Ethical Issues in HR

Don Bosco College Hospitality Studies S.Y.
BSc
Ethical Issues in HR Of all the organisational issues or problems, ethical issues are the most difficult ones to handle or deal with. Issues arise in employment, remuneration and benefits, industrial relations and health and safety.
Cash and Compensation Plans There are ethical issues pertaining to the salaries, executive allowancws 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.
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! Managers are trained for aligning behaviour and avoiding discriminatory practices and subsequent litigation
Employment Issues Human resource personnel 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.
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Don Bosco College Hospitality Studies S.Y. BSc
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 problematic to leave even a seasoned HR campaigner confused.
Privacy Issues Any person working with any organisation is an individual and has a personal life which 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 require snooping behaviours on the part of the employer. 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. 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. Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal lends itself to ethical issues. Assessment of an individuals performance is based on observation and judgment. HR manager are expected to observe the performance in order to judge its effectiveness. Ethics should be the cornerstone of performance evaluation, and the overall objective of high ethical performance reviews should to provide an honest assessment of the performance and mutually develops a plan to improve the ratees effectiveness. Safety and health Much of the industrial work is hazardous. This is because of the extensive use of high speed and heavy duty machinery, production processes requiring high temperature, an increasing reliance on chemical compounds .Accidents, injuries and illnesses are likely to occur under these circumstances. Over past decade, new categories of accident and illness have emerged, including the fast growing job safety problem of office injuries. Restructuring and Layoffs Restructuring and consequent layoffs have become relevant because of poor management, but incompetence does not become unethical. There are ethical implications in the process by which termination decisions are made and actions taken. For example if restructuring requires closing a plant , the process by which that plant is chosen ,how the news will be communicated ,and the time frame for completing the layoffs are ethically important .If conducted in an atmosphere of fairness and equity and with dignity of the affected individuals in mind, the action is ethical. ***************************************************************

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Don Bosco College Hospitality Studies S.Y.

Don Bosco College Hospitality Studies S.Y. BSc

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