Ethical Issues and Theories in Ethical Reasoning and Behavior - Research Paper Example

Ethical Issues and Theories in Ethical Reasoning and Behavior Introduction A. Paper outline: This paper is based on discussing the issue of fairness, rights, and justice appliances in the human resource management. The paper examines ethical issues and ethical theories and their application in performance appraisal and compensation. B. Preview: The standard performance appraisal fails to sufficiently address employers’ determinations in maintaining ethical and legal compliances. The world’s globalization policies and the increasing stringent anti-discrimination policies improve the need for effective performance appraisal systems. 1. Stakeholders analysis The stakeholders’ analysis shows that performance appraisals are hated by employees, highly feared by managers and always described as ineffective by the human resource department A stakeholders’ analysis shows that a business may face challenges of the ethical dilemma when it comes to stakeholders’ perception of the system. Stakeholders’ analysis leads a business to evaluation of corporate social responsibilities. 2. Situational analysis Situational analysis shows that the main reason firms use performance appraisals is to distribute rewards based on individual performance. Situational analysis is also used to improve personal accountability. Situational analysis shows that using employee appraisal systems are failing to meet their set objectives. This part discusses the positive and negative ethical issues that are presented by performance appraisals and compensations within the situational level. 3. Theoretical analysis Ethical theories are very crucial in the evaluation of ethical dilemmas and inducing ethical reasoning and behavior for purposes of ethical decision-making in business. The first theory used under theoretical analysis is the utilitarian theories and the second theories are deontological. Theoretical analysis of performance appraisal reveals that they have two things in common. The section discusses all the elements of the theories and their role in ethical dilemmas that face performance appraisal and compensation. 4. Conclusion and recommendations This section offers as brief description of all the items discussed in the paper and goes ahead to offer recommendations to ethical dilemmas under performance appraisal and compensation. Ethical issues and theories are very important guidelines for business ethics and behavior when it comes to performance appraisal. It is important for businesses to create room for ethical theories outsourcing in decision-making processes. 5. References (use APA referencing style) Ethical issues and theories in ethical in Performance appraisal and compensation Introduction The role of ethical issues and theories in ethical Performance appraisal and compensation are gaining more traction in business ethics discussions because of the way that it approaches values. This paper is based on discussing the issue of fairness, rights, and justice appliances in the human resource management. The paper examines ethical issues and ethical theories and their application in performance appraisal and compensation. The standard performance appraisal fails to sufficiently address employers’ determinations in maintaining ethical and legal compliances. The world’s globalization policies and the increasing stringent anti-discrimination policies improve the need for effective performance appraisal systems. Every business in the world is engaging in performance appraisal making it to the top list of the business priorities (Lapsley & Hill, 2008). The human resource teams in every business are mandated with the tasks of generating the best and most compliant performance appraisals. The human resource departments are mandated with authority to create and develop effective policies within the company that will oversee alignment of the company’s goals and employees’ performance (Haidt, 2001). Even so, there are so many pitfalls and challenges that the department encounters in its performance (Lawlor, 2007). Most of these issues are ethical dilemmas that face the business and its stakeholders. Most of these ethical dilemmas are increasingly witnessed when the appraisal performance systems of the business are inadequate. A poorly developed performance appraisal is ineffectual and may lead to the creation of psychological damages (Lapsley & Hill, 2008). Performance appraisal may result in an ethical dilemma if it is not applied using a clear criterion. Performance appraisal is a system where the job performance of an employee is documented and later critical evaluation is performed on the performance (Lapsley & Hill, 2008). They form parts of career development for employees by conducting appraisal reviews on a regular basis. There is a set criterion that is followed in conducting performance appraisal. There are factors that are regularly used in gauging performance such as assessment of strengths and weaknesses of an individual, (Buchanan & Ess, 2009) future development and improvement in skills and functionality, and accomplishments among many other factors. Ethical appraisal is an important aspect that impacts positively on the business performance. There are three main ways used by business to collect performance appraisal data (Bird, 1996). Employees of many businesses dispute these methods and claim that they are not carried out under the stipulations of ethical considerations. They generate ethical dilemmas between the business and the employees. These methods are objective production, personnel and judgmental evaluations. Most companies engage in (Seiler, 2009) judgmental evaluations in majority of their performance appraisals. Many businesses have been performing performance appraisal on a longer period basis, but the current market trends demand for performance appraisal over short periods such as every half a year or quarterly per year (Seiler, 2009). There are other companies that manage to run performance appraisals in a span of monthly or every two weeks. The interviews conducted are geared towards feedback provisions to employees, counseling and developing employees and discussing compensations and disciplinary actions among many others (Lawlor, 2007). Performance appraisal is mostly applied when it comes to compensation of employees, performance development, promotion or termination from employment. However, there are many challenges that face performance appraisal. It may result in legal friction between the business and its stakeholders if it is not executed in a good way (Lawlor, 2007). Sometimes it becomes hard to develop hard and fast guiding principles under the field of good ethical practice. One of the objectives of every company in existence is to give returns to shareholders and treat its employees fairly (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). Stakeholders’ involvement is a very vital process in development and maintenance of business ethical behavior. Their involvement facilitates relations, perspectives and priorities of external organizations that are affected by the business operations. It helps the business enhance the skills of its decision makers (Buchanan & Ess, 2009). Stakeholders’ analysis Stakeholders’ analysis shows that performance appraisals are hated by employees, highly feared by managers and always described as ineffective by the human resource department (Haidt, 2001). A stakeholders’ analysis shows that a business may face challenges of the ethical dilemma when it comes to stakeholders’ perception of the system. Employees of a business are its biggest assets and they form a larger group of stakeholders. Businesses will always aim at making large amounts of money (Seiler, 2009). This comes with an ethical responsibility for the business to observe its internal rules and laws of the country. The word stakeholder is used in the business ethical model to mean that there are other parties that are responsible for maintaining ethical behavior and decision making in a business (Werhane, 1999). Stakeholders of a business are those groups or individuals who can alter the business operations. Carrying a stakeholders’ (Werhane, 1999) analysis helps in weighing various factors and elements that may help attain a sense of ethical responsibility in the business. It helps in coming up with an ethical business decision. The business creates a list of all its stakeholders and carries out an evaluation of all the benefits (Lapsley & Hill, 2008) and ethical dilemmas that may accrue from the stakeholders’ relationship with the business. It is the tendency of every stakeholder to have different goals as compared to the other (Lapsley & Hill, 2008). These goals may run into a conflict naturally. It is the conscientiousness of the business managers to amalgamate ethical issues and (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004) bring to terms the conflicting issues. After the business has come up with relevant stakeholders list, it proceeds to carrying out a situational analysis which will enable the business to come up with appropriate and ethical decisions (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). Stakeholders analysis gives the initial sequences of a decision making process. It is important for business entities to build consensus among stakeholders. Ethical dilemmas are generated (Bird, 1996) among stakeholders due to lack of effective communication. Effective communication between the business and its stakeholders will define the future of the business. The negative ethical impacts of performance appraisals and compensation are as follows: 1) Performance appraisals are detrimental to quality improvement. Many researchers stipulate that performance appraisals derail organizational pursuit for quality performance (Lisman, 1996). 2) Employees oppose these appraisals on the basis of subjective appraisals. Managers and supervisors are mandated with carrying out employees’ performance which is seen as an imperfect way to carry out appraisals due to biasness (Haidt, 2001). 3) Employees negative perceptions on performance appraisals. They are a potential cause of tension and distress between employees and their supervisors or managers (Haidt, 2001). 4) Performance appraisals are always erroneous. Supervisors may play favoritism games for certain employees and deny others good appraisals (Haidt, 2001). 5) Performance appraisals derail merit pay or performance-based pay. Even so, there are positive impacts on ethical performance of performance appraisal and compensation. 1) Performance appraisals enhance communication in an organization. 2) Performance appraisals enhance employees’ focus through trust promotion. For the business to avoid any ethical dilemmas, it should carry a shareholders analysis that meets all the needs of the shareholders. While observing codes of conduct and responsibility to the stakeholders, the business is also supposed to inculcate the element of its corporate responsibility to its shareholders (Bird, 1996). When a company falls short of profits, employees will lose their jobs while the community at large will fail to realize the benefits of hosting the business in its locality. Stakeholders’ analysis leads a business to evaluation of corporate social responsibilities (Bird, 1996). Situational analysis Situational analysis shows that the main reason firms use performance appraisals is to distribute rewards based on individual performance (Lisman, 1996). It is also used to improve personal accountability. Situational analysis shows that using employee appraisal systems are failing to meet their set objectives. The appraisal system is seen as too subjective, mistrusted and flawed. The entire business suffers from failures of the evaluation systems (Lisman, 1996). The negative ethical implications revealed by situational analysis are: 1) The business suffers because the employees’ data may be erroneous. 2) In case the appraisals are interpreted in a way that will create friction or degenerate legal issues, the business will bear full consequences of such actions. 3) The appraisals derail business performances and facilitate lagging behind of the business objectives and goals. The positive ethical issues that minimize dilemmas by using performance appraisals are as follows: 1) The business is able to evaluate the training needs of its employees. Employees training and development helps the business create efficiency and effectiveness in operations. 2) The business benefits from performance improvement because it enhances communication. Situational analysis helps evaluate the current situation of ethical dilemmas between the business and its stakeholders under performance appraisal and compensation strategies (Seiler, 2009). After evaluation, the business management team is informed of the impending conditions therefore, it becomes easy to forge ahead by developing ethical reasoning and decision making skills that will resolve the dilemmas (Buchanan & Ess, 2009). Ethical decision making means that the business is presented with an unethical behaviors are ingredients that will influence the judgment and the judgment will evoke ethical opportunity that requires all considerations of ethics to all (Seiler, 2009) stakeholders. The business executives carrying out the function are supposed to determine what is wrong and what is right when determining their judgment (Buchanan & Ess, 2009). The right or wrong choice represents what is ethical and what is unethical within the business jurisdictions. Ethical issues always present (Seiler, 2009) a dilemma of some kind hence evoking problems. When a business is faced with situations where ambiguity is generated, it helps in the creation of sense and issue construction (Buchanan & Ess, 2009). Ethics is the guiding principles used by individuals in an organizational daily decision-making processes. There are two sense-making stages in the process of decision-making in a business. These stages are perception stage and ethical stage of deontological and utilitarianism evaluation (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). The moral intensity of an issue or dilemma is an important aspect that hinders the effectiveness of the two stages. The morality of the decision making situation is factorized using six components (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). These components are the magnitude of results of the action meaning how wide or to what extent of positivity or negativity does the result stretch. The second part is the social consensus (Haidt, 2001) regarding the action. The decision maker must assess the social obligations he or she owes to the society before making a decision (Lapsley & Hill, 2008). The third part is the probability effect followed by temporal immediate reaction, then followed by the proximity to the object and the last factor is the magnitude of the effects (Lapsley & Hill, 2008). The business is expected to co-exist peacefully with its stakeholders (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). Its operations are supposed to be within its guiding principles such that it does not affect the lives of the community members. Environment is also a stakeholder and the business is supposed to engage in a peaceful natural relationship with the environment (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). Theoretical analysis Lawler (2007) stipulates that ethical theories are very crucial in the evaluation of ethical dilemmas and inducing ethical reasoning and behavior for purposes of ethical decision-making in business (Lisman, 1996). Ethical theories are formally called moral theories because they help restore morals and behaviors accepted in a business and society (Lawlor, 2007). Moral theories help individuals and business in thinking critically about ethical issues of the organization. Moral theories evaluate ethical justification of a particular decision in a business and its impact to the stakeholders (Lawlor, 2007). 1) The first theory used under theoretical analysis is the utilitarian theories. They stipulate that whatever is considered a moral right is justified by its consequences (Lawlor, 2007). 2) The second theories are deontological which stipulate that whatever is considered as a moral right should be based on universal laws that exist without the boundaries of the situation (Lisman, 1996). Moral theories may differ automatically, but an analysis of performance appraisal using these theories reveals that they have two things in common. 1) They are useful only when they can provide the source of moral values under performance appraisal (Lawlor, 2007). They should strongly emphasize on the reason a business should be ethical and what obligations the business owes to its stakeholders (Lawlor, 2007: Lisman, 1996). 2) The second similarity is that moral theories provide an individual or business with frameworks or strategies that will enable them to categorize moral norms when there is a dilemma confrontation (Lisman, 1996). Obstacles to good ethical decision-making There are several theoretical obstacles that may hinder a business from coming up with the best ethical performance appraisal decisions. 1) The first obstacle is poor moral awareness on performance appraisal (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). In such a case, there is distortion of the real picture underlying the problem to be solved. 2) The second factor is failure to gather relevant facts and information on employees’ performance appraisals and compensation needs (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). It is imperative that prior a decision is reached; there is prior knowledge of all the outcomes of the decisions. It stipulates that the decision should be made after a careful analysis of the case analysis of the situation at hand (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). 3) The third factor is insufficient attention or lack of time sense in ethical decision making process (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). It is important that, during such a time, the components of moral intensity be used for stewardship. The intuitions of the moral issues and integrity of performance appraisals should be evaluated carefully in order to eliminate chances of misdirection (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004). Businesses must carry out analysis of all theories analyzing performance appraisal in areas they sense of ethical dilemmas with its stakeholders. This is a step that will enable businesses to develop a compromise by giving each of its stakeholders an opportunity to present its arguments and both parties to come up with an amicable solution (Werhane, 1999). Conclusion and recommendations Ethical issues and theories are very important guidelines for business ethics and behavior when it comes to performance appraisal. Performance appraisal is a broad term that is used to mean the moral principles used to guide the behavior of employees in a business in all aspects. These guidelines are the same guidelines that direct the behavior of individuals within the business. The word stakeholder is used in the business ethical model to mean that there are other parties that are responsible for maintaining ethical behavior and decision making in a business. Stakeholders’ involvement is a very vital process in development and maintenance of business ethical behavior. Involvement facilitates an understanding of the viewpoints and main concerns of external groups that are affected by the business operations. For the business to avoid any ethical dilemmas, it should carry a shareholders analysis that meets all the needs of the shareholders. The role of ethical issues and theories in a business are applied on ethical guidelines in human resources practices. It is important for businesses to create room for ethical theories outsourcing in decision-making processes. It helps the business to avoid falling to ethical dilemmas with its stakeholders. References Airaksinen, T. (1987). Berkeley and the Justification of Beliefs. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Bird, F. B. (1996). The muted conscience: Moral silence and the practice of ethics in business.Westport, CT: Quorum. Buchanan, E., & Ess.C. (2009). Internet research ethics and the Institutional Review Board: Current practices and issues. Computers and Society. Oxford University Press Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to Moral judgment. Psychological Review, Hudson, J. M., & Bruckman, A. (2004). Go away: Participant objections to being studied and the ethics of chatroom research. Information Society. Oxford University Press Lapsley, D. K., & Hill, P. L. (2008). On dual processing and heuristic approaches to moral cognition. Journal of Moral Education, 37, 313–332; Lawlor, R. (2007). Moral Theories in Teaching Applied Ethics. Journal of Medical Ethics. 33.6: 370-372. Lisman, C. D. (1996). The Curricular Integration of Ethics: Theory and Practice. Westport CT: Praeger. Seiler, S. (2009). Developing responsible leaders. Paper presented at the International Leadership Association Conference, Prague, Czech Republic. Werhane, P. (1999). Moral imagination and management decision-making. New York: Oxford University Press Read More