An Ethical Dillema

An ethical dilemma

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Introduction

There are several ethical decisions Human Resource (HR) managers face daily in their line of duties. Human Resource professionals are ethically responsible for fostering and promoting fairness and justice to all employees and the organization. According to Cartee(2016), HR professionals are strictly required to keep confidential information of a company. Therefore, it would be unethical for Mary to inform Ralph of the impendingrestructuring of the company, which many employees, including Ralph, would lose their job. This paper, therefore, illustrates two ethical philosophies that might help with the decision, a proper recommendation for how you would advise Mary Alice to act, provide a description of the process you used to arrive at the recommendation and limitations or possible unintended consequences associated with your recommendations.

Ethical philosophies that might help with the decision

Human Resource ethics are derived to provide guidelines for HR professionals. However, in human resource, there are several ethical philosophies which are applicable. HR professionals apply these philosophies for efficient decision making. In the case of Mary regarding the issue with Ralph, egoism, and Deontology is major philosophies which can be applied by Mary in the decision process. Egoism is regarded as self-interest. Misselbrok(2016) pointed out that in egoism, morality is measured based on the consequences of the action taken by human resource professionals. It abides individuals to act in a way that promotes self-interest and the interest of society. In the case of Mary, herself interest is to make sure that the company conducts proper restructuring without looking bias before the employees. Egoism, therefore, ensures that the interest of the company and other parties involved like Ralph and other employees are not violated. Deontology is the ethical theory which is used to differentiate what is right and wrong. It is regarded as an ability to use reason to create a range of rights and hold up an obligation CITATION Dav16 \l 1033 (Misselbrook, 2016). By failing to inform Ralph on the pending restructuring of the company, Mary was guided by an obligation to remain confidential on an issue pertaining the human resource restructuring.

Recommendation to advise Mary Alice to Act

Human resource professionals are guided by ethical standards, which requires professional to remain neutral to foster and promote fairness. First, it would have been depressing for Ralph to hear the impending restructuring from Mary Alice a time when discussing his plan with a colleague. It was essential for Mary to remain confidential regarding the issue. I would recommend for Mary to remain tight regarding the restructuring and inform Ralph when the rest of employees would be informed of the changes the company is planning to enforce CITATION Eku15 \l 1033 (Ekuma & Akobo, 2015). Though it would be a surprise to Ralph and it may negatively look at Mary Alice, it is important to avoid unnecessaryuncertainty in the company. This would be the best decision for Mary to avoid uncertainty in the company at times when a company requires focus and little destruction. My second recommendation for Mary Alice is to call Ralph after their conversation and advise him on what he can do regarding his future plan. The advice should focus on the uncertainty or the impending restructure and advise me to take necessary precaution and alternative as he makes a future pan. It will give Ralph options and therefore, the impending restructuring would not be a surprise to him. It will keep Mary Alice and Ralph friendship but it might cause a blow to the impending plan of restructuring.

These recommendations are derived based on the interest of the company, Ralph and Mary Alice. According to egoism theory, an ethical decision should be based on the self-interest to ensure that the right thing is done to preserve the values of the company CITATION Omb19 \l 1033 (Ombanda & K’Obonyo, 2019). And in the case of the Mary and Ralph, the self-interest is to ensure that the company' impending restructuring plan is not compromised. However, in making the recommendation, the interest of the company is undertaken, the interest of Ralph and Mary Alice to keep their friendship and to avoid any future blames.

However, the recommendations have certain consequences that might negative or positively affect the company, Mary Alice and Ralph. The HR is a critical department and it handles critical information of a company. Informing Ralph might cause the company finances and failure to achieve its intended plan to restructure the company and move to a smaller and affordable work plan. If Ralph decides to share the information from Mary Alice with other employees, the chaos which can lead to a court case can happen and this might stop the company from proceeding with its plan. The recommendation to inform Ralph is, therefore, a difficult decision, which is likely to cause a lot of problems. Mary Alice should, therefore, take serious measures because it can make lose of a job as well. Recommendation not to inform Ralph is some consequences and the positive side of it is the continuity of the process without any problem. However, it may affect the relationship between Ralph and Mary Alice, but the most important aspect is the ethical value which requires HR professionals to remain confidential. It would, therefore, important for Mary Alice to keep the secret and not to inform Ralph though they are friends until the time which all employees will be informed of the restructuring plan. Though it would be unethical to Ralph for Mary not to inform him, the decision would not interfere with the company's plan and leak the confidential information, which Mary as an HR professional affirm to protect.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Carter, A. (2016). Ethical dilemmas in HR practice: HR in a disordered world IES Perspectives on HR 2015. Journal of Business and Human Resource, 2-35.

Ekuma, K., & Akobo, L. (2015). Human resource management ethics and professionals’ dilemma: A review and research agenda. Journal of the Human Resource Management Research, 47-57.

Misselbrook, D. (2016). Duty, Kant, and Deontology. British Journal of General practice, 2-35.

Ombanda, P. O., & K’Obonyo, P. ( 2019). Critical Analysis of Ethics in Human Resource Management and Employee Performance. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 12-35.