Ethics

Ethics

Read the following scenario that is not uncommon in organizations, then answer any three questions from the list below.

Scenario:

You are the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for your company. Early on, the company had little diversity, with most of the 1,000 employees being white males. A few years ago the company began executing a new strategy that included increasing diversity, and had some success in this effort. The current 1200-person workforce is 30% female and 40% African American and Hispanic/Latino.

The last two quarters have not been good for the company. It lost some major accounts and you feel that you must temporarily reduce your costs though lay-offs. The financial situation is expected to turn around in six to nine months.

As a reminder, you should answer three questions from the list below, and respond to three posts made by others. Each question has a prompt in the post section of the discussion board.

1. What are the strategic benefits and challenges of employee diversity?

2. What are the legal issues that should be considered when planning lay-offs?

3. What criteria should you use to decide who will be laid off? For example, could you use seniority? Could you use performance? Does loyalty have any role? (Several years ago many long-tenured employees could have left the organization for better pay but did not take the opportunity.) Consider business and ethical perspectives.

4. Based on your investigation into the previous questions – what are your responses to the following:
1. Would you use lay-offs to temporarily cut costs? Explain your response.
2. How would you decide who should be laid off? Explain your response.
3. Are there any other actions you could take? Explain your response.