Ethical_Issues_and_Management

Ethical Issues and Management – Termination Managers face a variety of moral and ethical issues when dealing with the termination of an employee. There are several ways that businesses justify termination; cause, poor performance, and downsizing are a few (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). Termination generally involves honesty and fairness, so managers have to deal with conflicting values and morals. Remembering that the employee to be terminated is usually not the only person affected, can help the manager to conduct responsible management practices. There are several things a manager can do to make the termination easier on the employee to be terminated and on his or her self; be brief, do the termination in person and on neutral ground, keep the information private and have a human resources representative available for the employee to talk to afterward (Trevino & Nelson, 2007).. Although these steps can make the process easier, terminating someone’s employment is never enjoyable. Termination for “cause” The phrase “termination for cause” can have many meanings. Different companies view “cause” in different ways. “Cause” is an umbrella term for stealing, fraud, forgery, and violence; to name a few (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). An employee caught stealing from the petty cash drawer could be fired for cause. The manager who has to terminate the employee may disagree with the action or feel empathy for the employee, but the manager can not let emotion be an issue. Even if the manager knows that the employee has been having a hard time financially and promised to pay the money back the manager has to think about how the employee’s actions affected others. Other employees could have been blamed for the ordeal. The stolen money is property of the business. Perhaps the petty cash money is used for office supplies. Other employees may be unable to do their jobs because there is not enough money to purchase the needed office supplies. This could cause other issues. If the employee was not terminated and other employees learned of their act, what would the implications be' The other employees may lose respect for the manager or company or decide that the other employee did not lose their job, so maybe they will steal a little too. What about the consumers. If word got out many of the consumers may lose faith in the company or question the company’s character. A manager must take all of these things into consideration and use the information to make responsible decisions. Termination for poor performance Employees who receive poor performance appraisals or have unsatisfactory attendance usually have documentation of their performance and disciplinary actions in their personnel file. Termination for poor performance is generally justified with previously documented warnings (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). A manager monitors an employee’s performance and often knows circumstances that may be causing the employee to perform poorly. Again, the manager can not let emotion get in the way of making good decisions. Perhaps an employee is not keeping up with their quota. This affects the whole team. When one person falls behind in their duties other employees often have to pick up the slack. Depending on the business, the company may even have to pay another employee overtime to make up for another employee’s shortcomings. The consumers may also be affected if they are waiting on an order or receive a less than satisfactory product or service. Downsizing and layoffs Downsizing and layoffs can really cause moral issues with a manager. Having to let good employees go because the business has slowed production or a merger has happened can really twist someone’s emotions. Decisions have to be made about who will be losing their job and what employees should be kept. The decision has to be made on the grounds of what is best for the business, not how the manager feels about the employees. One issue a manager may face with downsizing is whether to tell anyone about the action before hand. Telling the employees may cause some chaos because the employees are all concerned about their jobs. Not telling the employees could lose trust when they find out that the manager knew all along. Although privacy is usually a given with termination, downsizing and layoffs may warrant a short explanation to ease the distrust and low morale of the remaining employees (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). When a manager makes the decision to terminate an employee’s position, the manager must be careful to have proper proof to justify the termination. Employees have rights that are protected by the law (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). If an employee is terminated and feels that the termination was wrongful they may be able to collect unemployment benefits. If a manager has made ethically responsible decisions, based on previous documentation, or has cause for immediate termination, the documentation will justify the termination. If proper documentation has not been kept, the employee may be granted benefits, which would cost the company extra money. Most companies have insurance to cover unemployment issues so that the company will not have to pay out large sums of money due to poor management practices. Managers are faced with many tasks and have to make many decisions. Because of different management practices, most companies have policies that govern how they will issues. Sometimes a manager may not agree with the course of action, but company policies are place to protect the company, so managers must comply with those policies and not become emotional. One example of a workplace ethical dilemma involves a woman who was terminated for poor attendance. Company policy stated that if an employee was absent for five days in the first three months of employment, the employee would be terminated. The woman was a model employee; always on time and her work was quality. After two and a half months of employment the woman’s four year old son became ill and was admitted into the hospital. The child was gravely ill and the doctors were touch and go on his recovery. The woman stayed with her child, like most mothers would, all six days he was in the hospital. The woman called in to work to let them know the situation, but on the fifth day she was absent, the manager told her she was fired. Under the circumstances, most anyone would have been sympathetic toward the woman, but the manager was bound by the policies of the company. The time missed by the woman had to be covered by other employees; costing the company money in overtime. Even though circumstances may bring about emotion, a company is in business to make money and the bottom line is, individual circumstances can cost a business money. Good management that makes sound decisions based on the company’s needs is a must in today’s business world. References Trevino, L., & Nelson, K. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.