Ethics and Fair Treatment in Human Resource Management

1. Ethics and Fair Treatment in Human Resource Management Ch 14

2. When you finish studying this chapter, you should be able to: • Explain what is meant by ethical behavior.  • Discuss important factors that shape ethical behavior at work.  • Discuss at least four specific ways in which HR management can influence ethical behavior at work.  • Exercise fair disciplinary practices. • Discuss at least four important factors in managing dismissals effectively.

3. The Meaning of Ethics • Ethics • the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group • standards you use to decide what your conduct should be

5. The Meaning of Ethics (cont.) • Normative judgment implies that something is good or bad, right or wrong, better or worse

6. The Meaning of Ethics (cont.) • Involve morality, society’s accepted standards of behavior • Moral standards address matters of serious consequence to society’s well-being

7. Ethics and the Law • The law is not the best of guides for what is ethical • Something may be legal, but not right • Companies where fairness and justice prevail tend to be ethical companies

8. Ethics, Fair Treatment, and Justice • Workplace unfairness can be blatant • Employees of abusive supervisors are more likely to quit their jobs, and to report lower job and life satisfaction and higher stress if they remain in those jobs

9. Perceptions of Fair Interpersonal Treatment Scale

10. Why Treat Employees Fairly? • Perceptions of fairness relate to enhanced employee commitment, and enhanced satisfaction with the organization

11. Why Treat Employees Fairly? (cont.) • Procedural justice - fair processes • Distributive justice - fair outcomes

12. Why Treat Employees Fairly? (cont.) • College instructors completed surveys regarding the extent to which they saw their colleges as treating them with procedural and distributivejustice. • Instructors who perceived high distributive and procedural justice reported higher organizational commitment. • Their students reported higher levels of instructor effort, prosocial behaviors, and fairness, as well as more positive reactions to their instructors.

13. Individual Factors • Age • Older workers in general had stricter interpretations of ethical standards and made more ethical decisions than younger employees

14. Organizational Factors • Being under the gun to meet scheduling pressures • Meeting overly aggressive business objectives • Helping the company survive

15. Organizational Factors (cont.) • Judge sentenced WorldCom’s former CFO to 5 years in jail, allegedly for helping the firm’s former chairman, Bernard Ebbers, mask WorldCom’s deteriorating financial situation • The government accused him of instructing underlings to fraudulently book accounting entries, and of filing false statements with the SEC

16. The Boss’s Influence • Level of misconduct at work dropped dramatically when employees said their supervisors exhibited ethical behavior

17. The Boss’s Influence (cont.) How supervisors lead subordinates astray: • Tell staffers to do whatever is necessary to achieve results • Overload top performers to ensure work gets done • Look the other way when wrongdoing occurs • Take credit for others’ work or shift blame

18. Quick Ethics Test • Is the action legal? • Is it right? • Who will be affected? • Does it fit the company's values? • How will it “feel” afterwards? • How will it look in the newspaper? • Will it reflect poorly on the company?

19. Organizational Culture • Organizational culture • characteristic values, traditions, and behaviors a company’s employees share • Value • basic belief about what is right or wrong, or about what you should or shouldn’t do

20. Culture and the Manager • Clarify expectations • Use signs and symbols • Provide physical support • Use stories • Organize rites and ceremonies

21. Ethics, Fair Treatment, and the Role of HR Management Staffing and Selection • Simplest way to tune up an organization is to hire more ethical people • Honesty tests • Comprehensive background checks

22. Training • Showing employees how to recognize ethical dilemmas • How to use ethical frameworks (such as codes of conduct) to resolve problems • Using HR functions in ethical ways

24. Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley • Requires that the CEO and CFO of publicly traded companies attest to the accuracy of companies’ financial statements

25. Performance Appraisal • Employees’ standards should be clear • Should understand the basis upon which they're going to be appraised • Appraisals themselves should be performed objectively and fairly

26. Reward and Disciplinary Systems • Employees expect the organization to dole out relatively harsh punishment for unethical conduct • Important for the company to send the right signals by disciplining executives who misbehave

27. Workplace Aggression and Violence • Employees who see themselves as unfairly underpaid may take negative actions ranging from employee theft to destruction of company property

28. Building Two-Way Communication • Engagement • involving individuals in the decisions that affect them by asking for their input and allowing them to refute the merits of one another’s ideas and assumptions

29. Building Two-Way Communication (cont.) • Explanation • ensuring that everyone involved and affected understands why final decisions are made as they are and the thinking that underlies the decisions

30. Building Two-Way Communication (cont.) • Expectation clarity • making sure everyone knows up front by what standards they will be judged and the penalties for failure

31. Employee Discipline and Privacy • Purpose of discipline is to encourage employees to behave sensibly at work • Sensible is defined as adhering to rules and regulations

32. Three Pillars of the Discipline Process • Set of clear rules and regulations • System of progressive penalties • Appeals process

33. FedEx Appeals Process • Management review - the complainant submits a written complaint to a member of management • Officer complaint - the complainant submits a written appeal to the vice president • Executive appeals review - the complainant may submit a written complaint to the employee relations department

34. Traditional Discipline • Leaves a residue of ill will • Forcing your rules on employees may gain their short-term compliance, but not their cooperation

35. Discipline Without Punishment • Issue an oral reminder • Should another incident arise within six weeks, issue the employee a formal written reminder • Give a paid one-day “decision-making leave” • If no further incidents occur in the next year or so, the one-day paid suspension is purged from the person’s file

36. Electronic Employee Privacy Violations • Intrusion • Publication of private matters • Disclosure of medical records • Appropriation of an employee’s name for commercial purposes

37. Legal Issues • More employers today are issuing e-mail and online services usage policies to forewarn employees that those systems are intended to be used for business purposes only • Employers may be held liable for illegal acts committed by their employees via e-mail

38. Managing Dismissals • Dismissal should be fair, warranted, and just • Manager should ensure that immediate dismissals are humane

39. Termination at Will Exceptions • Statutory exceptions • federal and state equal employment and workplace laws prohibit specific types of dismissals • Common law exceptions • a court may decide that an employee handbook promising termination only “for just cause" may create an exception to the at-will rule

40. Termination at Will Exceptions (cont.) • Public policy exception • courts have held a discharge to be wrongful when it was against an explicit, well-established public policy

41. Grounds for Dismissal • Unsatisfactory performance • persistent failure to perform assigned duties or meet prescribed standards on the job • Misconduct • deliberate and willful violation of the employer’s rules

42. Grounds for Dismissal (cont.) • Lack of qualifications • an employee’s inability to do the assigned work • Changed requirements of the job • an employee’s incapability of doing the work assigned, after the nature of the job has been changed

43. Grounds for Dismissal (cont.) • Insubordination • direct disregard of the boss’s authority, and disobedience of, or refusal to obey the boss’s orders

44. Avoiding Wrongful Discharge Suits • Wrongful discharge occurs when an employee’s dismissal does not comply with the law

45. Avoiding Wrongful Discharge Suits (cont.) • Lay the groundwork that will help avoid such suits before they get started • Use practices that help ensure the fairness of the decision

46. Severance Pay

47. Personal Supervisory Liability • Follow company policies and procedures • Do not add to the emotional hardship on the employee • Let employee present their side of the story • Do not act in anger • Utilize the HR department

48. Termination Interview • Plan the interview carefully • Get to the point • Describe the situation • Listen • Review all elements of the severance package • Identify the next step

49. Outplacement Counseling • Outplacement counseling • employer provides terminated employees with career planning and job search skills

50. Exit Interviews • Want to elicit information that might give the employer a better insight into what is right—or wrong—about the company