INTRODUCTION 9New Zealand, and the USA, it has also clearly been influenced by HRM and
ER practices and assumptions.
Ethical behaviour in this context comprises four key elements: respect for
individual employees’ dignity and personal integrity, protecting their physi-
cal and mental integrity, providing access to ‘decent work’, and moderating
the detrimental effects of power imbalances between buyers and sellers of
labour. The historical role and contribution of the law as a facilitator of ethical
behaviour is examined, first in the law of master and servant and family law
and then in modern statute law. Creighton concludes that for over 200 years
there has been legislative recognition that it would be unacceptable from an
ethical perspective to leave the well-being of working people entirely at the
mercy of market forces.
This is reflected in the fact that after federation in 1901, a process of
compulsory conciliation and arbitration became established and remained in
place until a fundamental reorientation of the system occurred in the early
1990s. The recent changes are characterized by a move away from centralized
regulation of terms and conditions by awards of tribunals in favour of direct
negotiation at the level of the enterprise. Since 1996 there has been a further
shift in favour of individualization and ‘de-collectivization’ of work relations.
This process was given further impetus by major legislative changes that were
adopted in late 2005. Despite these shifts in emphasis, the law continues to
make some attempt to encourage ethical employment practices. Reflecting on
the achievement of the Australian system in this context Creighton concludes:
‘The collectivist character of the provisions relating to awards and agreements
may strike a discordant note for some observers, and for some participants in
the system. But the contribution is none the less real for that.’
Chapter 6 by Adrian Walsh (HRM and the ethics of commodified work in a
market economy) examines HRM from the perspectives of political and eco-
nomic philosophy. It argues that work in a market economy can be exploitative
and lead to commodification but not to such an extent that renders an ethi-
cal HRM impossible. Walsh argues that the market presents employers with
certain ‘moral hazards’ especially in areas where employers and employees
do not have shared interests. The chapter focuses on three areas of concern:
attitudes towards wealth, economic exploitation, and the content of work. Its
central assumption is that regarding employees solely and ultimately asmere
commodities is unethical. In essence, market institutions such as price corrode
our capacity to value goods intrinsically.
Contemporary HRM is commonly declared to have more of a focus on
the profit motive than had previous forms of personnel management, but
ethical problems arise whenever the profit motive leads to exploitative wage–
labour contracts. Moreover, market economies often place systematic pressure
on participants to increase the level of exploitation of available labour, for
example, by aggressively reducing labour costs to meet falling prices for goods