ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IN EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT 207Further, neither were they treated in accordance with a rational hard HRM
logic which uses employees as resources that are instrumental to achievement
of the business strategy. Where effective on-the-job training and employee
development outcomes did occur, we would suggest that they therefore were
due to fortuitousness combined with resilience on the part of managers and
employees. This might be called ‘leadership-by-default’ whereby positive lead-
ership arises out of lack of institutional leadership in HRM; and often can be
traced back to managers and other employees who resist becoming enchanted
by a pervasive mode of thinking such as one overdominated by matters of
economic capital.
Concluding remark
The argument of this chapter has been that organizations and employees
are influenced by diverse resources ofeconomicandculturalcapital, but the
preference within the field of HRM is to defer to economic capital which often
has been to the detriment of employees’ development and cultural capital. The
two case studies of employee development in an automobile company and
telecommunications company reveal the need for a stronger ethical basis for
the pursuit of HRM. Below are our tentative recommendations for improved
ethical leadership in HRM.
Recommendations for leadership and
employee development
ECONOMIC CAPITAL IN THE FIELD OF HRM
Philosophy
- Seek to understand and communicate mutual gains (for employers and
employees) to senior management - Encourage long-term commitment: challenge economic reductionism
especially when it has an exclusively short-term focus
Everyday practice
- Communicate wealth generation arising from HRM rather than be reliant
on the cost-centred approach - Monitor and influence the distribution of economic capital available for
HRM