ETHICAL AND UNETHICAL ISSUES IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Ethical Issues in Human Resource Management 

Cash and Compensation Plans

• There are ethical issues pertaining to the salaries, executive perquisites and the annual incentive plans etc. The HR manager is often under pressure to raise the band of base salaries.

•  There is increased pressure upon the HR function to pay out more incentives to the top management and the justification for the same is put as the need to retain the latter.

  
  
  

•  Further ethical issues crop in HR when long term compensation and incentive plans are designed in consultation with the CEO or an external consultant. 

• While deciding upon the payout there is pressure on favouring the interests of the top management in comparison to that of other employees and stakeholders.

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• Race, gender and Disability

  In many organisations till recently the employees were differentiated on the basis of their race, gender, origin and their disability. Not anymore ever since the evolution of laws and a regulatory framework that has standardised employee behaviours towards each other.
  
  

• In good organisations the only differentiating factor is performance! In addition the power of filing litigation has made put organisations on the back foot. Managers are trained for aligning behaviour and avoiding discriminatory practices.

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  Employment Issues

• Human resource practitioners face bigger dilemmas in employee hiring. One dilemma stems from the pressure of hiring someone who has been recommended by a friend, someone from your family or a top executive.

• Yet another dilemma arises when you have already hired someone and he/she is later found to have presented fake documents. 

  
  
  

• Two cases may arise and both are critical. In the first case the person has been trained and the position is critical. In the second case the person has been highly appreciated for his work during his short stint or he/she has a unique blend of skills with the right kind of attitude.

•  Both the situations are sufficiently dilemmatic to leave even a seasoned HR campaigner in a fix.

Privacy Issues

• Any person working with any organisation is an individual and has a personal side to his existence which he demands should be respected and not intruded. The employee wants the organisation to protect his/her personal life. This personal life may encompass things like his religious, political and social beliefs etc. However certain situations may arise that mandate snooping behaviours on the part of the employer. 

  Similarly there are ethical issues in HR that pertain to health and safety, restructuring and layoffs and employee responsibilities. There is still a debate going on whether such activities are ethically permitted or not.

  
  
  Layoffs, for example, are no more considered as unethical as they were thought of in the past.

• For example, mail scanning is one of the activities used to track the activities of an employee who is believed to be engaged in activities that are not in the larger benefit of the organisation.

  Safety and Health

         Industrial work is often hazardous to the safety and health of the employees. Legislations have been created making it mandatory on the organisations and managers to compensate the victims of occupational hazards. 

Ethical dilemmas of HR managers arise when the justice is denied to the victims by the organisation.

Restructuring and layoffs

        Restructuring of the organisations often result in layoffs and retrenchments. This is not unethical, if it is conducted in an atmosphere of fairness and equity and with the interests of the affected employees in mind.

If the restructuring company requires closing of the plant, the process by which the plant is chosen, how the news is to be communicated and the time frame for completing the layoffs is ethically important.

 

                

Unethical Issues in Human Resource Management

 Misusing company time

                      Whether it is covering for someone who shows up late or altering a time sheet, misusing company time tops the list. This category includes knowing that one of your co-workers is conducting personal business on company time. By "personal business" the survey recognizes the difference between making cold calls to advance your freelance business and calling your spouse to find out how your sick child is doing.

      

Abusive behavior

               Too many workplaces are filled with managers and supervisors who use their position and power to mistreat or disrespect others. Unfortunately, unless the situation you're in involves race, gender or ethnic origin, there is often no legal protection against abusive behavior in the workplace.

 Employee theft

                 

Lying to employees

            The fastest way to lose the trust of your employees is to lie to them, yet employers do it all the time. One of out

every five employees report that their manager or supervisor has lied to them within the past year.

 Violating company internet policies

  

            Cyberslackers. Cyberloafers. These are terms used to identify people who surf the Web when they should be working. It's a huge, multi-billion-dollar problem for companies. A survey conducted recently by Salary.com found that everyday at least 64 percent of employees visit websites that have nothing to do with their work. Who would have thought that checking your Facebook page is becoming an ethical issue?