Ethics in the Workplace - Essay Sample

Ethics, fairness, truth, and standards of conduct are paramount to good quality service in the hospital, and they should be upheld in all situations. In this case, the supervisor and the employee flouted these requirements. Although both the supervisor and the employee made mistakes, they have to be addressed separately. The employee failed to adhere to the professional and hospital standards by generating backdated information regarding the patients. His behavior is likely to compromise on the quality received by the patient. The employees wife condition is thought to have contributed to his sliding performance. However, unless he declares, it will remain mere speculation. Given the current situation he is, it is very likely that he is undergoing some challenges which can affect his work performance. It is, therefore, important to look for a way on how to help him cope with the current situation he is facing. On the other hand, the supervisor failed to adhere to professional, ethical, and hospital standards in his conduct by failing to take action immediately to avoid an incidence which could have jeopardized the health of the patients. Furthermore, she failed to take steps to understand how she could help the employee cope with the difficult situation he was undergoing.

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Upon receiving the information, the most important thing is to invite the employee and discuss his declining performance. He should also be given time to freely express himself and mention any possible causes of his declining performance. If after talking to the employee and he reveals that part of his declining performance is associated with the current situation of his wife, a solution will have to be found. However, if the reason for the declining performance has no direct or indirect connection with his declining performance, then a different solution might need to be sought. In the case of the supervisor, there is a need to ask him to explain what might have led him not to take corrective measures to document the employees declining performance and conduct in the workplace. This will include asking him of the steps he has taken to talk to the employee and try to find out the root causes of his declining performance. The supervisor need be given time to explain the employees performance and whether he has noted any declining his performance. If he has noted any decline in performance, then he should explain what steps has he done to address the situation. If the supervisor responds that he has not noted any decline or has done nothing to address the situation, then an action need to be taken. This includes writing a warning letter to him to improve his supervision skills or merely advising him on the need to be keen on employees performance in the workplace. He should also be advised on how he should treat employees who have workplace challenges such as the current employee.

According to Peters and OConnor in Sigh (2010), job performance is a product of three elements: nature of external conditions, skill, and effort. Since the current employee has demonstrated that he has the skill, he might be performing poorly due to either nature of external conditions or lack of effort. Deming in Sigh (2010) also pointed out that an employees declining performance might be associated with poor leadership, support or guidance from the team leaders, colleagues or manager. In this case, the supervisor might be demonstrating poor leadership or guidance. According to Stein (2009), approximately 50% of the employee agree that their supervisors are in a position to handle their poor performance in an appropriate manner while a further 27% report that their supervisors do not handle their poor performance well. According to Stein (2009), handling poor performance involves giving timely and honest feedback. The supervisor, in this case, might not have been giving timely and honest feedback to the employee on his declining performance until other employees took the responsibility and report to the senior managers. However, Smither and Reiley (2005) argued that the use of multisource feedback does not necessarily result in improved performance. Therefore, the feedback from the supervisor and top manager to the employee may not translate into better performance. The authors continued to say that even if there is an improvement, there is some performance is more likely in certain feedback than others.

Smither and Reiley (2005) added that an employee is most likely to improve performance if the feedback suggests that there is a need for change, the employee have a positive feedback orientation, employee perceive that there is a need to change behavior, employee react positively to the feedback, believe that the change is possible or feasible, set good goals to regulate their conduct, and take appropriate actions that lead to not only skill but also performance improvement. The change management plan needs to include aspects that will ensure that the feedback will be implemented by the employee as reported by Smither and Reiley (2005). An alternative to Smither and Reiley (2005) is to modify and employ Kotter (1995) to suit the current situation. According to Kotter, successful change management involves creating a sense of urgency, establishing a powerful guiding group or team, coming up with a vision, communicating the vision to employees, empowering employees to act on vision, coming up with short-term wins, consolidating achievements and producing more changes, and finally institutionalizing new methods. Although Kotters strategy applies to the organizational change management plan, it can be tailored to suit a change management plan involving a few employees, in this case, the supervisor and his junior. For example, Kotters first step, creating a sense of urgency is in line with Smither and Reiley (2005) argument that employees respond positively to feedback if they believe a feedback suggests that there is a need for change.

References

Kotter, J.P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 59-67. Retrieved from: http://www.gsbcolorado.org/uploads/general/PreSessionReadingLeadingChange-John_Kotter.pdf

Sigh, B.D. (2010). Performance Management System: A Holistic Approach. New Delhi: Excel Books.

Smither, J. W., London, M., & Reilly, R. R. (2005). Does performance improve following multisource feedback? A theoretical model, metaanalysis, and review of empirical findings. Personnel Psychology, 58(1), 33-66.

Stein, S.J. (2009). Make Your Workplace Great: The 7 Keys to an Emotionally Intelligent Organization. Mississauga, Ontario: John Wiley & Sons Canada.