3CO03 ASSIGNMENT EXAMPLE

TASK ONE: ETHICAL PRACTICE BRIEFING PAPER

Ethical principles and Professional Values

Human resource management employs ethical principles to ensure that managers maintain the truth and confidentiality of information obtained from members. The main HR ethical principles that apply are: justice, autonomy, nonmaleficence, and beneficence. All organizations are urged to respect and uphold ethical values in their human resource departments in order to increase peaceful and correct considerations in weighing how workplace decisions should be made. Professional values, on the other hand, are critical in HR because they define the fundamental principles that professionals (workers) should uphold at their workplace. Integrity, human dignity, justice, and fair employee evaluation are some of the positive common applicable professional values in HR (Humphrey et al., 2004). Human resource managers should have strong professional values and ethical principles, as these are essential for evaluations, professional exercises, and key standards.

Ethical principles work in tandem with professional values to ensure that employees behave properly and appropriately at work. Good human resource managers are thought to follow strong ethical principles such as appropriate developmental goals, responsibility, equality, conflict of interests, and good leadership ethics, which will allow them to develop new approaches that are required to perform workplace duties. Ethical principles assist employees in practicing respect, strategic planning, and increasing their credibility. The importance of ethical principles for HR professionals is that they transform them in order to achieve their workplace’s goals and objectives (organizations). Professional values assist employees in becoming equipped and organized with the best appropriate practices to assist their organizations in growing and expanding. Good HR professional values help to influence hiring and operational practices in the workplace (Humphrey et al., 2004). Ethical principles are also used to inform new professional responsibilities and appropriate and professional decision making. Workers are also encouraged to transform in order to maintain positive aspects of social responsibility while also maintaining appropriate positive professional values in their workplaces.

Professional values also influence how HR managers and employees approach their work and responsibilities, particularly in decision making. These values assist employees and HR professionals in displaying ethical skills and abilities in their workplace leadership and performance of duties. Ethical values ensure that professionals can demonstrate positive character traits and morals at work in order to set a good example of standards and ethics. Ethical values play an important role in molding HR managers into good leaders and role models for other employees to follow. Ethical managers and leaders inhibit appropriate ethical values and increase credibility (Humphrey et al., 2004). Employees are advised to exhibit distributive justice character traits that maintain that every person deserves to be treated fairly and appropriately with high moral worthiness by respecting the act of distributive justice through ethical principles. Another ethical principle used in the workplace to ensure that employees do not harm one another is non-maleficence. The ethical principles of autonomy and beneficence are used to increase the confidentiality and privacy of data and information obtained from workers.

Legislation and Code of Practice

To support ethical and professional practices in HR and other departments at the workplace, codes of practice and legislative measures can be implemented. The code of practice is a set of guidelines that are used to guide all professionals and workers in providing services while maintaining professional honesty, integrity, and information confidentiality. The mechanism and code of ethics that should be maintained and developed in every organization or workplace are delivered by the code of practice. One type of code of practice is a compliance-based code of practice, which outlines the laws and regulations governing areas such as recruitment and other workplace safety regulations.

Any organization should strictly enforce a compliance-based code of practice, and any violations should be severely punished. The code of practice is established with guidelines governing its applicability, and any violations should be penalized to ensure that employees follow the compliance code of ethics and practice provided (Jones, C. and Saundry, 2012). Certain compliance laws are imposed to determine which conducts and practices are permissible in any business environment. Many compliance-based codes of practice are expressed in terms of formulated laws and regulations that employees and other workplace professionals must follow. Any violations are punished, and individuals may face legal action as a result of the violations and failure to follow the rules and regulations established at any workplace. A compliance-based code of practice aims to develop attainable principles and ethics that all workers must strictly adhere to. To strengthen employee conformity, the code of practice establishes and monitors whether all workers are conducting themselves in accordance with the set and required ethics.

Codes of compliance practice are established to establish guidelines and consequences that any individual or employee may face as a result of a violation. Strict adherence to legislation and a code of practice based on compliance ensures that every environment and workplace has a good sense of moral responsibility and a code of compliance. Integrity and honesty are laws that govern how HR professionals conduct themselves when dealing with employees, customers, clients, and other parties. Through moral standings and acts of professionalism, integrity and honesty play a critical role in strengthening issues of trust and confidentiality of information and data (Jones, C. and Saundry, 2012). HR professionals must conform to the code of practice and legislation by adhering to the penalties and strict guidelines governing the code of practice in their workplace. To ensure that all interactions are strictly guided by the developed and appropriate code of practice, all information and data should be treated with great confidentiality and privacy.

As a Junior Associate in People Practice, I will ensure that the workforce’s applicable policies and legislation are non-discriminatory, fair, and equitable to all. In order to comply with the Code of Professional Conduct, I will also do the following:

• Making certain that the organization’s staff is aware of the consequences of not adhering to the Code of Practice.
• Taking transparent action for breaches or infractions, regardless of whether the affected employee is a leader or senior manager.
• In my practice, I sanction in a proportionate manner, recognizing that the majority of ethical violations are unintentional.
• Using personnel management interventions to deal with instances of unethical behavior and understand their causes.
• Identification of a code-responsible board member/leadership team member to monitor how the code is being implemented and its effectiveness, as well as to support the creation of solutions in the implementation of the code into working practices.
• Establishment of a stakeholders’ panel comprised of customers and employees to review the code on a regular basis and reflect on the risks that the company faces, including any ethical blind spots. Cross-referencing of client complaints and feedback from employees, shareholders, and suppliers, as well as occasional consent to target sectors

Ethical behaviours for HR professionals

Good ethical behaviors are important for HR professionals because they demonstrate that an individual can adhere to the set context of acceptable behaviors in an organization. Ethical behaviors indicate that an HR professional is capable of adhering to the established path of workplace standards and ethics. The ethical behavior at a given workplace contains the set of activities and standards to be carried out in an organization. The significance of ethical behavior for HR professionals is to ensure high profitability, constructive customer service, increased opportunities, increased awareness, improved employee motivation, and appropriate hiring techniques (Lee et al., 2018). Ethical behaviors are also important for HR professionals because they ensure that all organizational expectations are met or exceeded. Ethical behavior also ensures long-term and increased ethical integrity and information confidentiality in any organization. Ethical behavior also ensures that all HR professionals are accountable and well-prepared to strengthen workplace ethical integrity and establish an act of honesty when assisting business and organizational leaders in decision making.

Unethical behavior by HR professionals is punishable and has a negative impact on others. Workers’ productivity is typically reduced as a result of unethical behavior because their abilities and capacities are diminished. Unethical behavior also causes most employees to be unmotivated at work, increases absenteeism, and can lead to employees committing inappropriate actions and behaviors in the workplace. Employee morale and productivity are also affected.

HR professional demonstrating positive ethical approaches

HR professionals can essentially clarify problems and issues to demonstrate ethical approaches by increasing employee satisfaction, participation, and turnover rates in order to engage and seek solutions from employees. Contributing views and opinions in HR are obtained without favor or discrimination through interviews and suggestions from employees. Ethical approaches are also imposed on employees to ensure that they work in teams to achieve an organization’s collective goal. Teamwork eliminates errors and over-repetitive results, improving the quality of data and information obtained. Sensitivity to other people is an important ethical approach that assists HR professionals in maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of sensitive and personal information (Pinnington et al., 2007). Maintaining integrity is also an important ethical approach used to demonstrate sensitivity to other employees in an organization. Sensitivity is also introduced by teaching employees how to work in a peaceful environment free of racism, discrimination, and harassment. For instance, sensitivity training on why sexual harassment and discrimination against black people must be eliminated. Respect for other colleagues is demonstrated by providing equal opportunities for all employees to join teams and committees of their choice. For example, include coworkers in breakfast, lunch, or worker conferences.

Ways in which I can acknowledge sensitivity and respect to others within a working context.

I would treat colleagues the way I would like to be treated: with kindness, courtesy, and civility. I will encourage other employees to openly share their deeply held beliefs. Another practice I will employ with others is active listening, which includes never interrupting or interjecting before they have finished speaking.

Other ways are:

1. Being aware of insentient bias.
2. Communicating the importance of dealing with bias.
3. Increasing remuneration equity.
4. Creating a strategic training plan.
5. Recognizing holidays from all cultures.
6. Making it simple for employees to participate in worker resource teams.
7. Groups are mixed to promote diversity.

Part Two: Self-Reflective Journal

I believe that practicing professionals can implement new knowledge, skills, and advancements to improve their professionalism, particularly in human resource management. The upgrades will ensure that all professionals are up to date on the latest developments in people’s professions and career advancements worldwide. Some of the ways to improve skills and knowledge include utilizing informal methods. Reading and discussions about current developments, as well as detailed research work, are examples of informal methods. The research and development methods will guide the practice professional in replicating the examples and developing an advanced set of skills to function similarly to or better than the formal researches reviewed (Huda and Teh, 2018). Conducting research, reading, and experimenting with various development methods are essential techniques that practice professionals can use to develop a sense of knowledge and skill set upgrade to fit in today’s and tomorrow’s competitive world. Without formal research and development criteria methods, it will be difficult to progress and advance in different careers and professions in order to stand out among competitors in the job market. Upgrading skills and knowledge is an important method of ensuring that practice professionals land appropriate clients, customers, and positioning, which eliminates their struggle to demonstrate value and essentiality in job markets.

Professional development through informal methods such as research reading and discussions are critical ways to ensure that practice professionals can expand their skills and careers by learning new developments. The new upgrade enables them to become more convenient and adaptable in their operations. Professionals in practice can stay up to date on the latest developments in their careers for future advancements and proper job market positioning. The informal methods outline resourceful assistance to practitioners in developing skills and mechanisms to deal with any issues or problems that may arise in a given profession.

With the passage of time, I have encountered a number of issues or challenges in the performance of my duties and professional development. Fitting into a new culture and working environment, inappropriate time management, office harassment and bullies, gossip, poor integrity issues, and ethical values at work are some of the challenges. These issues have had a systematic and ongoing negative impact on my working capacity, preventing me from delivering good results and outcomes (Patrick and Kumar, 2012). Bullying and harassment are unacceptable workplace cultures that demotivate employees and have consistently frustrated me in workplace operations. The issues have destroyed my trust and interest in delivering good results at work. The issues have assisted me in developing a sense of capacity to become more friendly, respectful, and obedient in my work, and thus more professional. Bad office gossip and office bullies are harmful to employees and continue to disorient the team because some employees are forced to quarrel with one another. Customers and clients are also harmed by bad habits because they lack trust in a company or organization with poor working conditions.

Office bullies and workplace disagreements are known to create an unpleasant and unconducive environment, making it difficult for workers to interact and relate well in their environments. Conflicts are bad workplace behaviors that have a negative impact on customers, productivity, and output. Workers are demotivated by the conflicts, and some may even resign under unnecessary circumstances.

Ways in which you I recognize and accept your own mistakes, and those of others, whilst also showing empathy.

• Recognizing and reframing my mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow.
• Examining what went wrong in order to comprehend and learn from the error (s).
• Identifying the expertise, know-how, resources, or tools that will prevent me from making the same mistake again.
• Examining my progress over time
• When I realized my errors, I was respectful.
• Understanding the priorities of my coworkers at work.
• Recognizing and acknowledging the harm I may have caused others.
• Sharing my feelings for them.

In the process of professional development, I have been forced to accept my small mistakes and the mistakes of others on several occasions, and I have been forced to show a great deal of empathy to others who have made mistakes (Ellis and Abbott, 2019). Some of my mistakes included arguing and quarrelling with my boss, which made it difficult to get along quickly enough, affecting the relationship and productivity in general. I’ve witnessed mistakes made by others, such as workplace bullying, discrimination, and sexual harassment. The problem of disagreeable employees has been resolved by maintaining a system of understanding and sharing feelings with one another in cases of discrimination or sexual harassment.

Based on the foregoing, I believe that I am well-established and equipped with skills, knowledge, and experience regarding workplace issues (challenges), and that I can comfortably assist any organization with which I am working to address and eliminate the issues. I have comfortably covered the procedures and processes for removing most workplace issues in a polite manner in order to make the working environment more conducive to workers. There are immediate actions that should be taken to ensure that career development and advancement are accompanied by effective career change management mechanisms. I don’t need any additional training to deal with the most common workplace issues and challenges.

This reflective journal was very useful in assessing my capacity and ability to identify and analyze issues that arise in every workplace during professional development (development). Professional development necessitates the use of appropriate techniques to eliminate workplace development challenges (Huda and Teh, 2018). This brief review of the reflective journal approach is very effective in professional development because it has opened a new phase of career development and advancement for me, allowing me to handle the majority of common workplace challenges. The method has also helped me understand the emotions of others.

References

1. CIPD Code of Professional Conduct: www.cipd.co.uk/about/what-we-do/professional- standards/code
2. CIPD Code of Professional Conduct breaches: www.cipd.co.uk/about/what-we-   do/professional-standards/code/conduct-cases
3. Ellis, P. and Abbott, J., 2019. Learning from mistakes I: why it is important. Journal of Kidney Care, 4(4), pp.225-227.
4. Francis, R. and Murfey, G. (2016) Global business ethics. London: Kogan Page.
5. Huda, M. and Teh, K.S.M., 2018. Empowering professional and ethical competence on reflective teaching practice in digital era. In Mentorship Strategies in Teacher Education (pp. 136-152). IGI Global.
6. Humphrey, E., Janosik, S.M. and Creamer, D.G., 2004. The role of principles, character, and professional values in ethical decision-making. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 41(4), pp.1243-1260.
7. Jones, C. and Saundry, R., 2012. The practice of discipline: evaluating the roles and relationship between managers and HR professionals. Human Resource Management Journal, 22(3), pp.252-266.
8. Lee, I.H., Lin, S.P., Wu, C.M., Lin, Y.C. and Huang, C., 2018. The study of the influencing factors for ethical behavior intention of HR professionals: The evidence for the theory of reasoned action. International Journal of Organizational Innovation (Online), 10(3), pp.285-299.
9. Patrick, H.A. and Kumar, V.R., 2012. Managing workplace diversity: Issues and challenges. Sage Open, 2(2), p.2158244012444615.
10. Pinnington, A., Macklin, R. and Campbell, T., 2007. Introduction: ethical human resource management. Human resource management: Ethics and employment, p.1.

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