Business Ethics of Miners in China - Term Paper Example

The Ethics of HRM and ER Your name: Class name: Instructor’s name: Date assignment due: Various disasters and incidents that regularly occur highlight the need for companies and public bodies to question the ethical nature of their activities. Such ethical questions are concerned with whether we ought or ought not to perform certain actions and about whether those actions are right or wrong, good or bad, worthy of praise or blame, virtuous or vicious, reward or punishment, and so on. Consequently, business ethics is the application of ethical reasoning specifically to business activities or situations so that moral issues that arise within the business can be resolved or provide those actions with a sounder and better basis that they might otherwise have (Paliwal, 2007). It provides a way of looking at the reasons behind ethical infractions which occur in a business and the way such infractions can be dealt with by regulators, managers, and other interested parties in improving business ethics. Thus, business ethics helps in improving ethical decision making by providing managers with appropriate tools and knowledge which allow them to correctly identify, analyze, diagnose and provide solutions to ethical dilemmas and problems they are confronted with (Santa Clara University, 2010). This paper discusses the options that the HRM/ER professional can take in dealing with the ethical dilemma presented in the case study of miners in china, where the interests of the senior management are seen to be in conflict with the interests of their employees. It is necessary to first understand that professional HR/ ER is concerned with the creation of good relationship between the employers and employee by considering both their common and divergent interests. Marchington and Wilkinson (2006) note that employee relations are characterized by both cooperation and conflict. Thus, professional HR/ER needs to consider both dimensions of cooperative and adversarial labor relations. According to Braun (2008), the purpose of professional HR/ ER is to provide effective and consistent rule making procedures when dealing with employee relations issues such as fairness and conflicts, and processes that can affect or improve employee behavior or resolve conflicts. Employees expect to be treated in a fair and ethical manner within an environment of mutual respect created by the employers. There is need for HR/ER professionals to solve ethical issues that arise within the organization since, if unattended, they may impact on the employee morale, enthusiasm, and ultimate performance. They should make every effort to ensure that each issue is well understood and solved in an effective and timely manner. There are various ethical issues that arise from the case study, miners in china, whereby 26 miners were reported dead and eleven trapped underground after a deadly explosion at a coal mine pit in Yuzhou, China's central Henan province, on 17th of October 2010 (BBC, 2010). The mine owners in China’s mining industry have a particularly high propensity of not caring about the workers safety but are only concerned about their production. In spite of the efforts by the central government to improve the working conditions in different coal mines in the country, there has been a recognized tendency of ignoring the safety of the workers, in favor of profit for an economic boom within the sector. Having been the most dangerous mining industry in the world, China is expected to take extra measures, in addition to the closure of the illegal pits, in ensuring that safety standards are taken to avoid such gas outbursts. It is quite ethically intolerable to undermine the safety standards that are necessary to be considered in the coal mines. For instance, the blast in Yuzhou pit, owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Company Limited, was due to failure to start the mining operations when it is ready. But instead, they started the operations while the ventilation system had not yet started working (BBC, 2010). In fact the explosion occurred while they were drilling a hole to release the built-up gas pressure in the efforts of trying to reduce the risks of blasts after the gas concentration had risen 40 times higher than the acceptable levels. Such unsafe factors are supposed to be dealt with before continuing with the operations in other platforms. It is also an ethical concern of letting the rescuers battle with the dangerous concentration levels of the gas and the risk of falling rocks in the efforts of searching the for the trapped miners. This means that their lives may also be threatened in the efforts of rescuing the Chilean miners. In addition, the authorities have not been open in the extensive covering of the rescue exercise. China’s Central Television ignored the coverage of the accident and even the central government's own website did not place it as a headline. Were it not for the state-run news agency Xinhua, the dramatic rescue could have gone unnoticed. Finally, the use of migrant workers with limited training to work on the mining industry to which China heavily relies on raises questions of ethical concern. This means that China is just concerned of their economic boom by supplying 70% of their energy needs while ignoring the needs and safety of the employees. The workers are supposed to be given adequate training on the mining operations and besides, they should be given appropriate rules to follow while undertaking the operations. HR/ER professionals have a major role to play in adopting an appropriate ethical framework to approach such issues. They need to approach these ethical dilemmas in a way that ensures the interests of workers, particularly their safety is given priority in avoiding conflicts between the interests of the owners and those of the employees. However, the main challenge they have is to choose between the competing claims or interests so as to satisfy every stakeholder (Weiss, 2008). He argues that they need to act on principled thinking and use their values, moral creativity and negotiating skills in solving the real world situations. In China’s mining situation, the HR/ER professionals can use one of these approaches of ethical reasoning: utilitarianism, deontological principles of universalism, and moral rights. In utilitarianism, an action is judged to be right or wrong depending on the associated consequences. This consequentialist approach holds that the end of an action justifies the means used to reach those ends (Harman & AHIMA, 2006). Moral judgment thus focus on the ends, and thus, the HR/ER professionals are required to manage the organization in a way that organizational members enjoy the benefits it can provide as a group even at the expense of one or some of the members. According to (Daft, Richard & Marcic, 2010) employers should base their ethical decision making actions by considering whether those actions result in the greatest good for a larger number of individuals. Also, it will be morally right for actions whose net profits over costs are greatest for the greatest number of people who are affected as compared with the net profits of all other possible choices. This approach considers both the common interests and particular interests of the stakeholders, and formulates alternatives based on greatest good for all parties involved as well as estimating the benefits and costs of the affected groups. HR/ER professionals who use Universalist approach hold that ethical decision making is based on the treatment of employees with dignity and respect (Weiss, 2008). It requires that decision makers take into account the duty to act responsibly and respectively towards to all individuals under all circumstances. Thus, the decision makers should formulate their justifications as principles applied to all individual. They should also recognize the duties of responding and respecting those individuals who are affected by certain decisions before adopting the policies and actions that affect them. Moral rights refer to the universal norms in every society. They are linked with duties, i.e. one has a moral duty towards another and not to violate those rights and vice versa regardless of the consequences. They generally provide the freedom of pursuing one’s interests as long as those interests do not violate the rights of the others (Daft & Marcic, 2010). In addition, moral rights also allow people to justify their actions and seek from others in doing so. Contractual rights also have moral rules that guide the mutual binding of parties (Miller & Jentz, 2009). They require that the contract should not gratify the parties to immoral or unethical conduct and that the parties should have complete knowledge on the nature of contract in its terms before they are bound by it. This approach considers some actions as being morally right or wrong. In protecting the welfare of employees in the China mining situation, moral rights approach seems to be the effective for HR/ ER professionals. They need to recognize the basic rights for their workers, and in particularly their safety while making certain decisions. The organizational decisions need be framed on good intentions so as to avoid harming the workers by recognizing the range of their interests (Brink, 2011). Besides the focus on the profits from the mining production, the mine owners should have the desire of ensuring good moral conducts transcend specific situations. They should therefore choose and evaluate their decisions by considering what is morally right or wrong for their employees. The interests of the mine owners can be made to coincide with those of the workers through the interventions by the HR/ER professionals. They should understand the justified claims of individuals and thus consider the moral principles and rules in their duty of ensuring safety for the workers (Daft & Marcic, 2010). In this sense, they are able to satisfy both the interests of the workers and the mine owners. The workers have a basic claim or entitlement of safe working conditions which need not be interfered with. In addition, it is a moral duty for mine owners to give adequate training on the safety measures and procedures that need be taken while undertaking the operations to avoid explosions which threaten their safety while undertaking the operations. For increased employee involvement, the business owners need to consider the interests of their employees rather than being interested in increasing their business profits. The role of the HR/ER professionals is thus ensuring there is balance between the interests of the owners and the workers. The accident in the China case study clearly indicates that there were no ethical considerations for the workers in the mining operation. Their safety was neglected and the mine owners were only concerned of getting more profits. In such a situation, the HR/ER professionals can best solve the ethical dilemma by focusing on the moral rights approach. They should devise and uphold codes of practice to ensure ethical conflicts and trade-offs are avoided and that the decisions made in the organization should not affect the rights of others. They should also encourage the envisioning of professionalism in the operations by ensuring all safety factors, such as the condition of ventilations among others, have been taken into consideration before the mining activities in avoiding explosions and other dangers that may arise. Works Cited BBC (2010) China mine blast kills 26 and leaves 11 trapped, BBC News on-line, 17 October. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11557581 Braun, M. (2008). Drawing on Relevant Theories of Business Ethics, Examine Managerial Approaches Used in Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas. New York: GRIN Verlag Brink, A. (2011). Corporate Governance and Business Ethics. Ethics Economy Journal, 39 (1), 1-18, Daft, R. & Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding Management. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning Harman, L. & AHIMA. Ethical Challenges in the Management of Health Information. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Marchington, M. & Wilkinson, A (2006). Human Resource Management at Work: People Management and Development. London: CIPD Publishing. Miller, R. & Jentz, G (2009). Fundamentals of Business Law: Excerpted Case. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Paliwal, M. (2007). Business Ethics. London: New Age International. Santa Clara University (2010). A Framework for Thinking Ethically. Ethics Home Page. Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html Weiss, J. (2008). Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Appendix 1. CASE STUDY 1: Miners in China BBC (2010) China mine blast kills 26 and leaves 11 trapped, BBC News on-line, 17 October, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11557581 Rescue efforts are underway after a deadly explosion at a coal mine in China's central Henan province. The blast at the pit in Yuzhou killed 26 miners and left another 11 trapped underground. State media said the mine had been hit by a "sudden coal and gas outburst" which unleashed tonnes of coal dust. A rescue official told the China News Service it could take four days to reach the men and there was little chance they would be found alive. China's mining industry is the most dangerous in the world - more than 2,600 miners were killed in accidents in 2009. The government has shut down more than 1,000 illegal pits this year as part of efforts to improve safety standards. The latest blast happened early on Saturday at the Yuzhou pit, which is owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co Ltd, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The national work safety agency said the explosion occurred as miners were drilling a hole to release pressure from a gas build-up as part of efforts to decrease the risk of blasts. The gas concentration inside the mine was reported to have been at 40%, which is 40 times higher than normal acceptable levels. More than 70 rescuers are battling dangerous levels of gas and the risk of falling rocks as they work to free the trapped miners. "There is not much of a chance that the 11 trapped miners could have survived and it will take three to four days to find them," said Du Bo, deputy director of the rescue operation. Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, had said on Saturday the missing men could still be found safely. "All the trapped people under the mine can be located, and then we send people to those located places to rescue the trapped. I think our goal is clear," he said. Relatives of the dead and missing miners have criticised the safety standards at the mine. "This place is not even safe, they started operations even before it was ready," the mother of one missing miner was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Chinese people watched the dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners along with the rest of the world. Coverage of the event was shown live on state-run television. But the authorities have not been as open when it comes to reporting their own mining accidents. The effort to find a group of miners trapped beneath ground at a colliery in Henan Province has not received extensive coverage. On Sunday morning, as rescuers presumably continued their search for the miners, the state-run news agency Xinhua had little to say beyond the bare facts. China Central Television's 10am news round-up did not even mention the accident - instead choosing to highlight the fact that it is now cheaper for Chinese youngsters to study abroad because of beneficial exchange rates. And on the central government's own website the accident was not even a headline. "They don't care about the workers' safety, they only care about their production." The brother of one of the miners killed said the pit should not have been operating as the ventilation system was not working. There has also been official criticism of the mine owners, blaming them for ignoring safety warnings. "Since you were planning to deal with the unsafe factors [at the mine], why didn't you stop the operation at other platforms first and then deal with it?," Luo Lin, head of the work safety administration, asked the owners in a press conference. He said it was fortunate that explosion had not caused a fire, meaning most of the 276 people who had been working in the mine at the time had been able to escape. China is heavily reliant on its mining industry, with coal supplying some 70% of its energy needs. Many of those employed in mines are migrant workers with limited training. The central government has made improving conditions in the country's 25,000 coal mines a priority, and the number of deaths has fallen from nearly 7,000 in 2002 to 2,631 last year. In April, 115 miners were rescued alive from a flooded mine in Shanxi province after spending more than a week underground. The National Energy Administration (NEA) closed 1,539 small and dangerous coal mines this year as part of restructuring efforts, said Xinhua. But safety rules have often been ignored in favour of profit, as the economy has boomed. Read More