Today’s Topics BRIEF Review of Employee Rights and
Duties Whistleblowing Meaningful Work
Do Employees Need a Bill of Rights?
Ewing--YES Martin--NO
Do Employees Need a Bill of Rights?
A Right Is Not Something Government Gives You, It is
Something Government Cannot Take From You
Employment at Will
An employer may dismiss an employee for good cause, for no cause, or even for a cause that is morally wrong, without thereby being legally wrong.
Employment at Will Justifies:
Punishment for Exercising Free Speech Punishment for Exercising
Conscientious Objection Punishment for Choice of Activities and
Associations Infringing Security and Privacy Infringing Due Process
The Modern Corporation Is Very Much Like A
Government
Since Corporations Are Government-Like, Employees Need a Bill of Rights
Rights to Protect
Free Speech Free Association
During Off-Duty Hours Conscientious
Objection No Monitoring of
Employees Without Knowledge and Consent
Search and Seizure Only Relevant
Information in Files No Gratuitous Slams No Disciplinary Action
Without Written Justification
Due Process
Martin--Employees Do Not Need a Bill of Rights
The Industrial Democracy Analogy is Wrong
Government entrusted to exercise legitimate force
Costs of switching allegiance between employers is low
The Industrial Democracy Analogy Works ONLY in
Cases of Monopsonistic Labor Markets
Absent monopsonistic power, employer-employee relationships are the result of explicit and implicit bargaining that leave both better off. Each must be better off because each is free to terminate the relationship at will.
Civil Liberties in the Workplace Are Costly
The Reduction in Personal Liberty that workers Sustain in the Firm Have a Lower Value than the Increase in Earning
Power.
Drug Testing In the Workplace
Des Jardins--Moral Limits on Legitimate Testing
Waldholz--Differing Corporate Views of Drug Testing
Does Drug Testing Violate the Moral Right to Privacy?
A Right to Privacy Protects One Party Against Another Gaining Access to a Specific Piece of Information
One Party Violates Another’s Right to Privacy When One Gains Access to Information that Is Irrelevant to the Relationship or Contractually Protected
Is Knowledge of Past, Off-Duty Drug Use Relevant to the Employer-Employee Relationship?
Pro-Testing Thesis: Drug Use Is Relevant to:
Workplace Safety Worker Efficiency
Anti-Testing Counter Argument
Performance is the issue, not the cause of the performance
This applies to both the Safety and the Efficiency arguments
Parity of reasoning arguments--why worry only about drug related impairment?
Drug Tests Are Not As Efficient as One Might Hope
EMIT is 99% sensitive and 90% specific Assume a pool of 10,000 subjects, with
a 5% use rate. How confident are you that someone
who tests positive is a user? 34% of those who test positive are
actually users
Performance Testing Provides a Better Alternative
It address performance and current impairment, not past usage
Performance is clearly relevant, so there are no privacy worries
Differing Corporate Views of Drug Testing
Peabody Kidder (investment bank) tests Drexelbrook engineering does not
Peabody Kidder
Testing improves image Sends a message about the corporation
Drexelbrook
The information testing produces is not very relevant
Testing well is very expensive Testing demoralizes workers and
violates privacy Performance testing is a better
approach
Whistleblowing
Recall the case of General Dynamics and the LTV brake (p. 119)
Should the engineer involved have blown the whistle?
Did he?
What, exactly, is whistleblowing?
The action of an employee or former employee who makes public information about a product or practice that threatens to produce harm to the public or to individuals.
An attempt by an employee or former employee to disclose (perceived) wrongdoing by the organization.
A Few Distinctions:
Internal External
Personal Impersonal
Current Alumni
Open Anonymous
ALL Whistleblowing is Morally Problematic Because:
It is contrary to the duties of loyalty and trust
It violates the social norm against ‘ratting’
It subject the whistleblower to serious risks
DeGeorge On the Criteria for Legitimate Whistleblowing
Conditions that Justify Blowing the Whistle:1. The threatened harm must be serious.
2. The threat has been reported internally.
3. Internal reporting has produced no changes.
Conditions that REQUIRE Blowing the Whistle:
1. Documented evidence that the product or practice poses a serious, likely danger to the public
2. There is a good reason to believe that ‘going public’ will result in changes in the organization.
James Challenges DeGeorge’s Criteria as Too Strict:
Would Ford engineers, using DeGeorge’s criteria, have been required to blow the whistle on the Pinto? Maybe not.
Don’t we have a duty to warn people of risks, even though they may ignore our warnings?
Yes, this is simply supplying them with relevant information.
The presumption should be in favor of disclosing relevant information, with some constraints and restrictions.
Meaningful Work
What Is the Meaning of Work? Old testament--Work is a curse and a
punishment. St. Paul--Work is a necessary evil. If you
don’t work, you don’t eat. Calvin & Reformation--Work defines
character. Work is a calling. Today--It is a curse to be unable to work.
Work, Self Definition and Self Identification
Sisyphus The Labor Theory of Value The Evil of Non-Productive Work “Real Work” versus Knowledge Work
Alienated Labor and the Unhappy Worker
Labor/Management relations, the need for unions
Alternative models
Work As a Good
Extrinsic (Instrumental) goods Intrinsic goods
Why Work?
Rewards and Success Creativity and Self-Expression Essential time
Work, Time and Leisure
Modern work and poorly spent time (meetings)
“Doing your job” and “wasting time” Work time, wasted time, leisure time
- We need to study leisure and learn how to relax
Management Responses to the Need for Meaningful Work
Our Workers Are Our Most Valuable Resource
Modern Workers Want Interesting, Challenging, Rewarding Work
TQM, QWL, Quality Circles, CQI, ISO 9000 Are All, In Part, Responses to the Problem of Making Work Meaningful
TQM
Gives workers a voice in the company Extends growth and participation in the
company Lets the people who know the job
manage the job
Is TQM Really Beneficial
Divisiveness Results from TQM Strategies
Plants within a company are pitted against one another
Workers within a plant pitted against one another
QWL is a preferred tool of union busters QWL is disguised trickle down
Is “Meaningful Work” a Myth?
Do workers desire “meaningful work? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs--Is Self-
Actualization Everyone’s Goal?
Most Workers Like Their Jobs
“More interesting,” “more challenging,” and “less boring” are not the things they would change
85% DO NOT identify with their work
Meaningful Work Satisfies the Needs of a Narrow Cross Section of Workers--Members of the Symbolic Analytic Class
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