A List of Ethical Issues for Human Resource Management
Clarke Ricks School of Business,
Liberty University
BUSI 690: Policy and Strategy in Global Competition
Dr. Hicks
May 7, 2022
A List of Ethical Issues for Human Resource Management
Human resources departments must handle a host of ethical and legal issues. From the
regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the standards and practices
of organizations such as the Human Resource Management Institute, HR constantly must be
monitored to make sure it complies with hiring, promotion and termination guidelines.
Decisions about benefits, conflict resolution, paid time off and maternity leave also can present
difficulties.
Labor Costs
HR must deal with conflicting needs to keep labor costs as low as possible and to offer fair
wages. Ethics come into play when HR must choose between outsourcing labor to countries
with lower wages and harsh living conditions and paying competitive wages in the United
States. While there is nothing illegal about outsourcing labor, HR can create a public relations
problem if consumers object to using underpaid workers to save money.
Opportunity for New Skills
If your HR department chooses who gets training, it can run into ethical issues. Because
training is an opportunity for advancement and expanded opportunities, employees who are
left out of training may argue that they are not being given equal opportunities in the
workplace. HR must make certain to clarify the business reason behind its training decisions so
employees understand why specific individuals receive training when others do not.
Working Conditions
HR must work to maintain safety standards and clean working conditions for employees
based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements. Employees also have
the right to expect a workplace free of sexually suggestive signs or comments, and disabled
employees must have access to the building. HR must make sure lighting and air quality are
adequate.
Honoring Benefit Provisions
Some companies have reneged on promises they made regarding pension programs. HR
has an ethical responsibility to make sure that any benefits offered to employees actually pay as
intended. This means monitoring company-managed benefits as well as insurance companies to
make sure there are no financial problems that would shortchange employees.
Fair Hiring and Justified Termination
Hiring and termination decisions must be made without regard to ethnicity, race, gender,
sexual preference or religious beliefs. HR must take precautions to eliminate any bias from the
hiring and firing process by making sure such actions adhere to strict business criteria.
The Ethics of Justice & Fair Treatment in HR Management
Human resource policies and procedures affect employees' jobs and their future
employment potential. HR managers, which in the case of a small business can mean the
business owner, must continually balance the need to ensure the business meets it objectives
but also ensure that the business follows and maintains ethical employment practices and
standards. Among these is a key concept relating to an employee’s right to justice and fair
treatment.
The Ethics of Behavior
Ethics are the moral principles that govern business behavior. It’s critical for HR personnel
to understand that compliance with federal and state employment regulations doesn’t
necessarily mean the business is practicing ethical behaviors. One problem is that while laws
and regulations create definite standards of behavior, the concept of ethics is more subjective
and perceptions about what constitutes ethical behavior often differs between individuals. To
build an ethical behavior framework, HR employment practices must not only adhere to legal
guidelines but also model and adhere to the business’s core values.
HR Ethical Issues
The lack of or a loosely enforced small-business ethics policy often leads to business
owners continually struggling with a multitude of common fair-treatment issues. These include
-- but are not limited to -- favoritism in hiring practices, employee training and promotion, and
inconsistent disciplinary measures, which may lead to increased instances of workplace
harassment. Other issues include a lack of confidentiality surrounding an employee’s personal
and performance information, wage discrimination and basing annual reviews on factors
unrelated to an employee’s role.
Trust and Mutual Respect
HR can foster an environment where justice and fair treatment is the norm by creating
and living up to an expectation of trust and mutual respect. Trust is fostered when information-
sharing is accurate, timely and complete, and when clear, specific and measurable goals are set
for the business and its employees, and employees at all levels are encouraged to share their
ideas and concerns. Mutual respect develops when dignity is a behavioral standard, when the
business owner and management team encourage initiative and creativity, and when diversity
is not simply tolerated but appreciated and promoted.
Maintaining an Ethical Environment
HR has the power to influence the company culture. It often takes more, however, than
creating and adhering to a company ethics policy. Ongoing and open communication is
essential to maintaining an environment that promotes ethical behaviors such as justice and
fair treatment. After setting ethical behavioral expectations, a next step is the establishment of
a communication platform, such as an open-door policy and focus group meetings, that ensures
a forum for discussing ethical issues exists.
Business ethics are the moral doctrines that direct the way to business behave. Business
ethics determines the actions of every individual that distinguish the right or wrong. Every
business organization must develop the codes of conduct and ethics that should be followed by
all the members. Ethics can be taken as the crucial way to self-presentation and public
perception of the organization. Ethics in human resource management is related to the
employee’s issues. Human resource management plays an important role in setting up and
implementing ethics in the workplace. Implementation of ethics in the workplace has been one
of the challenging tasks for the organization. Various human resources issues can be handled
properly by the application of ethics and code of practices by the managers in the workplace.
Ethics generally determine what is right and what is wrong. With the help of business ethics,
proper allocation and maintenance of employee in the workplace will be possible.
The Ethical Concern in Human Resource Management
Human resource management plays a vital role in the organization while dealing with
workplace issues. As human resource management deals with the management of human
resources in the workplace, the issues related with the human resource must be focused by the
top level management. The major ethical issues that have to be deal by the human resource
management are a concern with the privacy issues, cash and compensation plan, employment
issues, safety issues, race and disability, performance appraisal and employee’s responsibility.
Each and every employee is important for the organization to achieve the stated goal so the
issues related with the manpower must be identified on time for the better performance. In a
workplace, there will be a good and bad work performance with the application of right ethical
theory the human issues can be managed. For the effective outcomes, all the employees must
be treated ethically. Employment issues are the general issues faced by the organization as an
individual belongs to different background, culture, religion, and races. So, hiring an employee
creates a dilemma for the HR managers. The presentation of fake documents during the time of
hiring may cause a problem in the future so, ethical action is the most essential aspects that
should be adopted by both parties. HR manager must provide an equal opportunity and
treatment for the individual while hiring.
Another human resource management issue is related to privacy. All the employees in the
organization have their own personal life. The information may be related to religion, social
beliefs and many more. An employee wants to maintain the privacy within the organization so
they want the direct and indirect protection from the company. So, without the permission of
employee privacy should not be leaked. Such an unethical act should not be conducted by the
organization. Most of the time people are treated badly in the workplace in the name of race,
gender, and disability. The ethics-based organization should not focus on discrimination while
the employees should be appreciated for their contribution to the organization. Similarly, an
employee should be compensated on the basis of their performance. A company must have an
effective compensating plan for their employees. The general ethical issues involved while
managing the human resource is related to the salaries, executive benefits, and compensation
including the annual incentives, flexible working hours, holidays and many more. Compensating
the employee for their contribution is one of the ethics that can be adopted by the
organization. This action increases the morale of employees and increases performance. Along
with the other responsibilities safety of employees is also one of the burning issues of human
resource management. Employee’s safety in the workplace is the ethical as well as the human
right that should be provided by the organization. It is one of the sensitive factors that cannot
be avoided by the organization to their employees.
For the effective management of human resource in the workplace, ethics must be
considered by the managers. Effective implementation of the ethic helps in controlling the
human resources in a right way. Without the ethics in the workplace, there will not be the
better performance rather it will decrease the morale of the employee and gradually increase
the turnover in the organization. Thus, for the satisfaction of the employee within the
organization, the business ethics is essential to adopt by the company. Ethical demand in the
workplace is the concern of the human resource management in the present context. Ethics in
the workplace provides employee’s right and well-being. Since, the success or failure of the
business totally depends upon the ethical behavior shown by the managers in the organization.
For the success of the organization, management must adopt the consistence ethical behavior
to all the employees in the workplace. The ethical behavior of managers in workplace changes
the behavior of the employee such as a change in attitude, interest and get motivated to
perform the activities.
Application of Ethical Theories in Human Resource Management
Within the organization, several human resource issues have to be faced by the human
sources managers that are concerned with the ethics. An employee can give their best when
the needs and demands are fulfilled as well as when they are treated ethically. Employees in
the workplace may belong to different background and culture. Equal opportunity and
treatment for the employees is the common issue that must be regularly monitored by the
company. For the better performance and the better result, the managers must show the
ethical behavior to the employees. The ethical issues related to human resources must be
solved on time. The ethical behavior must be maintained within an organization. For instance,
Justin is the boss of the organization where Anna is the office manager. Janet is the receptionist
in that organization. Under the supervision of the Anna, Janet performs her activities and Janet
is a hardworking and good employee. Janet is going through a rough time due to the divorce so
to fulfill the financial requirement she used to perform in the theater which is not liked by her
boss. The performance of Janet in the organization is appreciable but due to dislike, Anna was
asked to terminate Janet from the work within the next 30 days by writing a negative appraisal.
Anna is in a dilemma that whether she goes with the boss and terminate Janet from job or fight
for the Janet. The example of Janet reflects the importance of ethics in the workplace. As Janet
is a good employee and her performance is better than others the boss should not behave
unethical behavior with her. In such a situation, ethics play a vital role in providing justice for
the right one. Ethics in the workplace is very important to implement for building a fair
workplace for all employees.
The decision making in the organization must be based on the theories related to the
ethics. An appropriate decision can be taken with the help of various ethical theories. As solving
the human issues within the organization is a very challenging task with the help of ethics and
codes of conduct the problem can be solved easily. The issues may be related to cash and
compensation, safety, employee performance appraisal, race, gender and disability, and
employee responsibility. These issues can be minimized by the application of ethical theories.
In the case of Janet that has been discussed above that she deserves the right to know the
reason for her termination. The rights theory explains that every employee has the right to
know about the problem. The problems must be informed to the employee so that he or she
gets an opportunity to improve it. Implement of utilitarian theory the best and least harm can
be consummated. Due to the unethical activities or behavior of managers to the employees, it
may cause the long-term harm to the organization. So, punishing a nonguilty person is wrong
which may lead to the legal problem in the future. The employee of an organization must be
provided an equal opportunity of employment without any discrimination. All the employees
must provide with the fair and competitive work environment. The distributive justice theory is
a concern with providing a fair action to all the member and employee of the organization.
According to the performance of the employees, the compensation along with other incentives
and facilities must be distributed. The deserving candidates must be appreciated for their
performance; such behavior of manager will improve the working environment and enhance
the performance. With the implementation of caring theory in the workplace, managers
can retain the employees in the organization. Implementation of this theory in the workplace
helps to build the relationship between the employees. Similarly, one should not be unjustified
by providing negative appraisal so the virtue ethics should not be violated by providing a false
statement about the employee.
Both the employees and the managers should not show the unethical activities in the
workplace. The issues related with the human resources must be sorted out on time. With the
proper application of ethical theories, the appropriate decision can be made to improve the
working condition and maintaining the justices in the organization. The decision taken related
to the employees of an organization must be justified without any discrimination in the
workplace.
Conclusion
Ethical issues are burning issues in the field of human resource management. Ethical
issues may arise in every organization such as employment issues, safety issues, performance
appraisal, equal treatment and opportunity and many more. Such issues lead to the situation of
conflict in the workplace so for the maintenance of conflict ethical practice must be conducted
in the organization. An ethical behavior of managers helps to determine what is right and what
is wrong. Ethical practice and codes of conduct help to punish the guilty and appreciate the
right one. Without the implementation of ethics for the management of human resources in
the organization then stated success cannot be achieved. Business ethics must be implemented
and maintained by the organization for better performance and for providing justices.
