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14Ethics, Employee Relations, and Fair Treatment at Work

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Human Resource Management 14th Edition, Global Edition

Gary Dessler

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd.

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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 Unfairnesso 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 Pressureso Ethics policies and codes

o Enforcement, whistleblowers, fraud controls

oOrganizational culture14-8Copyright © 2015 Pearson

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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 ParisStrategy Chapter 14

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