Unit 4 IP

Business Ethics BUS207 0901B-35 Unit 4 IP By Patricia Harvey April 19, 2009

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Abstract

After reading page 167 in our textbook Ethics in the Workplace I will propose new hiring practices, while addressing legal and ethical issues involved in discrimination and affirmative action.

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Hiring Practices without Discrimination

Let us first address the legal and ethical issues involved in Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action although legal in many states is still a form of discrimination. It started out as good ethical intentions, by trying to give blacks and other minorities the same opportunities for salary increases, career advancement, promotions, school admissions, and financial aid. Under the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and title VII of the civil Rights Act of 1964, discriminatory hiring or promotion is considered unfair and illegal. (ONeill, n.d.) The issues are very complex. Affirmative Action is in its own way a form of discrimination. It excludes someone highly qualified in the majority class to fill a quota, by including a member of the minority class. This flaw of Affirmative Action is called reverse discrimination. This should also be illegal and in some states it is. In other states that still have affirmative action you will find also reverse discrimination. Employers should hire their employees on their qualification, education and experience. This would be fair to everyone. Employers should use government agencies as an example for their hiring policies. Everyone of a certain job classification all start at the same entry level pay, with raises once a year for the first five years and every year after that a cost of living raise. Everyone has the same rights to a promotion, by taking the next level test and depending on your score that places you on a list for promotion. When your name reaches the top of the list and a promotion opens you will be the one promoted. Julie works in the Human Resource department of her family owned business that manufactures specialty bicycle parts. She needs to hire more assembly line workers and has her

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friend Bandu fill out an application, but it was rejected. Her supervisor told her that they do not want diversity. Bandu was born in India. Should she quit her job in protest, report it to someone, or keep her mouth shut and help her friend Bandu find a job? Julie was practicing a form of discrimination called Cronyism by showing favoritism toward her friend Bandu. The supervisor that told her the company did not want diversity was ethically and probably legally wrong. Now if they had a set hiring practice in place, he could have said, this is not the way we hire people. I think an employer should always have a choice as long as all the applicant choices have the required qualifications. From those qualified people the employer is always going to chose the qualified person whom they feel fits in with the rest of the company, whether they are the most qualified or not. I feel if the company is family owned and under ten employees it should be okay to hire whomever you want, thats what family businesses are all about. Julie should have also advertised for this position to get more qualified applicants, also and interviewing process and a selection process. Any company with more than ten employees should have a set of hiring practices. The new hiring policy for Julies Family Business is as follows: 1. Human Resource Department will be responsible for creating a Job Description Sheet for all positions in the company except for upper management. Each Job description Sheet will include; a description of the position, desired qualification for the position, and education and experience for the open position. 2. Human Resources will be responsible for advertising in all available newspapers in the county. All ads will be on the same day, and all the same size if possible. HR will also

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advertise via the internet, on the same day as the newspapers. HR will also fax a copy of the Job Description Sheet to the local Social Service Office and the Local Unemployment Office. 3. HR will allow seven days for applications and resumes to be received. If we receive 50 or more responses to our advertisement then we will not run the advertisement again. (Exception to the above; if we dont receive any responses that meet the required qualifications.) If we receive less than 50 responses then HR will run the advertisement again the following week. 4. Once the applications and resumes are received a team of (two HR lead clerks, supervisor of the department with the open position, and one lead clerk from that department) will be responsible for going through the applications and picking out the five to ten most qualified applications to be interviewed. 5. The applicants to be interviewed will be asked 20 of the same preset questions when interviewed. All questions must only pertain to the job position or the applicants experience. Personal questions such as, age, nationality, race, or religion will not be acceptable. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will conduct ourselves in this manner. Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated and will be grounds for termination. 6. Each question answered will be scored by each member of the interviewing team from 1-5 points depending on how well they feel the applicant answered each of the preset questions. 7. Only the top 3 applicant scores will be considered for the position. 8. Supervisor of the department with the open position will make the final selection to be hired. 9. Salary will be offered according to experience and all employment paperwork will be finalized by the Human Resources department.

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The Job Description Sheet for the Assembly Line workers will look something like this:

WANTED ASSEMBLY LINE WORKERS Equal Opportunity Employer Job Description: Our product is carried by a conveyor among stations at which the various operations necessary to its assembly are performed. We quickly assembly large numbers of our product. Lots of standing required and repetitive type work. Qualifications: Must be reliable with good attendance record. You will need to pass a drug screening and criminal background check. Only qualified candidates will be contacted. Education: GED or equivalent required. Previous experience preferred. Experience or Job History relating to this job only Hours: 6:30 am 5:00 pm Monday Thursday. Salary: $8.00 - $10.00 per hour depending on experience

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References: Goree, K (n.d.) Ethics in the Workplace, 2nd Ed., Thomson, St Petersburg, Florida Lee, B, (2008) Affirmative Action; Advantages and Disadvantages, Encyclopedia of Management, retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://www.affirmativeaction.org/ ONeill, J. (n.d.) Comparable Worth, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://www.econlib.org/library/Encl/ComparableWorth.html Most of this information is from my years of experience, with parts of it based on my employment with Contra Costa County