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Human Resource Development International
Call for Papers
Special Issue: CSR, Sustainability, Ethics and International HRD.
Guest Editors: Valerie Anderson Thomas Garavan Eugene Sadler-Smith
Special Issue Purpose
This special issue seeks to advance debate about the relationship between Human Resource Development (HRD), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), sustainability and ethics focusing particularly on the challenges and ambiguities presented in an international context. In recent years legal changes and increased media scrutiny have increased the pressure on organisations to integrate ethical, CSR and sustainability values and behaviours into organisational life to enhance ‘reputational capital’ and stimulate and retain talent (Foote and Ruona 2008; Ormiston and Wong 2013). At the same time successive high-profile scandals have led to what has been characterised as a breakdown of trust between organisations and their communities, customers, stakeholders and employees. In response a renewed commitment by organisational figureheads to ‘responsible leadership’ is evident to promote and sustain ethical values and sustainable performance (Pless and Maak 2011; Moore, et al. 2012; Sadler-Smith 2013). However, discrepancies between espoused ethical values and enacted behaviours by people in organisations resulting in decisions that are socially irresponsive have led to an increasing level of accusations of moral delinquency on the part of leaders, managers and the Human Resources function.
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As an area of practice HRD has emerged from two distinct traditions. The functionalist approach emphasises individual and organisational performance and labour efficiency. The humanist tradition features a developmental emphasis on learning and ‘human values’ (Garavan and McGuire 2010; Russ-Eft and Thatcher 2003; MacKensie et al., 2012). Despite a great deal of contemporary enthusiasm about the pursuit of the ‘common good’ and debate about the nature of ethical values and behaviours in organisations (see, for example, Sadler-Smith 2012; Sison, Hartman and Fontrodona 2012) little is known about where the dialogue about ethics will take the HRD function (Elliott, 2013). Many critical decisions and policies that have ethical and sustainability implications are taken outside of the HRD arena.
In seeking to advance the debate about the relationship between HRD, ethics, virtue and sustainability this call for papers encourages scholars and practitioners to go beyond moral prescriptivism and debate the ethical tensions, ambiguities and dilemmas associated with HRD. The primary goal of this special issue is to encourage deeper theoretical, empirical and reflexive examination of the relationship of HRD as it is practiced and conceptualised in different contexts with ethical research and practice in organisations, institutions and at a societal level. Therefore, papers are especially welcomed that a) consider ethics and/or sustainability in relation to HRD at multiple levels of analysis; b) offer a comparative perspective to illuminate debates about the relationship of HRD with ethics and sustainability, and c) seek to examine new areas and frames of reference that have not been well explored in the HRD literatures.
Background
CSR, sustainability, and ethics in organisations and societies are interpretive in nature; constructed through interactions at many levels between multiple agents and stakeholders (Ardichvili and Jondle 2009; Ehnert and Harry 2012). A ‘one size fits all’ approach to CSR, sustainability and ethics is inappropriate: the development of ethical, CSR-focused and sustainable business and organisational cultures will be affected by sectoral, institutional and societal contexts. A robust culture addressing ethics and sustainability in any organisation or institution will embrace both formal features, expressed through publically identifiable statements, policies, codes of practice and reward processes alongside informal, less tangible features enacted and expressed through role modelling and prevailing organisational rituals, myths, stories and metaphors.
Debates and examinations of the CSR-focused, ethical and sustainable systems of production, consumption, employment relations and organizational behaviour that form a vibrant feature of the general business ethics literature have received less attention in the HRD literature and, in particular, scant attention has been paid to the international HRD dimension of such issues such as the moral values underpinning HRD practice, the role of HRD in building sustainable, responsible and ethical processes and leadership in work organisations.
HRD professionals possess many business, process and interpersonal skills that can facilitate the development of ethical values, the embedding of CSR and sustainability behaviours in organisations and institutions through: contributions to culture change processes; the creation of programmes of training and education; interventions in leadership development
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processes and so on. In spite of this range of opportunities to contribute to ethical issues the focus of attention in much of the HRD literature is on alignment with markets and the short-term agenda of profitability rather than with the social, ethical and longer-short-term features of sustainability and development (Bierema 2009; Turnbull and Elliott 2005).
Research Questions
This special issue is intended to build on the insights of the HRD literature (see, for example, Ardichvili and Jondle 2009; Foote and Ruona 2008; Garavan and McGuire 2010) but to develop the debate through a variety of methodological and international perspectives. We encourage papers that:
focus on the contribution of HRD to ethical behaviours, CSR and sustainability at the
levels of the individual, the team, the organisation and the community in different social contexts
examine new areas and frames of reference related to CSR and sustainability that have
not been well explored in the HRD literatures
While not an exhaustive list, the following are some specific examples of topics that this special issue might highlight:
1. What theoretical perspectives or frames of reference can explain the contribution of HRD
to CSR, sustainability and ethics in organisations?
2. What is the relationship between HRD principles and practices and ethical values and
behaviours outside of the HRD functional area? What sustainability and CSR issues emerge and interact with other decision-relevant matters and what is the role of HRD in influencing these situations?
3. What influence does HRD have on decisions made by executive teams that have ethical,
CSR or sustainability implications?
4. What are the ethical issues and tensions where HRD issues are increasingly devolved to
line managers?
5. What role does HRD play in embedding CSR in organisations?
6. To what extent do ethical and CSR codes, frameworks and rules and sustainability
aspirations challenge core constructs in strategic HRD?
7. What are the moral purposes and ethical implications of research in the HRD field?
What are the ethical issues associated with ‘framing’ research questions? To what extent do ethical codes influence the criticality of the research endeavour?
8. What is the relationship between societal, sectoral and organisation culture and the
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9. What mechanisms lead to or inhibit the creation of embedded CSR and sustainable
organisations and what are the implications for HRD?
HRDI is committed to questioning the divide between practice and theory and between ‘practitioner’ and ‘academic’. We therefore welcome contributors of papers to this special issue to address the interface of both practice and academic scholarship in relation to CSR, sustainability, ethics and International HRD.
Deadlines and Submission Instructions
The deadline for submission of full papers is Friday 29 November 2013. For additional
information or to discuss a potential proposal or idea for a paper please contact: [email protected]. Please submit an electronic copy of your paper to:
[email protected] making clear that it is submitted for the CSR, Sustainability, Ethics and
International HRD special issue. Please be sure to follow the author guidelines provided on the HRDI website: (http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rhrd20/current#.Ubsjo-STwgp). All
papers will be reviewed following the regular Human Resource Development International
double-blind review process.
References
Ardichvili, A. and Jondle, D. 2009. Ethical business cultures: A literature review and
implications for HRD, Human Resource Development Review, 8(2): 223-244.
Ehnert, I and Harry, W. 2012. Recent developments and future prospects on sustainable
Human Resource Management. ManagementRevue, 23(3):221-238.
Elliott,C. 2013. Editorial: Critically thinking. HumanResourceDevelopmentInternational, 16(2):
133-134.
Foote, M.F. & Ruona, W.E.A. 2008. Institutionalizing ethics: A synthesis of frameworks and
the implications for HRD, Human Resource Development Review, 7(3): 292-308.
Garavan, T.N. and McGuire, D. 2010. Human Resource Development and society: Human Resource Development’s role in embedding corporate social responsibility, sustainability
and ethics in organisations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12(5): 487-507.
Gond, J.P.,Igalens,J., Swaen,V. and Akremi, A.L. 2011. The Human Resource contribution to
responsible leadership: An exploration of the CSR-HR interface. JournalofBusinessEthics, 9:
115-132.
MacKensie, C. Garavan,T. and Carbery, R. 2012. Through the looking glass: Challenges for
Human Resource Development post the global financial crisis – business as usual? Human
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Moore, C., Detert, J.S., Trevino, L.K., Baker, V.L. and Mayer, D.M. 2012. Why employees do
bad things: Moral disengagement and unethical organizational behaviour. Personnel
Psychology, 65,1-48.
Ormiston, M.E., and Wong, E.M. 2013. Licence to Ill: The effects of corporate social
responsibility and CEO moral identity on corporate social irresponsibility. Personnel
Psychology, doi; 10.1111/12029
Russ-Eft, D. and Hatcher, T. 2003. The issue of international values and beliefs: the debate
for a Global HRD code of ethics. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 5(3): 296-307.
Sadler-Smith, E. 2012. Before virtue: Biology, brain, behaviour and the ‘moral sense’, Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2): 351-376.
Sadler-Smith, E. 2013. Towards organisational environmental virtuousness. Journal of Applied
Behavioural Science, 49(1): 123-148.
Sison, A.J.G., Hartman, E.M., and Fontrodona, J. 2012. Guest editors’ introduction: Virtue
