Tracy Wilcox

Human resource development as an element of corporate social responsibility

This paper discusses the concept of corporate social responsibility as it applies to human resource development (HRD). It is argued that the economic and political power enjoyed by contemporary corporations brings with it an associated set of responsibilities and duties, particularly in the light of issues emerging in the global and local political environment. These issues arise in part from a shifting of the regulatory ground from the achievement of ‘social good’ to ‘economic good’, and the shifting of risk from business organisations to individuals and communities. The paper considers the impact of these changes on human resource development. Some of the areas in which an organisation’s social and ethical responsibility can encompass HRD practices are explored, and possible HRD responses to the issues and concerns raised are discussed.

Stability and change

This special feature section of Journal of Management & Organization (Volume 17/1 - March 2011) sets out to widen understanding of the processes of stability and change in todays organizations, with a particular emphasis on the contribution of institutional approaches to organizational studies. Institutional perspectives on organization theory assume that rational, economic calculations, such as the maximization of profits or the optimization of resource allocation, are not sufficient to understand the behavior of organizations and their strategic choices. Institutionalists acknowledge the great uncertainty associated with the conduct of organizations and suggest that taken-for-granted values, beliefs and meanings within and outside organizations also play an important role in the determination of legitimate action.

Understanding Collective Impact in Australia: A new approach to interorganizational collaboration:

Countries around the world spend substantial amounts of money on programmes designed to address social issues such as place-based disadvantage, health and aged care. Despite such huge investments, evidence shows that many of these social problems are complex and remain far from being resolved, and in some situations, they are worsening. To face these challenges, many organizations have turned to interorganizational collaboration as a more effective means of dealing with social issues. This exploratory qualitative study investigates a relatively new framework for tackling complex social challenges – Collective Impact. We show that while the interpretation and application of the Collective Impact framework varies, broad similarities can be found. We conclude that Collective Impact is best conceptualized as a method for network-based collaboration rather than a distinct methodology or philosophy, and emphasize the importance of the relational aspects of interorganizational collaboration.

Prologue: Stability and change

This special feature section of Journal of Management & Organization (Volume 17/1 - March 2011) sets out to widen understanding of the processes of stability and change in todays organizations, with a particular emphasis on the contribution of institutional approaches to organizational studies. Institutional perspectives on organization theory assume that rational, economic calculations, such as the maximization of profits or the optimization of resource allocation, are not sufficient to understand the behavior of organizations and their strategic choices. Institutionalists acknowledge the great uncertainty associated with the conduct of organizations and suggest that taken-for-granted values, beliefs and meanings within and outside organizations also play an important role in the determination of legitimate action.

Philosophy and Organizational Research

In this symposium, the presenters will collectively discuss ways in which organizational research can be made more meaningful through an understanding of the philosophical assumptions that underlie...

Constructing Contingent Necessity: CEO Discursive Practices and Downsizing

In this study I employ critical discourse analysis to show how a Chief Executive Officer’s discursive practices engendered conditions of contingent necessity for widespread cost reduction and downsizing strategies in a highly profitable firm. Analysis of textual sources over a fourteen month period reveal that a set of three distinct intertextual themes or pre-scripts could be found, which together served the rhetorical function of persuading the firm’s constituencies that ‘there was no alternative’ but to reduce labor costs. The discourses formed part of an emergent enacted context which in turn legitimated the airline’s ongoing strategic choices. The approach taken here is consistent with critical discourse analysis insofar as it considers how discursive action re-constructs and reinforces power relationships and, legitimates forms of exploitation.

Embedded Moral Agency: A MacIntyrean Perspective on the HR Professional’s Dilemma

In this chapter I cast a spotlight on the presupposed sociology implicit in any moral philosophy. Specifically, I examine how social actors in a business organisation – where contextual factors may constrain particular practices – come to exercise moral agency in their organisational roles. I consider MacIntyre’s argument that in contemporary social life ‘structures of compartmentalization’ tend to prevent the exercise of moral agency, and examine whether this was the case for a group of human resource managers in a global corporation in the midst of a downsizing exercise. I develop a more nuanced conceptualisation of moral agency and I apply this to the specifics of the modern business organisation, and consider how moral agency is seen to be constrained by what MacIntyre has termed ‘structures of compartmentalization’.