The book examines ethics and employment issues in contemporary Human Resource Management (HRM). Written by an international team of academics from universities in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand, it examines the problems and opportunities facing employers and employees. The book subdivides into three sections: Part I assesses the context of HRM; Part II analyses contemporary debates, continuity and change in HRM, and Part III proposes likely developments for the future seeking to identify a more proactive HRM approach towards ethical issues arising in employment. Distinctive features include:
- Comprehensive analysis of continuity and change in employment and HRM,
- In-depth assessment of the ethical contribution and potential of HRM,
- Timely evaluation of the ethical achievements to-date of HRM in: individualized employment relations, HRM partnerships, HRM and employee performance, and strategic HRM,
- Detailed recommendations for HR managers and general managers encouraging more ethically aware practice,
- Guidance on ethical approaches to leadership, knowledge management and collective employment relations,
- Analysis of alternative futures for HRM as a profession and advice on how to create more rigorous and independent professional practice,
- A vision of a more innovative, cooperative and ethically sensitive set of HRM practices,
- Clear proposals for HRM on how to attain more ethical conduct.
Introduction: Ethical Human Resource Management ; PART I SITUATING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ; 1. Socio-Political Theory and Ethics in HRM ; 2. The Ethics of HRM in Dealing with Individual Employees without Collective Representation ; 3. HRM and Performance: Can Partnership Address the Ethical Dilemmas? ; 4. Strategic Management and Human Resources: The Pursuit of Productivity, Flexibility, and Legitimacy ; 5. Ethical Employment Practices and the Law ; 6. HRM and the Ethics of Commodified Work in a Market Economy ; PART II ANALYSING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ; 7. Stakeholder Theory and the Ethics of HRM ; 8. HR Managers as Ethics Agents of the State ; 9. The Ethical Basis for HRM Professionalism and Codes of Conduct ; 10. Ethical Leadership in Employee Development ; 11. Engineers of Human Souls, Faceless Technocrats or Merchants of Morality?: Changing Professional Forms and Identities in the Face of the Neo-Liberal Challenge ; 12. Ethics and Work in Emergencies: the UK Fire Service Strike 2002-3 ; PART III PROGRESSING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ; 13. HRM, Ethical Irrationality and the Limits of Ethical Action ; 14. Expanding Ethical Standards of HRM: Necessary Evils and the Multiple Dimensions of Impact ; 15. Strategy, Knowledge, Appropriation and Ethics in HRM ; 16. The Morally Decent HR Manager ; Conclusion
