16.

Ethics and HRM

Organizational Responsibility (OR) = context-specific organizational actions and policies that

take into account stakeholders’ expectations and the triple bottom line of economic, social and
environmental performance. HRM researchers and practitioners can play a central role in OR
research and practice. Dual mission of enhancing human well-being and maximizing
organizational performance. 3 areas:
- employee privacy
- testing and evaluation
- organizational research.

Ethics: making decisions that represent what you stand for, not just what is legal.

Ethical behaviour = not governed by hard-and-fast rules, it adapts and changes in response to
social norms and in response to the needs and interests of those served by a profession à “a
continuous adjustment of interests.
Although we cannot prescribe the content, we prescribe the processes.

Privacy = interest that employees have in controlling the use that is made of their personal
information and in being able to engage in behaviour free from regulation or surveillance.
Confidentiality = treatment of information provided with the expectation that it will not be
disclosed to others (established by law, institutional rules or professional relationships).
Ethics and morality = behaviors about which society holds certain values.
Ethical choice = considered choice among alternative courses of action where the interests of all
parties have been clarified and the risks and gains have been evaluated openly and mutually.

Ethical decisions about behaviour = those that take account not only of one’s own interests but
also equally of the interests of those affected by the decision.
Validity = the overall degree of justification for the interpretation and use of an assessment
procedure.

OR is not only possible but also necessary for start-ups and MKB’s if they want to be successful
in today’s globalized and hypercompetitive economy.
“organizational” instead of the narrower term “corporate”
“responsibility” instead of the narrower term “social responsibility.
OR is driven both internally and externally.

2 factors that now serve as important catalysts for OR:

- Changes in twenty-first century organizations (Internet and organizations looks like a web
instead of a pyramid because it connects various stakeholders).
- Responsibility.

Overall positive relationship between social and environmental performance and financial
performance.
Strategic Responsibility Management (SRM) = a process that allows organizations to
approach responsibility actions in a systemic and strategic manner. 6 steps:

1. Vision and values related to OR.

2. Identification and prioritization of stakeholders’ expectations.
3. Development of OR initiatives that are integrated with corporate strategy.
4. Employee training related to OR
5. Institutionalization of SRM by measuring and rewarding processes and results.
6. Reporting on OR initiatives internally and externally.

There are some additional specific areas directly or indirectly related to OR to which HRM
research has made important contributions à employee privacy, testing and evaluation, and
organizational research.

Employee Privacy
Information Privacy
The U.S. Constitution, defines legally acceptable behaviour in the public and private sectors of
the economy. Such legal standards have affected HR research and practice in several ways.
Employees are more aware of these issues, they take legal action when they believe that their
privacy rights have been violated by their employers. 3 issues:
- kind of information about individuals
- how the info is used
- the extent to which that information can be disclosed to others.

Because employees are likely to provide personal information electronically that they would not
provide in person, organizations should take extra care in handling information gathered
electronically.

Upholding Employee Privacy à USA Patriot Act (2001): grants broad powers to the government
to follow individuals’ use of the Internet and requires that employers report any imminent threats
to the government. (11 sept). à Important for employers to establish a privacy-protection policy.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (1986): prohibits “outside” interception of e-mail by a

third party (government, police or individual) without proper authorization.
47% of organizations monitor employee’s mail and 63% monitor their use of the Web.

à Safeguards to protect personal privacy are more important than ever!

 Employers should periodically and systematically review their HR recordkeeping

practices.
 Employers should articulate, communicate, and implement fair information/practice
policies.
 

Physical Privacy
The issue of employee searches in the workforce involves a careful balancing of the employer’s
right to manage its business and to implement reasonable work rules and standards against the
privacy rights and interests of employees.
-base the search on legitimate employer interests
- avoid random searches
- include all types of searches
- provide adequate notice to employees before implementing the policy
Workplace investigations often involve the observation of an employee. 5 means that an
employer can use to do this legally: electronic (photo/video), stationary, moving, undercover
operatives and investigative interviews à each carries risks.

Testing and Evaluation

HR experts and psychologists have obligations to their profession, to job applicants and
employees and to their employers. Employers also have ethical obligations.
Psychologists have the most richly developed and documented ethical guidelines. These
standards specify minimally acceptable practices in training assessors, informing participants
about what to expect, and using assessment centre data.

* Obligations to HR profession à APA. The Ethical Principles include a specific standard that

prohibits any unfair discrimination against people filing or responding to a complaint.

* Obligations to those who are evaluated à In the making of career decisions about individuals,
issues of accuracy and equality of opportunity are critical. Beyond these, ethical principles
include:

 Guarding against invasion of privacy

 Guaranteeing confidentially
 Obtaining employees’ and applicants’ informed consent before evaluation
 Respecting employees’ right to know
 Imposing time limitations on data
 Minimizing erroneous acceptance and rejection decisions
 Treating employees with respect and consideration.

The most effective way to ensure ethical treatment is to standardize procedures: personal and
considerate treatment, clear explanation of the evaluation process, direct and honest answers to
examinees’ questions, practice exercises to make sure examines understand how to use the
equipment.

* Obligation to employers à
- Accurate expectations for evaluation procedures
- Ensuring high-quality information for HR decisions
- Periodically reviewing of this
- Respecting the employers’ ownership rights
- Balancing the vested interests of employer with government regulations, commitment to
profession and with rights of those evaluated for HR decisions.
Individual differences in the ethical behavior of individual:
- Implementation ethical codes most successful by individuals who achieved the conventional
level of moral development
- Highest group moral development distribution à more transformational leadership behavior
- Cognitive ability can affect
- women more likely than men to observe specific hypothetical practices as unethical
- Personal values influence the extent to which an issue will be viewed as moral
- Manager’s narcissism negatively related to supervisor ratings of interpersonal performance.
à To improve understanding of individuals’ responses to potentially unethical situations at work:
need for a person-situation perspective.

Ethical Issues in Organizational Research. Issues:

 At the Research-Planning Stage

Researchers must evaluate their competence to conduct the research, their knowledge of
ethical guidelines, soundness of research design, and ethical acceptability of their study

 In Recruiting and Selecting Research Participants

While offering inducements (money) increases participation rates, ethical issues are
raised when participants feel they cannot afford to pass up the incentive.
Subtle force may also exist when a supervisor “strongly recommends” that all employers
participate in the research.
 

 In Conducting Research
Although organizational research rarely involves physical and psychological hurt, harm
can take place à researchers must take precaution to protect this and determine if harm
intentionally is justified in terms of the benefits of the research or if other research
methods can be used to obtain information in harmless ways. Researchers must also
protect:
- Right to Informed Consent
- Right to Privacy
- Right to Confidentiality
- Right to Protection from Deception
- Right to Debriefing
à these right are in many cases not protected in practice.
“Committed-to-participant” approach = researchers have an ethical obligation to ensure
the well-being of multiple research participants in organizational settings.

 In Reporting Research Results

Researchers must be aware of ethical violations regarding each of the following issues:
- Misrepresentation of Results (being honest and accurate)
- Censoring (provide detailed detailed information)
- (Self) Plagiarism
- Authorship Credit (first author most credits)
- Data Sharing (APA à data must saved for 5 years).
Ethical dilemmas arise as a result of role ambiguity (uncertainly about what the occupant of a
particular role is supposed to do), role conflict, and ambiguous (conflicting) norms (standards
of behavior).
Table 18-1 (p.433) à Strategies for Addressing Ethical Dilemmas in Organizational Research.

Guidelines:
- When reporting, distinguish clearly between what has been observed under certain
circumscribed conditions and what is being advocated as a desired state of affairs.
- Avoid use of success stories that managers can expect to duplicate rather painlessly.
- Respect limitations of data obtained from a single study.
- Do not allow advocacy of certain techniques or organizational policies to masquerade as
science.