Reference no: EM132900780

Handling an Ethical Dilemma in Hiring

Overview

Your assignment in this unit is to write an essay on the topic of handling an ethical dilemma in hiring. The situation is provided for you in a scenario, and the thinking process is spelled out in the assignment instructions. One way to approach this assignment is to dig in and start writing, following the steps in the checklist. For some learners, this approach does work, although it means keeping a large number of ideas, reasons, and examples in your head at the same time. For most learners, it is much easier to break the process down into smaller steps, expecting to accomplish less in each step, but in the end, having an easier time of completing the assignment.

Scenario

Regina Poincy-Zimmerman recently formed a marketing organization, RPZ Social Media Analytics, breaking away from her former organization, Genaflek Marketing. A few of Regina's major clients followed her from Genaflek to RPZ. These were the same clients where Regina served as the marketing executive on the accounts. Regina knew at the inception of the business she would have approximately three months of contract work before new business must be obtained. Regina immediately developed a social media marketing plan to gain additional business.

Before Regina had an opportunity to deeply assess her newly acquired clients' requests, she realized she did not have the labor to service new contracts. A number of Regina's previous co-workers volunteered to follow her into her new business. Regina did not feel, at the startup of the business, it was ethical to strip away Carl's only account executives who were trained in social media. Today, Regina is reduced to working sixteen hour days to handle only half of the work requiring her attention.

An ethical dilemma is a situation in which all of the choices facing someone appear to violate some aspect of a personal ethical code of conduct. One of the most common ethical dilemmas occurs when a company's culture conflicts with an employee's personal ethics. We often need guidance when facing ethical dilemmas. Here is a checklist of steps to help ensure the quality of your decision:

Recognize the ethical dilemma.

Get the facts.

Identify your options.

Test each option: Is it legal? Is it right? Is it beneficial?

Decide which option to follow.

Ask yourself some questions to double check your decision, such as:

"How would I feel if my family found out about my decision?"

"How would I feel if the local newspaper printed my decision?"

Take action.

Read the scenario and review the article in the studies, "The Ethics of Lateral Hiring," and consider the steps to resolving the posed ethical dilemma. Work through the steps above to guide your thinking.

For this assignment:

Discuss the ethics of lateral hiring and whether or not you feel Regina is justified in hiring account executives from Genaflek Marketing.

Suggest one other alternative Regina might have rather than lateral hiring.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative, elaborating on why you feel the alternative is beneficial or disruptive to the business.