HRIR 201: Managing Human Resources & Industrial Relations

Week 11: Tuesday 29 May 2012

Ethics and HRM & IR Course lecturer: Jane Bryson

Recap
1. HRM, IR and the workplace 2. Studying and thinking critically 3. The NZ workplace context 4. High performance workplace systems 5. Skills in the workplace 6. Employee engagement & voice at work 7. Good work and good workplaces 8. Diversity at work 9. Green workplaces 10. The business of HRM & IR

This week
Ethics and HRM & IR
What are ethical issues in the workplace? Ethical tensions in the HRM role? How can we think about and resolve them?
Ref: Bryson, Chapter 11 in Bryson & Ryan (2012)

Imagine you are an HR advisor and a staff member has told you in confidence about a bullying situation in her team between the team leader and another team member. What do you do? Why?

What are ethical issues?

How do we think about ethical issues? Key Concepts

Deontology - Deontological theories take a duty and rights-based approach to moral action, focusing on the duty, what one ought to do, independent of any consequences Duty - Duties, responsibilities or obligations one has. Examples are duties of care, duties to do no harm, and obligations to act in good faith Rights - Rights that you and/or others in the situation have. An example is the human right to be treated with dignity and respect

Key concepts continued

Teleology - The core of teleological theories is the denial that any action is intrinsically right or wrong. Consequentialism judges the moral value of an action as a function of its consequences (real or probable).

Consequences - the impact on individuals, groups, organisations, communities, environments, etc of a specific decision
Social contract - a social contract is suggested in which people, acting from self-interest, agree on rules likely to be most generally satisfactory even when they may involve some personal sacrifice

Common types of ethical dilemma in the workplace

Justice (for all) versus care (for an individual) Morality versus organisational performance
Confidentiality versus honesty

Range of HRM activities

Work design Recruitment & selection Rewards & remuneration Performance management Training & development Employment /industrial relations Health & safety Diversity management Career development Restructuring & change processes Organisation development

How do we resolve ethical issues?

Whose interests do HR advisors represent? What guides HR decisions?

HRIR 201: Managing Human Resources & Industrial Relations

Week 11: Thursday 31 May 2012
Ethics and HRM & IR, continued Course lecturer: Jane Bryson

This week
Ethics and HRM & IR
What are ethical issues in the workplace? Ethical tensions in the HRM role? How can we think about and resolve them?
Ref: Bryson, Chapter 11 in Bryson & Ryan (2012)

 Can HRM promote worker well being & dignity at work as well as contributing to the productive efficiency of the business?
What guides HRM decisions (about the business, about individuals)?

Discerning between the ethical and legal (with HRM examples)

For example: Most well-managed HRM practices that attend to issues of due process and fairness.

Legal

For example: Discrimination in the workplace on the basis of factors clearly irrelevant to work ability and performance, e.g., the school someone attended, or their shoe colour.

Ethical

Unethical

For example:
Turning a blind eye to the lack of a work permit in order to give a job to someone who clearly needs it and is well qualified for it.

For example:
Unsafe work environments.

Illegal

Pay differences (for identical work) that exist due to gender.

HRINZ Code of Professional and Ethical Behaviour: general principles

Confidentiality Equal opportunities Equity and fairness Self-development Development for others Advice and information Counselling Integrity Consultants Legality Professional and ethical behaviour Social/environmental
(Source: HRINZ)

Range of ethical responses

Ethically active

Ethical courage & assertiveness

Active response Ethical awareness

Silent response (recognition of issues)

Ethically inactive Deliberate neutrality or tolerance Quietism

The ethical HR practitioner

integrity, ethical awareness, ethical reasoning skills, ethically active

Understand the business (what it does, the demands, constraints, etc) Understand where people fit in the business (their value, the organisations obligations and duties and promises) Examine the ethics of the business and HR strategies, and business decision making Facilitate examination of interests, rights, duties, consequences and agreement on priority decision principles (eg, justice/fairness, harm reduction, dignity, etc)

Ethics in the organisation

Whistleblowing Codes of conduct Training Organisational culture Communication Voice

Wider ethical context of organisations Importance of Industrial/employment relations framework

Work related legislation Alternative voice mechanisms Alternative accountability mechanisms

Importance of other institutions (local &

international)

Other legislation (eg company, environmental, etc) Professional bodies Community groups The media