Georgia State University Moral and Ethical Standards Discussion

one:

Integrity should be a core value for every person in their daily lives and in a working environment. Having moral and ethical standards allows the integrity of an individual to be observed. The definition of integrity according to Cambridge Dictionary.com, “Integrity, the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles” (n.d.). The importance of integrity in the workplace is vital for leaders to demonstrate the company standards and wanted expectations for employees, which in turn will allow employees to respect their leaders and to have integrity with their jobs for the company. Having a leader with integrity is essential for employees to trust leadership and be willing to follow their leader’s direction because of their demonstrated integrity. If a person does not hold integrity as a high standard for themselves, the likely hood of people trusting and respecting them in any situation will be minimal.

The case study regarding the warehouse supply company demonstrates some very serious integrity issues. The first issue is with the manager Marty’s perception of Robert the employee who is in a wheelchair. His approach and the way he speaks regarding Robert being in a wheelchair is very unprofessional and lack of knowledge with the American with Disability Acts (ADA). According to the ADA National Network, “Employers must provide reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants or employees. A reasonable accommodation is any modification or adjustment to a job or the work environment that will enable an applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions” (n.d.).Marty the Manager did state Robert does a very good job, is qualified and the customers really like him, it just takes him a bit longer. He is getting the job done and while his numbers are lower than the other drivers, the modifications for the job do fall within the ADA guidelines and should be upheld. Another ethical issue with integrity in the case study that must be addressed is Marty the Manager wanting to falsify numbers because of the pressures from corporate.

Every company has a budget and numbers that are expected to be met for quarterly or yearly goals. Marty as the Manager should have been aware of the expectations and should have been monitoring weekly or daily sales depending upon the work processes. For a manager wanting to falsify numbers to prevent corporate from being upset displays the lack of integrity Marty has and to make the situation a worst case scenario to ask an employee such as Robert to put in fictitious numbers puts the employee’s integrity as risk. A manger should never ask an employee to falsify numbers to protect the manager and an employee with integrity will take such requests to a higher leader or the HR department. Robert could lose his job by falsifying his numbers and Marty his manager’s lack of integrity would lead me to believe Marty would not stand up for Robert when issues arise.

Robert will have to tell his manager no if he holds integrity as a personal standard. If Marty is still insistent upon Robert falsifying his paperwork he will have to take the situation to the HR department and file a formal complaint to have the situation documented to prevent any issues that can ensure. Having proper documentation will protect Robert as well as the company from Marty’s unethical behavior he is so willing to display for the sake of a quarterly bonus.

References

Cambridge Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Meaning of Integrity in English. Retrieved August 8, 2019

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/eng…

Two:

I think there is a major ethical problem taking place during this situation; Robert is being pressured to falsify documents in order for the company to reach its quota. After the accident management was aware that orders weren’t being completed and wanted the problem solved. Pressure from headquarters put a lot of stress on supervisors to get things done. Marty who is Robert’s supervisor is putting him in a very unethical and compromising situation; he wants Robert to make fake orders so it looks like the company is meeting their required quota. Robert was in an accident that left him in a wheelchair, also making it impossible to physically impossible for him to perform his normal warehouse duties. Because of his limitations he was not making his normal sales it the smart decision would have been to move him to another department.

I think both Marty and Robert have strong claims against the company due to their rights being violated. Marty being supervisor is being forced my management to perform unethically against his employees; Robert is being forced to work in an environment where this is constant pressure and fear of losing his job. I think Marty should do the right thing and comfort management but because of fear he simply will take it out on Robert and other employees. Robert will deliberately falsify records to please management and keep his job. The only other choice for Robert would be to see if his employer has a (RA) Reasonable Accommodation program for employees with disabilities so he could be moved elsewhere.

References

Gusdorf, M. (2010). Society for Human Resource Management. Case 3: Real Sales or Wishful thinking. SPHR.

Ivancevich, J. M. & Konopaske, R. (2013). Human resource management (12^th Ed.). New York, NY. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Three:

What are your thoughts of measuring integrity? Should organizations give all candidates an initial assessment for integrity? Why or why not?