general terms I would suggest that the experience of HRM is more likely to be viewed positively if its underlying principles are ethical (Legge, 1998).
HR professionals have a special responsibility for guarding and promoting core values in the organization on how people should be managed and treated. They need to take action to achieve fair dealing. This means treating people according to the principles of procedural, distributive, social and natural justice, and seeing that decisions or policies that affect them are transparent in the sense that they are known, understood, and clear and applied consistently.

The first is to ensure that HR policies and the actions taken to implement them meet acceptable ethical standards. HR can press for the production of a value statement that sets out how the organization intends to treat its employees. Value statements may be set out under such headings as care and consideration for people, belief that people should be treated justly and equitably and belief that the views of employees about matters that concern them should be listened to.
Second, HR practitioners can act as role models, leading by example and living and breathing good ethical behaviour.

 If HR does not act ethically, how can it expect employees to do so? (Parkes & Davis,2013)

The third approach, and the hardest, is to challenge unethical behaviour on the part of management. Such behaviour can take many forms, including management tolerance for exploitation and bullying; the lack of a whistle-blowing policy, which provides routes for reporting malpractice and performance management criteria that emphasize organizational gain over all else.

References

• Bauman & tester , 2001. Ethical practices in organizations.
• Clegg et al, 2007. Ethics and HRM.
• Legge, 1998. HRM in Practice.
• Perkes & davis, 2013. Ethical Organizations.
• Figure 1: Leading an ethical organization, (2016) HRM innovations, [Online] Available at: https://hrminnovations.com/leading-ethical-organization/ [Accessed 25 September 2019].
• Video 1: Ethics in HRM. [Online] Available at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISEaEt7rVWg [Accessed 25 September 2019].