The Ethics of Human Resource Management

Running head: THE ETHICS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
The ethics of Human resource management
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1THE ETHICS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management can be considered the most effective and easy people
Management concept that is utilised across various different kinds of organisational scenarios.
However it has to be mentioned that there is a significant difference between core human
resource management and people management. According to the authors traditional people
management only focuses on organising and controlling employees from an administrative point
of view. However in case of human resource management the employees are often treated as a
resource rather than being actual people (Berman et al. 2012). That is the reason the ethics and
morality of human resource management in the organisational scenario has been researched and
criticized many times. One of the most sought after school of thought regarding the ethics of
human resource management has been provided by the Kantian research. This essay will attempt
to explore the Kantian imperatives of human resource management and whether human resource
management could ever treat employees as “end in themselves” instead of a tool or resource.
In order to correlate the construct of ethics and morality with human resource management,
the core ideology and principles of human resource management and its contribution and
importance and organizational scenario has to be understood. Strategic human resource
management (SRHM) is a very important component of organizational structure. The primary
contribution of SHRM on the organizational scenario is providing and ensuring skilled,
committed, and inspired workforce that facilitates sustainable competitive advantage to the
organization. Strategic human resource management (SRHM) relies on resource base theories
and frameworks that emphasizes investment in each of the employees equivalent to the
profitability value that a company can achieve by facilitating a strategic fit between the human
resources and the opportunities they can provide to the company (Bolton and Houlihan 2007).

2THE ETHICS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Elaborating on the origin and development of SRHM, it can be mentioned that there are two
theoretical principles based on which SRHM functions. One reflects a contingency approach
between employee motivation and employee engagement with desired performance outcomes.
On a more elaborative note, this process of strategic human resource management is targeted at
improving in controlling employee behavior in engagement to achieve optimal performance
outcomes and profitability for the company. Known as the Hard SHRM strategy, it uses
contextual variables in order to arrive at the best way to manage people only to achieve the
organizational goals (Bowie 2017). On the other hand the soft approach focuses on high
commission high-performance strategy to people management. Hence it can be mentioned that in
contrast the soft HRM techniques facilities of psychological link between organization and
employee engagement in order to achieve the desired goals, whereas the hard technique involved
no psychological attachment for the employees. Overall, the employees or human resource to be
precise, are treated as tools or machinery by the company where the optimal benefits are excised
based on different strategic approaches (Boxall and Purcell 2017).
Basic principle of SHRM, there are many substantial benefits which makes SHRM the most
important components of organisational structure and operational management. First and
foremost it has to be mentioned that SHRM has a direct link with effective business planning and
effective human resource deployment based on expertise and experience. According to the
authors Human Resource Management anticipates individual employee performance outcomes
and relates it with the long term goals and strategies of the organisation. SHRM also has
significant role in the cost benefit analysis and planning of an organisation in terms of
employment, training, and remuneration cost imbalance management. Lastly, a suitable SHRM
technique also helps in maintaining and enhancing the market demand and reputation providing