Saurabh Bhatter | Sohab Alam | Nitika

Bansal| Shreya Rajgharia| Rishi Saxena

Ethical issues in
Human Resource
Management

Ethics in HRM

Defining Human Resource Management:

It is process of identification of suitable manpower resources
within the parameters of the socio- legal framework of the
organization, in other words, it is the management function
involving the recruitment of suitable human resources,
training, developing and sustaining their competencies,
motivating them, offering rewards on a rational equitable
basis, and ensuring their continued commitment to the
organization for achieving its overall objectives.
The main aim of HRM is to develop an understanding and
appreciation of how management functions can affect the
performance of a business.

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Role of HRM in creating ethical organization:

Areas of unethical conduct revolve around issues relating to
employment, remuneration and benefits, labor relations,
health and safety, and training & development. Though there
are professional code of conduct for HR persons, most
professionals contend that it is difficult to adhere to these
codes because of pressures from political, economic and social
groups. Unethical practices such as giving and receiving gifts,
nepotism, and manipulation of records, sexual harassment and
bribery. HR management at all times should be guided by the
highest principles of integrity and devotion to the welfare of
the people, only then they can succeed in creating
organisations which are humane, affluent and civilised.

Ethical dilemma
An ethical dilemma is a complex situation that generally
involves an apparent mental conflict between moral
imperatives, in which to obey one would consequently result in
breaching another.

EXAMPLES:
1)

American Express

Has an elaborate system for monitoring telephone calls

Daily reports are provided to supervisors that detail the
frequency and length of employee calls, as well as how
quickly incoming calls are answered

The dilemma:
Is any employers action acceptable as long as employees
are notified ahead of time that they will be monitored?
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 What about the demarcation between monitoring work

and non-work behaviour?

2)

Whirlpool Corp.

Smokers and obese have greater health problems, which

increases the cost of health insurance to the
organization.
Whirlpool Corp. suspended 39 smokers for claiming on
their benefits enrolment form that they were nonsmokers to avoid a $500 annual tobacco-use surcharge on
their health insurance premium.
University of Hawaii has found that obese people are
discriminated against in the hiring process due to their
physical inability to perform a job.

The dilemma:
Should employers be allowed to discriminate against
smokers and the obese?

3)

Striker replacement dilemma:

Midwest farm equipment manufacturer found that

contract negotiations always broke down in November
and resulted in a short strike that coincided with deer
hunting season
Hiring replacement workers became a tool to break
unions.
The union members either came back to work on
managements term or lost their jobs
Firestone, Caterpillar, the National Football League, John
Deere also saw this as an advantage.

The dilemma:

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 Does it create unfair advantage for either of the parties?

Law that permits replacement workers undermine the
intent of national labour law?

The Manesar Incident and its Impact

on Workplace Violence:

The recent incidents of large scale violence in the Maruti

Factory in Manesar, India and the Foxconn Plant in China have
raised larger issues about how workplace violence has to be
handled and how they affect industrial relations between the
unions and the management.

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What started as a petty tiff over tea time between a supervisor and a
worker Jiya Lal, during which supervisor also allegedly used caste
based slur, snowballed into one of the goriest incidents of recent
times.
When Jiya Lal was suspended and the management refused to revoke
his suspension the same day the workers staged a sit-in after the shift
was over.
During the sit-in, iron rods which actually fit into the car door, were
distributed to workers secretly.
When there was a signal from the leadership which was engaged in
failed negotiations with the management, the workers outpoured their
wrath over 90 members of the executive including a couple of women
and three Japanese nationals.
The managers were severely beaten and one of them Ashwin Kumar
Dev, plant's human-resources manager, was burnt to death. Around 65
of them had to be admitted to the hospital including 3 in the Intensive
Care Unit (ICU).

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to prevent incidents such as the one in Manesar, management

has a duty to redress the grievances of the workers and the
workers in turn have to ensure that their options are not shut
off by resorting to hooliganism and violence
The realm of workplace violence is fraught with a complex set of
factors that include the resentment felt by the workers, the
intransigence of management, and the fact that the laws and
regulations in many countries are skewed towards the management
rather than the workers. This is often touted to be the reason why
there are increasing instances of workplace violence across the world.
The remedy for such incidents would be for the governments and the
judiciary to protect the rights of the workers and ensure that their
grievances are heard. Of particular importance is the role played by
the labor officers in the areas where workplace violence is reported
and their criticality to the resolution of industrial disputes is of high
importance.

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