Ethical and Other Legal Issues in the Workplace

In an era of organizational flux due to competition and globalization, companies and employees are faced with constant change. Leaders must be able to adapt to change as the environment shifts. HR has been known as the organizational change agent, administrative expert, and employee advocate. More recently they have been regarded as business strategic partners for many organizations. In order to be successful and remain competitive in today’s market, Human Resources (HR) must be considered a strategic partner if an organization wants to flourish. Top executives today commit significant resources to ensure that their company’s functions are capable of rapid change and achieving their

Immanuel Kant once said “In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.” (Kant, n.d.). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes prohibition of sex discrimination which includes sexual harassment and hostile work environment. An example will be used to help define the law that is relevant to sexual harassment and hostile work environments, along with describing the facts of the case. A view on current lessons learned and any new thoughts learned while conducting research will be put forth. Lastly, a look at ethical issues related to the example presented will be discussed.

This paper is the first part of a training manual that will help employees to have a better understanding of diversity in the work place and how to act towards different diversity issues that may arise in the workplace. It will also give current statistics and recent trends of the demographics in the United States as well as the forecasted trends. Also included will be a rough outline of the entire contents of the manual and the table of contents for the manual.

1. Discuss an ethical dilemma that you have had to face in the workplace. Ethical dilemmas

Year after year, the various departments and agencies of the United States Federal Government are becoming more diverse. The discussion of workplace diversity is not a discussion that is likely to disappear anytime soon in the future. To explain, the literature from Starks (2009) notes that by the year of 2050, minorities groups will account for fifty-percent of the population, in the United States of America. As a result, the discussion of diversity in the workplace is likely to still be a constant topic, for the various department and agencies of the United States Federal Government.

As times are changing, so is the world’s vision of normal. Discrimination and segregation were a huge part of history, but the fact is that in this modern society, culture diversity is the new norm. Companies and organizations incorporate culture diversity in the workplace due to the benefits of various experiences, language skills, and productivity. Employees are the face of the company, and if they have the mentality of prejudice and ethnocentrism, it can affect the success of the business. While most people understand that the world is a melting pot, discrimination still exists in this world and these people are at a disadvantage. Whether it is because they are living in the past, had a bad experience, or have not been exposed to it, the world is a melting pot of culture, gender, and ethnicity. Regardless of how we are different, once “we can learn to appreciate that differences do matter and that becoming aware of those differences will make interactions with others much easier” (Devry University, n.d.).

Sexual harassment in the workplace has become more common in today’s society and both men and women can be victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. “A study conducted showed that out of 20,000 employees surveyed, 42 percent of women and 15 percent of men responded that they had experienced some form of sexual harassment in the workplace” (York, 1989, p. 831). Also, most employee’s do not say anything about the harassment because he/ she feels ashamed or feels that the upper management will not believe his/ her story of the harassment, so many victims stay quiet until he/ she has had enough. Another reason why employees do not come forward when sexual harassment has occurred is because the employee is scared about how the employer will retaliate to his/ her harassment complaint. The EEOC has implemented several laws to protect the employees from discrimination, but these laws also protect the employees from retaliation. Retaliation can occur when an employer punishes an employee from participating in legally protected activity (Miles, Fleming, & McKinney, 2010). It is important to note some important cases in which involved sexual harassment and retaliation and how the ruling

Write a four to five page paper addressing how your chosen work-related issue/problem from the week two discussion is addressed by your state Board of Nursing (BON) and other professional nursing organizations. Use the following guidelines and evaluation criteria.Include level-one APA headings in your paper using the section headings below. Use a minimum of five references from the professional nursing literature in the assigned course readings and other references in the Walden Library. In addition, you may use one or two professional web sites if relevant to your topic.Begin this paper with a brief paragraph that provides an overview of the assignment and its purpose. The heading for this paragraph is the same as the title of the paper. This should be no more than two to three sentences. The last sentence in this paragraph is a sentence that begins "The purpose of this paper is to. . . . The introductory paragraph is worth 20 points.

Last but not least, I would like to talk about unethical sexual behaviors. If a co-worker comes to another employee with a problem or in need of some help with a project under no circumstances should one agree to help them for the exchange of sexual favors. Not only is this unethical behavior, but it is illegal and considered sexual harassment. Sexual harassment will not be tolerated here at the BSSL and is also grounds for immediate termination.

Ethical dilemmas are particularly sensitive issues in the workplace because the well-being of the individuals and the organization as a whole are at stake. Employees must feel as though they are being supported and not punished, and should not feel as though they were being put on display; their dignity should always remain intact. This paper examines how, as a high school principle, I would address the issue of one of the high school teachers becoming addicted to prescription drugs.

This research paper addresses the importance of diversity training in the workplace. Having realized how pertinent workplace discrimination is globally, this paper will give a broad look into the various ways that diversity is displayed in the workplace. The diversity issues involving gender, sexuality, race, age, culture and religion will be explored,

Sexual Harassment comes in many forms and weather spoken, verbal, written or the behavior itself, it makes the person uncomfortable and the end results is all same, Sexual Harassment is unwelcome and unwanted behavior. Sexual Harassment discrimination is illegal. It is the employer obligation to make sure their organization and employees have protection from discrimination. This paper will show that Jacksonville shipyard acted unethically by failing to protect one of their employees Lois Robinson. Jacksonville Shipyard was well aware that Ms. Robinson faced sexual harassment on a daily basis by her male co- workers. Once Lois complained to Management that she objected to the co-workers behaviors , instead of helping her they made

Managing diversity and equality effectively in the workplace is the core responsibility of any organization in the contemporary business world. Shen, Chanda, D’Netto and Monga (2009) conducted a survey whose results revealed the massive diversity within the British society in terms of ethnicity, nationality and religion. As a result, the Equality Act of 2010 was formulated and became law whose provisions focus on legal protection against discrimination based on gender re-assignment, marriage, civil partnership, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy and maternity, sex and beliefs (Monks, 2007). Therefore, managing diversity in the workplace is critical towards the achievement of equality and discrimination free working environment. Bhatia (2008) observed that the ability to understand, accept, value, acknowledge and celebrate differences among people with respect to race, sexual orientation, religion, age, ethnicity and mental ability within an organization is crucial in eliminating discrimination. Discrimination refers to the tendency of denying equal treatment to people believed to be members of the same social group (Ozbilgin, 2009). In other words, discrimination in the work place is related to denial of equal treatment in terms of promotion, compensation, career development, training and empowerment. Therefore, managing diversity in the work place is crucial towards the achievement of a discrimination free working environment and the

Personal values may conflict with ethical decision making if those personal values are different than the organizational norms of the business or institution. Constructing, and maintaining personal ethics in the workplace rests with the individual, and how willing he or she is in assimilating to the evolving cultural dynamic of the corporate world. Many times a person find their personal, cultural and/or organizational ethics conflicting and must reconcile a course of action that will mitigate cognitive dissonance. In order to be a productive member of society, in small groups and globally, one must reconcile these conflicts on a daily basis and continually move forward while maintaining personal integrity and

In any society, how we see ourselves and how others treat us depends on many factors. Race, ethnicity, and cultural background are identifiers of individuals. Most people have confronted prejudice based on these identifiers, either personally experiencing discrimination or knowing someone who has. Beyond ensuring organizational compliance with a country’s anti-discrimination laws, it is incumbent upon managers to support diversity in the workplace and to be culturally competent.