ETHICAL ANALYSES OF HRM / TUTORIALOUTLET DOT COM ETHICAL ANALYSES OF HRM / TUTORIALOUTLET DOT COM | Page 2

Keywords Ethical HRM Critical HRM Theoretical
perspectives HRM theory Normative Socio-political fundamental
core is concerned with the treatment of
humans; hence, conceptualisations of HRM automatically
raise ethical considerations. What does it mean to us as
humans to manage humans as resources? Intriguingly, the
field of ethics and HRM remains underdeveloped.
The purpose of this study is to deepen current ethical
analysis in HRM, building on Greenwood (2002), by
identifying a developing ethical1 perspective in HRM that
is both normative2 and socio-political in nature. Despite
significant scholarship contributing to the development of
such a perspective (discussed subsequently), attention to
ethical debates in the main arenas of HRM tends to be
minimal and sporadic, as noted by Heery (2008) with
regard to the Oxford Handbook of HRM (Boxall, et al.
2007). However, as noted by Budd and Scoville (2005b,
p. 3), the risks are high for the field of HRM that if it does
not add serious ethical analyses into its domain it will fall
out of step with significant social and political concerns.
Societal explications of the ethical behaviours of organisations, and
the concomitant desire by organisations