Ethics Issues and Challenges in Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

Ethics Issues and Challenges in Human Resource Management Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Ethics Issues and Challenges in Human Resource Management Introduction The role of Human Resource management has been initiated in different functions through the understanding of their ability to respond to competitive pressure. Recently, the best practices related to HRM have been emphasized through initiating the importance of the people being the source of competition leverage which advocates for the application of combined specifications of the practices of HRM (Abreu &Badii, 2006). The approaches instigate the implicit assumption that the employees would be committed in attaining the goals of the organization. However, there is a huge gap between reality and rhetoric HRM whereby many organization find themselves eroding the job security while at the same time increase the demands that re initiated by the employees. The gap has led to the ideology that the restructuring of the initiatives have led to the demoralization of the employees, alienation and de-motivation, instead of having the employees engaged on their work, which gives room to the ethical concern (Appelbaum, Deguire & Lay, 2005). The main aim of the paper is to come up with ways, which will determine the ethical issues that face the human resource management by developing a management system, which is qualified, and give a report of the three ethical-based propositions that is important in the development of these systems, which include lack of cultural awareness, bribery and privacy. Ethics Issues The business world is facing new ethical issues due to globalization and the rise of multinational companies that has made the companies more complex. An obstacle of challenges is created with the cultures, ways of operating businesses and blending of languages (Billington, 2003). Nowadays for a company to ensure it is working within the standard practises and bring harmony within the companies, the human resource managers are forced to make difficult decisions in every country that it does its business and ensure that they adhere to the ethical theories that would make it easy for them to be successful. Lack of Cultural Awareness The human resource managers find themselves dealing with issues related to lack of cultural awareness and miscommunication. Before sending their employees to their abroad destination, the managers must prepare and ensure that they have appropriate behaviours. These cultural practises and training generally assist the employees by enlightening them on the different practises and customs they face overseas (Deshpande, 2006). Moreover, the human resource managers should be able to provide the correct knowledge on their employees to successfully adapt with the cultural matters in overseas countries. Bribery At this level, bribery is highly prohibited by the Foreign Corrupt Practises Act. However, the payments that the international companies come across this law cannot manage to cover up all of its range. In foreign country facilitation, payment might be obligated to operate and through these types of payment the U.S. rules differently compared to other countries whereby it affects the company by providing ethical dilemma and when an employee is, facing bribery issues overseas the human resource managers end up assisting and solving the situation (Danley, et al, 2006). According to a survey done by Beauchamp and Bowie (2013), all over the world companies are faced with environmental widespread corruption. Through the survey, the respondents suggested that the corruption occurred regularly in the country. Other countries experienced high rates of corruption as reported this countries include Indonesia with 64 per cent and Brazil 84 per cent respectively (Beauchamp &Bowie, 2013). The employees are to be trained well with their human resource managers before travel to the hot-bed countries and at the same time they should be put into safety with high security as they interact with the authorities and the people. Privacy For many companies privacy is a prevalent matter and at the same time in different locations the private laws usually vary. In addition, the U.s does much not have stricter private laws than the European unions. The human resource managers must come up with ways that they will follow when there is a conflict between the two set of laws (Carson, 2015). For instance, a company will have the choice to follow more lax policies or policies that are more restrictive. Through looking for better operating models some cooperates select the home country, standards believing that it will produce protection for better results that will protect their employees overseas. The determination of the ethical course of action makes the HR professionals to practice their dual membership of being in the business organization and the profession of HRM. Additionally, they would find their loyalty to professionalism makes them be in conflict with the business goals of the organization. The HR practitioners find their expectations and values being contrary to the values of the organization (Abreu &Badii, 2006). The professional in the business field place their premium on specialization, expertise and objectivity whereby they would feel appalled if they notice that the management is making decisions that seem to be non-objective technique, seat of the pant approach and intuitive speculation. Furthermore, the ideology of understanding ethics and its importance to the HRM profession to reconcile the current propensities and professionalism related to organizational profit maximization and the need to promote values that are positive. At the same time, they would have to adhere with the ethical standards through enhancing the welfare of the employees, their engagement and expectations within the organization. Organizational working from a multinational point of view, would find themselves dealing with ethical issues related to businesses (Appelbaum, Deguire & Lay, 2005). However, employment of individuals within contemporary setting would have to adhere to critical and unique ethical dilemmas, which would be passed to the HR practitioners, which have been ignored. Theories of Ethics The theories used in ethical issues can be conceptualized through a complex notion in the context of the manner in which organizations work daily from a practical point of view. The concept of the ethical theories finds themselves challenged by the immediate practices by the HRM, which have engendered the gap between the theory and the practice (Edwards & Bennett, 2007). Numerous practices have been set in place to theorize and understand the concept of ethics and establishing it as a practical concept, though the certainties and agreements are established through different perspectives, which would establish a different meaning for its application. The concept is seen to have univocal definition and does not have a single acknowledgement (Ekuma & Smith, 2012). The development takes place due to the idea that ethics is part of the theoretical positions, which based on the arguments and beliefs of the practices within the organization. The HRM finds itself having problems with teaching ethics as they also have a problem with deciphering it to their understanding (Johnson & Scholes, 2007). Therefore, the application of the ethical theories makes the people involved to decipher and develop a working procedure within the organization. A better understanding of the ethical ideologies within the HRM would be established through the use of the theories that have a better acknowledgement of the situation at hand. For instance, the theory presents a succinct definition of the concept through understanding the just and fair distribution of ideas. The theory is consistent with giving a proper meaning of the study of right or wrong which would initiate a specification the things that are acceptable and those that are not (Archer, 2006). There is an important distinction of the manner in which ethics is viewed in the society through the idea of moral values and the principles used in governing the conducts. For instance, there should better knowledge of the code of behaviours used in correcting individuals in different professions or groups. Additionally, the ethical theories are used to present fairness, establishing decisions of right or wrong, and underpinning the conduct that is responsible for creating the relationship between individuals and groups. Similarly, some of the characteristics related to the ethical theories indicate that nobody is in a position of avoiding the ethical decision, which would be applicable every day in the life of an individual (Christy & Brown, 2009). At the same time, the characteristics indicate that people are involved in ethical decisions, which would surpass the so called private morality. It is also essential to note that ethical decision is crucial, as it would affect the lives of the people that are involved directly or indirectly. Ethics is all about dealing with wrong or right practices though it would be applicable in guiding the decision making of the individual since the person has the right to make the correct one (Greenwood, 2002). Therefore, it would be essential to instigate that ethics is about choice whereby an individual who is incapable of making the correct one would be rendered unethical. Ethics also requires the inquiry related to the justification of the set standards required within the organization. Additionally, the ethical representation within the HRM emphasizes on the importance of fairness, morals and centrality of the individual through the practical application of ethics (Archer, 2006). This position might be explained further through establishing the fact that ethics is all about the values of an individual seeking to express situations and the morals that would assist in attaining the required standards. Consequently, Morality plays a crucial part in practicing the ethical theories within the organizations as it would initiate the standards that are perceived and acknowledged by all the members involved. Conclusion It is evident employment of individuals within the organization during this contemporary time would require critical and unique ethical practices by the human resource management. The market place seems to be facing a lot of competitive pressure due to the changes in the manner in which businesses are conducted. This would mean that the individuals in the HRM should establish professional practices that would deal with the ethical dilemmas they would face within the organization. From the research conducted, the organization would have to deal with ethical issues related to lack of cultural awareness, bribery and privacy. The three ethical issues have become the biggest challenge within the contemporary world of businesses today and the HRM finds itself dealing with decision-making process that might interfere with their practice. 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