Ethics refers to the study of good and evil, right and wrong, and just and unjust actions of business people. Business ethics is the same as the generally accepted norms of good or bad practices. Human resource management (HRM) is the science of managing people systematically in organizations. The unique individual actor in the organization - a given executive, manager, line worker - is not the focus of HRM, rather, human resources practices and policies concerning recurring cycles of staffing, reward and compensation, and performance management inform how any person or group of people is introduced into the organization, managed while there, and exited from the organization. When these three overarching aspects of human resource management are designed effectively, the organization benefits from a management system that enhances the sustained competitive advantage of the organization. A critical part of designing these aspects effectively requires consideration of ethical concerns at each stage. Staffing is comprised of systems designed to recruit and select employees to undertake required roles in the organization. The purpose of recruiting is to provide the organization with a group of candidates large enough for the organization to select the qualified employees that it needs. Needs are formalized by
(1) job or position descriptions, which are written statements of content and organizational level of the job; and
(2) hiring specification, which details background, experience, and skills requirements.
