The ethical dimension of Human Resource Management

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Ethics in Human Resource Management


Ethics are simply the values and behaviours related to morals. Exercising social responsibility, being concerned for the interests(well-being) of employees, and acting ethically concerning the needs of people in the organization and communities is the ethical dimension in Human Resource Management(Armstrong, 2014).

Human Resource professionals are responsible for safeguarding and promoting the ethical values of an organization. Unethical practices should be concerned and employees should be managed and treated fairly.


Ethical frameworks are created to evaluate Human Resource Management(HRM) practices and policies. Below are ethical frameworks commonly used in organizations.


  1. Deontological Theory: This theory means what is right to a person is the right principle for everyone else(Rawls, 1973).
  2. Utilitarianism: Actions should be judged in terms of results(Sandel, 2010).
  3. Stakeholder Theory: Management must act on behalf of stakeholders(Legge, 1998).
  4. Discourse ethics: Provide a practical process and procedure both rational and consensus, which issues can take place(Winstanley & Woodall, 2000).


Ethical guidelines are set to express how the employee should be treated in a major HRM activity and in general. However, there is no certain way to handle ethical dilemmas. Few general guidelines are, 


  • Recognize the employees need to be treated as human with personal needs and hopes.
  • Recognize natural rights and treat them with respect.
  • Understand the goals of the organization and embrace the employee needs as well as the organizational needs.



Areas needed to be concerned for effective use of ethics in Human Resource Management 


Millennials or the Y generation usually marked as elevated with the use of the internet, mobile devices, and social media. According to many, millennials are weak in work ethics. They are concerned as tough patient and selfless workaholics. Most of the researchers use Multidimensional Work Ethic Profile(MWEP) to measure work ethics. Research shows millennials understand the questions differently rather than other generations (Meriac, Woehr and Banister 2010). Although it's clear the millennials conceptualize work ethics differently, as human resource professionals we need to concern about our entire team of all generations while taking steps to support millennials in the workplace. 

Ethics and Human Resources departments need to work together. Ethics will align the credibility of how businesses run. Global research conducted by using 214 organizations around the world, shows ethics and Human Resource(HR) functions recognized as important factors to work together for effectiveness.



Conclusion


HR needs to integrate ethics in to process of recruitments, appraisal, retention, induction, reward, motivation, coaching, and training.

Every employee is an important asset of an organization. It's vital to understand the privacy issues of the employee. Employment issues are generally organizational issues such as safety issues, disability issues, compensation issues..etc.

The success of a business depends on the ethical behaviour of managers of that organization. Management needs to adopt consistent ethical behaviour to all the employees.



References

Armstrong, M. (2014) Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Page Limited.

Legge, K. (1998) The Morality of HRM: Experiencing Human Resource Management. London: Sage, pp 14-32.

Meriac, J., Woehr, J. and Banister, C. (2010) 'Generational Differences in Work Ethic: An Examination of Measurement Equivalence Across Three Cohorts', Journal of Business and Psychology, 06, pp.45-46.

Rawls, J. (1973) A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sandel, M.J. (2010) Justice:What's the right thing to do?. London: Penguin Books

Winstanley, D. and Woodall, J. (2000b) 'The ethical dimension of human resource management, Human Resource Management Journal, 10 (2), pp 5-20.

Comments

  1. HR ZONE JINODA17 April 2021 at 09:13

    Interesting Topic Maduka. I'm partially agree with your statement on millennials.But HR department can take their own action to make right behaviour, action and decision in an organisation. I think we can Change the millennial attitudes by interact with them and giving trainings to them on business ethics.
    HR is having code of ethics and it offers guidance in the area of professional development, ethical leadership, fairness and justice,conflicts of interest and use of information.so always good business ethics are part of every business and it leads to increase the production, innovation and good word of mouth for the organisation.
    Ethics are go beyond than laws and really important for business extencies too.
    More over that some organisations are reported violation of ethics too and HR department needs to involve in those cases to overcome from that situations. Some of them are such as Staffing based on favouritism, sexual harrestment,Using decipline for managerial and non managerial consistency, Non performance factors using in appraisals and so on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maduka Udagama 7 May 2021 at 00:44

      Many global studies show that "Millennials are weak in ethics". Few references are mentioned as below,
      1.Curtin, P. A., Galliano, T. and Matthews, M. (2011) 'Millennials approach to ethical decision making: A survey of young public relations agency employees', Public Relations Journal, 05, pp 2-3.
      2.Zabel, K., Hanson, B., Baltes, B. and Early, B. (2017) 'Generational Differences in Work Ethic: Fact or Fiction?', Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(3).
      3.Fernandez, A. (2020) 'Price sensitivity versus ethical consumption: a study of Millennial utilitarian consumer behaviour', Journal of Marketing Analytics, 8, pp.57-68.
      4.Meriac, J., Woehr, J. and Banister, C. (2010) 'Generational Differences in Work Ethic: An Examination of Measurement Equivalence Across Three Cohorts', Journal of Business and Psychology, 06, pp.45-46.

      I think it's vital to pay more attention on millennials and understand them as they are the majority of the global workforce. Rather than using the same strategies used on other employees, Human Resource professionals can use steps like communicate clearly the expected work ethics, demonstrate right work ethics daily, create channels for work ethics and connect the ethical values to the big picture to enhance work ethics of the millennials.

      Delete
  2. Hansika Samarakoon23 April 2021 at 01:53

    Good Article.

    The ethics of human resource management covers those ethical issues arising from the terms and relationships between employers and employees. Employers and employees have certain rights and duties towards each other. In order to carry out their job duties in a well-organized manner, it is vital for them to implement ethics. The features of ethical dimensions of human resource management are, discipline, ancient concept, personal dignity, study of goals and. means, different from social responsibility.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sudarshanie Peiris28 April 2021 at 03:51

    When the human resources, get recruited within the organizations, they need to generate adequate information in terms of factors necessary to perform job duties satisfactorily. Apart from generation of awareness in terms of job duties, it is vital to generate awareness in terms of ethical dimensions. This information enables the members of the organization to maintain effective terms and relationships with each other and retain their jobs. Finally, it can be stated that it is vital for individuals to inculcate the traits of morality and ethics to achieve organizational goal

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tania De Mello1 May 2021 at 09:29

    Good Article....

    Enduring interest in the 'social' aspect of the ethical dimension of Human Resource Management on employees and society is a positive trend towards humanity. To maintain justice, fairness and well-being towards its stakeholders, it is necessary for an organization to perform HRM functions ethically.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ranjana Bandara1 May 2021 at 10:52

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rumesh7 May 2021 at 04:44

    HRM can play a vital part in supporting ethical behavior in the organization. This can be achieved by promoting ethical culture in the organization. Programs can be incorporated in the HR department which includes recruitment, selection, training, and orientation.

    ReplyDelete

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