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    Ethics and HRM: Theoretical and Conceptual Analysis, An Alternative Approach to Ethical HRM Through the Discourse and Lived Experiences of HR Professionals

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    Authors
    de Gama, N.
    McKenna, Stephen
    Peticca-Harris, A.
    Date
    2012
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
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    Citation
    de Gama, N. and McKenna, S. and Peticca-Harris, A. 2012. Ethics and HRM: Theoretical and Conceptual Analysis. An Alternative Approach to Ethical HRM Through the Discourse and Lived Experiences of HR Professionals. Journal of Business Ethics. 111 (1): pp. 97-108.
    Source Title
    Journal of Business Ethics
    DOI
    10.1007/s10551-012-1479-z
    ISSN
    1573-0697
    School
    School of Management
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24251
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Despite the ongoing consideration of the ethical nature of human resource management (HRM), little research has been conducted on how morality and ethics are represented in the discourse, activities and lived experiences of human resource (HR) professionals. In this paper, we connect the thinking and lived experiences of HR professionals to an alternative ethics, rooted in the work of Bauman (Modernity and the Holocaust, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1989; Theory, Culture and Society 7:5–38, 1990; Postmodern Ethics, Blackwell, Oxford, 1991; Approaches to Social Enquiry, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1993; Life in Fragments, Blackwell, Oxford, 1995) and Levinas (Otherwise than Being, or, Beyond Essence, Duquesne University Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 1998). We argue that the study of HRM and ethics should be contextualized within the discourses used, the practices and activities of HR professionals. Through the analysis of interview data from 40 predominantly Canadian HR practitioners and managers we experiment with Bauman’s notion of ‘moral impulse’ to help us understand how HRM is both a product and perpetuator of moral neutralization in organizations. We suggest that HRM as it is practiced is concerned with distancing, depersonalizing, and dissembling, and acts in support of the ‘moral’ requirements of business, not of people. However, we also recognize that HR practitioners and managers are often confronted with and conflicted by actions and decisions that they are required to take, therefore opening possibilities and hope for an alternative ethical HRM.

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