College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Miriam Brown
Jose Coelho
Mark Hill
Araceli Trejo

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Our moral dilemma emerges from the article The Overlooked Labor Force by Joseph P. Shapiro in U.S. News & World Report. This article describes the problems disabled workers face when looking for employment. At first, our moral dilemma seems to be a simple one. Should we hire disable workers? However, we found that this dilemma offered two alternatives. We either hire them or we do not. So we decided to look at the issue more deeply. Our dilemma became the issue of whether we are missing out on qualified employees because of their disabilities. We concluded that yes we are missing out on the skills and talents that disabled employees might bring the company and we developed our case around the reasons managers should hire a disabled applicant.

We present some statistics to underscore the importance of this issue. We point out the fact that 10.1 % of the population of the United States has a work disability. Thirty percent live below the poverty level and that only 30% disabled people hold jobs.

In our analysis of the dilemma we offer different reasons why managers should hire disabled employees. Managers may hire disabled employees to fulfill Affirmative Action quotas, as means to good public relations, or because these workers may just be the right person for the job. We also point out how managers may come to a different conclusion when using a utilitarian analysis of the costs and benefits of this action.

We conclude that the best alternative is to hire disabled people based on their skills and talents, just as we would hire other members of our society. We suggest that this is the best alternative because it conforms to the ideas of several ethical frameworks. First, procedural justice asks for the consistent application of policy. We should follow the same hiring procedures with all employment applicants, including the disabled. Second, there is a social contract that we have agreed upon and that is implemented by the ADA. Third, from the deontological perspective, it is illegal to make an employment decision on the basis of a disability; therefore it is unethical to take into account someone's disability when making an employment decision. Last, a manager should weight both the benefits and costs of hiring a person with a disability: The costs of accommodating this person (new technology, access to work resources, etc) vs. the benefits that the person will bring to the company, how much that person knows (experience, resume, etc).

In order to implement this alternative we need to create company policies that address this issue. Managers need to know what they are expected to do. We also need to train managers and all the people involved in the hiring process. A sensitivity training is needed to teach people how to deal with the specific situations. Managers need to understand that disabled people are an integral part of our society and that they too have much to offer.