Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment in HR Management

Introduction
Employees often expect certain other rights in addition to statutory and contract rights. These include a right to ethical treatment and limited rights to free speech and privacy. Employees expect to be treated fairly and ethically in return for providing their employer with a fair and reasonable amount of work.

Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment in HR Management

Author: D. Annette Christinal

Meaning of Ethics
The principles of conduct governing an individual or a group. The standards you use to decide what your conduct should be.

Ethical behavior depends on a persons frame of reference.

Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment

Fairness is inseparable from what most people think of as justice. A company that is just is, among other things, equitable, fair, impartial, and unbiased in how it does things. With respect to employee relations, experts generally define organizational justice in terms of at least two components distributive justice and procedural justice

Some Areas Under Which Workers Have Legal Rights

Leave of absence and vacation rights Injuries and illnesses rights Rights on personnel files Employee pension rights Employee benefits rights Rights on criminal records Employee distress rights Employees rights on fraud Employee negligence rights Right on political activity Union/group activity rights Whistleblower rights Workers compensation rights

What determines Ethical Behavior At Work

Ethical behavior starts with moral awareness. In other words, does the person even recognize that a moral issue exists in the situation Managers can do a lot to influence employee ethics by carefully cultivating the right norms, leadership, reward system, and culture. Employers should punish unethical behavior. Employees who observe unethical behavior expect you to discipline the perpetrators. Offering rewards for ethical behavior can backfire. Doing so may actually undermine the intrinsic value of ethical behavior.

How Managers Use Personnel Methods To Promote Ethics and Fair Treatment
HRM Practices that Promote Ethics

Selection

Ethics Training

Fairness

Basics of a Fair and Disciplinary Process

The employer wants its discipline process to be both effective and fair. Employers base such a process on three pillars: Clear rules and regulations A system of progressive penalties An appeals process

Wrongful Discharge
Wrongful discharge refers to a dismissal that violates the law or that fails to comply with contractual arrangements stated or implied by the employer, for instance, in employee manuals.

Grounds for Dismissal

There are four bases for dismissal: unsatisfactory performance, misconduct, lack of qualification for the job, and changed requirements of the job. Unsatisfactory performance means persistent failure to perform assigned duties or to meet prescribed job standards. Specific grounds include excessive absenteeism, tardiness, a persistent failure to meet normal job requirements, or an adverse attitude toward the company, supervisor, of fellow employees.

conclusion
In the employment relationship, both employees and employers have rights. Employee rights fall into three categories: statutory rights, contractual right(as provided by employment contracts, union contracts, and employment policies), and other rights. The need for discipline can often be avoided by a strategic and proactive approach to HRM. A company can avoid discipline by recruiting and selecting the right employee for current position as well as future opportunities, by training and developing workers, by designing effective performance appraisal systems, and by compensating employees for their contribution.

Thank you