Deck 6: Ethical Decision-Making: Employer Responsibilities and Employee Rights

Question 1

Maya confides in her friend and colleague, Alicia, "My husband Gene is very sick. I haven't shared this with anyone else at work because I didn't want them to think I couldn't manage my responsibilities. He was diagnosed last year with progressive Parkinson's and I thought it would move slowly, and that I could handle everything. Believe me, I am trying to keep everything under control, but our home life is just overwhelming me already. You couldn't imagine how hard this is-physically and emotionally-plus there's the added pressure of keeping it under wraps at work. You know they'll start diminishing my role on those larger projects if they knew my attention might be diverted, and Gene and I just can't risk the financial instability that might cause. I really appreciate being able to talk to you. I had to get this off my chest, and I knew I could trust you." Alicia offered her shoulder and told Maya that she could count on her to cover for her, if need be, or to support her in any way she needed. Three weeks later, Alicia and Maya are separately called into the president's office and told that they are both being considered for a more senior-level position. This new position would require a great commitment of both time and energy and would involve taking on a large number of subordinates for mentoring and development. Both women express a strong interest in the position and are told that they will learn of the president's decision within two weeks. What should Alicia do with the information Maya gave her, if anything? Notwithstanding your response to the previous question, if Alicia chooses to inform the president of Maya's current situation, would you consider that action to be wrong, unethical? If you were the president in this current scenario, what could you do to impact the corporate culture in order to ensure that your preferred result in this dilemma occurred in the future?

Answer 1

Ethics stand for the principles and values that makes an individual to choose between right and wrong, good and bad etc.
Ms. M confides to her friend and colleague Ms. AL at office that her husband is diagnosed with Parkinson's and her family life is under turbulence. She wants to keep this thing under wrap so that the employer does not think that I am unable to focus and deliver my energy towards my work, plus the financial stability is much needed at this time. Over this, AL ensures M that she will keep these things confidential and will support M in every possible manner. After three weeks of this communication between the two, both the ladies were separately called to the president's office as one of them will be considered for a senior position. The president informed that this new position will require more focus and time to perform and deliver.
In this situation, Ms. AL should sincerely inform the president about Ms. M's personal life and the disease through which her husband is suffering from, and how it is taking a toll over her physical as well as emotional health. By doing this, Ms. AL could make the president know how needful M is at the present situation for stability in her job so that she could fight with the non-conducive situation with determination with financial support from this job.
This action of AL confiding M's situation to the president will not be considered as unethical because AL is not asking the president to not to consider M for the senior position, but she is motivating the president to consider her solely for this promotion so that she could become more financially strong and support her husband's treatment.
If Mr. Y was the president in the situation, then he would have decided in favor of Ms. M by giving her promotion and the senior-level position. By doing this, he would have shown care, concern and consideration for the firm's employees depicting the message that employee's personal life is also given weightage by the firm and complete assistance will be provided to the employees who are not facing good times in their personal life. This kind of message will make the employees to feel valued and concerned from the firm's side.

Question 2

Review the earlier discussion regarding global labor challenges. Choose a specific issue, such as child labor or sweatshop labor. Go online and find a news story about a particular company accused of employing child labor or sweatshop labor. How did the company involved defend itself against the accusations? Did it deny involvement in those practices or, rather, defend the practices themselves? Do you find the company's defense convincing? Why or why not? Would a different defense be more plausible?

Answer 2

Child labor stands for the process of employing children under 14 years of age in an organization requiring them to work like an adult and providing them with not so appropriate wages for the same. Employing of children under 14 years of age is a crime and is banned by several nations.
A particular fashion apparel company MM Co. had been accused and charged with employing children under 14 to work at a plant in the manufacturing of fashion clothes in its BG Country's manufacturing unit.
Over these accusations, the firm defended itself by stating that all the workers working in the plant are above 14 and there is no such employment of children below that age. This shows that the company completely denied this accusation and tried to defend itself through any possible means stating that the company possess superior policy of employing people above the required age and thereby child labor is out of question.
The kind of defense the firm provided against the accusations seems to be convincing because the firm possess a written prove and the recruitment documents that shows that the firm is not into the employment of children below 14 years, and it possess strong evidences for the same. This makes the defense of the firm quite strong and capable of fighting against the accusations made over it.
This way it could be said that the firm made a valid defense by showing proper evidences and proves that were capable of denying the accusations made over it.

Question 3

We can distinguish due process from just cause in the following way: Imagine a company wanted to abandon the arbitrary nature of employment at will and ensure that its employees were treated fairly in any termination decision. Can you imagine how the employment environment in that firm might be different than in other firms? One approach would be to specify the acceptable reasons for terminating an employee. Obvious candidates would include absenteeism, incompetent job performance, theft, fraud, and economic necessity. This approach might also identify unacceptable reasons for dismissal. Such a policy would be identified as a "just cause" practice, because it defines the factors that would justify dismissing an employee for cause. But creating such a list could be a challenge in that one would have to know beforehand all possible reasons for firing someone. As the common law clearly shows, one cannot anticipate all future ways in which something unjust could occur. As a result, a due process policy might be created to complement, or substitute for, a just cause policy. A policy guaranteeing due process, for example, would outline procedures that must be followed before an employee can be dismissed. The process itself is what determines a just dismissal. If an employer followed the process, the decision would be considered just; if the process was violated, then dismissal would be considered unjust. Such procedures might include regular written performance appraisals, prior warnings, documentation, probationary periods, rights to appeal, or response to accusations. Can you imagine other ways in which this hypothetical firm might change standard processes to ensure fairness?
• What are the key facts relevant to issues of due process and fairness?
• What are the ethical issues involved in your decision and implementation?
• Who are the stakeholders involved in your decision?
• What alternatives are available to you?
• How would each of your alternatives affect each of the stakeholders you have identified?
• Where might you look for additional guidance to assist you in resolving this particular dilemma?

Answer 3

Due process stands for the process through which a decision is given following a fair treatment with normal judicial system, especially with the people who had been charged with the violation and is accused of something wrong.
If a firm wishes to develop a rule wherein a justified due process will be followed for employee termination, then it has to come with all the reasons that are liable for employee termination, and all the wrong actions that employees might undertake and become a reason for their termination. This policy will be called as just cause practice wherein fair treatment with employees will be undertaken and their termination will be completely reasonable and justified removal of employment-at-will doctrine wherein employees were removed and terminated without any justified reason and as per employing firm's discretions.
The following are the answers to the questions-
• The key facts relevant to the issues of due process and fairness are that the firms are transforming into a workplace which is fair and transparent in all its business process and actions. The due process will provide official role to each and every decision and action the firm takes and performs at.
• The ethical issues that are involved in the implementation of due process are that by adopting due process the firm will follow pre-determined rules and regulations that will create transparency and fairness in each and every step, and the decisions that the firm will undertake related to any of the matters like employee termination etc.
• The stakeholders involved in this decision are the firm's employees, government policies and regulations related to employee termination, and the firm itself. This is because these are the people and entities who will get affected by the implementation of this decision.
• The alternatives that are available with the firm for the implementation of due process policy are to make the employees aware of all the possible reasons for which they could be terminated by the firm, and also introduce them with the legal as well as ethical ways of working and decision-making that will prevent the employees from taking adverse actions.
• When the employees and the firm will properly get informed about the governmental rules and regulations affecting the employee termination policies and standards followed by the firm, then the stakeholders like the government will be given value and concern by the firm, and this way this alternative of informing the employees about expected behaviors from them will affect the stakeholders positively.
• In resolving this dilemma related to due process, the firm could get guidance from industry experts possessing knowledge about fair policy related to employee termination, and the firm could also undergo various legal sites wherein rules for employee termination are mentioned with legal implications.

Question 4

What is the difference in your mind, and in your common usage, between a perception, a generalization, and a stereotype? Can you give an example of each? After doing so, go to the web and find dictionary-equivalent definitions of the terms to determine whether your common understanding is the correct one. Are each or all consistently unethical judgments or are they sometimes or always ethically justified in their use and implementation? Under what conditions?

Question 5

A particular research study provides some evidence that those born between 1979 and 1994 are perceived as "impatient, self-serving, disloyal, unable to delay gratification and, in short, feeling that they are entitled to everything without working for it." The study dubs this group the "entitlement generation." Do you know people born during those years? Is this true generally or would you consider the perception instead a stereotype? From where do you think it stems?

Question 6

As a result of rising health care costs and the challenge to contain them, companies are trying to encourage employees to take better care of themselves, and some are even penalizing employees if they do not. Wal-Mart Inc. has announced that, starting in 2012, free smoking cessation programs will be made available to employees, but tobacco users will be charged higher health care premiums. A survey conducted by a consulting firm and the National Business Group on Health reports that 40 percent of large- and mid-sized companies will use penalties in their employee health care system, up from 18 percent in 2009. What do you think of businesses' attempts to decrease health care costs by helping employees to become healthier? What are the ethical issues associated with a firm's choice to cut health care costs by eliminating people who are unhealthy? What rights, duties, responsibilities, and consequences does this strategy imply? Do you think people who don't take care of themselves should be responsible for their increased health care costs? How would you feel personally if your past health conditions and current health practices were a part of an employment application?

Question 7

You run a small consulting business that serves a relatively diverse community and have 24 employees in professional positions. You are not subject to Executive Order 11246. You are concerned that, of the employees in professional positions, your workplace has only one African American, no other employees of color, and three women. At this time, your upper-level management-the top six executives and yourself-are all white males. On the other hand, you have 15 support staff (secretaries and other clerical workers), of whom 14 are women and 11 are either African American or Latino.
You would very much like to better represent the community in which you do business and you believe a diverse workforce has significant business benefits. You therefore decide to institute a program that will increase the numbers of minorities and women in professional positions as soon as possible. Is this permissible? Do you have all the relevant facts you will need to answer this question? What steps will you undertake in your plan to increase these proportions and what pitfalls must you avoid?

Question 8

You are a senior global human resources manager for a large apparel retailer that purchases goods from all over the world. The media have focused a great deal of attention on the conditions of your suppliers' workplaces and, for myriad reasons including a strong commitment to your values-based mission, as well as a concern for your reputation, you are paying close attention to the wages paid to the workers who construct your clothing. Your suppliers in several locations have agreed to talk with you about developing a policy that would apply throughout your operations-now and in the future, wherever you plan to do business-and would impose a minimum wage requirement for all factory workers. You begin to explore some of the resources publicly available to you, such as www.globalexchange.org, www.workersrights.org, www.fairlabor.org, and www.ethicaltrade.org/, to find out what other firms are doing and what labor advocates recommend in terms of language for policies such as these. You explore Nike's website at www.nikeinc.com, www.adidas-group.com, and others. Now it is time to begin constructing your own policy. What will you include, how specific will you make this policy, how will you determine what will be the "living wage" in each region, and what elements will it contain? Please draft a policy for your company on implementing a living wage worldwide.

Question 9

As a project manager, Kelly is leading a team on an international business trip where she is scheduled to do a presentation on its project and to negotiate a deal. Just a few days before the trip, Kelly gets a call asking her whether she is willing to let a male member of her team do all the talking because the managers at the company with whom they were planning to do business feel more comfortable dealing with men. Kelly is told that she would still be in charge and that this would never happen again. If this deal works out, it would prove very profitable for the company as well as for Kelly's career. Kelly thinks about the situation in which she finds herself; she has worked very hard on this project and, if the deal is successful, she is bound to get a promotion. On the other hand, she feels discriminated against based on the fact that she is a woman. She has the choice of acting on her principles and calling off the deal, or going ahead with this modification on a "one time basis" and getting a promotion. After contemplating the issue for a while, she decides to go ahead with the deal and let someone else do all the talking. When they get back she is promoted and everybody is happy. What do you think of Kelly's decision? Could this situation be prevented all together? If you were in a similar situation what would you choose to do and why?

Question 10

Fortune magazine compiles a "Best Companies to Work For" list every year. Go to its website, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/full_list/, and spot trends or similarities, if any, among the listed companies and find policies or programs that you think may help attract employees.