Ethical Issues in Management

Ethical Issues in Management

This essay will explain the ethical issues that managers must abide by when hiring new employees. Many issues must be reviewed and contemplated before a final decision is made. Managers should not discriminate against race, religion, sex, disabilities, marital status, or sexual orientation. There have been several companies that have had legal charges brought against them because of their hiring practices. It is important that ethical issues be enforced in the workplace. Managers should be trained in ethics so that any ethical issues that may arise during the hiring process can be stopped from escalating and becoming an issue later. The article will go into detail on what to do and what not to do when hiring.

The main characteristics of a profitable and long lasting company are ethics and social responsibility. There are many companies that have stood the task of time, all being built on a strong ethical background. There have also been some companies that have shown some less than outstanding ethics and social responsibility, examples include Enron, ImClone, and Wal-Mart. Unethical behavior can be found in all aspects of a business, which may include insider trading, employee relations and unethical accounting practices. One issue that is surrounded by ethics and morals is employee hiring. When a company acquires new employees they need to make sure that they are facilitating the ethical behavior which should be outlined in their values and mission statements.

Acquisition of new employees can be a delicate subject. When hiring new employees firms must be sure that they are not discriminating by age, sex, ethnicity or any other attribute. They need to also be sure to inform new hires of the company's policies and procedures. The company's ethical message should be communicated multiple ways. The message can be communicated via brochures, websites, or newsletters and magazines. When communicating the ethical message either in the employee manual or other communication modes, the message should be communicated clearly without legalese. The only people who like legalese are lawyers, so your message must be understood by all your employees and explained clearly.

"A company's approach to ethics and legal compliance has an enormous impact on their employees' attitudes and behaviors." (Gibson, David G., Toffler, Barbara L., Trevino, Linda K., and Weaver, Gary R.) If an employee is caught embezzling money and the company does not discipline them or turns the other way, the company's behavior is considered unethical. What would help the company would be for the managers and supervisors to be consistent with their policies and their actions. If the managers change the policies or their actions every time or if they treat an employee differently than another with the same situation, then one employee will feel that the other is receiving special treatment.

Before a manager hires a new employee, he/she must make sure that they are professional. The manager should follow a code of ethics that supports and promotes human rights, equity,