Why is ethics important to Human Resources? When employees in organizations make decisions to act unethically, they affect not only the company itself, but also its shareholders, employees and customers. Employees make a myriad of choices every day in businesses -- if unethical

In most companies today, the competitive advantage rests on the shoulders of it's employees. These employees must be trusted to do the right thing, especially when no one is looking. It is up to HR to train, educate and communicate with employees on rights and wrongs in the workplace. After all, ethics is one topic that begins and ends with people and you cannot separate standards of behavior from HR. Human Resources and ethics are linked and must be integrated.

Ethical training sessions can provide a number of benefits. They reinforce the organization's standards of conduct; they are a reminder that top management wants employees to consider ethical issues in decision making; and they clarify what practices are and are not allowed. Across the board, when managers and employees discuss common concerns among themselves, they are reassured they aren't alone in facing ethical decisions. This can strengthen their confidence when they have to take ethically correct stances which may not be popular.

Therefore, whether an organization relies solely on HR for an ethics program or has a separate ethics office, the HR department is depended heavily upon to provide support for the underlying structure. Approximately 37% of all ethics inquiries involve HR issues, and that means ethics officers must consult with HR and use their expertise to interpret regulations, resolve disputes and consult on ways to reduce future problems. In some cases, HR is able to resolve specific ethics problems on the spot avoiding the time and expense of a full-scale inquiry. (Greengard, 1997)

An important part of an ethics program is just increasing awareness levels. Companies with ethics programs find that many “unethical” decisions are not of deliberate commission, but of ignorance. An effective ethics program can be an important tool in an organization because as employees learn to use this tool, they become more confident in the self-regulating atmosphere of the new workplace. A clearly explained code of ethics plays a pivotal role in employee empowerment by clearing up any questions on their own.

The primary debate is whether or not you can actually teach ethics. Critics stress that the effort is pointless since people establish their individual value system when they are very young. However, supporters note that several studies have found that values can be learned even after early childhood. Evidence shows that teaching ethical problem solving can make an actual difference in ethical behaviors (Weber, 1990); that training has increased individuals' level of moral development (Penn, Boyd, & Collier, 1985); and if it does nothing else, ethics training increases awareness of ethical issues in business (Boroughs, 1985).

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