Description of the situation
Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to strategic approach that helps in effectively managing the workers within an organization. It helps a business in gaining competitive advantage. It helps in maximising the performance of the employees that helps an employer in meeting the strategic objectives. Human resources helps in managing the people in an organization on the basis of the policies and the systems. The department pertaining to human resources of an organization helps in overseeing the employee-benefit design, recruitment and the performance appraisal. The human resources deal with that of the organizational change along with the industrial relations. It helps in balancing the organizational practices with the requirements that arise from that of the governmental laws. Business Ethics refer to study of business policies and the practices in relation to issues like bribery, discrimination and corporate governance. Business ethics helps in providing basic framework that the business can follow for gaining the public acceptance. Business ethics helps in ensuring that here exists trust between the consumers and that of the business. Business ethics helps in reconciling what the companies should do legally that can help them in maintaining an edge in the market. This report discusses about a business situation that exhibits unethical behaviour on the part of management of an organization. It also discusses about the different options that can help a company in resolving conflict. The report makes use of HRM strategies for discussing the issue. It also talks about the importance of ethical and professional behaviour in an organization.
Equifax has been instrumental in disclosing important data about the Americans that can affect a large part of US population. The company helps in keeping track about financial affairs of the Americans that can help them in gauging risk that they can face for the borrowing of money. The company has a lot of sensitive information and disclosing the data can put into jeopardy the financial lives of many Americans (Apnews.com., 2018). Equifax has invited a lot of anger owing to its activities and it has breached trust of the employees of company. The hacking was discovered earlier but it was announced that was unethical from the point of view of the company. The people who were trying to find whether they had been affected got some information that confused them. The number that was being called by the people was received by uninformed representatives that created complication for the company. The phones lines were jammed that created complication for the consumers. There were many people who did not get any kind of response but a notice which stated that they could come back at a later point of time for registering for the purpose of identity protection (Jouini & Rabai, 2016). There has been rise in relation to data collection which has placed pressure on the organizations for preserving privacy while at the same time leveraging the data for that of the business purpose. Sensitive data can create liabilities in the case of a breach. The threats to data can be diverse and it can jeopardise the welfare of the workers of an organization.
Ways of addressing conflict
Equifax data breach scandal can be said to be the worst among the breaches owing to its immense scale. The hackers were able to procure complete data of the company that posed a threat to the security of the company. The hackers can steal vital information about a person that was disastrous for the reputation of the company. The hackers would be able to take out the credit card of the name of the people and they would not be able to know anything about it (Safa & Von Solms, 2016). The Equifax data breach can make the victim face serious financial danger. The situation turned out to be more complex because Equifax knew about the incident of the data breach since the month of July but no step was taken that can help in mitigating the crisis. The gravity of the situation was because of the fact that the company had waited for six weeks till the month of September before the information was released. The severity of the situation was due to the fact that there could have been several people who may have been jeopardized owing to the stealing of important information. Equifax do not provide the people with any kind of chance that can help them in preparing and preventing the loss. This incident raised question as to whether the managing of the crisis was done in an ethical manner by Equifax.
The executives of Equifax took the advantage of that of the information which they had in relation to the data breach. John Gamble who was the Chief Financial Officer of that of Equifax had sold a large number of the shares in the first week when Equifax found out regarding the catastrophic incident. This raised issue in relation to ethics as it diverted the incident from mismanagement to one that had a criminal intent. It was stated at that time by the spokesperson of Equifax that Chief Financial Officer was not aware regarding the data breach. The questions arose because of the fact that how can someone who was of the stature of that of Chief Financial Officer could not be aware regarding this incident of such a large magnitude. It accounted to be unethical behaviour on the part of Equifax that caught the attention of the public.
The human resources (HR) of the organization should encourage the workers to speak up in the event of a breach taking place within the organization. The human resources should ask the people who are instrumental in handling the Personally Identifiable Information to speak up that can help in addressing the conflict in the case of data breach of company (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The human resources should notify appropriate staff that can help in resolving conflict in the case of a data breach. The human resources department of an organization should provide notices to the employees in the case of compromising of information. The human resources should forensically investigate into the computer system of the employees of the organization. Investigative measures should be taken by the HR of Equifax that can help in monitoring the aspect of data usage of the company. The matching model of HRM helps in achieving organizational objectives by application of five functions related to HRM in a very effective manner. The contribution of that of the human resources has to be evaluated by making use of the appropriate techniques. The employees in a company should be provided with rewards on the basis of performance of the employees in an organization. This theory holds that the process of HRM is a cyclical process within which every function can be said to be interdependent (Bratton & Gold, 2017). The matching model talks about the utilization of the functions of HRM in a manner that is comprehensive. The human resources of Equifax taking into account the activities of each employees of the organization can help them in case of any crisis emerging in the company.
The human resources in an organization should take care of the fact that data security measures are embedded in that of the business practice of Equifax. The system in Equifax should be designed with that of integrated security that can help in protecting the computer systems of Equifax from any kind of data breach. Safe coding practices should be followed at the time of building of a system. Security can be built into that of the business process of Equifax that can be crucial for safeguarding the data of a company. There should be a position of that of information security officer that can help in taking charge of that of cyber security within that of the organization (Brewster, Chung & Sparrow, 2016). Security aspects should be added after that of the enterprise architecture that can help in safeguarding the IT system of the company. The HR of the organization should influence senior management of the company that can help in preventing incidences of any kind of data threat. The HR in the organization should follow the security procedures that can play an important role in resolving any kind of issue related to data breach. Organizations should engage in needs analysis that can help in the determination of the system that should be purchased by the organization. The needs analysis can help in deciding what system can do and the technical specifications that the equipments should have in an organization. The vendors should be evaluated by the company in the case of breach of any kind of data privacy. The human resources of an organization should build a culture of compliance that can help in bringing together representatives from the different business functions of Equifax like I.T., Finance and the HR. Social Systems Theory in relation to HR helps in the aspect of understanding and planning of the organization (Marchington et al., 2016). Systems theory is indicative of management methodology that helps in analysing about an organization. Systems theory states the fact that the success of an organization is dependent on synergy and the interdependence that exist between the various subsystems (Cavusoglu et al., 2015). Employee relations is indicative of the creation of a collaborative group dynamic that can help in increasing the efficiency of an organization. Synergy can help in bringing together the different departments of the organization and it can help in the creation of a workplace environment that works in a collaborative manner. The companies having strong relationship with the employees can help in the creation of a atmosphere that supports the aspect of creativity along with innovation.
The HR should investigate into the smartphones and the data storage devices of that of the company for addressing the conflict that can arise in the case of data breach. The HR should get the consent of the employees in organization so that they can access the company data which can be involved in the case of the data breach. Complexity can have an impact on the ability of an organization in relation to responding to that of the data breach. The HR in Equifax should carry out vulnerability identification along with risk identification that can be helpful in the case of a data breach. The HR of Equifax should make a Risk Management Plan that can help in the aspect of managing of risk (Albrecht et al., 2015). The usage of the cloud based applications along with data sharing have increased the chances of that of data breach and the IT security of a company cannot monitor the growing workforce. The security standards should be set clear by the HR of Equifax that can help in producing an accountable system. Training has limitations and it cannot always help the employees in matching the security needs of the organization. The HR department of an organization should work in a cohesive manner with that of the IT function that can help in mitigation of any kind of chances in relation to security breach (Soomro, Shah & Ahmed, 2016). The contingency theory can be applied by the HR of Equifax that can help in the creation of an ideal structure that is dependent on the dynamics of that of internal sub-system. The organizational structure can have great consequences on the relationships that the company has with the employees that makes the contingency theory highly relevant in the case of any kind of data security breach.
The option that I would choose as an HR in the case of data security breach is that I would investigate into the computer systems of the company that can help in revealing important information regarding that of the data security breach. Cloud based applications should be reviewed by the Human Services of Equifax that can help in bringing forward the reasons behind that of the data security theft of the company. I would work alongside with that of the IT team of Equifax that can help in revealing the identity of the employees who are involved in that of the data security breach of the company. I would make the investigation plan along with that of the external lawyers. I would install the anti-malware software that can help in detection in the case of a data security breach. I would destroy the restricted data that can help me in managing the issue of that of data security breach. I would make a trained professional check for that of application security vulnerabilities that can help me in finding the areas that needs scrutiny in the case of data security breach. I would communicate the details to that of the appropriate internal personnel that can help me in the case of managing the issue of data security breach. I would review the e-mails and the internet records that can help in revealing vital information pertaining to data security breach. The HR would understand the security limitations that are in place that can help in the elimination of the avenues of the investigation. A notification should be made to that of the Information Commissioners’s Office that can help in revealing important information pertaining to data security at Equifax. I would notify the regulator at that of the appropriate time and in a manner that is right. In the event of the information coming from the third parties within that of data ownership chain, it has to be considers that to what extent the contracts have obligations related to reporting. I would try to identify the recipients of the third party that can help in ascertaining whether it would be possible to handle breach by recovering of the information. I would try to focus on how to recover the data before it is spread and if any alternative course of the action was necessary.
Conclusion
Human Resource Management can help in managing the employees within an organization that can help a business in rising ahead of the competitors. Equifax has sensitive information and the revealing of the data can put into threat the lives of the Americans. Equifax has invited criticism as it has breached the trust of that of employees of company. The hacking was unethical on the part of the company. The data breach scandal of Equifax can be said to be the worst owing to the massive scale of the security breach. The hackers got all the data of company that posed harm to that of security of company. The stealing of important information by the hackers would severely harm that of the reputation of company. The human resources should ask workers in speaking up in relation to event that can help in disclosing crucial information about the data security breach. Human Resources should ask the people who handle Personally Identifiable Information that can address conflict at the time of data security breach. Human Resources should embed data security measures that can help in addressing the challenge of data security breach. The coding practices that should be followed should be safe that would be helpful in dealing with the data security breach. I would carry out investigation into that of computer system of company that can help in unravelling important information about the data security threat of the company. I would review the cloud applications of Equifax that can bring forward reasons of that of data security breach.
References:
Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015). Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), 7-35.
Apnews.com. (2018). Getting up to speed on the Equifax data breach scandal. Retrieved from https://www.apnews.com/6c421e44a081451a821732b7f7ed03de
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., Chung, C., & Sparrow, P. (2016). Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.
Cavusoglu, H., Cavusoglu, H., Son, J. Y., & Benbasat, I. (2015). Institutional pressures in security management: Direct and indirect influences on organizational investment in information security control resources. Information & Management, 52(4), 385-400.
Jouini, M., & Rabai, L. B. A. (2016). A security framework for secure cloud computing environments. International Journal of Cloud Applications and Computing (IJCAC), 6(3), 32-44.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., & Kynighou, A. (2016). Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Safa, N. S., & Von Solms, R. (2016). An information security knowledge sharing model in organizations. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 442-451.
Safa, N. S., Von Solms, R., & Furnell, S. (2016). Information security policy compliance model in organizations. Computers & Security, 56, 70-82.
Soomro, Z. A., Shah, M. H., & Ahmed, J. (2016). Information security management needs more holistic approach: A literature review. International Journal of Information Management, 36(2), 215-225.
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