THE MORALLY DECENT HR MANAGER 277certain moral principles because they accord with unencumbered reason
seems to me to be inherently more complicated than asserting that they should
follow the principles because that is what decent people in the manager’s own
organization and wider community do. To say to resistant managers that they
should follow a principle because ‘it accords with what a group of people in
an original position deliberating behind a veil of ignorance would agree to,’
I suggest, is unlikely to succeed. The distance such a justification would have
from the everyday life of the manager is likely to be far too great. The image
of the decent person embedded in that manager’s own community does not
have to cross such a divide and is likely to be more persuasive.
Second, and related to the above, HR managers are likely to find Heller’s
approach useful because it appeals to principles that have emerged over time
in discussions between decent people and thus it enables HR managers to
point to the widespread acceptance of such principles within their commu-
nity. Helpfully, the appeal will also be based in claims that the principles are
universally embedded across modern societies and can be used because they
are a part of the culture and history of such societies. This I suggest will be
more convincing than arguments that they should be followed because they
stand outside every community’s history and culture.
Further support for the efficacy of Heller’s argument here is that, given her
guidelines are derived from discussion with decent people in modern societies,
it is likely they will resonate in the lives of HR managers and that of managers
they interact with. HR managers will be advocating principles that are not
foreign to them nor to other managers. Research that I have undertaken (see
Macklin 2001, 2003a) shows that many of Heller’s norms and principles are
similar to those advocated by HR managers and that they identify with many
of the other norms and principles put to them from Heller’s list.
Third, Heller’s moral theory is useful to HR managers because it takes
seriously the existence of moral diversity, but provides guidelines for accom-
modating differences. By articulating moral norms and maxims that span the
cultural and moral diversity of modern societies, Heller provides a framework
that enables HR managers to accept diversity but nevertheless make decisions
or advocate conduct that transcend it. It was clear from my interviews that
it is important for HR managers to accept diversity and not deride or judge
individuals for their different beliefs, values, and needs. Heller’s framework
allows them to do this. However, it was also clear that HR managers have to
draw a line at some point and Heller’s universal norms, maxims, and values
help them to do this as well. For example, when faced with tension between
a diversity of behaviours and the call for some common code of behaviour,
HR managers can use Heller’s universals to make judgements about what
behaviour they should support.
This aspect of Heller’s approach would strengthen further the arguments
of HR managers trying to influence others to do the ‘right thing’. It does not