Despite nearly 50 years of
the implementation of equal employment opportunity laws, which forbid hiring
managers from basing decisions on non-job-related criteria (sex, race,
religion, national origin, color, disability, and age), the success of
diversity management programs (such as encouraging women to pursue
traditionally male occupations) has been inconsistent (Falkenberg & Boland,
2007). The term "discrimination" refers to any distinction,
exclusion, or preference made on the basis of race, sex, age, religion,
national origin, pregnancy or childbirth, familial or marital status,
disability, sexual orientation, or prior arrest or conviction record that has
the effect of voiding or impairing equality at work or during selection (Aturu,
2005).
Indirect discrimination: In Isa & Rashid v British Leyland Cars, candidates were indirectly discriminated against as they were asked to complete application forms in their own handwriting; this was unlawful since the vacancy was for labouring jobs which did not require ability to write (Roberts, G. 1997). Indirect discrimination takes place because of inconsiderate actions of employers that have the undesired effect on creating discrimination.
Every approach of recruiting
and selection should be useful and valid (London, 2001). Recruitment should be
selective, with a focus on candidates with a high potential for value addition.
However, if ethics are not taken into account, there is a chance that people's
ability to contribute to the workforce may be constrained (Aturu, 2005).
The following are some crucial elements that organizations should take into account for ethical recruitment: On the basis of gender, colour, national origin, religion, or political opinions, discrimination must not be tolerated. Candidates should always be evaluated on their merits. Throughout the hiring process, HR professionals must be trustworthy, reliable, and impartial(Murage, Sang and Ngure, 2018).
Sexual harassment can take many different forms, including verbal and/or written harassment (jokes, inappropriate language); physical assault (varying from touching to major assault); visual display (posters, graffiti, obscene gestures); and compulsion(demand for sexual favors); intrusion that happens at work during and after recruitment (pestering, spying, following). When hiring decisions are made based on these immoral factors, it results in the choice of incompetent employees who do not provide value to the firm (Milkovich and Boudreau, 2004).
Selection
bias (Maloney and Hall, n.d.):
Stereotyping - is
the propensity to associate specific traits with particular social groups. For
instance, you might have a propensity to hire immigrants because you believe
that their work ethics are significantly higher than those of local workers.
This bias could impair your judgment and keep you from hiring a local employee
with a strong work ethic
Halo
effect - is the propensity to hold someone in high regard if they
possess a personal trait or professional trait you find particularly endearing.
The halo effect could lead an interviewer to overlook some of an applicant's
flaws. Take into account, for instance, that a candidate arrives for a job
interview looking presentable.
First
impression - is the tendency to distort or disregard more
information about a person to match your initial impressions. An interviewer's
overall evaluation of a job applicant might be significantly influenced by the
initial impression they have of them. For instance, if a candidate makes an
impression on the interviewer in the initial few minutes, the rest of the
interview will likely go well. There is a potential that a first impression,
whether positive or negative, will have such an impact that the primary goal of
the interview, which is to forecast future performance, will become a secondary
concern.
Projection
- is
the propensity to attribute one's own motivations, emotions, or ideals on other
people. An organized and neat interviewer, for instance, would presume that the
candidate is similarly structured and neat. This kind of estimate may be
accurate, but it also has a good chance of being incorrect, and a mistake would
make the hiring decision less reliable.
Contrast
- is
the tendency to judge someone by someone we have recently interacted with. A
management may think highly of a mediocre applicant if they had just
interviewed a poor one. Contrast bias in this situation could result in the
hiring of a poor candidate rather than holding out for one with exceptional
credentials.
Recruitment should be selective, with a focus on candidates with a high potential for value addition. But if ethics aren't taken into account, there's a chance that people's ability to contribute to the workforce will be constrained. If hiring decisions are made based on unethical factors like nepotism, sexual harassment, and discrimination, and the chosen employees lack the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities, this will have a significant impact on both the performance of the individual employee and the performance of the entire organization. Additionally, it might lead to disagreement between employees because, in most circumstances, they won't be given the tasks they should be performing (London, 2001).
Video 1 - Unconscious bias: Stereotypical hiring practices
Video 1 describes how unconscious bias can negatively influence recruiting and hiring efforts and make it harder for candidates.
References
Aturu, B. (2005). Nigerian Labour Laws: Principles,
Cases, Commentaries and Materials. Lagos: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Falkenberg, L.E.& Boland, L. (2007).Eliminating barriers to employment equity in the Candaian workplace.Journal of Business Ethics 16: 963-975.
London, M. (2001). How People Evaluate Others in Organizations. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Maloney, T. and Hall, W. (n.d.). EMPLOYEE
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION: HOW TO HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLE. (online) Available at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/employee_recruit.pdf.
>(Accessed on 24th November 2022).
Milkovich, G.T., & Boudreau, J.W. (2004). Personnel /
Human Resource Management: A Diagnostic Approach. (5th ed.). U.S.A: Richard D.
Irwin Inc.
Murage, S. N., Sang, A., & Ngure, S. (2018). Ethical Issues in Recruitment, Selection and Employee Performance in Public Universities in Nyeri County, Kenya. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(5), 132–148
Murage, S., Sang, A. and Ngure, S. (2018). Ethical Issues
in Recruitment, Selection and Employee Performance in Public Universities in
Nyeri County, Kenya. International Journal of Business and Social
Science, (online) 9(2). Available at:< https://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_9_No_2_February_2018/21.pdf.>
(Accessed on 22nd November 2022).
Sutherland, M. and Wöcke, A. (2011). The symptoms of and consequences to selection errors in recruitment decisions. South African Journal of Business Management, 42(4), pp.23–32. doi:10.4102/sajbm.v42i4.502.
Tolstoi-Miller, G. (2017). Unconscious bias: Stereotypical hiring practices. | Gail Tolstoi-Miller | TEDxLincolnSquare. YouTube. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCFb4BiDDcE.> (Accessed on 17th November 2022).
Agreeing to the above content. According to Bach, (2005) allowing new employees to gain a realistic understanding of the job and the organization's culture, as well as using recruitment and selection as the foundation for negotiating a salary, are all examples of good practices. The process of organizational socialization begins with a strong psychological contract. This approach is more likely to result in the recruitment of willing individuals to make a long-term commitment to the organization, rather than seeing recruitment and retention as a management decision-making prerogative associated with a one-sided prediction of future, narrowly defined, job success.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Also, employers must be aware of the most recent equal opportunity legislation and make sure they abide by it to avoid legal repercussions. The majority of firms have a very clear equal opportunity policy to help them comply with the law and also to make sure they adapt to enable potential employees from diverse groups succeed in their applications(S.S, 2014).
DeleteAgreed on the content above. As such, considering the employee recruitment, Granovetter (1995), argues that social contacts are important to labor supply and labor demand theories. Because it is of higher quality and more reliability than information found in advertisements or from employment agencies, job seekers prefer to use social contacts to get jobs. Searchers learn very little about the working environment at a company from job advertisements. Further, Social contacts give employers information about potential employees that enables employers to more clearly analyze the applicant's abilities and shortcomings, which is why employers prefer to use social contacts when filling positions (Mencken, 1994).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Nadula. Two basic explanations are provided in the literature regarding the significance of social networks in matching workers and employers. First, by enhancing the information flow between a potential job seeker and a certain company, social connections may reduce search frictions. Second, depending on that shared understanding, they might raise the likelihood that the job seeker and the company will match (San et al., 2020).
DeleteGreat content Ranga. A study done by Sarah (2018) revealed that ethical issues in recruitment and selection had positive and statistically significant relationship on employees’ performance. This can be attributed to the fact that if the employees feel that they are not discriminated during the recruitment and selection process their level of performance may be enhanced. The study concludes that ethical issues in recruitment and selection can be addressed by subjecting all potential candidates to similar
ReplyDeleteevaluation criteria, advertising all employment opportunities, adherence to well documented recruitment policy and code of ethics and requiring interviewer to declare any existence of conflict of interest during recruitment and selection process.
Thank you for your comment Manula. According to Milkovich and Boudreau (2004) forms of sexual harassment comprise: verbal and/or written harassment (jokes, obscene language); physical assault (ranging from touching to serious assault (pressure for sexual favors); visual exhibition (posters, graffiti, obscene gestures); intrusion (pestering, spying, following) that takes place at work during and after recruitment. When employment selections are made based on these unethical issues, it results to selection of inept employee who do not offer value to the firm. This not only affects performance for the individual employee but also that of the entire organization Milkovich and Boudreau, 2004).
ReplyDelete