Ethical Dilemmas in HR Management – Performance Appraisal and Career Management –
Goal: To enhance your knowledge and understanding of the importance of practicing ethics in the workplace
Procedure: Using your knowledge about the importance of ethics in evaluating employee’s performance provide an educated response to the questions based on the scenario below:
Scenario summary
A marketing executive, of a major corporation, needs to hire a new staff member to fill a position that has been just created. The marketing executive asked the human resource department to help identify three possible candidates from inside the organization. The marketing executive met with each of these people and thoroughly reviewed their educational backgrounds, experience, performance appraisals, career path, and other qualifications and eliminated one person because of lack of fit. The marketing executive now faces a complicated decision between the two because he or she sees them as relatively equal in terms of potential. The real problem, however, is diversity and equal opportunity.
One candidate is an African-American female. The marketing executive is personally committed to equal opportunity for minorities and has a reputation for helping members of protected classes whenever appropriate. The candidate has received appraisals consistently in the range of 3.8–4.2 on the firm’s 5-point scales. But because the marketing executive knows that her boss rates everyone on the low side—in his or her opinion, about 0.4 below where others would rate them. The other candidate is white male. This individual’s performance appraisal have been in the range of 4.0–4.4 range, and the marketing executive knows the candidate’s boss and believes that these scores are accurate as his boss always does a fair, objective, and equitable job in her performance appraisals. The marketing executive has the authority to make this decision, but wants to make sure he or she can defend it in the event that the individual not selected questions how and why he or she chose the other individual for the position.
Questions
What is the difference between Performance Appraisal and Performance Management? [2 points]
Identify and Discuss two ethical issues in this situation? [2 points]
Identify and discuss one basic argument for and against selecting each candidate?
For the African-American female:
Against African-American female:
For the white male:
Against the white male: