Teaching Human Resource Management With Ethical Lenses

Keywords: Human resource management; Ethics; HR practices

Abstract: Although the topic of business ethics has captured the attention of business education, it has not permeated human resource management classes where decisions and policies have profound ethical implications. As a result, students may not be able to identify the ethical issues when they arise and develop a robust ethics toolbox to help them navigate these issues. In this proposal, we advocate for the integration of ethics in human resource management classes. In this proposed presentation, we discuss four ethical perspectives (i.e., utilitarianism, rights and duties, justice and fairness, and ethic of care) to be used in solving five ethical dilemmas in the broad HR context regarding employee recruitment, employee promotion, performance appraisal, compensation, and employee discipline.