Ethics and Performance Evaluations. Essay Sample.

Ethics and performance evaluation aids a business or firm in ensuring the employees maintain the highest codes of ethics when performing their duties (Menzel, 2012). Working as a human resource director, it is my obligation to make sure that people adhere to the codes of ethics within the work vicinities. In this essay, I will dwell on a crucial topic at the workplace, ethics and performance evaluations. Customers expect a form of integrity and honesty from businesses and a single employee can taint the name of the company making it incur losses; therefore, the management should devise ways of tracking employees output.

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Demonstrates integrity in all aspects of work, is my favorite statement as it necessitates the employees to adhere to the codes of ethics at all times at the workplace. According to Shaw (2015), upholding ones morals are necessary acts in the society; it applies at all times and breaking the morals is considered a wrong before God and man. My least favorite statement would be, Shows respect for the views of others, takes pride in work products, places public interest over own self-interest. The statement can be used as a loophole to the business; business is all about making profits in legitimate ways. Putting the interests of the public can contradict with the core goals of the organization thus incurring it losses (Chun, Shin, Choi & Kim, 2013). Moreover, one should do what is right not respecting others views all the time even when the views contradict with the morals of the said person.

Ranking three of the eleven statements based on importance, the first statement would be, Demonstrates integrity in all aspects of work. The statement upholds approximately all that the other statements entail. The second statement would be, Demonstrates ethical judgment as defined by the city code of ethics or applicable professional standards, the statement ensures the employees uphold the defined code of ethics set by the city. Moreover, it gives the employee room to make reasonable choices where rules are inapplicable. The third statement would be, Displays ethical behavior promotes an environment that is open, fair, tolerant, trustful, and respectful. Values public interest over self-interest and is accountable. The statement ensures employees maintain a decent workplace with the observance of the code of ethics.

The list would not differ for the hourly employees, as a difference would result to a sense of discrimination among employees. Treating each employee equally as another eradicates a sense of discrimination at the workplace. Moreover, rules should apply to all; no one should be above the rules. When forming the committee to draft the language that would appear on the performance evaluation the key criteria for membership would include one ought to represent a given group in the workplace; a representative from each side, this would ensure all employees are represented equally. The other criterion would be an individual with reasonable work experience and without questionable character, this ensures the highest standards of ethics are observed.

Resistance from the workforce due to an inclusion of an ethics component in the annual evaluation is an anticipation every enforcer of the codes of ethics dreads (Shields et al., 2015). Nevertheless, the expectation can cause the enforcer to fail in his or her duties due to fear of reprisal or discrimination. However, as a director in the human resource department, I anticipate a resistance from the workforce. Naturally, people oppose rules set and believe a typical mindset stating, Rules are meant to be broken. Additionally, if the employees are unused to observing certain rules, they tend to resist when such rules are introduced at the workplace since the ways they were used to operate would change.

Evaluating an employees ethical performance cannot be accurate and fair enough all the time. According to Mason and Simmons (2014), several factors may hinder the realization of the actual performance of an employees ethics. If a business relies only on the annual ethical evaluations to gauge its employees, a majority of employees with great potential will lose rightful promotions or salary increments, and in worst case scenarios, face termination. For instance, a business that evaluates its employees based on customer feedback, an employee may get an unfair negative rating due to disagreements with the client regarding a given subject. In most cases, employees affected were defending either their ethical codes of conduct or those of the city. To convince my boss, I would make him understand that placing my preferred statement, Demonstrates integrity in all aspects of work, on the annual performance of employees hoping to join the managerial positions or the professional staff would ensure only those with high standards of morality fill the positions on a fair and unquestionable basis.

In conclusion, ethics and performance evaluation aids a business or firm in ensuring the employees maintain the highest codes of ethics when performing their duties. Customers expect a form of integrity and honesty from businesses and a single employee can taint the name of the company making it incur losses; therefore, the management should devise ways of tracking employees output. However, evaluating an employees ethical performance cannot be accurate and fair enough all the time. Several factors may hinder the realization of the actual performance of an employees ethics.

References

Chun, J. S., Shin, Y., Choi, J. N., & Kim, M. S. (2013). How does corporate ethics contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of collective organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Management, 39(4), 853-877.

Mason, C., & Simmons, J. (2014). Embedding corporate social responsibility in corporate governance: A stakeholder systems approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 119(1), 77-86.

Menzel, D. (2012). Ethics management for public administrators: leading and building organizations of integrity (2nd ed., pp. 130-131). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

Shaw, R. M. (2015). Defining Ethics and Morality. In Ethics, Moral Life and the Body (pp. 11-36). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... & Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press.