Ethical Issues and Management Paper

Ethical Issues and Management Paper

XMGT/216

Ethical Issues and Management Paper

Hiring for a business can be a major ethical dilemma. Managers are responsible for hiring, firing, disciplining and evaluating an employee’s performance among with other duties (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). A manager needs to be able to pick up traits that will be beneficial to the business. The hiring manager needs to be able to follow guidelines set by the business and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the entire hiring process. The process starts from accepting resumes and applications and goes thru the interviews process and on to the offering of a position. The biggest ethical issue during this process is to know what personal feelings should and should not be ignored. Federal law prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex, color, ethnic background, and age, and it protects those who are pregnant or disabled (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). Although it is against the law to base a decision on rather or not to hire an individual due to any of those items, the cost of making a poor hiring decision can be very costly (Calvasina, Calvasina, & Calvasina, 2008).

It is against the law to not hire a woman because she is pregnant. This poses a big ethical dilemma. If the company does hire a pregnant woman they are taking a large risks that if during the pregnancy she may have complications that will prohibit her form working. There is also the risk that after the baby is delivered she may not want or be able to return to work. If any of these situations happen it can be very costly for the company. There may be the cost of work not getting completed during times of absences as well as the potential cost of replacing the worker. So the company is faced with the ethical dilemma of not hiring an applicant because she is currently pregnant.

Over time, hiring a new employee has become more complex. Employers used to just be able to screen for the most qualified employee. Hiring a new employee is much more complex for a company in today’s times. Now employees must not only be screened to see is they are the most qualified, they mist also be screened to insure that adding them to the company will not propose any threat of future liability in the future do to the new hire’s past (Calvasina, Calvasina, & Calvasina, 2008) For most companies the hiring steps now include a full back ground check and may even include a credit check. Background checks are accomplished for the reason that it is believed that past behaviors are a good indicator on what future behaviors will be. They are also done since criminal records are the first records searched by litigant attorneys and the press after an accusation is made against an employee or company (Calvasina, Calvasina, & Calvasina, 2008). Looking at an applicant’s background poses a new ethical issue. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has generally viewed arrest records as irrelevant and the potential for utilizing them may cause an adverse impact on protected class individuals in some parts of the country (Calvasina, Calvasina, & Calvasina, 2008). This is a double edged sword. If a company hires an employees with a known criminal past and something happens during employment the company faces being sued for hiring a known potential problem. The company is aware of this and has to do what it in the best interest of protecting the company

Managers must remain ethical. There are certain questions an interviewer cannot ask to an applicant. Question regarding age, political views, sexual orientation, religious views, race, gender, ethnic background or country of origin. The reason that these questions cannot be asked is because federal and state law prohibit this. If a manager asks any of these questions they risk a law suit. If an applicant believes that they have been discriminated against because of age, political views, sexual orientation, religious views, race, gender, ethnic background or country of origin, or a disability they may file a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If during an interview the applicant tells any of the information to the interviewer is the interviewer’s ethical responsibility not to let any information given influence his or her decision. These factors should not have and contributing factor on rather or not an applicant will be the best person for the job or not.

When hiring, a manager should technically only be looking to see is the applicant has the ability to perform the job. The manager should base the decision solely on hiring the most qualified applicant. The problem with this is that in doing this the manager might also have to ignore the fact that the most qualified applicant may be put in a situation where they are discriminated against from an external audience such as customers (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). An example of this could be that an auto parts store is looking for a new parts sales person. After looking thru all the applicants and interviews the most qualified person is a very attractive woman. The store in the past has had problems with female workers getting harassed from a predominantly male customer clientele. The manager needs to only think of that this will be the best person for the spot based on that she is the most qualified. Hiring of this new employee will benefit the company and customer the best. They may encounter some problems but they should not discriminate against the best candidate for the job because of their sex. If the manager does not hire the female they are breaking a federal law. The reason the female was not getting hired is because she was a female, not because she could not do the job. This is sex discrimination, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would have a case against them. It might be difficult to prove cases like this but it could still be costly to the company. Most likely the best steps to take in this scenario would be, to inform the applicant of the potential of harassment form customers. Ask the applicant how they will plan on dealing with a situation if one occurs. If the manager decides that this applicant is the best person for the job, the manager needs to give the applicant the option of accepting the job after she is informed of the possibility of harassment. If the applicant decides to take the job, the manager needs to have a team meeting instructing all workers that harassment will not be tolerated and how to deal with a situation if one occurs.

Managers are faced with moral and ethical issues daily. Managers need to make sure that when these moral or ethical issues occur, they deal with them in a fair, legal way. Managers have a responsibility to the company to not lest personal beliefs or thoughts influence there decision when solving one of these issues. Managers perform a crucial role in organizations because they interpret company policy, execute corporate directives, fulfill all of the people management needs in their particular area of responsibility, cascade senior management messages down the chain of command, and communicate employee feedback up the chain (Trevino & Nelson, 2007).

References

Calvasina, G. E., Calvasina, R. V., & Calvasina, E. J. (2008, January). MAKING MORE INFORMED HIRING DECISIONS: POLICY AND PRACTICE ISSUES FOR EMPLOYERS. Journal of Legal, Ethical & Regulatory Issues, 11(1), p95-107, 13p, 2 Charts.

Trevino, L., & Nelson, K. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.