Thesis on "Ethics and Human Resources"

Thesis 7 pages (1985 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Role of International Human Resources Management in the Formulation and Implementation of Ethics Programs in Multinational Enterprises. The article was written by University of Illinois' Abhijeet Vadera, College of Business, and Ruth Aguilera, Department of Business Administration in 2007 (Vadera & Aguilera, 2007).

The article aims at presenting issues like ethics programs in organizations, consisting in formulation of ethics programs, content of ethics programs, communication of ethics programs, effectiveness of ethics programs. The article takes a close look at future avenues for research, like integration of the practices, human resource planning, staffing, training and development, performance evaluation and compensation. Another area of interest explored by the article is represented by multilevel issues affecting the ethics' role in human resources management, like institutional factors, industry and country level factors, organizational factors.

Discussion

Importance of topic

The article focuses on demonstrating that multinational companies across the world are implementing, or trying to implement ethics programs, but the effects are different in each case. Without a similarity in results one cannot develop a mainframe for ethics programs or ethics program models that could be successfully implemented in several companies, especially those addressing the same industry branch.

The article proposes a series of strategies that could facilitate the implementation of ethics programs and guarantee their efficiency. The importance of the topic is acknowledged by theoreticians and practitioners in the human resources field. Some say that ethics should be "a component of the performance review process. Ethics have to be factored into the compensation system" (Lachnit, 2002). Employees and their managers must make decisions each day that affect the outcome of their activity, theactivity of the company, and the activity of other people, which means their decisions must ethical and moral in the first place (Gross, 2009).

Business ethics has a series of implications like global competition, constant pressures, and customer expectations (CPML, 2009). The treatment of employees at work can generate unethical behavior in certain cases (Moberg, 1997). Creating an ethical environment represents the contribution of all employees (Hanson, 2008). There are several ethical models that can be taken into consideration (Federwisch, 2007).

Any theoretical aspect regarding the role of ethics in human resources management has practical implications. The purpose of the article is to create a theoretical model that could be implemented in practice by multinational companies. The article provides several examples taken from the managerial practice that show various effects of the ethics programs implemented by multinational companies.

In my opinion, such an article is useful for students because they have the opportunity to observe certain aspect related to the implementation of ethics programs and the factors that contribute to their success or failure. The article is also important for human resources managers that can observe certain effects of such programs before implementing their own. Therefore, they have the possibility to take measures against the negative effects that might emerge.

Literature review

The article focuses more on the practical side of ethics' role in human resources management rather than on the theoretical side. There is no clear section regarding literature review. Even so, the article makes proof of recognizing relevant areas of the literature that addresses the subject under discussion, otherwise, the article would not have been possible. The research studies that are discussed in the article have been published in journals like Academy of Management Journal, American Journal of Sociology, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, California Management Review, Journal of Law and Economics, International Journal of Management Reviews and others.

The direction taken by the study is fully justified. The article starts with the beginning of the implementation of ethics programs, and that is the formulation of these programs. The article further discusses the content of ethics programs, the way they are and they way they should be. Communication and effectiveness of ethics programs are also paid attention by the article's writers.

The subject addressed by the article, the analysis of the components of the ethics programs' implementation process and the solutions provided by the article proves understanding of the literature. The results and findings of the studies referenced in the article are not misinterpreted or exaggerated in any way.

However, as mentioned above, the reader can observe the lack of literature review, and therefore of its organizing.

Conceptual development

The article analyzes the implementation of ethics programs at organizational level. The study also takes into consideration the effects and implications of ethics programs on individual level, regarding employees' perspective.

The article focuses on important variables. In this case, such variables of high importance include: institutional factors, industry and country level factors, organizational factors.

Regarding clarity and logical coherence, the article manages to present each variable in clear terms and delimitation. The assumptions associated with the variables are also clearly stated and are based on facts that were retrieved from the research studies assessed by the article.

Additional criteria

The article does not necessarily summarize a large and diverse literature, but it compensates by discussing a series of studies conducted by specialists in the field of human resources. The studies have been conducted in a series of countries across the world. The article addresses recent studies that reveal current trends that affect the connection between ethics and human resources, and also less recent studies in order to observe how the connection has evolved in time.

These studies include: Bailey and Spicer in 2007, Farrell in 1998 Australia, Langlois and Schlegelmilch in 1990 in Europe and the United States, Mele, Debeljuh and Arruda in 2006 Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Palazzo in 2002 the United States, Germany, Robertson and Schlegelmilch in 1993 in the United States and Great Britain, Singh in 2006 Canada, and many other studies.

Regarding the uniqueness of the paper, it is worth mentioning that the article does not just review existent research studies on ethics and human resources management, but it also provides solutions, alternatives, recommendations that could be taken into consideration by human resources managers when developing and implementing ethics programs within their organizations.

The article also raises directions for further research. For example, one of these directions refers to integration of the practices. The article advises on conducting further research regarding the integration of ethics programs within human resources process like human resources planning, staffing, training and development, performance evaluation and compensation. Another direction that requires further study consists in multilevel issues that affect the implementation of ethics programs within organizations.

The timing of the article is also appropriate. The least recent research study analyzed by the article was conducted in 1990 by Langlois and Schlegelmilch in Europe and the United States and it referred to corporate codes of ethics. The most recent research study addressed by the article was conducted in 2007 by Bailey and Spicer and it referred to international business ethics.

Sample and setting

The article does not use samples of its own but it analyzes research studies conducted on several categories of samples, for example, these studies address samples like case studies, international companies, managers in France, Germany, Britain, Spain, and the U.S.A. working in over 200 companies operating in these countries, chairmen of the 200 largest French, British, and West German companies, and even government agency employees.

The context is mainly consisted of large enterprises in the most important economies across the world.

Measurement

The article is entirely reliable, as it is based on thorough research studies conducted by specialists in the field in a period of almost two decades, in all important countries of the world.

The subject of ethics, especially in relation with human resources management cannot be entirely considered free from bias. But the results of the research studies taken into consideration by the article are supposed to be more quantitative, which means that the bias is significantly reduced. The analysis and the interpretation of the results are also subjected to bias, in a small proportion however.

Design

The adequacy of the studied samples cannot be contested. The article analyzes a great number of available research studies, all of great importance for establishing the effects of the implementation of ethics programs within multinational organizations.

The entire list of the examined studies is presented in the article, along with their subject, most relevant findings, sample and methodology. As mentioned above, the article goes beyond summarizing the findings of the examined research studies. The article presents recommendations for improving the current situation regarding the implementation of ethics programs.

Data analysis and results

The data and results analysis is limited by the research studies examined by the article. The article does not add new data or new findings and results to those revealed by the studies in case. The article analyzes these findings and places them in a context related to the effects of ethics programs implementation and their relation with human resources management.

The article starts from these findings and develops theoretical models that are designed to help human resources managers to amplify the positive effects of the implementation of such ethics programs and to diminish the… READ MORE

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