HRCI's HR Ethics Series: Common Ethical Challenges

Course Description

There are certain ethical challenges that employees and organizations are likely to face. Many of these challenges arise due to the commercial nature of business. Business owners and leaders are interested in generating a profit and accruing assets, and because of this, morally troubling situations can be difficult to identify, evaluate, and navigate clearly. This course examines ethical challenges that companies and organizations may encounter and steps for how to address them. While all members of an organization are responsible for promoting and preserving an ethical culture within the organization, this course pays special attention to the role that human resources professionals play in mitigating ethical challenges.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the learner should be able to:

• Define a corporation
• Define company loyalty and conflicts of interest
• Describe ways in which employees are likely to abuse their official positions
• Name the ethical implications of bribes, kickbacks, gifts, and entertainment in a business setting
• List the legal and moral concerns surrounding product safety
• Compare arguments for and against governmental regulation of suppliers and manufacturers
• Identify examples of deception and unfairness in advertising
• Describe the role of the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies charged with enforcement
• Apply ethical principles to workplace scenarios