Mohammad Mosaddek Hussain :
Nowadays, human resource management is a very crucial and important field in the organizations and a significant factor for its growth and stability. On the other hand, we do not think about the ethical development both of the employees and the organization. Human beings are always want to see the justice in every sphere of their lives including working life. Without practice of ethical norms in dealing with the employees and stake holders some parts of the organization might be reluctant to perform their duties attentively and properly as per need of the organizations. So, it is necessary to practice the ethical principles for raising effectiveness and confidence among the employees and the stakeholders as a whole.
As we know that the word “ethos” used in the sense of character and trait, Aristotle originated the adjective “ethical” to manifest a specific class of human qualities that he called the ethical virtues that are prevalent within the human beings. These virtues are, according to Aristotle, some character faculties which are also mentioned as the spiritual qualities of human beings. To mention all the ethical virtues within a separate area of epistemology and to include this field in a separate area of science, Aristotle introduces the otion “ethics” which is a very essential area for the human societies and culture. As we see that ethics was defined in many ways, this field was focused on the ethical principles and standards that should govern human interaction. Ethical traits such as honesty, truth, fairness, equality, dignity are standards for how people should treat each other as human being in the societies and organizations. Ethical concepts such as rights, duties and responsibilities build the structure of social relations among people. Researchers define the field of individual authority and specify what exactly do individuals owe to each other and what they owe to the community. Today ethics is perceived as a fundamental aspect of management. An ethical design of management is essential to attract support and positive involvement of all participants in the success of the company: employees, customers, shareholders, creditors, suppliers and the community in which they run their enterprises.
Here we can emphasize the main aspects of ethical issues in human resource management practice. The issues are: how people perceive fairness in organizations and which are those moral rights and obligations of employees which, although not stipulated in the work contract, have a great impact on ensuring an ethical management of human resources? This may be referred here that discrimination in the workplace ,moral and sexual harassment and the legal framework governing equal treatment in labor relations. The proposal of an ethical model of human resources management which is inspired by the spirituality of an ancient religion, Zoroastrianism.
Confidence of employees in the company and when feel they are treated fairly, then they will enthusiastically contribute to the smooth running of the business as shown in many research papers. On the other hand, management ethics include more than issues of corruption, theft or deception. It is concerned with the continuous conflict between the economic performance of the organization as measured by revenue, costs and profits due to the shareholders and the social performance of the organizations or enterprises which is more difficult to measure and represented by obligations to employees, customers, creditors, members of society in general.
As mentioned that equity is an ethical and legal principle underlying the regulation of all social relations in the spirit of justice, equality and justice, cooperation and mutual respect to each other Moreover, equity is a behavior based on rigorous compliance with mutual rights and duties, on equally meeting the interests, rights and liabilities of each of us .On the organizational level, equity has to do with perceptions that people have about how they are treated as compared to other peoples. Being treated with equity is to be treated fairly and impartially compared with a group of people or other relevant person. Actually the equity theory proposed by S. Adams and J. Weick is based on two basic assumptions about human behavior:1. People engage in an evaluation of their social relations, which are seen as an “exchange” in which they make contributions and expect some rewards in return.2. People evaluate the fairness of an exchange by comparing their situation with the situation of others as well. In this theory, people assign a specific value to different investments and outcomes, based on their perceived importance. A state of equity occurs when the report between rewards and their corresponding personal investment is equal to the ratio of these two elements for another person who occupies a similar position. If a person perceives his report as being less than that of another person an inequity is perceived.
The fundamental human rights and the right to work is enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights and the European Charter of Human Rights. The right to work derives on one hand from the right to life, because work provides the foundation necessary for subsistence and on the other hand, from the right to respect as the ability to create goods and means through labor is a major source of self-respect for each individual. In the context of modern economy heated debates are held around the question whether the right to work is by itself definable as the right of each individual to be offered employment. While governments have a responsibility to create economic conditions to protect the right of every citizen to work, this cannot be met without the contribution of the people.
In the situation of a developed capitalist economy, provide most jobs in various organizations and enterprises. However, private companies will be able to provide jobs only to people whose work is demanded by the employer, according to their criteria. Employment and wage payment are possible only if a company manages to produce and s ell its goods and services profitably and a base of continuous profit . Therefore, the employees’ right to work of has to match the employers and shareholders’ rights. The employees’ right to work must not be understood as the state’s or private companies’ obligation to find each person a job; it is only an obligation to provide to all individuals equal conditions for the exercise of this right without any discrimination.
The proverb goes that “Equal Pay for Equal Work” but not in force everywhere.
The above is one of the principles of the Constitution of Romania but also of many international regulations such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the European Social Charter which enshrine the right of an equitable wage. Under the conditions of market economy, private organizations/enterprises/firms wish to build a wage pay system according to the ratio between supply and demand of human resources in the workforce. This rule, however, defies moral sense, because some forms of activity are much better paid than others, even if the effort, expertise and skills required to pursue the mare not very disproportionate. Some companies try to reduce the gap between the wages of employees by introducing a reward system based on performance. For such a system to become motivating for high performance a very clear link is needed between reward and performance level. Performance evaluation is one of the most important issues of ethics in human resource management practice.
Some ethical dimensions of performance evaluation are: the evaluator must be perceived by those evaluated as fair, impartial and credible; information obtained by the evaluators in the evaluation process should be used strictly for purposes of the assessment being made and should involve privacy; the evaluation should be based on aa appropriate methods and it should come from several sources; the evaluator will have to respect the dignity of those evaluated; the evaluating persons should not be in a conflict of interest when performing their duty.
Working conditions, in which the psychosomatic health and integrity of employees is not endangered, is one of the ethical issues concerning the status of employees. In the case of occupations involving high risk, the ethical principle of fully aware consent must be respected. This involves informing the employees about the dangers they run by accepting the job. From a survey made by the Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions we can see that most Romanian employees work in unfavorable environmental conditions and in positions that involve either added fatigue or strenuous physical effort.
The right to exercise discretion concerning the private life is another moral right of employees. In this respect, Michele Simms distinguishes four aspects of privacy that an individual may want to protect from any indiscretion:
a. Physical inviolability, or the right to a personal space; Social inviolability or the individual’s freedom to interact with anyone he pleases in his private life;
b. Informational inviolability or the individual’s right to decide how, when and to what extent their personal data may be made available to others;
Psychological inviolability, the individual’s right not to be compelled to disclose private thoughts and feelings.
Employees’ duties to their employers are included in the work contracts, according to current legislation and internal regulations of the various companies. However, beyond the legal framework, certain moral duties of employees to the organizations where they work are being shaped, duties that are sometimes controversial. A company that offers job security, support and understanding at difficult times for employees has every right to expect from them a certain degree of fidelity and loyalty. What happens when the conduct required at the work place is contrary to widely accepted moral standards in society or the individual’s ethical standards? Is it morally allowable for the employees to denounce this felony or would this be an unacceptable deviation from standard corporate loyalty? these questions should be considered for practicing good ethical principles.
In the current organizational situation, discrimination in the work place id fairly common. By workplace discrimination we understand any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference made based on race, age, nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, belief, sexual orientation, disability, non-contagious chronic disease, HIV infection or belonging to a disadvantaged category, which has as purpose or effect the restriction or removal of recognition, use or exercise on an equal footing of any human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by law in the politic, economic, social and cultural fields of or in any other areas of public life.
Actually, positive discrimination, a concept developed in the USA and sometimes called affirmative action, defines a type of discrimination in favor of an individual based on race, sex, regional backwardness or marital status. Therefore, another person becomes disadvantaged on the same grounds. In some cases affirmative action is necessary to develop the situation of the distressed and disadvantaged people.
In several activities of human resources management we can encounter discrimination. So we are to be alert to avoid this tendency for raising harmonious work place environment
Changing working conditions and job description without the consent of the employee may affect the ability of the employees and can create bad impression towards management. As research shows, workplace discrimination increases when employees feel threatened by such factors as the financial crisis. As a result, employees change their attitude towards their fellow colleagues belonging to other ethnic groups. In turn, the management staff is reluctant to hire such persons. Negative effects of the financial crisis are felt by cutting bonuses and promotion opportunities, by increasing mandatory unpaid leave and dismissals. It is therefore an increase in competition for job retention, leading among others to stigmatization of minority employees. Discrimination between men and women, whether it is through pay or promotion to management functions is a topic which is given particular importance in Europe. Although progress was announced on gender equality concerning promotion in management functions, management of leading companies in Europe is still dominated by men.
Moreover the word “Harassment” is a form of discrimination manifested through an unwanted conduct, which has affected the human dignity of the person in question and which creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment against a person based on any of the grounds for discrimination. There is no single definition, internationally accepted for moral harassment at work. This may involve an erroneous exercise of a function or an abuse of office, from which those concerned may find it difficult to defend. Moral harassment may also involve in various interests in the organizations that can create entirely negative attitude among employees. As a result, growth and stability are affecting the whole process of development and management and the goal may not be achieved in the stipulated time.
From the above discussion we can say that ethical practice is really essential for running the organization smoothly as well as profitably.
