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Ethics, Employee
Relations, and Fair
Treatment at Work
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1. Explain what is meant by ethical behavior
at work.
2. Discuss important factors that shape
ethical behavior at work.
3. Describe at least four specific ways in
which HR management can influence
ethical behavior at work.
4. Employ fair disciplinary practices.
5. Explain what is meant by employee
relations and what employers can do to
improve it.
Learning Objectives
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Explain what is meant by
ethical behavior at work.
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• What is ethics?
• Ethics and the law
• Ethics, public policy, and employee
rights
o Unalienable rights
o Public policy
o Employment rights
Basics of Ethics and Fair
Treatment at Work
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• Workplace Unfairness
o Ethics are seen as fair
treatment
• Why Treat Employees Fairly?
o Perceptions of fairness relate
to employee commitment,
satisfaction
• Bullying and Victimization
o www.stopbullying.gov/#
Basics of Ethics and Fair
Treatment at Work
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Review
• Ethics
• The law
• Unfair treatment
• Public policy and
employee rights
• Bullying and Victimization
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Discuss important factors
that shape ethical behavior
at work.
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What Shapes Ethical Behavior
at Work?
• Three factors combine to determine the
ethical choices we make
• The person (bad apples)
• Situations (bad cases)
• Outside forces (bad barrels)
o Pressures
o Ethics policies and codes
o Enforcement, whistleblowers, fraud
controls
oOrganizational culture
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Guidelines When Managing Ethical
Behavior at Work
• Ethical behavior starts with moral
awareness
• Cultivating the right norms, leadership
• Reward systems and culture
• Morality comes from within
• Openly talk about ethics
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IMPROVING PERFORMANCE: HR Tools
for Line Managers and Entrepreneurs
• Studies show small enterprises can
have unethical behavior like big firms
• There are several reasons why small
firms have to be alert to unethical
behavior
• Small firms don’t have the resources
for ethics officers, ethics hotlines, or
the ethics training that big firms have
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Review
• Why do people do
bad things?
• Research findings
suggest what
managers can do
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Describe at least four specific
ways in which HR
management can influence
ethical behavior at work.
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Using HR Tools to Promote Ethics
and Fair Treatment
• Selection
• Ethics training
• Performance appraisal
• Reward and disciplinary systems
• Managing ethics compliance
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Employee Privacy Policies
• Employee privacy
o The problem
• Employee monitoring
oRestrictions
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IMPROVING PERFORMANCE:
HR as a Profit Center
• Employee access to company network
information systems is monitored
• Employers ranging from United Parcel
Service to the City of Oakland,
California, use GPS units to monitor
their truckers’ whereabouts—and
therefore productivity
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• Selection
• Training
• Performance
• Rewards
• Compliance and the law
Review
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Employ fair disciplinary
practices.
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• Basics of a fair and just
disciplinary process
o Rules and regulations
o Progressive penalties
o Formal disciplinary appeals
processes
Managing Employee Discipline
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1. Oral reminder
2. Formal written reminder
3. Decision-making leave
4. Purge suspension from file
Discipline without Punishment
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• Fairness
• Unfair behavior
• Rules and regulations
• Penalties
• Appeals
• Discipline, not punishment
Review
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Explain what is meant by
employee relations and
what employers can do to
improve it.
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• What Is Employee Relations?
o Positive employee–employer relationships
contribute to productivity
• Improving and assessing employee relations
through better communications
oOrganizational climate surveys
Managing Employee Relations
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• Developing Employee
Recognition/Relations Programs
• Creating Employee Involvement Strategies
o Teams to gain employees’ involvement
o Employee suggestions
Managing Employee Relations
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IMPROVING PERFORMANCE:
HR as a Profit Center
• A Lockheed Martin unit in Oswego, NY,
has a program for streamlining
processes
• Ideas are electronically submitted
• They are evaluated and approved by the
local manager
• Saves about $77,000 per implemented
idea, or $100 million each year
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Review
• Managing employee relations
• Improving employee communications
• Developing award programs
• Strategic employee teams
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• List three more specific steps Hotel Paris
should take with respect to each
individual human research function
(selection, training, and so on) to improve
the level of ethics in the company.
Translating Strategy into
HR Policies and Practices
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• Based on what you learned in this chapter,
write a short (less than one page)
explanation Lisa can use to sell to top
management the need to further improve
the hotel chain’s fairness and justice
processes.
Translating Strategy into
HR Policies and Practices
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Hotel Paris
Strategy
Chapter 14
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