Privacy has been identified to be an integral part of human life. With the high regard that employees hold of their privacy, employers have always found themselves in a dilemma especially where the organizational goals conflict with the privacy of their employees. This is usually the case where the company demands urine tests to ensure the safety of other employees and customers, and also to ensure that employees do not exhibit erratic behavior due to drug use and meet their personal and organizational targets.
Drug tests done by demanding urine samples from employees may sometimes be regarded as an infringement on their privacy. It has been identified that the autonomy that comes with the freedom to divulge information about oneself plays a significant role in employee comfort as well as overall productivity in the organization.
With the introduction of the contract model, there has been some reprieve as employees gain their moral and legal rights, while the employers are then supposed to hold moral and legal obligations to the employees.
The contents of the contract have, however, introduced a new twist to this debate as it is recognized that only information that is relevant to the employer, in regard to the employee fulfilling his or her job requirements, is required. The extent to which employers are restricted from demanding information from employees has been subject to debate as it turns out that the personal information required may vary between different industries.
Ethical grid
In this case, the practice of human resource managers exhibits egoism. This is the view that morality coincides with the self-interest of an individual or an organization. The particular rights of the employees seem to fade as the organization seeks to recruit the best employees in the labor market. Though there may be limited requirements on employment, the organization may add more in the course of employment especially when they are in need of downsizing and cannot afford to pay full benefits to all the employees.
The issue of prima-facie obligation is also exhibited. This is where an obligation can be overridden by a more important obligation. In this case, the obligation to ensure that there is as little conflict in the organization as possible so that the managers can comfortably meet their profit margins, may override their obligation to ensure employee autonomy.
On the other hand, where the contractual model is proposed the assumption is that the personal moral and legal rights of the employee will always override those of the employer or the organization. This is also exhibited where individuals may ignore their personal autonomy if it means getting a job that they desire so much, especially where there is more demand for jobs and competition is high.
The consequential theory which determines the moral rightness or wrongness of an action based on the consequences or results of an action can be applied where the productivity of an employee or the profitability of the organization may be at stake.
This means that though the autonomy of the employees may be important, they have to conform to the employer’s demands that may be meant to ensure there is no conflict in the organization or not. This can also be applied where the restrictions in regard to the demands that could be made in a contract, are hard to define.
Solution
Ethical values that have been violated
Utilitarian ethical reasoning has been substituted with egoism in this case. Employers should seek to uphold their employees moral as well as legal rights at all times.
This may at times conflict with their organizational goals, but the ends they desire should not take preference over the personal rights of other people. The extent to which personal rights are considered may vary between organizations, but their application should always be governed by the expressly defined organizational goals.
This is because employees often have prior knowledge of what is required from them when applying to work in a certain organization, and the imposition of additional conditions does not only infringe on their personal rights, but it also contradicts their moral and legal obligations to the organization.
Ethical Reasoning That Should Have Been Upheld
The managers should have thought from a utilitarian point of view as opposed to focusing on selfish means. Employers should not assume that the power they hold, especially where there is more demand for a job, justifies their disapproval of employee autonomy. The contractual model has received some criticism due to the perceived equality that it proposes which doesn’t exist in the labor market.
The fact is, as far as there is a higher demand for jobs than the available supply, employees will often be forced to accept terms that may infringe their personal moral and legal rights. The personal interest of the employer should be synchronized with those of the employees by identifying the conflict areas and exploring their relevance in regard to the organizational goals and the personal goals of all individuals in the organization.
An example is in cases where the nature of the work requires employees to be healthy due to the amount of risk involved, such as flying or operating heavy or risky machinery, it would be advisable to demand for employees medical records and maybe perform medical tests on them. The consent of employees should, however, be sought before such personal information is acquired. This is meant to uphold the employees’ rights and autonomy.
Predictable Outcomes Based On the Ethical Analysis
Based on the above analysis, it is evident that the management’s action may result to a detrimental scenario where the workers may feel left out and misused. Should such feelings arise, the workers may end up being less productive as they may fail to own up the entire workplace process. Thus, applying the concept of utilitarianism can adversely help to improve the quality of worker’s productivity.