Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 8/13/2019 Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

    1/7

    Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical Stewardship

    1

    Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical Stewardship

    Cam CaldwellUniversity of Georgia,Athens,GA,USAE-mail:[email protected] X. Truong, Pham T. Linh and Anh TuanVietnam National University,Hanoi, Vietnam

    Journal of Business Ethics, (2011) 98:171 182 DOI 10.1007/s 10551-010-0541-y, Spring 2010

    This is a good effort because there is strong indication that you clearlyunderstand this topic and the questions have been generally well answered. Ienjoyed reading this paper, and I feel it is a very important topic!

    The foregoing mechanisms facilitate the management of knowledge within a

    particular organization. This can be supplemented with external benchmarkingagainst other successful organizations. For instance, and in a global contextchoosing external benchmarks, it is important to recognize that no singleorganization is likely to provide an adequate model for all aspects of anorganization's operations. Sophisticated global organizations often benchmarkdifferent aspects of their operations against different global organizations anddo not necessarily limit their benchmarks to private sector organizations.

    Article ReviewValeriano KatayaDBA 861Instructor: Dr. James WilliamOctober, 2 2011

    mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
  • 8/13/2019 Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

    2/7

    Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical Stewardship

    2

    Introduction

    Cam Caldwell is a professor at the University of Georgia, GA, USA andDo X. Truong, Pham T. Linh and Anh Tuan are professors at Vietnam National

    University, Hanoi, Vietnam.

    The authors wrote the article entitled Strategic Human ResourceManagement as ethical Stewardship.

    This paper reviews the article and offers comments about selectedaspects, identifies some relevant aspects that can be regarded as useful to theimplementation of ethics in an organization.

    It also discusses the strengths and usefulness of the article, discussesthe weaknesses, limitations, or problems of the article.

    The article suggests a very important topic that helps getting from itlearning lesson and recommends it to other researchers.

    According to this article, research about the strategic human resourcemanagement has exponentially increased over the last decade ( Hartel et al.,2007) cited by (Caldwell, C., Truong, Do T., Linh, T. P and Tuan, A. , 2010). Itreveals that researchers have been concerned with the strategic human

    resource management issue to organizations for long.

    There are many aspects that have been raised. These aspects arerelated with the need of improving the way employers and stewards have tocope with strategic human resource management and know how to apply theethical stewardship in organizations.

    Thats why; the purpose of this article is to examine the ethical dutiesassociated with the implementation of HRM systems in helping organization toachieve their potential (cf Payne and Wayland, 1999). It also identifies theleadership roles which make up an ethical stewardship approach to

    organizations systems.

    As to provide a contextual framework for examining the importance of thealignment and congruence of human Resource management System, theauthors begin by citing the strategic human resource literature. (Caldwell.,Truong, Do T., Linh, T. P and Tuan, A. , 2010 p.1).

    It is exactly to define and clarify the problem, identify relations,contradictions, gaps, and inconsistences in the literature.(AmericanPsychological Association, 6 edition p.10).

    Then, they examine the nature and duties of ethical stewardship as citedin (Caldwell et al., 2008) related to the effective governance of organizations.

  • 8/13/2019 Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

    3/7

    Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical Stewardship

    3

    They still identify the important and sometimes implicit leadership rolesthat human resource professionals (HRPs) ought to contribute in optimizing the

    ability of their organizations to achieve that long - term wealth creation (Senge,2006).

    The authors end by identifying the contributions of the article, offercomments about the importance of ethical leadership in creating the worksystems, culture, and the high level of employee commitment that are essentialfor organizations in todays global workplace (Pfeffer, 1998,2007).

    The last focused traits are so important that the reviewer of this articlewill take and propose them as significant issues to be apprehended.

    Strategic Human Resource Management

    For a clear understanding of the subject, it is required to present thedefinitions of some important terms.

    To start with, some scholars define Strategic Human ResourceManagement as the process of linking the human resource function with thestrategic objectives of the organization in order to improve performance(Lundy,O. and Cowling, A. 1996).

    The field of strategic HRM is still evolving and there is little agreementamong scholars regarding an acceptable definition. Generally speaking, SHRM

    is about systematically linking people with the organization; more specifically, itis about the integration of HRM strategies into corporate strategies. HRstrategies are essentially plans and programs that address and solvefundamental strategic issues related to the management of human resources inan organization (Schuler, 1992).

    When there is an interdependent connection, among participants of anorganization in terms of functions, one accomplishes a high performance inexecutions of different accountabilities. And this action can be reflected instrategic management.

    Wheelen and Hunger (1995, p. 3) define strategic management as that

    set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-runperformance of a corporation. Hill and Jones (2001, p. 4) take a similar viewwhen they define strategy as an action a company takes to attain superiorperformance.

    It can be understood clearly, the reason for which the researchers, intheir article, affirm that understanding of the important role of SHRM in themodern organization provides an important context to understanding the ethicalduties owed by HRPs (Caldwell et al, 2011, p 1).

    The high level of outcome in an organization, is obtained by connectingpeople, strategy, values and performance ( Becker et al.,2001).When these key elements are not taken on account, it is verified great failures

    in some organizational departments.

  • 8/13/2019 Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

    4/7

    Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical Stewardship

    4

    When Pfeffer (1998,p14) and Kouzes and Posner (2007,p.75) emphasizethat the key to effective organizational is execution, they mean that leaders

    should know how important is to search and share the knowledge and put itinto practice as to build a sustainable and competitive organization.That is why it is said that Successful SHRM involves designing and

    implementing a set of internally consistent policies and practices that ensurethat employees collective knowledge, skills, and abilities contribute to theachievement of its business objectives( Huselid et al., 1997.p.172).

    Despite these requirements, HRPs are often unprepared to help theirorganizations to optimize the use of human capital and todays organizations failto perform effectively (Lawler III, 2008).

    So, it is required for leaders or responsible in any organization, toassume the responsibility of preparing themselves as to be able to convey

    positively this experience and skills to other members of the firm.

    The human Resource professional as ethical steward

    Ethical stewardship has been defined as honoring of duties owed toemployees, stakeholders, and society in the pursuit of longterm wealthcreation (Caldwell et al., 2008). Ethical stewardship is a theory oforganizational governance in which leaders seek the best interests ofstakeholders by creating high trust cultures that honor a broad range of dutiesowed by organizations to followers ( Caldwell and Karri, 2005; Pava,2003).

    From this overview, it can be inferred that leaders have to be sympathetic

    and attentive with their cooperators need.There must have a cooperation and understanding between leaders andstakeholders.

    This cooperation and understanding is only possible if leaders search forgetting an ethical attitude.It means that, ethics should be an obligation for leaders professional life.It is in this perspective that Covey (2004) has described the stewardship role asvalue-based, principle-centered, and committed to the welfare of allstakeholders.

    Sometimes, it has been noticed leaders seeing themselves as theowners or commandant of everything in the organization. Employees arehighly seen as its and not as you. Consequently comes forth a discomfortamong employees, and this behavior leads, in many cases, to the fall oforganizational development.

    However, the moral position of ethical stewardship is that organizationalleaders have the obligation to pursue long - term wealth creation byimplementing systems that strengthen the organizational commitment of eachstakeholder (Caldwell and Karri, 2005). Ethical stewards in HRM demonstratethe insights of great organizations that transform their companies into humanand humane communities which emphasize inclusion, shared partnership,empowerment, and leadership trustworthiness (Kanter,2008).

  • 8/13/2019 Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

    5/7

  • 8/13/2019 Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

    6/7

  • 8/13/2019 Article Analyse Strategic Humn Resourcesl11158440_474868_58594710_1816

    7/7

    Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical Stewardship

    7

    References

    Becker, B. E., M. A. Huselid and D. Ulrich: 2001, The HR Scorecard: LinkingPeople, Strategy, and Performance (Harvard Business School Press,Boston, MA).

    Boxall, P. (1992) Strategic human resource management: beginnings of a newtheoretical sophistication?, Human Resource Management Journal, 2(3):6079.

    Caldwell, C. and R. Dixon: 2007, Transformative Leadership An IntegrativeTheory of Ethical Stewardship. Paper Presented at the Fourteenth AnnualInternational Conference on Ethics in Business at de Paul University onNovember 1, 2007.

    Caldwell, C. and R. J. Karri: 2005, Organizational Governance and Ethical

    Systems: A Covenantal Approach to Building Trust, Journal of BusinessEthics 58(1), 249259.

    Caldwell., Truong, Do T., Linh, T. P and Tuan, A.: 2010, Strategic HumanResources as Ethical Stewardship p.1).

    Covey, S. R.: 2004, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness (FreePress, New York).

    Hartel, C., Y. Fujimoto, V. E. Strybosch and K. Fitzpatrick: 2007, HumanResource Management: Transforming Theory into Innovative Practice(Pearson Education, Australia).

    Huselid, M. A., S. E. Jackson and R. S. Schuler: 1997, Technical and StrategicHuman Resource Management Effectiveness as Determinants of Firm

    Performance, Academy of Management Journal 40(1), 171188.Kanter, R. M.: 2008, Transforming Giants, Harvard Business Review 86(1),4352.Lundy, O. and Cowling, A. (1996) Strategic Human Resource Management.

    London: Thompson.Pava, M.: 2003, Leading with Meaning: Using Covenantal Leadership to Build a

    Better Organization (Palgrave MacMillan, New York).Payne, S. L. and R. F. Wayland: 1999, Ethical Obligation and Diverse Value

    Assumptions in HRM, International Journal of Manpower 20(5/6), 297308.

    Pfeffer, J.: 1998, The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First(Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA).

    Pfeffer, J.: 2007, Human Resources from an Organizational BehaviorPerspective: Some Paradoxes Explained, Journal of EconomicPerspectives 21(4), 115134.

    Schuler, R.S. (1989) Strategic Human Resource Management and IndustrialRelations. Human Relations, 42(2): 157184.

    Senge, P. M.: 2006, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the LearningOrganization (Doubleday, New York).

    Wheelen, T. L., J. D. Hunger. Strategic Management and Business Policy, 5thed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1995, p. 3.