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Professionalism and Ethics

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Strategic Human Resource Management and Employment Relations

Part of the book series: Springer Texts in Business and Economics ((STBE))

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Abstract

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Differentiate between commonly used ethical frameworks

  • Compare and contrast the core competencies required of an HR practitioner in different national contexts

  • Explain the concept of moral intensity

  • Analyse the sources of conflict and dilemmas that HR practitioners are confronted with from an ethical viewpoint

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business and Law, Central Coast Business School, The University of Newcastle, Ourimbah, Central Coast, NSW, Australia

    Ashish Malik

Authors
  1. Ashish Malik
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ashish Malik .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business and Law, Central Coast Business School, The University of Newcastle, Ourimbah, Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia

    Ashish Malik

Key Questions and Learning Activities

Key Questions and Learning Activities

  • Question. 1 Explain what is meant by the term business ethics as applied to the study and practice of HRM & ER.

  • Question. 2 Identify an ethical dilemma for each of the following HRM practices and comment how you would resolve each of the identified ethical dilemmas:

    1. 1.

      Performance Management

    2. 2.

      Training and Development

    3. 3.

      Workplace Change

  • Question. 3 Comment on the effectiveness of the use of a professional code of conduct by HR professional body organisations. In your view, do members of these institutions see this as a requirement for upholding professional ethics or an unnecessary impost?

Learning Activity: Statistical Discrimination in Hiring

Consider the situation when employers discriminate people in hiring based on the applicants’ characteristics such as being a smoker, or belonging to a particular geographical area or other demographic characteristics e.g. height, weight and personal preferences that are not usually covered by human rights legislation. Analyse the above using relevant ethical theories.

Glossary

Business ethics

is an applied branch of ethics that requires the exercise of ethical reasoning and critical thinking skills to a range of business situations, decisions and practices which has an ethical component (the rightness or wrongness).

Stakeholder theory

asserts that firms must follow a longer-term strategy which gives thought and consideration to balancing the vested interests of a wider group of stakeholders in a business. Such an approach necessarily has to rely upon ethical reasoning and for managers and leaders to engage in critical thinking in making business decisions.

Shareholder theory

asserts that the primary role of managers is to maximise the wealth for its shareholders.

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Cite this chapter

Malik, A. (2018). Professionalism and Ethics. In: Malik, A. (eds) Strategic Human Resource Management and Employment Relations. Springer Texts in Business and Economics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0399-9_7

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