Reference no: EM132226592

A company that I once worked for had a job opening and there were internal and external candidates for the open position. After several interviews there was a job offer extended to an external candidate. Although the powers that be thought this was the best candidate, the way the process was handled was less than professional. The internal candidates were not informed that they had not gotten the new position until the new hire had already started. This was a lack of ethical behavior. The best plan of action would have been to simply call a meeting or send an email or even make a phone call to say, we are sorry, but someone else fit the job better. Per our textbook, “No matter the format—whether written or verbal, a short message or a lengthy report—the principle of clarity offers several benefits.” (Baack, 2012, section 8.3). One of the internal candidates had gotten inside information from one of the interviewers that he was top in line to get the open position and the pay raise. The hiring of the external candidate proved this information to be false. After the new employee was hired and had already started, then the internal candidates were told through email that the position had been filled. The whole process was very unethical and rude. Some of the principles of promoting ethical values such as credibility, loyalty, honesty and respect for human beings are all in question with this decision. The human resources department did come back and say they dropped the ball on the interviewing process and did apologize to the interviewees, but the damage was already done. Ethical conduct and ethical leadership as defined in our textbook would be great lessons to learn in this situation. Events like this can cause employees to have bad feelings about the employer. Being aware of the interview process and the basic follow up procedures for all managers and interviewers would have been beneficial for all involved.