Ethical Dilemmas of Work Redesign in HR Management You are an HR manager for a large pharmaceutical plant that manufactures several over-the-counter and prescription medicines. The Plant’s highly specialized jobs increase efficiency but leave workers in the plant feeling bored. Employee Satisfaction Survey results clearly indicate that employees feel their jobs are not very satisfying. The employee turnover rate in the Plant is also higher than you would like to see it. Employee retention is a big issue. The costs to recruit, orient, and train new employees has been on the rise. Last week you and the Operations Manager from your Plant took a tour of another pharmaceutical plant in a different company. You were paying special attention to how this company designed the jobs of the manufacturing employees. You discovered that jobs within your Plant could be changed to make them more challenging and stimulating, with a relatively small loss of efficiency. You realize, however, that increasing the complexity of the jobs could result in increased wages and salaries. And, higher labor costs might result in the company closing your plant and moving the work to Mexico or China. You are wondering whether your Plant should keep the standardized but boring jobs or should the jobs be re-designed and improved?
1. What are the ethical issues in this situation? 2. What are the basic arguments for and against each course of action? (Leaving the jobs as they are or redesigning them) 3. What do you think most managers would do? 4. What would you do?