Jean Woodall

Ethical issues in contemporary human resource management

PART ONE: THE ETHICAL CONTEXT FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Introduction D.Winstanley & J.Woodall The Ethical Context of HRM: the Ethical Organisation in the Boundaryless World K.Legge PART TWO: AREAS OF ETHICAL INQUIRY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT What Ethics in the Employment Interview? L.Spence Occupational Testing and Psychometric Instruments: an Ethical Perspective B.Baker & J.Cooper Ethics and Equality: Reconciling False Dilemmas S.Liff & L.Dickens HRM and Employee Well-Being: Raising the Ethical Stakes N.Doherty & S.Tyson Winning Hearts and Minds: Ethical Issues in Human Resource Development J.Woodall & D.Douglas Flexible Working Patterns C.Stanworth Presenteeism and the Impact of Long Working Hours on Managers in the UK R.Simpson The New Pay: Risk and Representation at Work E.Heery Conditions of Worth and the Performance Management Paradox D.Winstanley Employee Participation and Involvement T.Claydon PART THREE: ETHICAL INTERVENTION IN PRACTICE Conducting a Social Audit: Lessons from the Body Shop Experience M.Sillanpaa & C.Jackson Staff Charters: A Framework for Identifying the Rights and Responsibilities of Employers and their Staff P.Taylor & P.Jones Whistleblowing D.Lewis Concluding Comments: Ethical Frameworks for Action J.Woodall & D.Winstanley

The new public management and the UK Police Service

This article explores the impact of the introduction of the New Public Management (NPM) within the UK Police Service since the mid-1990s. A specific focus upon individual performance management (one of the central features of NPM) is examined from the perspective of the police sergeant who has primary responsibility for managing performance and ultimately the delivery of policing services within one of the UKs ‘essential’ public services. After a discussion of the literature on individual performance management within the context of the NPM, the article identifies four major research questions relating to: the job role demands of performance management; access to valid and reliable performance management information; the capacity to provide follow-up development and support; and the wider integration of performance management with organization strategy and service objectives. After reporting on interview data collected from role sets in which the sergeant is a focal member, the article concludes with a discussion of the constraints upon effective performance management within the NPM.

Business ethics and human resource management: Themes and issues

Reports on the conference on Ethical Issues in Contemporary Human Resource Management, held in April 1996. Notes concerns raised at the conference relating to a lowering of employment standards. These included factors such as: insecurity and risk, transfer of risk and surveillance and control. Suggests a number of alternative ethical frameworks useful in an analysis of HRM, including such elements as: basic human, civil and employment rights, universalism and community of purpose. Considers methods of defending such an ethical focus from charges of utopianism, and suggests that ethical HRM will be a developing theme over the next few years.

Making the decision to outsource human resources

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe how the decision to outsource human resources was made by 12 large and five small organisations.Design/methodology/approach – Desk research and key informant interviews with senior HR staff who lead the decision to outsource human resources in a purposive sample of organisations identified through an initial search of the professional literature and nomination by an expert panel.Findings – The research identifies a number of drivers that lead organisations to consider outsourcing their HR. In large organisations cost considerations are dominant, but other factors arise out of the organisational history and context, and very often, senior managers from outside the HR function are very influential. For most organisations, paradoxically, the decision to outsource appears not to be made on the basis of a thorough analysis of costs, with consequences for the quality of HR service offered to line managers, and also for the career paths and skill set...

Managing culture change: can it ever be ethical?

Considers corporate culture management as an area where ethical concern and analysis has been weak. Examines justification of corporate culture management as an essential ingredient for corporate success, and finds little evidence to support a consequentialist ethic. Proceeds to identify areas where ethical issues might arise in the process of corporate culture change, particularly the role of change agents, and the ethical outcomes of the “unfreeze‐change‐refreeze” process. Illustrates these by reference to two case studies of corporate culture change programmes. Finally, concludes with reflection on potential ethical frameworks for the interpretation and guidance of corporate culture management initiatives. Makes a case for communitarian ethics, and outlines their implications for culture management.

Organisational change and women managers' careers: the restructuring of disadvantage?

Challenges the assumption implicit in much of the literature on women managers that their failure to progress can be explained solely in terms of the individual behaviour of women and their employers. Examines the characteristics of organizations in which women make their careers which are potent factors impeding female advancement. Draws attention to the effects of radical organizational change, and explores some of the consequences of this change for women managers through the in‐depth analysis of a “typical” case. Explores the complex process by which restructuring and managerial policy and practice eventually combined to undermine the organization’s stated intent to expand significantly the number of women in management. Suggests that in‐depth analysis over time is required to understand the complex processes of change and its often unanticipated consequences for management careers.

Equal opportunity and diversity management meet downsizing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on case study research of employment downsizing and the implications for equal opportunity and diversity management conducted in the UK airline industry during 2002/2003.Design/methodology/approach – Review of literature on downsizing and equal opportunity and diversity management followed by identification of a number of research questions which are answered with reference to secondary analysis of labour market data and interviews with key informants from senior management and line management.Findings – A planned approach to downsizing had been adopted that was strongly influenced by the human resources function in terms of equal opportunity and diversity management. An adverse impact on different employee groups had been avoided in order to sustain the diversity of the workforce.Research limitations/implications – The research focuses on the management of downsizing and equal opportunity and diversity management. It addresses the perceptions of managers i...

Trends in outsourcing HRD in the UK: the implications for strategic HRD

This paper makes the case for a rigorous analysis of HR outsourcing, and reports preliminary findings of research into HRD outsourcing in the UK. Results cover the scope and extent of outsourcing, reasons for outsourcing, how outsourcing decisions are taken and by whom, and reported effects from outsourcing.

Ethical issues in contemporary human resource development

Training and development activities are perhaps the aspects of HRM that are least likely to come under ethical scrutiny. However, despite an espousal of ethical humanism, and various attempts to develop professional standards, training and development activities can be vulnerable to unethical practice.

From individual learning to social learning – reframing HRD theory and practice

I think that we can now claim with some confidence that HRD has moved beyond describing itself as an emergent field: scholars are not so preoccupied with defining the boundaries of our intellectual pursuit as they were five years ago (for an example of the latter see the debate in Human Resource Development International, Issue 4:3). However, while our intellectual focus is no longer emergent, we have certainly not arrived at a consensus on the scope of our field of inquiry, nor on the range of theoretical frameworks and methods of inquiry that we employ. This is clearly evident in the articles that we are including in this issue of Human Resource Development International. We are including papers that encourage us to reframe the scope of our field (Carmeli and Weisberg); that call for us to adopt greater rigour in the way we develop theory (Storberg-Walker); and that challenge some of the assumptions about individual learning of professionals and managers (Tillema; DeWolfe Waddill; Sadler-Smith and Smith). Deborah DeWolfe Waddill reports on exploratory research designed to find out whether web-based instruction could be blended effectively with action learning. Her study is an evaluation of an online management development course, supported by online delivery of action learning, in terms of the overall effect upon individual learning. This is an interesting project, as web-based instruction and action-learning appear at the outset to be embedded in two different ontological assumptions about what ‘learning’ involves: the individual and cognitive versus the distributed and social. Her findings reveal that although the experience did not result in the creation of a strong learning community, surprisingly, individuals did manage to learn the principles and processes of action-learning, and report evidence of behavioural change online. Particularly interesting was the finding that the asynchronous nature of interactions encouraged programme participants to engage in reflection, and that the whole approach provided a safe environment for practice. Another area where the tensions between individual and social learning are manifest, is in the field of professional learning. The prescriptive models of continuing professional education (CPE or continuing professional development – CPD – as it is known in the UK) rest upon implicit humanistic and experiential models of learning which have the individual at the core. However, increasingly we Human Resource Development International, Vol. 9, No. 2, 153 – 155, June 2006