260 PROGRESSING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
A question of ethics
In recent years, more attention has been given to ethics in the HRM domain.
The initial developments appear to have taken place in the broader domain
of business ethics (e.g. Donaldson 1989; Snell 1993). The debate has received
further impetus following a spate of widely publicized business and financial
scandals in the financial capitals of the West. These are merely the tip of the
iceberg; corruption, misuse, and outright theft of corporate assets, abuse of
high office, and greed are common features of business around the world. In
this chapter, our specific concern is how the emergent developments in ethics
in HRM resonate, if at all, with the appropriation of knowledge. We can begin
by noting that the business ethics debate has revolved around the obligations
business has towards specific stakeholders and the society at large.
The issue of how ethics or an ethical dimension can be fostered amongst
managers has been one of the more prominent themes (e.g. Snell 1993) espe-
cially where there are serious concerns about widespread corruption and other
questionable business practices. In understanding the connection between
ethics and HRM, there still remains much work to be done. Researchers have
been grappling with the philosophical roots of the ethical dimension, and ways
in which an ethical dimension can be built into the HRM debate (e.g. Legge
1995; Miller 1996; Winstanley and Woodall 2000b). Others have focused their
attention on the ethical dilemmas faced by HR specialists and how they resolve
these dilemmas that result from business demands (e.g. Foote and Robinson
1999; Snell 1996). Similarly, Foote (2001) found that organizational values
have an impact on ethical behaviour yet there are issues of ethical inconsis-
tency and even hypocrisy in the link between values and the management
of people in charities. According to Winstanley and Woodall (2000a: 5), the
debates on ethical perspectives pertain largely to business ethics and ‘only
touch on employee interests as one of several stakeholders or only to the
extent that employees might suffer adversely in terms of health and personal
integrity as a consequence of their role in producing the organization’s goods
and services’.
These authors seek to show that given the neglect of the ethical perspective
by HRM, both HR academics and professionals should concern themselves
with raising ethical awareness and sensitivity. However, creating greater aware-
ness and sensitivity is easier said than done. This is particularly difficult to
achieve across the organization in its entirety, and has led some observers to
the conclusion that the HR function is the right place to locate the conscience
of the organization and therefore the most appropriate locale for assembling
and disseminating this elusive ethical dimension. For example, Woodd (1997)
sees HR professionals as playing a crucial role by virtue of their input into
policy design and implementation. She urges HR professionals to take on