HRM textbook

CHAPTER 14 ETHICS AND EMPLOYEE RIGHTS AND DISCIPLINE 487
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Explain how you would ensure fairness in disciplining,
discussing particularly the prerequisites to disciplining,
disciplining guidelines, and the discipline without
punishment approach.
2. Why is it important in our highly litigious society
to manage dismissals properly?
3. What techniques would you use as alternatives to traditional
discipline? What do such alternatives have to do
with organizational justice? Why do you think alternatives
like these are important, given industry s need today for
highly committed employees?
4. Provide three examples of behaviors that would probably
be unethical but legal, and three that would probably be
illegal but ethical.
5. List 10 things your college or university does to encourage
ethical behavior by students and/or faculty.
6. You need to select a nanny for your or a relative s child,
and want someone ethical. Based on what you read
in this chapter, what would you do to help ensure you
ended up hiring someone ethical?
7. You believe your employee is being insubordinate. How
would you verify this and what would you do about it
if it is true?
8. Several years ago Walmart instituted a new employee
scheduling system that makes it more difficult for its
employees to know for sure what hours they would be
working. Basically, the store supervisor calls them at the
last minute if there s an opening that day. Based on what
you read in this chapter, is the new system ethical? Why
or why not? Is it fair? What would you do if you were a
Walmart employee?
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES
1. Working individually or in groups, interview managers
or administrators at your employer or college in order to
determine the extent to which the employer or college
endeavors to build two-way communication, and the
specific types of programs used. Do the managers think
they are effective? What do the employees (or faculty
members) think of the programs in use at the employer
or college?
2. Working individually or in groups, obtain copies of the
student handbook for your college and determine
to what extent there is a formal process through which
students can air grievances. Based on your contacts with
other students, has it been an effective grievance
process? Why or why not?
3. Working individually or in groups, determine the nature
of the academic discipline process in your college.
Do you think it is effective? Based on what you read in
this chapter, would you recommend any modifications?
4. The HRCI Test Specifications Appendix (pages
633 640) lists the knowledge someone studying for the
HRCI certification exam needs to have in each area of
human resource management (such as in Strategic
Management, Workforce Planning, and Human
Resource Development). In groups of four to five
students, do four things: (1) review that appendix now;
(2) identify the material in this chapter that relates
to the required knowledge the appendix lists; (3) write
four multiple-choice exam questions on this material
that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the
HRCI exam; and (4) if time permits, have someone
from your team post your team s questions in front
of the class, so the students in other teams can take each
others exam questions.
5. In a recent research study at Ohio State University, a
professor found that even honest people, left to their
own devices, would steal from their employers. 122 In this
study, the researchers gave financial services workers the
opportunity to steal a small amount of money after
participating in an after-work project for which the pay
was inadequate. Would the employees steal to make up
for the underpayment? In most cases, yes. Employees
who scored low on an honesty test stole whether or not
their office had an ethics program that said stealing
from the company was illegal. Employees who scored
high on the honesty test also stole, but only if their office
did not have such an employee ethics program the
honest people didn t steal if there was an ethics policy.
In groups of four or five students, answer these
questions: Do you think findings like these are generalizable?
In other words, would they apply across the
board to employees in other types of companies and
situations? If your answer is yes, what do you think this
implies about the need for and wisdom of having an
ethics program?
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE
Discipline or Not?
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to provide you with
some experience in analyzing and handling an actual
disciplinary action.
Required Understanding: Students should be thoroughly
familiar with the following case, titled Botched Batch.
Do not read the award or discussion sections until
after the groups have completed their deliberations.
How to Set Up the Exercise/Instructions:
Divide the class into groups of four or five students. Each
group should take the arbitrator s point of view and assume