Morality 4: The Legal Context, Fairness, and Equality

The fourth stage of HRM morality is defined by the moral philosophy related to what is commonly termed as ‘law and order’. According to Hartman et al. (2014:7) the question-and-answer for HRM boils down to ‘Why be ethical? Because it is the law’. The actual expression of law is underpinned by legal theory. General legal theory carries connotations to rules, protocols, commandments, regulations, statutes, bureaucracy, procedures, formalities, decrees, administration, ruling, directives, instrumentalism, policies, and formal legal principles. Organisational order is reflective of edicts, commands, instructions, organisation, classifications, contractualism, formalism, stability, and so on.426 The prime institutions underpinning organisational ‘law and order’427 are HR policies, rules, procedures, and regulations.428 These underpin an organisational order that, according to Rawls,429 depicts four key features: i) order does not primarily rely on written rules — but there are rules; ii) order relies on customs and practices, routines, and rituals; iii) participants are responsible to one another; and iv) a mutually sustainable order needs constant attending in order to maintain order.