BUSI 600 - Responses to Discussion Posts required - 10 Hours A+ Needed.

Question 2.3

COLLAPSE

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What are the most prudent decisions Avionics Inc. can make about its responsibilities to itself and others?

            When managers succeed in their endeavors, their teams become more engaged. Gallup, a leading company for conducting surveys, has found that employees who feel engaged at work and who can use their strengths in their jobs are more productive and profitable and have higher quality work. Based on findings like these, Gallup concluded that a strengths-based management approach is the best way to improve the employee-manager relationship. (Sorenson, 2014)

Employers are often hesitant to measure employee attitudes during business slumps, reorganizations, downsizings or outsourcing efforts because they assume that employees will simply say how disgruntled they are; however, organizational experts suggest that such times can provide an ideal opportunity to check in. The simple act of asking for input during critical junctures can send a positive message to the workforce (Managing, 2015).

            Avionics, Inc. has a moral responsibility to report research findings without prejudice. This is also the case for the researcher. Unethical practices such as changing/deleting information hinders the purpose of providing important answers to questions regarding employment disengagement. The researcher provided data addressing problems encountered by the employees, which made management skeptical of their current business practices and their future contract awards from government sponsors. Being a government contractor, we are given annual surveys questioning morale and management engagement. Conflicts on the job arise between what the decision maker wants and what the researcher can provide ethically or thinks should be provided. “The sponsor wants certainty and simple, explicit recommendations, while the researcher often can offer only probabilities and hedged interpretations” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p.37).  In the case of Avionics, Inc., top management insists on removing damaging key information which may be vital to employees’ morale, and the researcher is hesitant because the information was retrieved from all willing participants. Avionics, Inc. and the researcher should find a workable balance with regard to ethical constraints being imposed on the researcher, and restrictions imposed on the researcher by management (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p.37).

What are the implications of those decisions even if there is no violation of law or regulation?

            Speaking from experience, when an organization decides to conduct a survey, such actions can have a positive effect on employees and their morale. Supervisors gain insights into issues affecting their departments or business units, which allow them to manage their team more effectively. Senior management at Avionics, Inc. is not fully committed to provide corporate with information gained from their employees, which in the long run can cause negative employee relations.  Avionics, Inc. employees are thinking about unionizing due to the improper treatment they are receiving from management.

The goal of ethics in research is to ensure that no one is harmed or suffers adverse consequences from research activities. This objective is usually achieved. However, unethical activities are pervasive and include violating nondisclosure agreements, breaking participant confidentiality, misrepresenting results, deceiving people, using invoicing irregularities, avoiding legal liability, and more (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p.28).

            Although there are no legal implications to the information being deleted, deception occurs when management decides to delete damaging information. “Deception occurs when the participants are told only part of the truth or when the truth is fully compromised” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p.32). Avionics, Inc. upper level management wants to remove key components of the research for fear of making themselves look bad. According to Cooper & Schindler, (2014) there are two reasons for deception: “(1) to prevent biasing the participants before the survey or experiment and (2) to protect the confidentiality of a third party (e.g., the sponsor)” (p.32). If the researcher decides to remove the two items, the entire research would be compromised, thus proving invalid for the purpose intended.  Research should retain its integrity in order to provide subjects with confidence of providing valid information in the future. (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p.32).

References

Anonymous (2015).  Managing employee surveys.  Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/managingemployeesurveys.aspx

Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2014). Business research methods (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. The ISBN for this textbook is 9780073521503.

Sorenson, S. (2014).  How employees’ strengths make your company stronger.  Retrieved from  http://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/167462/employees-strengths-company- stronger.aspx

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