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Standards, morals, values, and ethics have become increasingly complicated in today’s society where absolutes have given way to tolerance and ambiguity. This affects human resource managers, where decisions will affect people jobs. Ethics is the discipline that deals with what is right and wrong or with moral duty and obligation (Moody, 201 3, p. 24). Human resource management deals with the work force planning and development. Human resource ethics is the application of ethical principles to human resource relationships and activities (Monody, 2013, p. 0). It is the human resource department that really taters when it comes to ethics since it deals with human issues such as compensation, safety, health and development. It is important that companies are ethical in their decision making. When a company has good ethical behavior, they serve as a role model for their employees as well as their community. This behavior promotes social responsibility and lets employees know that the company is trustworthy with integrity. It is mainly up to the individual, employee or the human social unit who benefits from ethics.
Ethics is important for the following reasons: satisfying human basic deeds, creating credibility, uniting people with leadership, improving decision making, long term gains and securing society (Importance of Ethics, 201 3, Para 2). Companies must put strategies in place in order to ensure all employees within the company are able to make ethical decisions. Using ethical business practices are a key for long term success. 2 Current Situation Most large corporations within the United States now have a code of ethics, which encompasses written conduct standards, internal education, and formal agreements on industry standards (Monody, 201 3, p. 4). Even with tankards in place, business ethics scandals continue to make headlines today. Although ethics involve more issue than compensation, it seems as if the majority of unethical acts are motivated by financial reasons. Recently, a group of Atlanta teachers were indicted on a cheating scandal. Teachers would sit in a room for hours erasing wrong answers and marking the correct answers. The motivation behind this was for the, superintendent to receive high test scores because high test scores equal bonus money.
Doctors are billing insurance companies for work not completed; by doing this doctors are omitting fraud in order to have financial gain. Investment firms are operating Opinion schemes, which involve selling ideas Of large returns, whereas companies are taking funds from new investors and paying dividends to old investors. There is no form of occupation that has not had its own ethnically issues in the recent years. In order to avoid situations mentioned in the examples, human resource management aim to attract the right people with the right frame of mind to contribute to the company.
They are looking for individuals that are able to grow and with the company. As the company grows, employees also grow in knowledge and experience in order to support the organization. Quality decision making does not come automatically. It takes training and experience to make effective decisions. Decision making is a task HER is faced with every day. They have to decide on a daily basis on how issues should be handled ethically and with integrity. 3 Analysis of Issue Human resources play a major role in applying ethical principles.
Human resource managers set examples for the rest of the company. Most large companies have a human resource department in which employees have money to help them with different issues, which includes managing sick days, holiday pay, hiring, firing, and everyday issues employees have. Without a human resource department, disputes that arise between the company and employees or either two employees would take time to resolve. Human resources are put into place, to help rectify any situations that may arise. The success of most companies is based on the role played by human resource.
Human resource will work to ensure that employees are happy, and when disputes need to be resolved there is a neutral party involved who can implement policies. Management decisions made honestly while taking all aspects into consideration. In human resource management, firing, hiring, and compensation must be treated fairly. For example, a male manager should not hire a woman that is less experience but is more attractive. This is a form of discrimination and holds no ethical morals. Making ethical business decisions consistently, is the key to a long term business success.
Knowing how to make these decisions helps a company set standards throughout the organization (Ingram, 2011). One topic that most professionals do not want to discuss is ethical and integrity issues in a profession. Ethics and integrity are very important in all professions, but some positions such as human resources are expected to uphold a higher standard of ethical behavior. Human resources play an important role in an organization; they should be careful that all actions are handled fairly within the restrictions of the law.
Human resource professionals should be objective and balance the needs of employees and management; naturally they need to do what is best for the 4 company. Honestly, it does not always work that way because human resource professionals are also humans which mean they too can have their wan agenda that may complicate situations. If human resource professions are not prepared to do what is right, then the employee and the company lose. Integrity in HER begins with treating employees respectfully.
When employees feel they are not treated with the respect, they no longer trust the HER professionals. Serbians-Solely Act protects employees that report corporations and management on to civil and criminal penalties for retailing, harassing, or discredit mating against employees who report suspected wrong doings (Monody, 2013, p. 28). Serbians Solely Act protects employees that management cannot suspend, demote, harass, or discriminate against an employee. Ethics is required when choosing a profession in human resource management.
Employees within a corporation should review, develop and ensure policies are being adhered throughout the organization. All employees should take the time to determine what is ethical and unethical to their specific work area. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations Act created a training program geared towards ethics training, which explained the minimum requirements for an effective program that will prevent and discover violations. Ethics in general is a system of good and bad and fair and unfair. Ethics is affected by three primary’ forces: religion, culture and laws of the state.
Religion is the oldest foundation; it draws a line between the good and the bad in society. This is based on different types of people. Culture defines the different behaviors and values from one generation to another. Some values are treasured as being ideal than others and are deemed as what determines right from wrong. Laws are the procedures that are put in place by the legal system. The problem with the laws is that expectations cannot be covered tit the law when the environment is continually changing (management study guide, 2013). Conclusion When tasked with making ethical decisions, a few steps should be kept in mind throughout the decision making process such as integrity, consideration of impact, legalities, fidelity, fairness and input receiving (Screener, 2013). To make ethical decisions, the decision maker must feel independent. If he/she does not, then the decision maker will most likely make a decision that is unethical. In ethics, integrity is the honesty and accuracy of one’s actions. Individuals that work in human resources have to remember that decisions made have an impact a person’s lively hood and should be taken seriously.
Sometimes human resources are the only ones that can view issues objectively if the responsibility is taken serious then everyone benefits. Human resource professionals are debated within work places daily. Some employees see HER as the neutral party between employees and management in regards to handling issues fairly. Others see them as being the gatekeeper for executive management and do not hold any interest in employee concerns. Being a human resource professional requires showing respect towards individual needs.
Employees must feel they are being treated with respect no matter race, gender or disability. If the human resource department wishes to earn respect from employees, HER must be sure to work hard to value all individuals’ unique talents, and respect their dignity. A corporation’s strength depends on the unity and diversity of employees. Diversity offers different ideas to a company; therefore human resources must work hard in order to ensure everyone is working harmoniously for the benefit of the company.