MINUTES – October 12th, 2005

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Association held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Asheville.  Should you have any questions, comments or corrections, please contact Bridget Downey, PHR.

Introductions:

Carolyn Worthington, our chapter president, introduced the chapter officers.  She expressed her appreciation for the members who have indicated an interest in leadership positions for 2006.

Chapter Business:

Karen Ballard and Rachel Bemis facilitated the networking group just prior to today’s meeting.  They had 15 participants.  The purpose of the group is to discuss pressing issues in HR.  It is held most months and is announced with the regular meeting announcement. 

Members who have contributions to the newsletter are encouraged to send them to Karen for our November issue.

Laura Misner is sending out information on scholarships as she receives it.

Diane Bailey-Brooks is seeking applications for our chapter scholarships.  They are $500, and are awarded to HR students.  Submissions must be received by December 9 to be considered. 

The State Conference begins October 13, 2005 in Fayetteville.  The 2006 conference will be held in Durham

The 2007 State SHRM Conference will be held in Asheville, NC at the Grove Park Inn Resort!  Our application was accepted, and planning will begin soon.  Please contact Kim Moser if you would like to help with the planning committee.  The theme for the conference is Mountain Magic.  Those drafting the application got creative and had a lot of fun with the theme.  Besides being close to home, we can expect the conference to be entertaining and highly informative.

Carolyn will report on this year’s conference at the November meeting.  The speaker for November will be the new CEO of Mission Hospitals, Joe Damore.  He will be discussing the rising cost of health care.  This topic is of great concern to all businesses, and Carolyn invites everyone to bring guests from their organizations.

Program:

Frank Pomeroy introduced our speaker, Dr. John Sherlock (or Dr. John, as he is more familiarly  known) from Western Carolina University, to talk with us about The HR Manager as CEO (Chief Ethics Officer).  Dr. John has extensive experience in the business world, and is concerned with the widely publicized ethical failures of many of our business leaders. 

Among his students and throughout the community, Dr. John attempts to provoke thought at the highest possible level.  He would like to send a strong message to management to place a higher priority on ethical leadership.  As HR leaders, we can do so much more than just keeping our organizations out of jail.

Dr. John stressed that we do something good every time we think about ethics.  He found the article by Bert Spector, "HRM at Enron: The Unindicted Co-Conspirator” Organizational Dynamics, 32 (April 2003), to be especially thought-provoking.  Some good things that came from the Enron scandal include a renewed understanding of the importance of HR policies and procedures.  Dr. John noticed that the following areas had a bearing on Enron’s problems, and notes that HR is or should be included in overall:

·        Work System Design

·        Reward Systems

·        Recruitment and Selection

·        Values Reinforcement

To clarify the terms being used, Dr. John defined ethics as the principles of human conduct on an individual or group level and business ethics as what is right or wrong in business.  He cautions against the use of the term “morals” as, in many people’s minds, it is tied to religion.

Some other related terms include:

Teleological – or Consquentialism – As we think of whether an action is good or bad, we consider its consequences.

Egoism – What are the consequences for me?

Utilitarianism – Identifying the consequences having the greatest good for the greatest number.

Altruism – What will produce the greatest good for others?

Deontological – Focus on duty, on being right or wrong for its own sake.

Virtue Theories – Not only behavior, but who should we be?

Some disturbing statistics from a recent SHRM survey include:

·       27% of employees think their organization’s leadership is ethical.

·       45% of HR professionals strongly agree that their organization's leadership is ethical.

·        70% believe HR plays a key role in crafting codes of ethics.

·        45% of HR professionals feel pressured to bend the rules:         Every CEO needs to understand the pressure they are putting on their employees to break rules.

People attribute organizational ethics to HR.  Dr. John challenges us to do more than just clean up the mess after the damage is done.  He presents a simple model to use if we want to build a culture of ethics.

1.      Everyone needs to grow in their ethical development.

2.      We need to develop our ethical reasoning, understanding on how we analyze decisions from an ethical perspective and focusing on how it impacts others.

3.     We need to question our ethical motivation by becoming students of ethics and continually learning from current literature.

4.     Understand that people don’t always do the right thing from fear of losing their jobs.  We need to question our motives and be less afraid to do the right thing.

The implications for HR are that, by being the only ones who know the rules, we are seen as the policy police.  When supervisors see us coming down the hall, their first thought is generally, “I must be late with some report.” 

Good topics for ethical discussions include analyzing where policies will come under strain, and anticipating what will happen.  It is useful to become aware of language and slogans.   Enron was seen as an innovative company.  Loyal employees were those who would do “whatever it takes.”

Announcements:

Holly Waltemeyer reminded members of the UNCA Career Fair on October 25.  Other upcoming events include a career-interest panel on health careers on November 8, and another on globalization on November 10.  Contact Holly for details.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.