Assignment Content

1. Review the Week 1 – Practice: Knowledge Check.Read Ch. 2, Incident 2, “Illegal Hiring.”
   Write a 700- to 1,050-word analysis of the incident, “Illegal Hiring.” Include the following in preparing your response:

   • Identify what role HR should play as a strategic business partner in addressing this incident.
   • Summarize what you would have done in response to learning about the facts in this incident.
   • Discuss what factors in this incident might influence a company to make less-than-ethical decisions.
   • Summarize a brief policy that would help an organization like the one in “Illegal Hiring” make sound and legal hiring decisions within the framework of the law and support a culture of diversity and inclusion.

   
   This is the link I clicked on Incident 1 and Incident 2
   

   INCIDNT 1 An Ethical Flaw

   Amber Davis had recently graduated from college with a degree in general business. Amber was quite bright, although her grades did not reflect this. She had thoroughly enjoyed school, dating, playing tennis, and swimming, but found few stimulating academic endeavors. When she graduated, she had not found a job. Her dad was extremely upset when he discovered this, and he took it upon himself to see that Amber became employed.Amber’s father, Allen Davis, was executive vice president of a medium-sized manufacturing firm. One of the people he contacted in seeking employment for Amber was Bill Garbo, the president of another firm in the area. Mr. Davis purchased many of his firm’s supplies from Garbo’s company. After telling Bill his problem, Allen was told to send Amber to Bill’s office for an interview. Amber went, as instructed by her father, and before she left Bill’s firm, she was surprised to learn that she had a job in the accounting department. Amber may have been lazy, but she certainly was not stupid. She realized that Bill had hired her because he hoped that his action would lead to future business from her father’s company. Although Amber’s work was not challenging, it paid better than the other jobs in the accounting department.It did not take long for the employees in the department to discover the reason she had been hired; Amber told them. When a difficult job was assigned to Amber, she normally got one of the other employees to do it, implying that Mr. Garbo would be pleased with that person if he or she helped her out. She developed a pattern of coming in late, taking long lunch breaks, and leaving early. When the department manager attempted to reprimand her for these unorthodox activities, Amber would bring up the close relationship that her father had with the president of the firm. The department manager was at the end of his rope.

   Questions

   1. 2-18. From an ethical standpoint, how would you evaluate the merits of Mr. Garbo’s employing Amber? Discuss.
   2. 2-19. Now that she is employed, what course would you follow to address her on-the-job behavior?
   3. 2-20. It may be that Mr. Garbo viewed the hiring of Amber as strictly a business decision that would ensure receiving continued business from Amber’s father. What might be some negative results of this questionable ethical decision?

   
   

   INCIDENT 2 Illegal Hiring

   The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prohibits U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials; yet, the number of violations each year is staggering. Some violations center on the use of unethical HR practices. For example, the banking industry has been investigated for its internship and full-time employment hiring practices. The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY Mellon) gave internships to family members of foreign government officials. The bank’s leadership intended to maintain or increase business with a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund. Internship programs are legal and BNY Mellon has a legitimate internship program, but these internships were awarded outside the accepted procedures and criteria used in its program. The U.S. SEC issued a cease-and-desist order, stating that “Delivering them [internships] ‘was seen by certain relevant [bank] employees as a way to influence the officials’ decisions.”129 This is the first cease-and-desist order of which internship hiring was the subject. Phillip Bezanson, a Bracewell & Giuliani Law LLP (firm) partner stated that “the concept of ‘anything of value’ under the FCPA can be ‘really abstract.’. . .”130 In the end, the bank agreed to pay a $5 million penalty, give up $8.3 million, and pay $1.5 million in interest.131

   1. 2-21. What would you have done in response to learning about these facts?
   2. 2-22. What factors in this situation might influence a company to make less-than-ethical decisions?