Ethical Issues and Management Managers, in every organization at one time or another, face challenges in dealing with ethical

and moral issues in situations that involve hiring, discipline, termination, harassment, and performance evaluation. The biggest challenge that managers face, is finding the best method of dealing with each one of these ethical and moral issues in a way that will not harm their companies or alienate employees. According to Trevino, Human resources, the employees who make up an organizationare any corporations most important and expensive investment, and are the underpinning of an organizations success or failure (2006, p.67). Therefore, an organization can only be successful if it has an efficient and motivated workforce, and it is the duty of managers to ensure that the methods or strategies used in dealing with these situations are consistent and adhere to the organizations code of ethics and at the same time, honest and fair to the employees. Ethical Issue One of the most challenging ethical issues that managers face in the workplace, concerns performance evaluation. Performance evaluation is a way of evaluating employee performance, based on the standards and goals set by an organization. Organizations use performance evaluations to place qualified, hardworking, and motivated employees in positions where they are most productive. In doing this, organizations ensure improved productivity and success in their operations. However, performance evaluations are not entirely flawless and this is where ethical issues arise. The person conducting the evaluation may have personal biases and the employee being evaluation may think that a negative evaluation report is because the

Ethical Issues and Management evaluation is biased against him or her. That is why is it important to establish a clear

line of sight between the goals of individuals and the organization and between the results of the organization and the individual (Trevino, 2006, p. 158) so that an employee will know exactly why he or she received a negative or positive evaluation report. This way, managers demonstrate integrity by showing that the evaluation is professional and ethical. Effect on Other Individuals Performance evaluations are supposed to help improve employees job performance by pointing out areas that need improvement and offering praise where performance was excellent. This will motivate employees to work harder so that they can receive better evaluations on the next performance evaluation and it ultimately increases the effectiveness and productivity of n organization. Therefore, if employees feel that managers are not ethical or fair in evaluating their job performance, they may not be motivated to put in their best. Employees will have no motivation to work hard because they believe that even if they wok more efficiently, they will only be singles out when they make mistakes. According to Trevino, Managers can be the inspiration behind why someone stays with an organization or the impetus behind why someone leaves (2006, p.170). Therefore, managers should be able to positively motivate employees. Social Issues and Ethically Responsible Management Practices The relationship between social issues and ethically responsible management practices in performance evaluation is that they both can have an impact on an organizations integrity. Whether positive or negative, depends on an organizations managers. Organizations have many stakeholders and among them are employees.

Ethical Issues and Management Trevino describes a stakeholder as any individual or group that has one or more stakes in an organization. In other words, a stakeholder is an individual or group that can affect or be affected by business decisions or undertakings (2006, p.216). In most organizations, employees come from diverse cultures and thus may have different perceptions of what is morally right and ethical. Therefore, managers have a duty to respect those values in when explaining an organizations ethical code of conduct. The key is respecting peoples beliefs and understanding what motivates them to behave in a certain way. Failure to do that may make it difficult for managers to instill the ethical standards that an organization expects from its employees, which ultimately may tarnish an organizations reputation. Management practices toward performance evaluation may also affect employee morale. Performance evaluations must be conducted for the purpose of improving employee effectiveness. Managers must realize that as stakeholders, employees are

affected by these evaluations and that they, as managers must be ethical, fair, honest, and truthful in their evaluations. In his viewpoint, Larry Axline states, the ethical ramifications of performance review have caused managers and employees at all levels to become frustrated, cynical, and withdrawn (1996, p.1). If an employee feels that he or she has been given an unfair evaluation of his or her job performance, it will affect morale to work, especially if it results in being passed over for a promotion. Workplace Example The company that I used to work for, unfortunately, only conducted performance evaluations when an employee was due for upgrade or promotion. After six years, my department head thought I was due for a promotion. He asked my immediate supervisor

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to conduct a performance evaluation on me, and three other co-workers. When I received the feedback from my supervisor concerning my evaluation, I was shocked and disappointed to read what he had written about me. What was shocking also was the person whom my supervisor gave the most glowing recommendation. It was shocking because this particular worker was known for tardiness. My disappointment was justified when the head of my department rejected my supervisors recommendation, and asked three more supervisors whom I had worked under, to conduct additional performance evaluations. The evaluation was unethical because I believe that my supervisor was unfair and dishonest about my job performance. This is because I had acted as a supervisor before without any complaints. I also believed that my supervisor was unethical in his appraisal because I thought that he favored the co-worker he had recommended for the promotion. It may have been speculation on my part, but that is how I saw it. Instead of helping me see the areas in which I needed improvement or praise me for what I did well, my supervisors evaluation of my job performance left me angry and unappreciated. I am not sure exactly which laws specifically govern my supervisors actions but I knew that performance evaluations were supposed to be conducted annually because that was what my contract said. However, the way my supervisor handled my evaluation forced me to seek advice from my union representative and that prompted further evaluations for all other employees who had been evaluated by that particular supervisor. Conclusion Ethical and moral issues will always arise in the workplace for many reasons that include different cultural and social backgrounds, religious beliefs, and different values.

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Managers have a duty to understand at a basic level what motivates employees behaviors and use that knowledge to communicate ethically accepted behaviors in the workplace. Because evaluating employees, job performance is one key to the success of an organization, in conducting performance evaluations managers must realize that their reports may either positively or negatively or affect the employees efficiency. Therefore, managers must be impartial, ethical, truthful, and honest when conducting these evaluations so that employees know exactly what they need to improve on if they receive a negative evaluation report.

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References Axline, L.L. (1996). "The ethics of performance appraisal." Sam Advanced Management Journal. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from Gale Database Trevino, L. K, & Nelson, K.A. (2006). Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How To Do It Right. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from Xmgt/216 Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility