Please Give a full answer. Plagirism is Prohibited Subject: Business Ethics and
ID: 385467 • Letter: P
Question
Please Give a full answer. Plagirism is Prohibited
Subject: Business Ethics and Corporate Governance
Required: 1500 words
A secretary who has worked for your corporation for fifteen years is involved in a car accident in which she permanently loses the use of her right hand. Thus, she can no longer effectively type, file, or perform many of the other functions that she previously had performed and that are included in her job description. Your corporation has a very tight budget and does not have sufficient funds to pay for an additional secretary without reallocating budget items. The injured secretary has been very loyal to your corporation, and you have been very satisfied with her work and dedication. She wants to stay at her job. Moreover, she does not believe that she could find other employment at this time.
Question: Should your corporation fire her, lay her off with compensation, or find a way to retain her? Required: 1500 words
.
Note in resolving this delimma apply:
1. Utilitarianism
2.The Rights Model
3. Your personal opinion
Explanation / Answer
The background:
The secretary has worked with the corporation as a dedicated and loyal employee. She has worked as part of the corporation for the last fifteen years and has performed her duties well. She has met with an accident, which does not allow her to perform her secretarial duties properly. She last lost total use of her right hand.
Limitations of the corporation are that they need a secretary but cannot afford to pay for two secretaries. They have a very tight budget.
There are two options:
Option 1: Lay her off with compensation
Option 2: Retain and retrain her for another job profile.
According to the theory of ethics, we can discuss as follows:
"The utilitarianism theory dictates that the right or wrong of an action is determined by its consequences. It specifically focuses on the interest and benefit of others. The theory also determines that the action will be determined purely by the consequences."
According to the utilitarianism theory, the organization can either go for the following:
Option1: Lay her off with compensation:
The advantages of this option are as follows:
This will temporarily give her money and resources to take care of immediate needs for a limited period of time. She can invest the money in good funds and get a regular income.
She can also meet her immediate needs and also take care of her health issue. She can also go for training in another area of work which requires limited use of her right hands like retraining her to become a receptionist or a sales advisor at a retail store whereby she is not required to do any physical work. She can also opt of joining a counseling facility which will help her learn to use her left hand and compensate for the loss of a right hand.
According to the Utilitarianism theory, this will give her some time to revamp herself and psychologically work towards setting new goals in time and getting accustomed to using her left and. This will work for her overall good and will help her to recover and get used to the new situation in life.
The disadvantages are as follows:
The money will run out over a period of time. She is no longer employable as a secretary so she cannot find a job easily. Further, the inflation will catch up with her soon and she will find it difficult to make ends meet. This is good for the organization as they can pay her in one go and get rid of their responsibility towards her.
Option 2: Retain and retrain her for another job profile.
The advantages are as follows:
The disadvantage is as follows:
"The rights model states that a disabled person should have the same rights he or she would have in case he or she was not disabled. The focus is not on getting the rights for the disabled but creating a social structure whereby a disabled person should automatically be entitled to equal opportunities and to participate in society as any other individual."
Discussing option 1: Lay her off with compensation:
This is not the correct method of dealing with a person with disabilities. It would lead to her overall de-motivation and get her in a depressive framework. She would have insufficient resources to tide over a period of time but she would struggle to find a suitable job option. Further after some time, she found to face a bleak future with no regular income and impact of inflation would make her head towards a bleak future.
The advantage is for the organization as they could get rid of her by paying a compensation. They could find a secretary to look after her job profile. They would not be burdened with the liability to find suitable for her.
Discussion Option 2: Retain and retrain her for another job profile.
According to the rights model, she should be retained and given the opportunity to perform in a job profile suitable to her. She can be trained to use her left hand and continue to perform a task like telephone calls, organizing documents and customer handling. The organization could use her skills over the last 15 years to manage a different job profile, which does not require the use of the right hand. Later she can be trained to use her left hand. She is a loyal and dedicated employee and knows the ins and outs of the organizations. She can continue to contribute positively towards the organization. The rights models clearly state that she should be given equal opportunity to perform as any other employee.
There are no disadvantages as both the individual is getting employment and the organization is getting a dedicated employee. There is only a minimal cost implied to retrain her and utilize her skill set for another more suitable job profile.
My opinion is as follows:
Retrain and retain her:
The key advantages are that she is a dedicated and loyal employee. She is acquainted with the working of the organization. She has fifteen years experience in the organization as a secretary and would be well aware of it functions and different areas of work.
The HR manager should sit down with her manager and list out her skill set and find a suitable job profile which could be the job of a receptionist, telesales, customer relationship manager etc.
Then the HR manager should meet her and analyze which profile she finds most comfortable with her changed circumstances and limited use of her right hand.
He can also meet the training manager and identify her training needs to arrange suitable training to ensure that she can perform her newly assigned tasks suitably. She can be given three months paid leave to recover and visit counselors who can support her in finding ways to use her left hand to perform various essential tasks.
The utilitarianism theory will also support her overall well-being and the betterment of the organization by using her skill sets and strengths for the benefit of the corporation.
The rights model would also recommend a disabled person is made comfortable and offered a suitable job profile.
The conclusion:
The corporation would retain a dedicated and loyal employee by spending a minimal amount on retraining her. The loyalty level of the secretary and other team members would further improve. The employees would feel motivated to work for a corporation which supports employees in adverse circumstances. She would continue to work for the organization for a long period of time as she feels the organization has supported her. The secretary would continue to be paid and would be suitably employed. She also knows the organization well and would make best efforts to prove herself in her new profile.
To sum it up both the organization and the employee would benefit by investing a small sum of money in retraining her. It would be a win-win situation for both the corporation and the secretary. She would not feel like a burden on the corporation and feel that they are doing her a favor.