LER460:
Lesson 05 - Common Ethical Problems Encountered in the Workplace
Lesson 05: Common Ethical Problems Encountered in the Workplace
Lesson Overview
This lesson focuses on common ethical problems that you might face in the workplace. It’s important to be able to identify – and voice – your values, should you ever feel compelled to do so. Emphasis is also placed on prescripting: thinking about possible ethical situations and practicing how you might respond.Learning Objectives
After successfully completing this lesson you will be able to:
- Describe some of the common ethical problems encountered in the workplace.
- Identify techniques that will help you deal effectively with these issues.
- Discuss your views on what the role of HR should be relative to facilitating the reporting of employee misconduct within an organization.
Lesson Readings & Activities
By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 5 Course Schedule.
Commentary
Many of the ethical issues you will encounter in the workplace are predictable. You will read about some of the most common ones in this lesson. Also, you will read and hear about practical ways to identify your values and give voice to your values when you encounter ethical dilemmas in the workplace. You will read about people issues including discrimination, harassment and conflicts of interest as well as issues pertaining to customer confidence, corporate resources, and whistle blowing.What about novel situations that you may encounter at work? No course or training session can possibly cover all potential ethical issues you may encounter in the workplace. An operating assumption of this lesson is that identifying what you value, thinking about various ethical situations and practicing your responses in advance are effective ways to plan for the unexpected and prepare you to live an ethical professional life.
Also, although the textbook doesn't cover labor-management issues any detail, consider for a moment the ethical dimensions of issues pertaining to Union free strategies, employment at will, and outsourcing. These are fundamental issues that potentially touch most HR Practitioners in one way or another. I would argue that HR Practitioners are well served by spending some time thinking about the ethical dimensions of these issues. Also, the issue of sweatshops can be considered an issue that makes us think about ethics on a global level.
Lesson 5 Discussion
In order to avoid losing your work, you may wish to compose your response in your word processing program and paste it into a new post for submission to this discussion.
BY FRIDAY:
- Respond to both of the following situations. Please do NOT use real names or identifying information. If, in your experience you have not encountered either of these situations, describe future situations in which you can imagine these conflicts could arise, or describe situations that you were aware of but didn't directly experience.
- First Situation: Describe a time in your career when you experienced a values conflict (e.g., were asked to do something wrong or that went against your values) and you were able to successfully complete the task and resolve the ethical dilemma How did you approach the problem/task? How did you resolve the ethical dilemma?
- Second Situation: Describe a time in which you weren't able to resolve your values conflict regarding a task/problem at work. How did you approach/resolve that situation?
- Respond to the following, Substantiating your points by referencing the readings for this lesson:
- From an ethical stewardship perspective, what should the role of HR be relative to facilitating the reporting of employee misconduct within an organization?
- Should HR's first allegiance be to the company or to employees? Why?
BY SUNDAY:
Read the posts of your classmates and post a comment on TWO of those that interest you, explaining how you might approach a situation differently and why. Again, remember to substantiate your points by referencing the readings from this lesson.
Your discussion will be evaluated using the Discussion and Participation Rubric.