Ethical and unethical issues in disciplines of management

'Ethics' is a fine word to listen about. But it is a hard nut to crack when comes to practicing it. whether it be an individual, business, society, nation, government or a professional, ethics has its own significance. 

Ethical issues are problem or situations that requires a person or organisation to choose between alternatives that must be evaluated as right or wrong, whereas, unethical issues is an action that falls outside of what is considered morally right or proper for a person.

ETHICAL AND UNETHICAL PRACTICES OF MANAGEMENT IN-

• HR
• FINANCE
• MARKETING

               

                    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

HR is often referred as Human Resource Management, it is the practice of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing the employees( man power) of the organisation. Basically, HR include those types of ethical issues of the employers-employee relationship, such as the right and duties owed between them.

                     ETHICAL ISSUES IN HR    

The major issues faced by Human Resource are-

EMPLOYMENT ISSUES:  HR professionals are likely to face maximum ethical dilemmas in the areas of hiring of employees. Like,

• Pressure to hire a friend or relative of a highly placed executive.
• Fake credentials submitted by a job applicant.

CASH AND INCENTIVE PLANS: It include issues like basic salaries, annual increments or incentives and executive perquisites. Despite written policies on overtime and paid time off, HR confronts fairness issues that risk legal consequences. Enforcing equitable bonus eligibility criteria to avoid favoritism may be politically trying for the HR professional, as may supporting executive compensation plans perceived by employees to be too generous.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: Ethics should be the basis of performance evaluation. Highly ethical performance appraisal demands that there should be an honest assessment of the performance and steps should be taken to improve the effectiveness of employees. 

PRIVACY: The private life of an employee which is not affecting his professional life should be free from intrusive and unwarranted actions.

SAFETY AND HEALTH: Industrial work is often hazardous to the safety and health of the employees. Legislation have been created making it mandatory on the organisations and managers to compensate the victims of occupational hazards. Ethical dilemmas of HR managers arise when the justice is denied to the victims by the organisation.

                                 UNETHICAL ISSUES IN HR 

MISUSING COMPANY'S TIME: Whether it is covering for someone who shows up late or altering a time sheet, misusing company time tops the list of an unethical behavior.

LYING TO EMPLOYEES: The fastest way to lose the trust of your employees is to lie to them, yet employers do it all the time and it is considered as unethical for the business.

ACCEPTING PAYOFFS: If a HR employee accepts payment from job seekers in exchange for preferential treatment in the hiring process this represents ethical misconduct. HR professional should hire the most qualified individuals without any expectation of a financial kickoff.

PERSONAL INFORMATION: Sharing personal information found in a personnel file with anyone else inside or outside the company is an unethical expression.

                               MARKETING  

Marketing is the science and art of exploring , creating and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.

Marketing Ethics is an area that deals with the moral principles behind marketing.Ethics in marketing applies to different spheres such as in product, pricing, placing( distribution) and promotion, etc. When an organisation behaves ethically , customers develop more positive attitudes about the firm, its products and its services and it also creates trust and good image about the organisation in the minds of customers , employees, shareholders and the society.

                        ETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING     

• Consumer safety-  Clarify any potential risks associated with the product by set forth on product packaging.
• Clarify any potential risks that may affect the composition of the product by set forth on product packaging.
• Commitment to specific weights on product packaging.
• The company is pricing their products according to market conditions and economic variables , and undertakes to install the prices of their products permanently.
• The company does not practice( dumping) pricing methods that may damage the others(brokers, corporate competition ).     
• Company must always be careful to avoid using misleading advertising to promote their products.
• The company must always be careful to take into account the assets of Islamic law and traditions of communities when using women in advertisement.

               

                      UNETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING

• Lack of clarity in pricing 
• Providing products at unfair prices.
• Unethical practices in market research and competitor intelligence.
• Exploitation of employees.
• Spamming
• Omitting to provide information on side effects.
• Ignorance of health, safety and environmental standards.

                                 

    

                            FINANCE

Finance is a field that is concerned with the allocation (investment) of assets and liabilities over space and time, often under conditions of risk or uncertainty. Finance can also be defined as the art of money management. General ethical norms encompass truthfulness, honesty, integrity, respect for others, fairness, and justice. They relate to all aspects of life, including business and finance. Financial ethics is, therefore, a subset of general ethics.

 

                       ETHICAL ISSUES IN FINANCE

  INTEGRITY: Financial managers should strive for unimpeachable integrity. Customers, shareholders and employees should be able to trust a financial managers words. Managers should not allow prejudice,bias and conflicts of interest to influence their actions.

TRANSPARENCY: Financial documents reflect a company's performance relative to its peers and its internal strengths and weakness. Transparency also means explaining financial information clearly, especially for those who aren't familiar with the company's operations.

TIMELINESS: Timely financial information is just as important  as accurate and transparent information. Management, investors and other stakeholders require decisions. The company should hold back news of a major contract loss in the hope that it can replace the lost revenue with new contracts.

                           UNETHICAL ISSUES IN FINANCE

• Deliberate abnormal delays in payment.
• Delays in paying wages, interest to financiers, incentive, bonus to employees.
• Cheating employees of their dues towards medical expenses, leave travel assistance, children education fees etc.,
• Creating bogus bills of purchase to show higher costs and hence losses to avoid bonus payment to employees.
• Eliminate the carried interest tax paid provision.
• Window dressing.

" A BUSINESS THAT MAKES NOTHING BUT MONEY IS A POOR KIND OF BUSINESS"

                                                                                                             -HENRY FORD