Ethics and Human Resource Management

Human resource management ethics is a subset of business ethics that focuses on professional development, professional accountability, ethical leadership, fairness, justice, ethical dispute resolution, and the proper use of information.

215© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
E.A.M. Searing, D.R. Searing (eds.), Practicing Professional Ethics
in Economics and Public Policy, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-7306-5_11
Chapter 11
Ethics and Human Resource Management
Elizabeth Scott
AbstractHuman Resource practitioners face decisions involving ethics on a r
lar basis. The author provides examples from personal experience of three kin
challenges: discerning what is right, fulfi lling agency responsibilities, and avo
confl icts of interest. She suggests ongoing reading, refl ection, and edu
build one’s capacity for real-time decision-making. To assist in discerning wha
right, she suggests considering others’ perspectives, identifying unintended c
quences, and engaging in continuing education. While the author identifi es w
navigate many ethical challenges within the role of HR professional, she reco
that some may require a willingness to leave a job.
Keywords Values • Professional ethics • Human resources • Con
• Agency responsibility
When I was in college, my work- study job was in the University Librarie
on the Reserves Desk; then, one spring semester, a friend asked me whether
to work in “Administration” over the summer, handling student hiring and pa
and assisting with the full-time workers’ personnel matters. I agreed, not kno
that this job would constitute the beginning of a career path in Labor Relation
Human Resource Management.
My university library’s staff was unionized. At fi rst, all this meant to me w
code on the papers I was typing or fi ling. As the summer progressed, though
became apparent that the union was considering going on strike for higher pa
negotiator for the university would come into our offi ce requesting informatio
E.Scott (* )
Department of Business Administration, Eastern Connecticut State University ,
Webb Hall ,Willimantic ,CT 06226 , USA
e-mail: [e-mail]

216
salary and benefi ts. I helped gather the information and heard some of the d
sions, but was still only peripherally involved. When I went home at nig
housemate’s boyfriend, who was a union worker at the library, often told me
union’s side. Eventually, negotiations broke down and the unions went on str
came from a family that had always supported unions, so when I approached
library, I faced a diffi cult personal decision: Should I cross the picket line?
I was torn. I did not want to cross, but I also didn’t want to miss work. I did
know what to do. Though I liked the workers and thought they should receive
decent wage, I didn’t know what the right thing was for me to do. It seemed t
that an economic strike should rise and fall on the workers’ ability to comman
wages they wanted in the existing labor market. I also reasoned that crossing
picket line would enable me to help the Administration staff put together furt
negotiating packages in order to resolve the strike. I felt a responsibility to re
work on time, because my employment contract was with the library, which h
treated me very well. I was also very worried about how I would pay the summ
rent or afford the fall tuition if I had no income. This college experience captu
three issues I faced over and over again in my career: Discerning what was ri
Fulfi lling agency responsibilities. Avoiding confl icts of interest. All three pla
cial roles in the life of any professional, but especially in the careers of manag
and leaders in human resources.
There are many cases in which there is almost no discernment involved in
mining what is right because the wrong action never crosses my mind
might be annoyed by a diffi cult supervisor or tempted by a loosely-monitored
kitty, I don’t spend half a second believing murder or theft would be right. Mo
complex situations or ones where I have little information, however, present m
greater challenges for discernment. An HR manager’s job often requires quick
sions, not allowing time for information gathering or refl ection. When the pay
supervisor comes in half an hour before payroll cutoff, asking whether we sho
release the checks even though a signifi cant percentage of workers were pa
rectly or hold the payroll until all the errors are corrected, the HR manager ha
time to evaluate the effects on employees of having their checks delayed, the
on employees of being overpaid and having to pay back the money, the effec
the payroll staff of having to work overtime to fi x the problem immediately, t
effects on the organization of having to recover the money, potential for nega
publicity to affect the organization’s mission, etc. In order to ensure that my d
sions were ethically sound, I had to build my capacity to recognize and evalua
ethical issues quickly. This requires ongoing reading, refl ection, and educatio
11.1 Recognizing Ethical Issues
One of the best ways to become more able to recognize ethical issues is to s
time reading and refl ecting. Organizations can become insular, so reading or
ing to people from outside the organization is important, especially people wi
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217
variety of views. Joining the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM
and the state’s association of HR managers; reading journals, books, newspa
and magazines; volunteering at a shelter for men who were homeless – these
just a few of the ways I made sure that I wasn’t confi ned by listening only to
staff. I also encouraged my staff to identify all of the implications of d
sometimes assigning them to make the best possible argument they could ag
something we were planning to do.
Part of a regular practice of refl ection requires considering others’ perspe
which is much easier to do if one actually listens to others’ perspectives. For
ple, in the early 1980s when I was a Personnel Director, I established
requiring all employees who were not reporting to work to call and speak dire
their supervisor within half hour of the start of the work day. I was a 20-some
single woman with no children and a good salary; I tended to discount
offered by our minimum wage employees who were charged with excessive a
teeism. One day, responding to a disciplinary action for failing to talk to a su
when she called in sick, an employee said to me, “You have to understand, I w
sick. I don’t have a phone or a car. I couldn’t take my kids to day care. So I dr
them, dressed myself, and walked to the convenience store down the road. I
and the person who answered the phone said my supervisor had gone to the
bar and would be back in 20 min. I had a fever. One of my kids was coming d
with it. I couldn’t stand around in the store to call back in 20 min. I had to go
before I collapsed.” I realized that I was making policy from my own perspect
the days of landline-only, corded phones, I could roll over in bed in the mornin
pick up my bedside phone to call in, and if the supervisor wasn’t there, easily
back later. From this experience, though, I learned I needed to work harder to
sider the perspectives of others. One can take time each day or week to read
to others’ perspectives on a wide variety of issues, enabling quick decision-m
under pressure. This may mean seeking out night-shift employees, outside sa
people, telecommuters, or others who are on the margins and fi nding ways t
to them.
Similarly, considering the unintended consequences of an action is import
ensuring ethical decisions. HR managers sometimes have tunnel vision, focus
on the expected outcome, not the unanticipated consequences. When I was r
tively new to the job of an HR manager, there was high unemployment and
swamped with applications for every single position. My tunnel vision was foc
on fi nding the best applicants effi ciently, and I developed the solution of ma
diffi cult to apply for a job, reasoning that this would help us screen out peop
were not hard workers. You may be able to think of the unintended conseque
this decision; I certainly discovered it over time. We were quite successful in
ing out lazy people, but we were equally successful in screening out people w
were so good that they had lots of options. People who would have b
employees didn’t bother to apply, because the application process was diffi c
onerous.
Reading and refl ection are important to ethical decision making, but it’s im
sible to do an adequate job of decision-making without education. Critical thin
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218
was perhaps the most important overall benefi t of my education, but mathem
literacy and economic literacy came in a close second and third. The ability to
at a set of numbers and draw conclusions quickly was only possible
worked hard at the basics of math and economics courses and kept my skills
Computers and calculators can make some tasks faster, but interpretation of
still requires the ability to understand concepts like mean, mode, median, sta
deviation, compound interest, and marginal cost. An understanding of history
in perspective-taking and consideration of unintended consequences – k
about bad outcomes in the past helps us avoid them in the future. For examp
awareness of the civil rights movement made me look closely at the brochu
employee assistance program (EAP) provider was producing in the 1980s, to
that all of the pictures of managers were white men, all the pictures of emplo
were white women, and there were no minorities at all. I was able to put mys
the position of minority employees and applicants, to see the subtle message
they did not belong and consider the negative effect that might have on recru
I told the EAP staff they needed to produce booklets with broader representat
workers if they wanted to keep our business. They complied. I think my raisin
question may have had an effect on the brochures they produced for other em
ers as well.
My liberal-arts education was invaluable in preparing me for the breadth o
lems that faced me in Human Resource Management. My business education
me with the specifi c details of problems faced by HR managers. While
remember every detail of my courses and textbooks, they contributed to bett
sion making, because I was aware of what I did not know. They gave me the s
the check to see whether there was legislation that might apply to a policy
consideration and the ability to fi nd the relevant resources. Courses in
resource management, organizational behavior, compensation management,
relations, and other fi elds prepared me to make decisions that took into acco
wisdom of all of these fi elds.
11.2 Balancing Roles
Beyond the knowledge and refl ection needed to discern what is right in com
situations, implementing decisions in organizations often requires balancing e
duties and roles. HR Managers have ethical duties as members of their profes
and agency duties as employees of organizations. In many situations,
Manager’s role is advisory, not a line decision-maker. However, disagreement
ethics are fundamentally different from disagreements over strategy. St
choices are bets on the future, based on an assessment of the present. Ethica
are decisions to choose good over evil. The HR Manager’s choice, when faced
a disagreement over ethics, is not simply to say, “I had my say, but was over
as might happen in a disagreement over strategy. If the organization chooses
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219
what the HR manager believes is evil and cannot be convinced otherwise, the
manager’s choices are limited.
One manager whose integrity has always impressed me was responsible fo
personnel who occasionally transported clients as part of their job duties. Thi
the 1980s, when we understood very little about AIDS, but were very afraid o
The manager approached me to help write a requirement that any organizati
ing us to transport clients with knowledge that the clients had AIDS notify us
could notify our employees and arrange for them to take precautions. I disag
and for at least an hour, he listened intently to my counter-proposal –
employees should take universal precautions – asking questions and arguing
me. At the end, though, he said, “You’ve convinced me. Write a policy and
the training to go along with it.” To me, this was an ethical issue, because I d
want to contribute to the stigmatizing and ostracizing of people with AIDS. I d
want all of our employees to receive the subtle message that people w
should be singled out and avoided. I did not want to lull them into the false se
security – that if they had not been told someone had AIDS, there was no rea
take precautions. And I did not want to put the other organizations in the pos
violating their clients’ privacy (this was before HIPPA). Fortunately, the manag
was persuaded by my argument and did what I recommended.
My college experience, however, was less satisfying. I chose to cross the p
line of the library workers and report to my job. I continued to do all of the du
had performed as a student worker. I felt comfortable with this decision, since
not crossing the picket line to replace my friends in the union, just to do my o
As the strike wore on, I was asked to perform additional duties now and then
ing the truck to deliver books from one library to another, for example – that
done in the past when the regularly-assigned union worker was out sick or on
tion. This made me exceedingly uncomfortable, so much so that when I went
annual physical at student health, the doctor asked what was causing me to b
stressed. I told her about the effect of crossing the picket line on foot every m
and then having to drive back across it in the library truck a few times a day,
ing to the workers call me names or beg me to stop. A few days later, the Dir
of Libraries called me in to ask how I was dealing with the strike. I told him it
me very uncomfortable to be doing the work of the striking workers, even if it
only a part of my overall duties. He told me they wouldn’t ask me to do it any
I’m convinced that the Student Health Services doctor took it upon herself to
the Director of Libraries – this was long before HIPPA and in the days when th
University considered itself in loco parentis . I never dared ask. The experien
me sympathy with workers who don’t know how to speak up when the
they’re sliding down a slippery slope towards behavior that violates their ethi
standards. It also made me realize that it is important for managers to ask em
directly, rather than assuming that silence means agreement.
In another case, I was a board member for a volunteer organization that p
shelter to people who were homeless. This organization was housed in a chur
which had recently embraced apolicyof providing sanctuary to workers who had
overstayed their visas because their home countries were not safe. I respecte
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220
long tradition of the Church in providing sanctuary, and had no problem shari
space with the workers. Not long afterwards, the board asked my assistance
sought to hire its fi rst paid employee. I was happy to help, working on recruit
interviewing, selection, and an employment paperwork package, including all
required forms. I can’t remember the specifi cs, but somehow, someone decid
remove the I-9 form, which verifi es eligibility to work, from the required pape
work. I was told it was done to be consistent with the church’s sanctuary polic
Sadly, I wrote a letter of resignation from the board, explaining that as an HR
fessional, I could not participate in violating an employment law that I viewed
legitimate. Upon receipt of my letter, the board met and reconsidered its dec
reversed itself, and invited me back.
11.3 Being an Ethical Manager
These three examples are of cases where I believed the organization was ask
to engage in or be a part of activities I believed were wrong. Not just white-sh
after-Labor-Day wrong, but violations of my moral values. There are ins
when a person in my position might have to become a whistleblower, going t
authorities to challenge harmful behavior that an employer refused to c
never had to do that in my career, but I realized early on that being able to q
is an important component to being able to maintain one’s ethical stan
encourage all of my students to stay out of debt and to live on signifi cantly le
they make, in order to create a fi nancial cushion allowing them more freedom
when pressured to violate their own standards.
Personal confl icts of interest still arose in my career – both perceived and
The biggest challenge for a person in Human Resources is that one can never
have friends in the organization. I was often in the role of investigating comp
of discrimination or proposals for disciplinary actions. To beperceived as biased
would make my job impossible, because people would not trust me enough to
me anything or to rely on my recommendations. Tobe biased would be a violation
of the ethics of our profession. In fact, I often explained to new members of the
offi ce that they would have to create a kind of barrier in their brains, betwee
knowledge they gained in the course of their work and the knowledge they ga
in their everyday interactions. A retirement form adding a spouse or health in
ance claim for an ultrasound might signal good news in the life of one
employees, but greeting them in the hall with “Congratulations on your marri
baby!” was a violation of our duty to maintain confi dentiality.
Perception of bias is especially diffi cult for HR managers who are promo
transferred from within the organization, because they already have friends.
supervised the Employment unit, I used to go to lunch with the superv
Benefi ts and Classifi cation most days. I was promoted to manager and conti
lunch with them until I heard grumblings that I supported them in employee d
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221
putes because they were my friends. I got a gym membership and left the lun
group.
Actual bias is sometimes hard to recognize in ourselves, precisely becau
are biased. Believing one’s friends and peers is a natural tendency. We lear
halo effects and other biases in our HR classes because we have to guard aga
them, devising systems to avoid letting our natural tendencies interfere with
obligations to treat all employees fairly and without bias. We also have a na
tendency to look out for ourselves. HR Managers develop compensation syste
they select insurance providers, they write attendance policies, and they prop
kinds of employee benefi ts. Since they are employees, they also have intere
effects of these programs on themselves. Recognizing the potential for confl
necessary part of ethical human resource decision-making. If I don’t recogniz
I am predisposed to prefer a particular benefi t or policy because it fi ts my
tion better, I can’t perform my professional obligation to choose the best one
organization. It may be that what is good for me is also good for the organiza
but I have to be prepared to recommend the benefi t that is better overall.
11.4 Concluding Thoughts
Jobs in Labor Relations and Human Resources Management are incredibly va
and interesting. They provide great opportunities to help employees and orga
tions. As any manager in the fi eld will attest, no two workdays are alike, and
rare day one doesn’t have to change plans midstream to address an unantici
issue. Many of these are ethical issues or point to potential future ethical issu
Three challenges: discerning what is right, balancing professional and agenc
and avoiding confl icts of interest face every Human Resource manager who
to be both effective and ethical. In each case, education, refl ection, a good-f
effort, and a willingness to sacrifi ce for one’s principles make it possible to n
through the challenges.
11 Ethics and Human Resource Management