Ethics in Functional Fields
Ethics in Functional Fields
2. Discrimination
Though overt acts of discrimination might be decreasing, covert forms of discrimination are still at play. For instance, in recent research, University of Chicago scholars Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Millainanthan found that there remains discrimination simply on the basis of ones name. These researchers answered help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers by sending their resumes. Though the resumes were exactly the same in substance, they were different in the names attached to them. Names that were traditionally associated with Caucasians (Jill, Allison, Neil, Brad) drew 50% more callbacks than those traditionally associated with African Americans (Alisha, Ebony, Leroy). Even when researchers increased the quality of resumes, higher quality resumes from African Americans- sounding candidates received no more callbacks than the original resume.
2. Discrimination
Additional studies reinforce these findings that bias on the job is also common. Rutgers Law school professors Alfred and Ruth Blumrosen conducted a study in 2002 that concluded that about 2 million workers were affected by intentional discrimination in 1999. Within these, 22,000 employers were found to be hard-core discriminators, employing below average numbers of women and minorities for 10 years. Women often face challenges that are distinct from men. E.g. women and men are both subject to gender stereotyping, but suffer from different expectations in that regard. A woman who is aggressive in the workplace is often considered to be a Bully. Whereas, Aggressive men may be viewed as going after what they want, not letting anything get in their way and so on. Womens wages per hour are on an average about 60% of mens wages.
2. Discrimination
Federal law prohibits public or private employers to force their employees to retire before the age of 70, with the exception of a few job classifications as airline pilot. The reason provided is that the use of age is arbitary.
3. Employment Issues
Law and regulations dictate that we have to be ethical in hiring. However, ethical hiring practice goes beyond them as well. Applicants should be hired based purely on merits such as knowledge, skills, and ability in accordance to the needs of the organization. There should be no discrimination to people from any other group due to race, religion, gender, marital or pregnancy status. Consistency and objectivity during the recruitment process are very important. Candidates should be informed about the true state of the organization. E.g. Case of Phil McConey who was not informed of the take over of the organization while he was recruited. We have to be extra careful while recruiting from our Suppliers, Customers and Competitors since they may feel we are poaching their valued employees/ stealing of trade secrets etc.
4. Privacy Issues
Any person working with any organisation is an individual and has a personal side to his existence which he demands should be respected and not intruded. This personal life may encompass things like his religious, political and social beliefs etc. However certain situations may arise that mandate snooping behaviours on the part of the employer. For example, mail scanning is one of the activities used to track the activities of an employee who is believed to be engaged in activities that are not in the larger benefit of the organisation.
5. Downsizing/ Layoffs
Organizations in every segment of business, industry, government and education are downsizing. The very act of forcing people to leave their employment is rife with ethics-related questions.
Performance Appraisals are conducted to evaluate an employees performance over a set period of time. When evaluating subordinates, one has to remain consistent and objective. Consistency requires that you treat every employee's misbehaviour the same way. For e.g. it would be wrong to punish one employee's sluggishness while leaving another employee's tardiness unchecked. In order to maintain Objectivity & Uniform criteria, the companys standardized evaluation forms should be used. It is unethical to base salary adjustments upon performance problems that have not been brought to the employees attention. Constant feedback and communication between you and your subordinates is necessary to facilitate a positive and productive working relationship.
6. Performance Appraisals
7. Disciplinary Issues
Disciplining employees is one of the most difficult parts of a managers job. Nevertheless, it is vital to the growth and overall success of the organization. Disciplining employees both ensures productivity and sets standards for the future. Discipline should occur immediately after a problem has occurred. It is imperative that the disciplinary actions remain consistent for all employees.
Insider Trading
Insider trading refers to buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust and confidence, while in possession of material, nonpublic information about the security. Insider trading violations may also include tipping such information, securities trading by the person tipped and securities trading by those who misappropriate such information. Ivan Boesky, Ken Lay and his colleagues at Enron have been accused of Insider trading. They allegedly dumped their stock, knowing of the inevitable downturn in the stocks worth, while encouraging others to hold on to it. The main argument against insider trading is that it is unfair to those who do not have the privileged information. So, if some executive gets rid of a stock he knows is going to be greatly decreased in worth because of bad news that no one except a few insiders knows, he takes advantage of those who bought the stock from him without full disclosure. There is also the argument that it is the unethical misappropriation of proprietary knowledge (i.e. knowledge that only those in the firm should have, knowledge owned by the firm and not to be used by abusing ones fiduciary responsibilities to the firm. Such behaviour undermines the trust necessary to the proper functioning of a firm. It is also unfairness to those who buy the stock under ignorance.
CASE STUDY
Ethics in Marketing
Critics understand that Marketing is at best a Necessary evil Marketing is typically perceived as something that is done to customers; something that customers have to watch out for. Marketing, generally equated with selling and advertising, is viewed as a set of tactics used by firms to induce unsuspecting customers to buy products and services that they do not need, at prices that are much too high.
Marketing Critics
Most criticisms of marketing ethics pertain to tactics used by marketers:
Create demand for unnecessary products, Fail too provide complete information Create misleading advertising, Mark up prices when demand is high, Charge different prices for different customers and so on
Critics hence believe that criticisms of marketing are deontological i.e. concerned with the means employed by marketers, irrespective of the outcome.
Creating a code of ethics and subscribing to it in practice can be entirely two different matters.
3. 4.