Human Resource Management As a Moral Maze: Ethical Issues in Human Resource Management

?Human or inhuman resource management?? This is the (hypothetical) question put forward by Steyaert and Janssens on the pages of Organization, referring to one of the basic dilemmas of human resource management in modern-day organisations, namely the downgrading of human beings into ?resources? and the challenges to human dignity inherent here. In this connection, we can also pose a question: ethical or unethical HRM? What might 'being ethical' mean as related to the HR role? In my work, therefore, I would like to make an analysis of the ethical side of HRM. The first part of the book provides a summary of the relevant literature, in four chapters: Ethics and business ethics; Individual moral behaviour; Workplace roles; and HRM and ethics. In the second part I shall discuss theoretical and practical results coming from two assembled action research groups: in Group 'A' I worked with members of the HRM department of a bank as co-researchers; while for Group 'B' I invited along HRM professionals from different companies. Dear Reader! I hope that some of my thoughts will make you think ? and that they might help you to find the way out of a moral maze you may find yourself in.