Staffing Ethics for HR in a Globalized World - Research Paper Example

? Staffing Ethics for HR in a Globalized World October 5, This paper is a thematic literature review on ethical issues in the hiring process, and the role of HR. In asking what that role is and should be, in an increasingly globalized world, the landscape clarifies to reveal themes of privacy, resistance, change, and cultural dimensions. HR has a pioneering ethics mentoring and ethical shaping responsibility to applicants, employees, and the organizations they work for. The inclusion of diverse voices is a strength of this paper. There are articles from India, Romania, Mexico, Poland, Canada, and the USA. Each contributes insights. Some are specific to that culture, but several cross-cultural themes emerge from the literature. One cross-cultural pattern that emerged was challenges to ethical staffing, especially in the face of multinational companies with HRM that are not in touch with the influence of cultural dimensions on staffing. Another pattern was resistance due to tradition, which was revealed in Canada, India, Mexico, and Poland. A third cross-cultural pattern was the overwhelming agreement that HR must lead the way to a more ethical workplace. Recommendations are offered to facilitate protection, ethical leadership, cultural sensitivity, and the balance of rights and agenda that HR faces. Staffing Ethics for HR in a Globalized World Human Resources is probably the most crucial component of any company. They must, after all, negotiate a delicate balance between the needs of the company and the needs of applicants and employees. They must not only do so within the context of the law, but must traverse the netherworld of ethics, which applies even when the law is unclear, insufficient, or when there is not yet a law specific to the issue. The latter case is seen with online privacy issues, for example, when utilized by to screen applicants. In an increasingly globalized world, Human Resource departments find increasingly complex demands on their role. Change is rapid and it is not enough to stay updated. Instead, Human Resource Managers must serve as leaders in the company. This is especially so in the arena of ethics. This paper is a thematic literature review with a global focus. Too often, globalization imposes Western standards. As developing nations increase their involvement in and concern for fair practices in HR, the world has an opportunity to gain new insights from new voices. This paper will review the literature from ten selected cross-cultural sources, including Romania, Poland, India, Mexico, Canada and the USA, in order to understand how to ethically staff in a way that balances privacy rights with company need-to-know; affirmative action with profit and tradition; local culture with globalized standards. This cross-cultural dialogue can make HR management an even stronger ethical force and inspiration to companies and their employees around the world. Methodology A Google Scholar search was conducted, utilizing a relevant search phrase, HR and ethical hiring practices. A strong effort was made to locate peer-reviewed journals, particularly in the business management area. A special effort was made to select articles that reflected the voices of other cultures beyond the US, as well as articles that mentioned globalization. Effort was made to reflect both male and female authored articles. Both theoretical and research-based articles were selected. Current articles were selected since, given the rapid changes, engendered by globalization, HR should be currently informed. The oldest article was published six years ago, but most articles were published within the past couple of years. This is particularly important in the area of ethics. No effort was made, during the article selection process, to support a particular point of view, nor to narrow the themes down any more than those already mentioned. Rather than considering an hypothesis, the selection process held a central organizing question: What is the role of HR in an ethical hiring process? The selected articles were then carefully read with a purpose of looking for emerging patterns that revealed themselves as important themes. The universal theme. which dominated. concerned the negotiation of balance between company, applicant and employee needs. Thematic Literature Review Sloan & Gavin (2010) identified three major responsibilities of HR management, to support efforts to become an ethical organization. They must establish ethical HR practices; assist the transformation process to conducting ethical business; and shape an ethical work culture where individuals are committed to the goal of ethical practice. Establishing Ethical Practices: Privacy In the ongoing HR effort to negotiate a comfortable balance between the wellbeing of the company and the wellbeing of employee applicants, privacy surfaces as a controversial issue (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). In this digital information age, it is easy enough to collect information about the employee applicant that does not appear on the resume or C.V.. It is typical to have an extensive online presence, these days. Companies increasingly use social network sites to easily construct a profile of applicants (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). The applicant who performs admirably in an interview, and dresses for success, may show a very different face on Facebook. Photos and profiles that indicate a pattern of alcohol usage and weird friends, or communication that indicates drug use or a jailed spouse, or an irresponsible lifestyle, an unpopular political opinion, membership in a mysterious religion or posted rants against a boss or other authority figure, are enough to screen an applicant directly into the reject pile, however well qualified on paper. Companies want to make profit, have a stable workforce that will not make trouble, and minimize risk (property, reputation, criminal hiring negligence charges) (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). There is rising concern that this particularly places marginalized applicants at risk, blocking opportunities to be upwardly mobile. It can by-pass laws that protect people from discrimination. There are insufficient laws to protect the rights of workers from invasive screening practices, because legislation does not move as quickly as technology does (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). Ethics, then, must go farther than the law. Research is now able to predict what types of people will feel most uncomfortable with invasive company screening procedures (Alder, Schminke & Noel, 2007). This leaves the door open for companies to use this profiling guidance to screen out those who would strenuously object to unethical practices. Consequently, those who favor human rights and human dignity, and are active on such issues, would probably not be hired, however superior their credentials. Also, another aspect of this issue is that there is no standardization. Not all people are equally vulnerable (Brown & Vaughn, 2011). Some people have an extensive presence online, while others do not (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). Some groups of people have a greater or lesser presence online, also. Some geographic regions have a greater or lesser presence online, moreover. HR management has a strong responsibility to engage in fair practices. They must use ethical screening processes, and stay updated on relevant laws (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). They should dialogue with other HR professionals to gain some consensus on what is ethical practice, and how to protect the company while being ethical. Establishing Ethical Practices: Resistance Virtually everyone agrees that being ethical is good for Human Resources and the companies of which they are a part. Affirmative action strategies are techniques by which fair practices in participation and leadership are made available to minorities and marginalized groups, so that eventually there will be a world of more equal opportunity (Bigu, 2009). However, a company that has a rich history of traditions and an active “old boy’s network”, although agreeing theoretically, may find it too much of a burden to comply. They may feel threatened by the realities of change. They may feel their very identity will collapse. An example of resistance, due to tradition, is the Canadian Military, particularly in response to the issue of integrating women into the Senior Officers’ Corps. Gray (2008) argues that it is a noble goal, but is unsuitable for the Canadian Military, because it is impractical in a merit-based system. She gives a nod to ethical affirmative action with a vague suggestion that the military can try to acknowledge the idea of affirmative action, in some way, where it won’t make trouble. Gray is firmly convinced that including women in their recruiting and staffing process would, unfortunately, violate the military corps principles of leadership, teamwork, honesty, and integrity (Gray, 2008). Reduced to its core, the message is one of strong prejudice. It supports studiously obstructing equal opportunity for women in the mistaken notion that military principles, pride and quality will collapse with equal opportunity for women. It is important to hear the logic of resistance. Another area of company resistance to adopt ethical recruitment and hiring processes is resistance due to fear that profit will go down if the wrong people are hired. Vandalism, absenteeism, incompetence, mistakes due to alcohol or drugs, and theft, for example, can cut into profit (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). Bigu (2009) argues that anti-discrimination policies can be implemented that do not have a negative outcome on profit. He offers two policy examples. One is equal opportunity actions. If a company believes women to be incapable of heavy physical labor, then HR might accept only male applicants. This is discrimination, but the company might defend it on the grounds that production and profit will go down in women employees slow down the progress. However, HR can establish a test that will measure capability to do heavy labor, rather than rejecting women (Bigu, 2009). Another area of non-discrimination policy is affirmative action, having a quota for minority hires. The company will assume that this will result in incompetent token hires. However, the company could take a proactive approach in reaching out to minority communities. This will attract a number of applicants from which to choose, and will also improve the company’s reputation in their community, leading to profit (Bigu, 2009). Adjusting to Change Globalization has brought rapid change to society, and HR has had to rise to the challenge. In fact, Subhash (2011) indicates that HR must be change mentors. He notes that several significant companies in India have opened up lines of communication, empowering employees to critically evaluate management policies. However this works best when ethical people are hired, in the first place, HR provides leadership in shaping an ethical culture in the workplace (Subhash, 2011). DuPont is an example of a company which re-designed their staffing process to be in line with ethical hiring practices and also minimize privacy invasion. They gave strong attention to opening up the lines of communication and to increasing and clarifying brand awareness, in order to attract the right people who would fit in with company culture (Cseres & Kelly, 2006). Shaping an Ethical Work Culture As multi-national companies operate farther from home, shaping an ethical work culture is often challenged by local culture. Subhash (2011) points out that Indian companies that had always enjoyed huge, sheltered markets, with little to no foreign competition, are now undergoing global re-framing with a lot of competition. This can be unsettling for management, and HR must play their ethical mentor role well. Ryan (2006) notes that there are a number of challenges unique to the situation in Poland. HR ethical considerations are relatively recent, having arrived with large international organizations with professional HR departments which cared about ethical staffing. Their Socialist heritage has imparted certain cultural attitudes to the people (such as their historical mistrust of personnel department) which, together with 19% unemployment, challenge the support of hiring ethics. In spite of the challenges, HR ethical practices are being more widely aaccepted and implemented (Ryan, 2006). Rao (2009) looked at the influence of national cultural dimensions in staffing in Mexico. Multinationals find staffing to be a problem. Rao offers a predictive cultural dimensions model and an associated staffing model. He calls for mutual understanding between multinationals and local employees, and adaptation of staffing practices. Conclusion This literature review was a thematic analysis of HR’s role in ethical hiring practices. HRM has responsibility to establish ethical practices; to assist the transformation process toward ethical business conduct; and to shape a committed, ethical work culture (Sloan & Gavin, 2010). This led to a consideration of privacy issues, resistance (for tradition or profit), adjusting to change and shaping an ethical work culture. This literature review, in an effort to be inclusive of various voices, engaged with data from Poland, Romania, India, Mexico, Canada, and the USA. One cross-cultural pattern that emerged was challenges to ethical staffing, especially in the face of multinational companies with HRM that are not in touch with the influence of cultural dimensions on staffing. Another pattern was resistance due to tradition, which we saw in Canada, India, Mexico, and Poland. A third cross-cultural pattern was the overwhelming agreement that HR must lead the way to a more ethical workplace, that HRM must serve as ethical mentors. Recommendations are that HR needs to offer transparency to applicants being screened and to the company they are screening for. They need to have clearly defined anti-discrimination policies in place, and be prepared to demonstrate that private information gathered from online sources is job-relevant and not being used to discriminate against applicants. Applicants need to be aware that the 4th amendment right to protection from unlawful search and seizure does not currently apply to online information (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). It is wise to be very careful about what goes online. Multinational HR needs to be sensitive to local cultural dimensions as they lead the way in ethical practices and negotiate balance. References Alder, G. S., Schminke, M., & Noel, T. W. (2007). The impact of individual ethics on reactions to potentially invasive HR practices, Journal of Business Ethics, 75(2), 201-214. Bigu, Dragos. (2009). Discrimination and profit, Review of International Comparative Management, 10(5), 1021-1037 Brown, V.R. and Vaughn, E. D. (2011), The writing on the (Facebook) wall: The use of social networking sites in hiring decisions, Journal of Business and Psychology,26(2), 219-225. Cseres, P. and Kelly, N.Neil, (2006). Restructuring talent sourcing at DuPont: Standardizing and simplifying talent-search and management processes, Strategic HR Review, 6(1), 28 – 31 Gray, S. L. (2008). Discontinuing the Canadian Military’s 'Special Selection' process for staff college and moving toward a viable and ethical integration of women into the senior officers corps. Journal of Military Ethics, 7(4), 284-301. Rao, P. (2009). The role of national culture on Mexican staffing practices, Employee Relations, 31(3), 295 – 311. Ryan, L. V. (2006). Current ethical issues in Polish HRM. Journal of Business Ethics, 66(2-3), 273-290. Sloan, K. and Gavin, J. H. (2010). Human resource management: Meeting the ethical obligations of the function. Business and Society Review, 115(1), 57-74. Subhash, P. S. (2011). Impact of globalization on human resource management – A case study of Indian industries, Golden Research Thoughts, 1(2), 1-4. Waring. R. I. and Buchanan, F. R. (2010). Social Networking Web Sites: The Legal and Ethical Aspects of Pre-Employment Screening and Employee Surveillance. Journal of Human Resources Education, 4(2), 14-23. Retrieved from: http://business.troy.edu/JHRE/Issue.aspx?Volume=4&Issue=2 Abstract This annotated bibliography is a collection of articles, both theoretical and research-based, that negotiate the landscape of ethical recruitment and hiring policies for human resource departments in the face of an increasingly globalized world. Too often, the globalized standard is Western. This bibliography, however, includes articles from India, Poland, Romania, Canada, and the USA. The role of HR, in establishing and sustaining an ethical work environment, is critical to the success of a company. This role involves balancing company interest, employee and applicant interests. The articles selected here consider a variety of factors to be negotiated in sustaining that balance. An article from the US provides an overview of the role of HR in ethical practices and DuPont presents a model and case study that point to fair practices in staffing. The article from India looks at how globalization calls for changes which affect HR. Three articles (two about social network sites) deal with rights to privacy vs company protection rights. The article from Romania looks at company profit vs affirmative action, while the article from Canada looks at military tradition vs affirmative action. The articles from Mexico and Poland explore ethical challenges and culture, with the Mexico article presenting an original cultural dimensions model, . These articles provide an integrated understanding of the role of HR in ethics, during the process of screening and staffing. They provide appeals for awareness, fair practices, adjustment to rapid change, and HR leadership in ethical work environments. Annotated Bibliography Alder, G. S., Schminke, M., & Noel, T. W. (2007). The impact of individual ethics on reactions to potentially invasive HR practices, Journal of Business Ethics, 75(2), 201-214. doi: 10.1007/s10551-006-9247-6 Alder is Assistant Professor of Management in the College of Business, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Schminke is Professor of Management, University of Central Florida. He served as the Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Journal, and Visiting Professor at Oxford University. Noel is Associate Professor of Management at California State University, Chico, and manages the Center for Entrepreneurship. Privacy considerations are central to any HR ethics practices, particularly as applied to recruitment and hiring. A strength of this article is that it takes an unusual approach to the topic, by exploring the characteristics of employees who are affected by invasive or questionably ethical HR practices, and finding how employee characteristics impacted their perception of these practices. The findings might be easily misused by unscrupulous companies, however, as they would enable HR to screen out job applicants with characteristics that compel them to respond to invasive practices with concern or discomfort, or even with paranoia. Thus a company can select for unobstructed, unethical practices. This was not raised in the article. I suspect this is because none of the authors seem to have any recognized expertise in ethics. Bigu, Dragos. (2009). Discrimination and profit, Review of International Comparative Management, 10(5), 1021-1037 JEL classification: J71 Bigu is a Professor at Spiru Haret University, Bucharest, Romania This article considers the juggling act between profit and affirmative action. After discussing discrimination, he evaluates ethical recruitment and hiring policies that remove the contradiction between profit and fair practice, by fulfilling both. This article adds cross-cultural depth to my research topic, because it considers law and ethics in Romania, and also demonstrates how the needs of the company and the needs of employees do not necessarily have to be antagonistic to each other. A strength of this article is its distinction between law and ethics. Brown, V.R. and Vaughn, E. D. (2011), The writing on the (Facebook) wall: The use of social networking sites in hiring decisions, Journal of Business and Psychology,26(2), 219-225. doi: 10.1007/s10869-011-9221-x Brown teaches in the Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Alabama, and Vaughn teaches at Roosevelt University, Illinois. This article discusses how Facebook and other social networking sites, rich with personal information, are used to screen job applicants. There are privacy and other legal considerations. The authors point out that the quality, types, and quantity of information is not standardized, and the information can be used to justify the screening out of minorities. They advocate awareness and safeguards, and establishing validity and job-relevance of data mined. It is a good article in that it discloses and calls for action. It is extremely relevant to my topic because I am particularly concerned with the global implications of ethical recruitment and hiring practices, so online privacy issues are pertinent. Cseres, P. and Kelly, N.Neil, (2006). Restructuring talent sourcing at DuPont: Standardizing and simplifying talent-search and management processes, Strategic HR Review, 6(1), 28 – 31 doi: 10.1108/14754390680000939 Cseres and Kelly hold HR management positions at DuPont. This article presents a case study of DuPont’s redesigning and transition to a new employee search system. This involved hiring a search and selection specialist, improving communication access, and raising brand awareness. It provides one very successful model for ethical hiring. Theory is important, but a case study in application is immensely valuable in identifying what works, and what the challenges might be. Field experience can keep my own paper real. The authors were leaders in this design and implementation process, making this a powerful and reassuring case study. Gray, S. L. (2008). Discontinuing the Canadian Military’s 'Special Selection' process for staff college and moving toward a viable and ethical integration of women into the senior officers corps. Journal of Military Ethics, 7(4), 284-301. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15027570802510007 Gray is affiliated with the Department of Philosophy, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada The argument of this article is that affirmative action is unsuitable for the Canadian Military, because it is impractical in a merit-based system. The author argues that, while equal opportunity is a noble goal, which the military can try to acknowledge in some way where it won’t make trouble, it unfortunately violates their principles of leadership, teamwork, honesty, integrity. I felt shocked at what the author is expressing. Reduced to its core, the message is one of strong prejudice, standing ready to obstruct equal opportunity for women in the mistaken notion that military principles, pride and quality will collapse with equal opportunity. The tragedy is that the author is a woman! I see the value of including this article’s perspective, in contextualizing my topic, because it is important to hear the logic of resistance. Rao, P. (2009). The role of national culture on Mexican staffing practices, Employee Relations, 31(3), 295 – 311. doi: 10.1108/01425450910946488 Pramila Rao, School of Business Administration, Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia This article investigates the role of various cultural dimensions in staffing practices in Mexico. Since Mexico has gained trade prominence in Latin America, and since US multi-national companies are encountering staffing problems there, it is a timely exploration. This article adds more cross-cultural relevance to my topic, being a Latino country. The article offers am original cultural dimensions model that is predictive for staffing approaches. It recommends adaptive staffing practices for multinational companies with a presence in Mexico, but I wonder how realistic that is, given the very different ethical guidelines and laws around which they are organized, and to which they are held accountable. Ryan, L. V. (2006). Current ethical issues in Polish HRM. Journal of Business Ethics, 66(2-3), 273-290. doi: 10.1007/s10551-005-5598-7 Ryan is Professor of Management Emeritus and former Dean, College of Commerce, De Paul University. He was a Fullbright Scholar and a visiting professor in Poland, and served as President for the Society for Business Ethics. This is a fascinating article, based on a survey of business management graduates from a particular school in Poland. The questionnaire asked their opinions on ethical challenges in HR in Poland. HR ethical considerations are fairly recent in Poland, and there are various challenges discussed that are unique to the situation in Poland. This is a very valuable study to my paper because I want to include a multicultural examination of ethics and hiring practices, to avoid research inbreeding. The researcher has an interesting perspective because he has spent a great deal of professional time in Poland, as well as in the USA, and has strong interest and expertise in business ethics. Sloan, K. and Gavin, J. H. (2010). Human resource management: Meeting the ethical obligations of the function. Business and Society Review, 115(1), 57-74. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8594.2009.00357.x Sloan is affiliated with the Center for Business Ethics, Bentley University, and Gavin is affiliated with Marist College School of Management. This article outlines three main ethical responsibilities of any HR department, first of which is ethical hiring practices. The authors draw a direct line from business issues to underlying human issues, to point out how critical a role HR plays in sustaining ethical practices in any business environment. The discussion about this provides a clear foundation to justify the importance of my research topic and my research thesis. I particularly admired their rationale for building an ethical culture in the organization. I would, however, have welcomed more case examples. Subhash, P. S. (2011). Impact of globalization on human resource management – A case study of Indian industries, Golden Research Thoughts, 1(2), 1-4. ISSN No : 2231-5063 Subhash is Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Ganpatrao Arwade College of Commerce Sangli (Maharashtra). This article gathered recommendations for how HR can keep up with changes brought on by globalization, balancing the needs of employees with the needs of the company. The article was written in poor English, and at too basic a level. It was billed as a case study, but it is not. It seemed years behind in the points the author felt needed to be brought to HR awareness. Its salvation is that it brings an Indian (Asian) HR perspective to the topic, and the section on ethics can be used in my paper, even though it primarily emphasizes the hiring of ethical personnel, and less the ethical treatment of personnel. Waring. R. I. and Buchanan, F. R. (2010). Social Networking Web Sites: The Legal and Ethical Aspects of Pre-Employment Screening and Employee Surveillance. Journal of Human Resources Education, 4(2), 14-23. Retrieved from: http://business.troy.edu/JHRE/Issue.aspx?Volume=4&Issue=2 Waring is Associate Professor of management at the University of Central Oklahoma. Buchanan is Assistant Professor of management at the University of Central Oklahoma. This article discusses how online social networks are being used by HR departments to screen employment candidates. Society has not yet caught up with laws protecting online privacy and equal opportunity for applicants, but new laws, ethical and legal challenges are coming and the issues need to be clearly understood by HR, applicants and employees. This article presents a well-balanced outline of privacy rights, on the one hand, and the needs of companies to minimize hiring risk, on the other. The first author has 20 years experience in HR, while the 2nd author has extensive research experience. This article is crucial to a contemporary, balanced handling of my topic, for these reasons. Read More