UB Legal and Ethical Human Resources Worksheet

A) State weather the following statements are true or false: (8 marks/ 12 minutes)

1) Managing employees’ terminations and disciplines is an important part of any supervisor’s job. ( )

2) Warning is one of a multistep procedure that can be used before terminating an employee. ( )

3) Bribery is necessary to secure a contract from any public institution. ( )

4) Being legal and ethical are not necessarily the same where a decision can be legal but unethical. ( )

5) Corruption that starts at the top of the organization’s hierarchy does not, necessarily, passes down to employees. ( )

6) Both concentration of power, as well as, having too little power produce a wide range of unethical behavior. ( )

7) Corrupt individuals do not view themselves as corrupt, they rationalize their unethical behavior as being okey. ( )

8) Leadership and management are two terms for the same process. ( )

B) MCQ Questions: (2 marks/4 minutes)

1) Which of the following shapes ethical behavior at work?

a) Individual Factors

b) Cultural Factors

c) Organizational Factors

d) Supervisor’s Influence

e) Ethics Policies and Codes

f) Only a and b shape ethical behavior

g) All the above shape ethical behavior at work

2) Which of the following HR activities enhance ethical behaviors?

a) Ethics Training.

b) Performance Appraisal.

c) Reward and Disciplinary Systems.

d) Building two-way Communication.

e) Managing Layoffs and Terminations effectively.

f) None of the above is related to ethical behaviors.

g) All the above are related to enhance ethical behavior.

Now use your answers as of sections A & B as indicators to discuss the following application case:

C) Case Study (5marks/45minutes)

Fire My Best Salesperson

Mr. Ibrahim is a deputy sales director for a multinational company operating in the Arab region. He has just been told that his salesperson “Sami” has been stealing from the company by submitting high expense reports and exaggerating his sales volume. Accordingly, he has received higher commissions than he deserved. The accounting department has proved that Sami was stealing. The CEO told Mr. Ibrahim to either correct the situation or he will lose his own job which made him unsure what to do as he neither wanted to lose his own job nor he wanted to lose his best salesperson because it will impact on the company’s sales revenues; which in turn, will reduce the company’s profits. Mr. Ibrahim thought that there might be an explanation for Sami’s behavior.

The HR team told Mr. Ibrahim that Sami must be terminated saying they cannot tolerate theft by its employees. They thought that if they cannot trust a salesperson, it will have a negative effect on all his dealing with customers and coworkers.

Assuming that you are in Mr. Ibrahim’s situation:

1.Would you agree with the HR decision?

2.Is there anything else would have done differently? If yes, what options do you have?

3.How would you convince the CEO to give Sami a second chance employment