University of Maryland University College Human Resources Discussion

Many supervisors are not well-trained on the difficult task of terminating an employee and instead resort to other methods of forcing someone out of the organization.  Methods include giving the employee unpleasant work tasks, reducing their hours, or modifying their jobs in some negative way.  What are the ethical issues raised by this strategy and what are the risks to the organization?

student 1 (Jessica)

Supervisors are responsible for hiring, reviewing, and terminating employees. In a leadership position, it is important that all three skills are taught to be effective in your role. The hardest out of these tasks to train is terminating an employee as this is never a pleasant interaction. If the supervisor cannot properly terminate an employee, then it is the responsibility of the human resource team to stand in and provide the coaching that the supervisors need. Supervisors should not be making a work environment into a hostile situation where an employee feels like they have no choice but to resign. This can have serious consequences for the organization such as an unlawful termination lawsuit or discrimination lawsuit. With online review boards and the use of social media as well, the angry employee can leave a poor review of the company. These negative reviews can lead potential employees from applying at the company. As a supervisor, while a termination meeting can be uncomfortable, it is a necessary part of the position.

Student 2(Alexis)

Some of the ethical issues raised by this strategy would be creating a toxic work environment due to managers and supervisors do not follow proper policies and procedure to terminate. This is also creating a negative work environment by assigning unpleasant task, reducing hours, and negatively modifying their jobs. Also, when employees are unhappy, or their job is affected they in return lower production. To avoid such work environments supervisors should follow policies and procedures when terminating employees. The risk to the organization would be lawsuits against wrongful termination. The employer is required to document all the reason for termination. If an employer unethical terminates an employee, they are at risk of fines and other damages cost. This could also cause a bad reputation for the company if the public find out the unethical practices.