ABSTRACT
Human resource management (HRM) is a rich environment for the consideration of ethical issues with a multiplicity of human interactions in the management of people, their expectations and their needs, alongside the corporate goals of the organization. At face value, the claim that HRM places people at the heart of organizations and as a key element of business strategy would seem to create a high ethical standpoint for the management of people. However, as critics have argued, the rhetorical nature of much HRM discourse as well as the ‘hard’ side to many HRM policies means ethical issues are widespread (Legge 1995; Guest 1999). Indeed the ambiguous nature of HRM, even within one national setting, opens up one of the serious ethical challenges leading to misinterpretation and bad faith and in an international context – the scope for ethical challenges and multiple interpretations becomes manifold (Vadera and Aguilera 2009).
