THE ETHICS OF HRM 43choice is fully informed and freely made, this implies no loss of negative free-
dom. However, such an argument would be undermined by the most extreme
manifestations of collectivism, namely the closed shop and lack of secret
balloting.
The ethics of individualism are evident from Berlin’s arguments. Positive
and negative freedoms are about the values of rational individual autonomy
(a value in itself, quite apart from being a route to want satisfaction) and of
self-creation through unimpeded choice. A collectivist critique might argue
that rampant individualism, unimpeded by any notion of a collective good
derived through social contract, results, not in the good life, but one that is
‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’, to use Hobbes’ famous words. The
Rawlsian ‘egalitarian theory of justice’ (Rawls 1971), that each person should
have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with like
liberty for others and that social and economic inequalities should exist only
where they are reasonably expected to be to everyone’s advantage and attached
to positions open to all, preserves the notions of individual autonomy and
choice but within the bounds of social justice.
This is an abstract discussion of the ethics of collectivism and individual-
ism. In the next section, I will apply Berlin’s ideas to two groups of employees
which, in the private sector at least, tend not to be unionized: knowledge work-
ers and routine service sector workers. Do they enjoy positive and negative
liberty at work without collective representation?
Rational autonomy and unimpeded choice at work?
THE KNOWLEDGE WORKER
Knowledge workers are those who possess either job or organizational knowl-
edge that are recognized as essential to organizational effectiveness. In terms
of the resource-based value perspective, these are the employees that are core
in developing an organization’s unique, valuable, scarce, and inimitable com-
petencies (Barney 1991). Some of these workers, for example, the liberal pro-
fessions and those professionals working in public sector bureaucracies, are
likely to be collectively represented, either through professional associations
or unions. Those that are professionals or managers in the private sector,
such as Reich’s ‘symbolic analysts’ (1991) or Ohmae’s ‘transnational man’
(sic) (1989) are more likely to be on individualized, personally negotiated,
contracts. Where such employees are considered to be the core asset of an
organization, their individual bargaining power is likely to be high.