Summary
Human resource management is a very vital organ within an organization. For huge organizations with a large number of employees, it would be impossible to handle labor issues in the absence of human resource management. The human resource function acts as a liaison between the employees and the organization. The human resource element of an organization is therefore responsible for recruiting and selecting these employees through interviews and other techniques, after which the human resources department train and develops talent within the organization. Moreover, the human resources department makes sure that it keeps accurate records of the employees and uses systems such as payroll to manage reward systems within the organization.
Organizational employees are usually subject to rules and laws and as a result, it is the duty of the human resource department to enforce and ensure that the organization complies with them. Without the human resource arm of an organization, there would be a lot of chaos between the management, the organization and employees and therefore this department ensures an organization runs smoothly by taking care of the concerns of employees.
Ethical issues (theft)
The Human resource function normally exists to ensure that there is compliance with the law and other organizational rules and as a result, when ethical problems such as theft by employees occur it becomes the duty of the human resource department to deal with them. It is therefore within their mandate to know what to do to employees for misdeeds done. While the Human resource function may forge to instill loyalty and discipline amongst employees, it is important to acknowledge that there are always a few bad apples in any sack. Theft cases may include forgeries, ghost payroll activities, trading of information and trade secrets and numerous other forms of theft. No matter how well covered up a theft is within an organization maybe it is the ultimate duty of human resource management to put a stop to this by dealing with it within the company’s code of conduct. This can be achieved through stringent hire policies that cover issues to do with theft and security, in addition, the department can review the paperwork of employees regularly to indicate their vigilance against such behavior.
Off-shoring
Off-shoring is a business activity that refers to a situation whereby an organization chooses to hire an external organization to carry out business activities in another nation that is totally different from the country where the goods and services are actually made. An example is a situation whereby a mobile service provider in Europe decides to adopt a low-cost model and therefore goes ahead to hand over customer care activities to an Indian firm. Many economists and social scientists find this morally unethical and therefore unsuitable because it injures economies by denying employment to citizens of that country.
According to corporate social responsibility, it is ethical for a company to give back to the society where it reaps. It is considered unethical for an organization that does not work to improve the people and the environment around it. Although corporations may save a lot of funds by outsourcing, the domestic economy may in turn suffer through increased unemployment and it makes no sense that the same consumers of its products end up unemployed and miserable therefore leading to an ethical question as far as off-shoring is concerned.
Occupational safety and health act
The Occupation and Safety Health Act sets legal stipulations that are to be followed by employers in regard to employees. These regulations were put in place because of the increasing cases of employee harassment and also mistreatment of employees by employers. The Act puts it as a duty of each employer to ensure that all of their employee’s ha guaranteed safety, health and welfare within the workplace. The Act also makes it clear that employers are to regularly maintain their plants and systems of work so that all employees are safe within their working environment with minimal risks that may threaten their health or safety. Thus, employers are obliged to provide all employees under their control with a safe working environment that is free of hazards that may compromise the health and well-being of employees. Failure to comply by employers usually leads to strict penalties or even a jail term of up to 6 months.
Discrimination
Discrimination is an act of acting in favor of or against someone based on a particular group/class to which the individual belongs. In this case, pregnancy can be used as a prefix of discriminating against individuals within the workplace. For example, a pregnant woman attends an interview or is to get a promotion/pay rise and does well but instead, she is simply made unsuitable for the post because she is pregnant or desires to be pregnant in the next few years, this can be considered as a form of discrimination since men enjoy full benefits even during leave thus, it should be the same for women. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibits employers who have more than15 employees to discriminate against women employees as far as pregnancy is concerned and grants that these female employees are entitled to enjoy full benefits enjoyed by the other employees. The PDA prohibits any form of discrimination on women when it comes to hiring, dismissal, seniority rights, job security, and even when it comes to acquiring fringe benefits.