ETHICAL BASIS FOR HRM PROFESSIONALISM 165credentials. There are ample continuing education opportunities, but
these are not usually mandatory. Required HRM education and training
could be introduced by an emergent professional body, recognized in
social policy and augmented to meet the mandatory training require-
ment. Casuistry in some form, and the need for mentoring of the young
novice as an apprentice in case study, is certainly critical in HR and
the overall role includes an obligation to respond to individual client-
identified issues. Therefore, HRM only passes part of this test. Code:
TrCaCID4.Grant of authority by a self-regulating body issuing licences with government
oversight. In the USA and UK, HRM has moved some of the way towards
formalization of such an institution and approximates a mandatory con-
tinuing education requirement. Provision of HRM in other countries
might be encouraged to advance along the same path. Code:Selfad/Auth
5.National public exam. This is not necessary in most regions where tertiary
or university level education is sufficient. The present day institutions of
HRM therefore do not meet this test, but social policy could be intro-
duced for testing its capacity to implement all of the core HR practices.
Code:Exam
6.Publicly approved quasi-monopoly.Here,thereisabiggapforHRMto
fill. The institutions of HRM are not granted monopoly status by society
and do not yet meet this criterion. If HRM did, then entry would become
restricted. Over time employers might demand a credential held by HR
practitioners. Code:App/Monop
7.Passed on by practice as a social gift.Thereisex hypothesino long-standing
tradition of HRM, but perhaps there are some traditional HRM-relative
norms and skills in human relations. Succession planning for organiza-
tions involves building and handing on an ethically responsive corporate
culture. The lack of an analogue here is a weakness for HRM as an
aspirant profession. Code:Trad
8.Code of Ethics. There are both extant and draft codes of ethics and
professional conduct, for example, in the USA, the Society for Human
Resource Management, Code of Ethical and Professional Standards
in Human Resource Management, 2002, http://www.shrm.org/ethics/
default.asp?page=code-of-ethics.htmand in the UK, the Chartered Insti-
tute for Personnel and Development, Code of Professional Conduct
http://www.cipd.co.uk. HR practitioners can seek to have their organization
adoptan organizational code of conduct.Often, HR policy is formal-
ized and in practice many norms are almost universally observed. For
example, the norm of confidentiality to all but the authorized inquirers
concerning employee contract conditions is a more or less universally
respected norm. Research has shown HR practitioners view themselves