In various circumstances, it is often necessary to consider issues from a moral point of view; hiring is one of the situations when stakeholders sometimes need to make ethical decisions. The task of the HR department is to evaluate which candidate can be considered for a particular position. At the same time, there are often cases when HR managers or company leaders act inappropriately in relation to applicants or discriminate against them.
The important step in decision-making is the ethical issue intensity, which is the importance of a certain issue to an individual or a group of people. In the case of Mohamed, it is evident that his Egyptian name and lack of permanent residency had a decisive role in some of the companies that ignored his job application. At the same time, cold-calling experience and attending events demonstrated that companies also pay attention to other aspects, such as employees’ efforts and desire to work, rather than foreign names or appearance.
Another aspect, ethical awareness, is the ability to understand whether a particular issue can be considered from an ethical point of view. Baruah, Atesh, and Ward (2017) suggest introducing this skill before employment due to its significance for a worker. In the discussed case, by considering Mohamed’s origin and name as obstacles for hiring, some of the companies demonstrated an inability to recognize ethical issues and make appropriate decisions.
The HR’s attitude towards applicants like Mohamed can be explained by their immediate sphere of influence, for example, the workplace, where the attention of management towards ethical problems was insufficient. According to Villegas, Lloyd, Tritt, and Vengrouskie (2019), companies need to raise awareness of employees about ethics-related situations and ways to solve them. Moral intensity can also affect the ethical decision; for instance, the company could decide that hiring a worker from Egypt could create some degree of social pressure.
Opportunity is another necessary step in ethical decision-making; it implies that organizations need to create certain conditions that define what can be considered ethical or unethical behavior. Villegas et al. (2019) emphasize that it is necessary “to set the ethical climate of a company that can result in strengthening relationships, forging reputations, and creating the ultimate success of the firm” (p. 82). Moreover, such measures include rewards and punishments for ethical and unethical actions.
The opportunity in ethical decision-making is also connected to the sphere of influence of the responsible party, which was already discussed above. Indeed, the decision can be influenced by the immediate job context: personnel, the type of organization, and the general atmosphere in the company. For example, unethical decisions concerning employees’ race or ethnicity can be more common in countries with a low level of cultural diversity.
A comprehensive policy that would define a company’s moral and legal standards is an effective solution to reduce the risk of unethical behavior in the workplace. For example, countries like the USA and Brazil pay attention to their ethics-related policies and promote diversity among employees in terms of gender, race, age, and other aspects (Vassilopoulou, Brabet, & Showunmi, 2019). Hughes (2018) mentions that linguistic profiling and gender, racial, or other features of applicants’ names are the two common reasons for unethical decisions in hiring, which is clearly demonstrated in the discussed case. Strict rules, legal regulations, and employee awareness would allow controlling such situations.
To sum up, the case of Mohamed’s job application demonstrates that hiring managers and company leaders often have to make ethical decisions. These decisions can be influenced by multiple factors, such as corporate culture and values, management concerns, and moral issues. However, it is necessary to understand that nowadays, people pay more attention to cases like Mohamed’s, and incorrect decisions may negatively influence the prestige of a company. Appropriate employee training, rules, and policies would help eliminate these negative consequences.
References
Baruah, B., Atesh, M., & Ward, T. (2017). A new framework for measuring the ethical awareness and reception among engineering students in higher education. In Pixel (Ed.) Conference proceedings. New perspectives in science education (6th ed., pp. 352-365). Florence, Italy: Libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni.
Joana Vassilopoulou, J., Brabet, J., & Showunmi, V. (Eds.). (2019). Race discrimination and management of ethnic diversity and migration at work: European countries’ perspectives. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Hughes, C. (2018). Ethical and legal issues in human resource development: Evolving roles and emerging trends. New York, NY: Springer.
Villegas, S., Lloyd, R., Tritt, A., & Vengrouskie, E. (2019). Human resources as ethical gatekeepers: Hiring ethics and employee selection. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 16(2), 80-88.