IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v111y2012i1p49-59.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agonism and the Possibilities of Ethics for HRM

Author

Listed:
  • Carl Rhodes
  • Geraint Harvey

Abstract

This paper provides a critique and re-evaluation of the way that ethics is understood and promoted within mainstream Human Resource Management (HRM) discourse. We argue that the ethics located within this discourse focuses on bolstering the relevance of HRM as a key contributor to organizational strategy, enhancing an organization’s sense of moral legitimacy and augmenting organizational control over employee behaviour and subjectivity. We question this discourse in that it subordinates the ethics of the employment relationship to managerial prerogative. In response, we suggest a different model of the relationship between ethics and HRM—one that finds the possibility of ethics in the contestation and destabilization of HRM. Such ethics arises through resistance to moral normalization and the constraint of freedom and difference. The contribution of our paper is in theorising the possibilities of a relationship between ethics and HRM that does not place HRM at its centre, as chief intermediary of the ethics of the employment relationship, but rather sees HRM as being a powerful player in a set of what Mouffe calls ‘agonistic’ socio-ethical relations. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Rhodes & Geraint Harvey, 2012. "Agonism and the Possibilities of Ethics for HRM," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 49-59, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:111:y:2012:i:1:p:49-59
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1441-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-012-1441-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-012-1441-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alex Bryson, 2008. "From Industrial Relations to Human Resource Management: The Changing Role of the Personnel Function," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 315, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    2. Tom Keenoy, 1999. "HRM as Hologram: A Polemic," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Nancy J Adler & Susan Bartholomew, 1992. "Academic and Professional Communities of Discourse: Generating Knowledge on Transnational Human Resource Management," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 23(3), pages 551-569, September.
    4. Maddy Janssens & Chris Steyaert, 2009. "HRM and Performance: A Plea for Reflexivity in HRM Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 143-155, January.
    5. John Simmons, 2003. "Balancing performance, accountability and equity in stakeholder relationships: towards more socially responsible HR practice," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(3), pages 129-140, September.
    6. Jackie Ford & Nancy Harding, 2003. "Invoking Satan or the Ethics of the Employment Contract," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 1131-1150, July.
    7. Abigail Marks & Patricia Findlay & James Hine & Paul Thompson & Alan McKinlay, 1998. "The Politics of Partnership? Innovation in Employment Relations in the Scottish Spirits Industry," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 209-226, June.
    8. Alexander Styhre, 2001. "Kaizen, Ethics, and Care of the Operations: Management After Empowerment," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 795-810, September.
    9. Vincent J. Roscigno & Randy Hodson & Steven H. Lopez, 2009. "Workplace incivilities: the role of interest conflicts, social closure and organizational chaos," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 23(4), pages 747-773, December.
    10. Harvie Ramsay & Dora Scholarios & Bill Harley, 2000. "Employees and High‐Performance Work Systems: Testing inside the Black Box," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 501-531, December.
    11. Tom Keenoy, 1997. "HRMism and the Languages of Re‐presentation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(5), pages 825-841, September.
    12. John Simmons, 2008. "Ethics and morality in human resource management," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(1/2), pages 8-23, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Geraint Harvey & Andy Hodder & Stephen Brammer, 2017. "Trade union participation in CSR deliberation: an evaluation," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 42-55, January.
    2. De Prins, Peggy & Van Beirendonck, Lou & De Vos, Ans & Segers, Jesse, 2014. "Sustainable HRM: Bridging theory and practice through the ‘Respect Openness Continuity (ROC)’-model," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 25(4), pages 263-284.
    3. Kostas Amiridis & Bogdan Costea, 2020. "Managerial Appropriations of the Ethos of Democratic Practice: Rating, ‘Policing’, and Performance Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(4), pages 701-713, July.
    4. Afshin Omidi & Cinzia Dal Zotto, 2022. "Socially Responsible Human Resource Management: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Ozan Nadir Alakavuklar & Fahreen Alamgir, 2018. "Ethics of Resistance in Organisations: A Conceptual Proposal," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 31-43, April.
    6. George Kandathil & Jerome Joseph, 2019. "Normative Underpinnings of Direct Employee Participation Studies and Implications for Developing Ethical Reflexivity: A Multidisciplinary Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 685-697, July.
    7. Sanela Smolović Jones & Nik Winchester & Caroline Clarke, 2021. "Feminist solidarity building as embodied agonism: An ethnographic account of a protest movement," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 917-934, May.
    8. Michelle Greenwood & Harry J. Van Buren, 2017. "Ideology in HRM Scholarship: Interrogating the Ideological Performativity of ‘New Unitarism’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(4), pages 663-678, June.
    9. Gazi Islam, 2020. "Psychology and Business Ethics: A Multi-level Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-13, August.
    10. Charles Barthold & Peter Bloom, 2020. "Denaturalizing the Environment: Dissensus and the Possibility of Radically Democratizing Discourses of Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(4), pages 671-681, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Guest & Christopher Woodrow, 2012. "Exploring the Boundaries of Human Resource Managers’ Responsibilities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 109-119, November.
    2. Bill Harley & Cynthia Hardy, 2004. "Firing Blanks? An Analysis of Discursive Struggle in HRM," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 377-400, May.
    3. Peccei, R.E., 2004. "Human Resource Management And The Search For The Happy Workplace," ERIM Inaugural Address Series Research in Management EIA-2004-021-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam..
    4. Michelle Greenwood & Harry J. Van Buren, 2017. "Ideology in HRM Scholarship: Interrogating the Ideological Performativity of ‘New Unitarism’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(4), pages 663-678, June.
    5. Dolors Celma & Esther Martínez‐Garcia & Germà Coenders, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Human Resource Management: An analysis of common practices and their determinants in Spain," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 82-99, March.
    6. Martin, Graeme & Farndale, Elaine & Paauwe, Jaap & Stiles, Philip G., 2016. "Corporate governance and strategic human resource management: Four archetypes and proposals for a new approach to corporate sustainability," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 22-35.
    7. Mingqiong Zhang & David Fan & Cherrie Zhu, 2014. "High-Performance Work Systems, Corporate Social Performance and Employee Outcomes: Exploring the Missing Links," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 423-435, March.
    8. Elaine O'Brien & Carol Linehan, 2014. "A Balancing Act: Emotional Challenges in the HR Role," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(8), pages 1257-1285, December.
    9. Khilji, Shaista E. & Wang, Xiaoyun, 2007. "New evidence in an old debate: Investigating the relationship between HR satisfaction and turnover," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 377-395, June.
    10. Nathalie Greenan & Ekaterina Kalugina & Emmanuelle Walkowiak, 2014. "Has the quality of working life improved in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2005?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(2), pages 399-428.
    11. Alex Bryson & Lucy Stokes & David Wilkinson, 2023. "Is pupil attainment higher in well-managed schools?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 129-144, January.
    12. Maddy Janssens & Chris Steyaert, 2009. "HRM and Performance: A Plea for Reflexivity in HRM Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 143-155, January.
    13. Nicolas Bacon & Paul Blyton, 2004. "Trade union responses to workplace restructuring: exploring union orientations and actions," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 18(4), pages 749-773, December.
    14. Pasi Koski & Anu Järvensivu, 2010. "The innovation diffusion paradox in the light of ‘shop-floor games’ and micro-politics," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 31(3), pages 345-363, August.
    15. Elizabeth Quinlan & Susan Robertson & Ann-Marie Urban & Isobel M Findlay & Beth Bilson, 2020. "Ameliorating Workplace Harassment among Direct Caregivers in Canada’s Healthcare System: A Theatre-Based Intervention," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(4), pages 626-643, August.
    16. Petri Böckerman & Alex Bryson & Pekka Ilmakunnas, 2013. "Does high involvement management lead to higher pay?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(4), pages 861-885, October.
    17. Dragoș Adăscăliței & Jason Heyes & Pedro Mendonça, 2022. "The intensification of work in Europe: A multilevel analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 324-347, June.
    18. Joseph Lanfranchi & Sanja Pekovic, 2012. "How Green is my Firm? Workers' Attitudes towards Job, Job Involvement and Effort in Environmentally-Related Firms," Working Papers halshs-00976341, HAL.
    19. Chris Mason & John Simmons, 2014. "Embedding Corporate Social Responsibility in Corporate Governance: A Stakeholder Systems Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 77-86, January.
    20. Matthijs Bal & Andy Brookes, 2022. "How Sustainable Is Human Resource Management Really? An Argument for Radical Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-14, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:111:y:2012:i:1:p:49-59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.