Human Resource Management and Ethics

 

Human Resource Management and Ethics

 

 

Human resource management and ethics are two interconnected elements that have an impact on an organization's performance. As we all know, human resource management is the most important aspect of any company, and every company should pay more attention to it. Human resources management encompasses a wide range of HR functions, all of which require HR ethics within the firm to be carried out properly.

What is a HRM?

Human resource management can be simply defined as the management of an organization's human resources in order to fulfill the organization's goals and objectives.

A strategic, integrated and coherent approach to the employment development and well being of the people working in the organization.(Armstrong, 2014).

What is the Meaning of Ethics?

According to the Oxford definition, ethics is "connected to morals, the treatment of moral questions," while ethical is "associated to morality."

Ethics is the study of individual and group moral consciousness, judgment, character, and behavior. (Petrick and Quinn 1997).

Ethics and HRM

It is critical to recognize that Human Resource Management, by virtue of its role within businesses, is on the front lines of ethics issues involving both employees and employers. This is why many businesses entrust HR specialists with the responsibility of designing and managing ethical initiatives. (Wiley, 2000). Despite the fact that some operations are outsourced, most HR Managers follow the main stages of an employee's career path in a company/organization: recruitment and selection, reward management, performance appraisal, career management, and firing/separation. (Mercier, 2003)

It is the obligation of professional human resource managers to encourage high ethical standards inside their organizations. It will benefit the company in a variety of ways because the organization's performance is directly dependent on its workforce talent. Employees will be impacted immediately if the company has ethical difficulties. Five difficulties were highlighted in the 1992 "Ethical issues in human resource management" survey.

•  Favoritism in the hiring process.

•  Harassment of a sexual nature.

•  Applying discipline to both managerial and non-managerial levels.

•  In the appraisal, there was a non-performance component.

•  Allowing for salary disparities.

Aside from that, there are a slew of ethical issues that may be found within the company. HR managers should make every effort to comprehend all ethical issues and resolve them as much as feasible. Most of the time, we may spot HR ethics when doing the following HR roles and activities in the firm.

•  Recruitment and selection: This is one of the most significant HR functions, and we must conduct recruitment in an ethical manner. Every company should have a recruitment policy and adhere to it as outlined in the HR policy document.

•  Justifiable Treatment: Discrimination in the workplace should not be tolerated. It is necessary to treat all employees equally.

• Employee Privacy: The most important job in any firm is to protect the privacy of its employees. Employees' personal information should not be shared with others. Because all of the details belong to employees, the HR department bears a significant amount of responsibility. For instance, pay data and personnel concerns.

•  Fairness and respect: Everyone wants to be respected by others, thus they should be treated fairly. As a result, the HR department should foster a respectful and equitable workplace atmosphere.

• Performance Management: Organizations typically use performance management to assess employee performance in order to determine annual raises, promotions, and training and development needs, among other things. Unfortunately, the majority of organizations do not perform this duty in an ethically acceptable manner. There is ample evidence that the majority of employees were subjected to prejudice during the performance management process.

•  Reward Management: The most significant role is compensate management, which deals with how to fairly reward employees without prejudice. Every employee's primary goal in the organization is to make money. It will be a major problem for the corporation if this does not happen fairly. As a result, a company's plans and procedures for implementing an ethical reward system should be in place.

•  Self-discipline: Self-discipline is essential.

It can be simply stated as following the company's rules and regulations and punishing those who break them. Every organization should have clear disciplinary policies and procedures that apply to everyone equally.

Conclusion

Because it is so closely linked to human resource management, ethics is extremely vital in every organization. The majority of organizations have now delegated responsibility for HR ethics to HR specialists. HR managers are dealing with all of the organization's ethical challenges, which will contribute to the company's success. Previously, HRM was just responsible for administrative and HR responsibilities, but due to the rise of HR ethics, HR Managers are now serving as the organization's ethical agent. Finally, there is a strong link between ethics and human resource management, and dealing with ethical issues will benefit the organization.

References 

1.Available at https://www.slideshare.net/saumyasingh7921/ethics-in-human-resource-management[accessed:04May,2022].

2.Available at https://fbr.springeropen.com/track/pdf/10.1007/s11782-010-0111-[accessed: 04May,2022].

3.Available at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39152505.pdf[accessed: 04May,2022].

4.Available at https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/11294/1/Ethics%20in%20HRM_%20MargaridaPimenta_2015.pdf[accessed: 04May,2022].