Business Ethics: How to Design and Manage Ethical Organizations

Part 1

This is a very common case in our workplaces and it fixes employees in an ethical dilemma. I'm an honest person and I believe taking the truth even if it will hurt me. Truth sets one free and you don't have to live with the guilt. Code of ethics and conducts are significant tools for encouraging ethical behavior at work (chapter 5, Pg. 135). In this case, I would have told the president the plain truth; we never attended the leadership seminar. I feel its good to take responsibility for your actions and telling the president the truth would be the best idea. If I lie and later the president come to know that we never attended the seminar, I will be in trouble. Telling the truth would make the president call the other members and warn of a similar instance in the future. Otherwise, the same practice would happen again and the company would continue losing more money and working time.

Part 2

Background checks are very important, especially when it comes to high-security jobs or ones that require high interaction with the public (Chapter 3. Pg. 84) I agree that academic background check is necessary since no manager would love to have an incompetent employee in their workplace. Many people have lied in their resume about their academic background and experience but fail to perform in the workplace since they don't have the skills they stated in their resume. As an employer, I would conduct a thorough background check on every candidate before hiring them.

Many companies have found themselves on the wrong side of the law by hiring people with criminal records. Background checks on employee's criminal records and credit checks are necessary as it gives you a clear behavioral picture of the person you are hiring (Chapter 3. Pg. 84). As a manager, I would make sure that every candidate is properly screened of their criminal record before they join the company. lastly, social media, especially Facebook, is one platform that managers should use to have a background check on a certain candidate wishing to join them. By just searching the name of the candidate, the manager is able to get the kind of person the candidate is. I agree social media background check is necessary.

Reference

Collins, D. (2012). Business ethics: how to design and manage ethical organizations. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.