THE MORALLY DECENT HR MANAGER 279terms of doing the right thing in certain circumstances. Again, the central
concept is that being decent is a fundamental choice. If such a choice also
can be legitimately shown to improve company performance then so much
the better.
Despite all that has been said it is unrealistic to argue that Heller’s approach
to grounding ethics will be of use to all HR managers. Fundamentally, the
natural addressee of her moral philosophy is the person who has chosen
decency. It would be naive therefore to expect all HR managers to be interested
in decency and it would be naive to expect all other managers to value it. In
some cases, despite the power of decent HR managers’ arguments, their pleas
will be ignored. Heller’s moral philosophy is designed for people who want to
be decent. It is not designed to persuade people who see no value in decency
to do the right thing.
This incapacity need not be seen as a serious weakness of the theory. Heller
(1990) argues that decent people are not rare. I agree and contend that they
will be found at all levels in any company. Nevertheless, the limitations must
not be underplayed. Heller’s moral philosophy will only be of use to HR
managers who have chosen to be decent and who ask the question ‘What is the
right thing to do?’ Further, most decent HR managers undoubtedly at some
point in their careers must work within organizations that give them little
room to move and will, as I did, face individuals who will not respond to their
pleas. Decent HR managers will then be left with questions about what they
should do next. Heller recognizes this as a possibility confronting all decent
people and discusses how they can deal with such situations. She also discusses
how decent people can deal with the difficult choices that must be made when
two or more moral norms clash. Elsewhere (Macklin 2003b), I have reshaped
some of this discussion into a set of guidelines for HR managers to consider,
discuss, and possibly use. As with the catalogue of moral norms, these guides
should be seen as crutches. They do not take away the responsibility for
decision-making or the need to leap at some point and they should not be
used in a mechanical way.
Conclusion
In this chapter, I have argued that the moral theory developed by the moral
philosopher Agnes Heller provides an approach that addresses important
debates in moral philosophy and is of potential use to HR managers who
want to be decent and who wish to defend or advocate ethical decision-
making. Heller provides an approach that is committed to taking into account
the situation and context that people face in contemporary societies. It is a