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Control and Ethics within Human

Resource Management: a Critical Analysis

Ea Høg Utoft | 2 January 2014

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SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET

Cand.negot.HRM.

Forside til FRI hjemmeopgave

Eksamenstermin: Torsdag d. 2. januar 2014

Sprogretning: Spansk

FAG: Human Resource Management, Organizational Development and Communication

Vejleder: Robert Ibsen

Opgavens forfatter(e):

Navn: Ea Høg Utoft

Opgavens omfang:

Antal normalsider à 2100 enheder: 20

Dato og underskrift: 2. januar 2014




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1. Content

1. Content 2

2. Introduction 3

3. Thesis Statement 4

4. Approach 5

5. Theory 6

5.1. Power and Knowledge 6

5.2. Discourse and the Subject 7

5.3. Discourse and Power 7

6. Analysis 9

6.1. The Excellence Case 9

6.2. The Magnum Consult Case 10

7. Discussion 12

7.1. Employee Evaluation and Appraisal 12

7.2. Hierarchy 13

7.3. Organisational and Individual Identity 14

7.4. Ethics and Human Resource Management 15

8. Conclusion 18

9. Literature 20

10. Appendix 24

10.1. Summary: The Excellence Case 24

10.2. Summary: The Magnum Consult Case 26




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2. Introduction:

The aim of this paper is to critically interpret the functions and meanings of human resource

management (HRM). The paper is based on two research projects by Mats Alvesson and Dan

Kärreman; “Unravelling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Control in a Management Consulting

firm” (2007) and “Resisting Resistance: Counter-resistance, Consent and Compliance in a

Consultancy Firm” (2009) (summaries are available in the Appendix, pp. 24-27). As we shall see,

both firms seem to be examples of companies who benefit from large investments in HRM.

The field of HRM deals with the effective management of people in order to achieve organisational

business objectives, while ensuring the satisfaction of individual employee needs. The HRM style

within modern companies is typically labelled soft HRM – or high-commitment HRM – which

implies long-term, caring relationships, and personal development. This is also the type we see in

the case studies on which this paper is based1.

The fact that, in the above mentioned definition, management means use raises a number of

ethical considerations regarding the rights and obligations of employees, as well as the roles and

responsibilities of managers2. HRM includes a variety of activities including supervision, pay and

rewards, recruitment, promotion, as well as training and development of the organisation’s key

resource; its employees3. However, to label a person a resource would already seems dangerously

close to placing that person in the same category as office furniture and equipment4.

Traditional HRM literature typically takes a functionalist approach which views HRM as a means

to achieving organisational goals, and is still today the most pervasive perspective. It originates in

the classical management literature, such as Taylorism, in which power and control are seen as

natural and inherent parts of the organisation’s daily activities5.

In contrast, according to the critical approach to HRM, regulation is regarded a management tool

which, by means of rhetoric and manipulation, controls employees and interferes with their lives.

The critical approach and this paper are based on Michel Foucault’s understanding of power, seen

from which HRM becomes a variety of technologies to order and measure organisations and their

members whereby activities and people within these organisations become predictable and

manageable6.

This raises an ethical question: Are those familiar and accepted HRM practices – meant to ensure

employee satisfaction, containing hidden mechanisms of control – indeed more intrusive to

individual freedom than the blatant exercise of power known from classical management styles7?

1 Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007: p. 712

2 Greenwood, 2002: p. 261

3 Townley, 1993: p. 518


5 Greenwood, 2002: p. 262-263

6 Townley, 1993: p. 526





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3. Thesis statement

Thus, human resource management has an ethical dimension. Since it deals with managing people

– somewhere in between empowerment and control – the aim of this project is to delineate how

HRM practices serve as mechanisms of organisational control and what the consequences of these

are. Furthermore, this paper will discuss to what degree HRM can be seen as a “wolf in sheep’s

clothing” in relation to organisational ethics with its emphasis on individual freedom, personal

development and satisfaction while, according to research, in practice functioning as a means for

achieving employee subordination and compliance.




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4. Approach

Michel Foucault’s theories of power and discourses form the foundation of this paper, and key

concepts will be presented and explained in the Theory paragraph (p. 7). Analysing discourses

provides a means for revealing broader patterns of power and knowledge within a given context.

However, our situated interpretive capacity as members of the discourses that we are trying to

analyse emphasise how context, history and language influence our interpretation8. As such, we

need to recognize that the discourse of discourse analysis can in itself be a discursive closure that

impedes our objective interpretation9. Therefore, the pre-understandings that any author brings

with her have to be actively used and challenged during the elaboration of the given paper10.

With this in mind, the Analysis (p. 10) will approach the results of the two research projects by

Alvesson and Kärreman from a hermeneutic perspective to interpretation which seeks to

understand rather than explain, and to reveal less obvious elements and aspects of the cases. The

Analysis also contains a comparison of the two articles, highlighting common issues which are then

examined further in the Discussion (p. 13), yet bearing in mind that a data set of two studies cannot

constitute a reliable foundation for generalisations.

The purpose of the Discussion is to address the implications of the results of the above mentioned

studies. This paragraph takes a deconstructivist approach in the attempt to discover those hidden

mechanisms of control that allegedly exist within HRM practices. The deconstructivist approach is

essential to analysis as it enables us to understand events and phenomena in a “new” way11.

However, the aim of this paper is not to evaluate the truth or legitimacy of HRM, but rather to

analyse its actual functioning within organisations.

Finally, the findings of the Discussion will be examined from an ethical point of view, yet noting

that critical positions presented are not per definition anti-HRM, but rather part of the ethical

deconstruction12. The discussion of ethics is both focused on the micro-level; relating to individual

HRM practices, as well the macro-level; which deals with the overall role of HRM within the

organisation13. In this paper, organisational ethics is defined as “the articulation, application and

evaluation of the consistent values and moral positions of an organisation by which it is

identified, both internally and externally.” It also relates to processes of how to address ethical

issues in connection with business, financial and management areas of the organisation, such as

HRM. Also, organisational ethics deals with “professional, educational and contractual

relationships affecting the operation of the organisation”14.

8 Kinsella, 2006: Web document

9 Macleod, 2002: p. 12

10 Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007: p. 713

11 Kinsella, 2006: Web document

12 Storey, 2007: p. 254

13 Jack et al., 2012: p. 2

14 Smith & Drudy, 2008: p. 165




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5. Theory

Since Michel Foucault has an immense body of work behind him, this paragraph will only give a

brief summary of some key concepts with particular relevance for this project, which are; power

and knowledge, and discourses and subjectivity.

Foucault’s personal, philosophical endeavour was to make his readers see what we think we know

with new eyes. Foucault refuses to accept self-evidencies, which means that we have to learn to let

go of preconceived opinions, understandings, and illusions about taken for granted essentialities.

By questioning self-evidencies, he sought to establish a space where we are free to rethink science

and rationality, and continuously invent new knowledge15. Therefore, throughout his work,

Foucault constantly changed his perspective and questioned and adjusted his own previous

positions16.

5.1 Power and Knowledge

If we push it to the extreme, we might argue that according to Foucault power, as such, does not

exist; it is an overall term encompassing a variety of highly complicated mechanisms. Key to

Foucault is the dismissal of power as a commodity, something that a person, an institution or a

structure can possess17; power is the effect of a given area’s relative strength and strategic position

in society18. Power is a result of the struggles that take place on a micro-level in economics, politics,

subjectification, knowledge production, sexuality, discipline, and all other relations that involve

people19. As such, from a Foucauldian perspective, power only exists as an activity20.

So, basically, where there are people there will always be power, and where there is power there

will always be the option of resistance21. A key point for Foucault is that the more explicit and

manifest expressions of power are, the easier it becomes to resist. Due to today’s opaque and

discrete versions of power, one of Foucault’s main objectives was to expose modern power, and

uncover the misleading manoeuvres and traps that power entails22.

Power does not solely work as an immense disciplining and repressing influence. According to

Foucault, power is a positive, productive force which functions through the different truths it

creates23. Foucault argues that power and knowledge are coterminous, one does not exist

independently from the other; the exercise of power inescapably produces knowledge and,

conversely, knowledge unavoidably induces effects of power. Knowledge is a method of discipline,

15

Heede, 2002: p. 9 16

Heede, 2002: pp. 10-11 17

Townley, 1993: p. 520 18

Heede, 2002: pp. 38-39 19

Heede, 2002: p. 39 20

Heede, 2002: p. 42 21

Heede, 2002: p. 40 22

Heede, 2002: p. 41 23

Heede, 2002: p. 43




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because it outlines an analytical space and constitutes the arena of knowledge which provides for

individuals a variety of possible truths and actions. Thus, it produces reality for us24.

Moreover, Foucault emphasises how in our society our need for truth has had a tendency to

overrule all other discourses and to work as a regulating power in itself. Through different periods

of time the need for truth has defined science, knowledge and subject positions through the

creation of knowledge. By excluding areas of knowledge as untrue, the need for truth limits our

understanding capacity. This is known as discursive closure25.

5.2. Discourse and the Subject

Furthermore, according to Foucault, the individual is one of power’s prime effects. The production

of the individual happens in the process of identity regulation. Through classification as some

given identity the individual’s understanding of itself is shaped, as well as society’s understanding

of the individual. Foucault’s studies have typically focused on the classification of people as sane as

opposed to mad. Scientific knowledge, e.g. psychology, thus regulates identity creation, providing

an arena of available understandings, actions, and vocabulary for us, knowing that we have now

been classified as a given identity26.

The same thing happens when we are at the doctor’s. Through being diagnosed as e.g. diabetic,

allergic, or whatever it might be, knowledge – represented by the medical discourse – shapes our

self-understanding by providing labels or categories which induce given behaviours and

understandings in individuals27. According to Foucault, this is an important point; the subject does

not create discourse, discourse creates the subject28.

5.3. Discourse and Power

Power is presented by Foucault as a fundamental societal condition. A society without power

relations is utopian. Modern day’s trades and professions are the results of mutual regulation

between technical and communicative skills, and relations of power. In any given profession, the

necessary adjustment between the three factors is present; in prisons power is dominant, in

production technical skills will be prevalent, while communication is essential to e.g. teaching. This

way, trades and professions are modern society’s attempt to rationalise, economise, control, and

monitor the shifting connections between productive and communicative activities, and influences

24

Townley, 1993: p. 521 25

Deetz, 1992: chap. 7 26

Heede, 2002: pp. 60-61 27

Townley, 1993: pp. 522-523 28

Heede, 2002: pp.. 70-71




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of power. And, as such, power works directly on our bodies through our participation in everyday

work life29.

Furthermore, we especially see in today’s knowledge societies how our desire to control and delimit

discourses – which are fluid, intertwined, and overlapping – in knowledge work, such as HRM,

represents itself by means of techniques meant to structure and order elements through

classification, sorting and dividing30. Foucault emphasises that though these classifications and

orders are part of a familiar landscape, e.g. HRM, they are not “natural”31; they are social

constructions.

Moreover, Foucault claims that before something can be governed or management, it must first be

known, which is exactly the purpose to which these artificially constructed orders serve.

“Governmentality, therefore is a reference to those processes through which objects are rendered

amenable to intervention and regulation by being formulated in a particular conceptual way.”32

This happens all the time; for example in personnel administration and organisational hierarchies,

as we shall see in the following Analysis.

29

Heede, 2002: pp. 42-43 30

Heede, 2002: p. 87 31

Townley, 1993: p. 519 32

Townley, 1993: p. 520




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6. Analysis

6.1. The Excellence Case

In the Excellence case, we are introduced to a company to which HRM practices are key to

employees’ understanding of how the firm works; HRM is seen as a core strategic function, and

Excellence has invested heavily in ambitious HRM designs, especially centred round recruitment,

performance assessment, and promotion33. Employees have absolute faith in the reliability of the

company’s HRM system and even praise the system for its delivery of fair assessment, resources for

improvements, and meritocratic promotion34.

Excellence encourages a “feedback culture”; for example, all projects are followed up by an

evaluation. However, problems arise as the study shows that though managers are supposed to

evaluate their team members, team members often fill out the standard evaluation forms

themselves. Furthermore, managers do not differentiate very much in their evaluation of individual

team members, because doing thorough, individual assessments would be too demanding. In

addition, written evaluation is supposed to be followed up by a dialog which also rarely happens35.

These facts completely undermine the value of the system of employee performance evaluation.

Moreover, Excellence promotes itself as a “career company” which means that employees enter the

company expecting rapid, professional advancement. Promotion is believed to be directly based on

employee performance, but since the value of the evaluation forms is highly questionable, reality

shows that this is not the case. Also, observations of promotion meetings reveal that choices for

promotion are more likely to be based on personal interests, relationships, and political coalitions

than on merit36. Despite these facts, belief in the company’s promotion system does not fail.

Also, in spite of being a modern consultancy company, Excellence is strictly hierarchical.

Surprisingly, employees do not see this as a problem, since, just like promotion practices,

according to the employees, the hierarchy accurately represents individual competence level. This

way, promotion practices and the hierarchical structure of Excellence define for the employees

what it means to be “a good employee”, thus, becoming an aspirational identity and a behaviour

regulating power within the organisation.

Moreover, the HRM system at Excellence – including employee training and development, and

promotion schemes – is believed to be the reason for the attractiveness of Excellence employees in

the labour market. As such, being an Excellence employee becomes a positive identity for

individuals, whereby people become less likely to engage in criticism and questioning the fact that

in reality the HRM system does not live up to its promises37.

33

Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007: pp. 711-712 34

Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007: p. 711 35

Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007: p. 715-716 36


Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007: p. 717




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6.2. The Magnum Consult Case

Some of the same things are present in the Magnum Consult case; here, also, the case company is

structured around a set of highly elaborate HRM practices. Actually, at Magnum Consult,

everything is formalised through extensive process descriptions; recruiting methods, continuous

training and development, systems of evaluation and appraisal, detailed systems of knowledge

management, which all contribute to the subjectification of employees38.

Magnum Consult, just like Excellence, resembles a traditional bureaucracy, being strictly

hierarchical, but the company provides opportunity for employees to rapidly ascend the

professional ladder whereby legitimising what might be perceived a rigid, limiting, and old-

fashioned organisation39. What might be surprising, however, is the fact that, according to the

study, hierarchical differentiation appears to induce motivation and reinforce career aspirations

rather than promote vertical divides and alienation40.

Even further, what is particular for this case is how Magnum actively works to manage employees’

identities; the company projects itself and is viewed by the labour market as an “elite” which

downplays the individual and emphasises the collective, cooperation, and conformity to the group.

Moreover, the image of Magnum as an elite reinforces organisational identification and represents

status and self-esteem for the employees, which decreases the urge to criticise how conformity

impedes individuality, spontaneity, and creative thinking41.

In addition, Magnum Consult is characterised by putting extreme demands on their employees in

terms of work load; some report working weeks of up to 80 hours42, serious under-staffing43, and a

rather problematic propensity to lie when reporting overtime; the fewer hours employees report,

the more competent and effective they are perceived, and hence evaluated more positively by

superiors44. Although, when engaging in reflexive thinking, employees consciously express negative

opinions about the above mentioned facts, still, immediately afterwards, they neutralise these

opinions. This is what the authors call counter-resistance45; resisting resistance.

38












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Counter-resistance indicates that the employees are subject to powerful, discursive control. They

take for granted that this is the way it is to work at Magnum; this is the nature of consultancy

work46, and the cultural norms of the company47, which makes it impossible to raise objections or

refuse to participate48. Discourses alongside the elite identity highlight the idea of a team, which

individuals are inevitably part of, being employees at Magnum. Being a part of this team makes it

impossible for people to resist because it would essentially mean resisting their own existence

within the company49. Therefore, resistance becomes the target of resistance.

46








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7. Discussion

7.1. Employee Evaluation and Appraisal

To begin with, we saw in the Analysis, how the practice of employee performance evaluation and

appraisal constitutes the foundation for the entire HRM system in both Excellence and Magnum

Consult; choices for training and development, reward and promotion are all based on employee

evaluation schemes. Foucault argues that in order for something to be governable, it has to be

known. Seen in this light, employee evaluation schemes become a mechanism for rendering

employees known.

For example, in the Excellence case, we learned that it is procedure to evaluate team members after

the termination of a project. However, this becomes problematic as the standard evaluation forms

that are used do not provide reliable evaluations. Employees are ranked based on strengths and

weaknesses within 20-25 skills and competencies50. We might assume that such skills include

“leadership skills”, “interpersonal skills”, “flexibility”, “problem-solving”, “innovation”, etc. which

are all socially constructed concepts. Thus, it becomes the manager – who is doing the evaluation –

with her interpretation of the concepts that defines the criteria on which the employee is assessed.

This, with Foucault’s words, involves the production of knowledge51, and along with the production

of knowledge follows effects of power; the power of the manager to define the employee.

We might also imagine an employee evaluation scheme based on a 1 – 5 scale. Can people ethically

be reduced to strengths and weaknesses or a number on a scale?52 This issue is particularly

problematic when these schemes form the basis of rational decision making, as we saw in both the

Excellence and the Magnum Consult cases in relation to promotion. When we boil individuals

down to five levels of (in)adequacy, we take a very narrow, limiting and cynical view on people.

When we apply “scientific” measuring methods to people, we reduce individuals into numbers, so

that we can compare them between each other, and rank them accordingly. The fact that subjective

interpretations and quasi-scientific methods form the basis of supposedly rational decisions, as we

see in the cases, emphasise our bounded rational decision making capabilities, and allude to the

issue of how such decisions are then to be justified53.

Furthermore, employee performance evaluation provides labels for people. An employee could for

instance be labelled “strong communicator”, “people person”, “solution oriented”, “flexible”, etc.

This labelling process entails a conceptual fixation of individuals54, which enables the individual

and the people around to more easily define and understand it. The problem is, however, that such

categorisations might become self-fulfilling prophecies which further weakens the reliability of the

practice of employee performance evaluation.

50

Alvesson & Kärrema, 2007: p. 715 51

Townley, 1993: p. 532 52

Townley, 1993: p. 529 53

Townley, 1993: p. 528 54

Townley, 1993: p. 526




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7.2. Hierarchy

We have already established that Excellence and Magnum Consult are both strictly hierarchical.

Implicitly, in ranking and hierarchy lies a discourse of the prestige that comes with certain job

titles. As it was noted in the Analysis, employees at Excellence and Magnum readily believe that

hierarchical position accurately reflects competence level. As such, the hierarchy becomes a

regulating force within the companies. For example, employees need to acquire certain skills in

order to advance, so they take training programmes; they get constructive feedback in order to

progress, so they adjust their behaviours; and, finally, the desired superior position becomes an

aspirational identity for the individual, which then influences the person’s self-perception.

Both Excellence and Magnum Consult promote themselves as “career companies” because,

presumably, quick promotion is attractive to potential job candidates. Underlying this is the

assumption that being characterisable as superior is attractive to career-minded individuals; again

orienting to the prestige discourse55. Intuitively we know that titles are just words; they are

concepts socially constructed and enacted between people. Thus, if job titles and the skills that we

say a given position requires are social constructions; can they legitimately be the criteria on which

people are judged, divided and grouped within a hierarchy?

Foucault would argue that we are dealing with a discursive closure. Individuals within the

hegemonic HRM discourse simply take such truths for granted. Or in other words, when

individuals begin to perceive something man-made as natural, e.g. a hierarchy, they become less

inclined to criticise it56. In the cases of Excellence and Magnum Consult, questioning something as

perfectly natural as the hierarchy would for the employees essentially mean questioning their own

position within it and, hence, their own legitimacy. Therefore, they abstain from engaging in such

critical thinking.

Furthermore, it is reasonable to address the “normalisation” of behaviour57 that will inevitably

occur when people adjust to the hegemonic discourse. This includes the internalisation of required

habits, rules, behaviours, and socially constructed definitions of the norm, and the consequence is

that the individual’s right to be different and truly individual gets lost along the way58. This is

particularly salient in the Magnum Consult case with the company’s emphasis on the team,

conformity and homogeneity.

In addition, such organisational characteristics are further strengthened when companies are

highly formalised; we learned how Magnum has elaborated an extensive amount of written process

descriptions. According to Foucault, the more detailed and minute job requirements, tasks, and

processes are described the stronger control over employees becomes. The employee will work as

the employer wishes; with the determined techniques, speed and efficiency59.

55

Townley, 1993: p. 528 56

Andersen et al., 2011: p. 18 57

Townley, 1993: p. 529 58

Townley, 1993: p. 537 59

Townley, 1993: p. 531




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It is an immense paradox that knowledge-based and service providing, post-modern companies

such as Excellence and Magnum Consult are in fact structured and managed as if they were

traditional bureaucracies. It is characteristic of knowledge work that it per definition includes

individual judgement and discretion, which would tempt us to presume a reduced significance of

control60. Nevertheless, control in the traditional sense becomes replaced with a super-individual,

overarching system (HRM) which disciplines the interior of the organisation; time, space, and

movement. Moreover, everything – tasks, behaviours, and interactions – are categorised and

measured. As a result, HRM provides techniques for measuring both the physical and subjective

dimensions of labour that renders individuals and their behaviours manageable61.

7.3. Organisational and Individual Identity

Also, processes of identity regulation play a significant part in subordinating employees at

Excellence and Magnum Consult. HRM practices become fused with identity work of employees,

which happens through a series of processes, e.g. by providing a specific vocabulary through which

employees are encouraged to understand the nature of their work62. At Magnum the word “elite”

becomes highly influential in both individual and collective identity work. Furthermore, the

construction of knowledge as skills has already been mentioned as a process of identification, as it

implies the definition of the “knower”. Employee performance assessment and the organisational

hierarchies at Excellence and Magnum have been highlighted as examples of this process63.

Especially at Magnum Consult the establishment of a distinct set of rules of the game64 mean that

employees accept working under extreme working conditions. It is highly problematic when certain

ways of doing things, norms and values, become naturalised, since making employees work 80

hours a week borders on exploitation and the tendency for employees to underreport overtime –

lying – implies the normalisation of seriously questionable practices. Besides, we saw in the

Magnum case, that although employees when reflecting upon these facts are aware that they are

problematic, they immediately engage in counter-resistance.

Thus, to produce individuals with the right mindset and motivation becomes the key part of the

total organisational apparatus of control65. This might happen as an unintentional side effect to

management initiatives as it is typically seen with HRM practices. Therefore, if we cannot be

assured that HRM practices actually live up to their promises – that employee evaluation actually

serves a purpose, that promotion is based on qualification, that the individual’s autonomy is

preserved, etc. – we might argue that it is in fact more dangerous for employees to be exposed to

60


Townley, 1993: p. 526 62

Alvesson & Willmott, 2002: p. 629 63







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the hidden mechanisms of control caused by HRM practices, than for them to be faced with

blatant, direct and explicit expressions of control66.

Finally, although the Excellence and the Magnum Consult cases are examples of organisations in

which employees show a large degree of compliance and willingness to subordinate themselves, it

has to be noted that employees are not merely passive receptacles of discourses. Rather, they

actually more or less actively and critically interpret and enact them67. And from a less critical point

of view, it is claimed that the individual itself knows best about its own capabilities, needs,

strengths and weaknesses, and goals. HRM practices provide the employer – at best – with an

imperfect picture68.

7.4. Ethics and Human Resource Management

Some believe that the obligations of companies to do “good” can be expanded without limit. Others

believe that companies should merely resolve to the moral minimum69. However, most agree that

since HRM assumes the effective use of employees for the achievement of organisational

objectives, the ethical stance would be that employees should not be used exclusively as a means to

an end70. In addition, it is also generally agreed that the employer cannot interfere with the

personal freedom of employees71. We might argue that identity regulation which happens as a

result of HRM practices is balancing on the sword’s edge from doing exactly that; meddling with

people’s self-perceptions, hopes, fears, motivation, and dreams is intrusion into the very deepest

layers of people.

Thus, consultants must determine for themselves if they entered into the field of HRM in order to

protect the rights of the employer or the rights of the employee. Because though managers might

introduce HRM to their companies with the best of intentions, these intentions get so entwined

with competing interests – such as financial objectives – that they get lost along the way72.

Moreover, with the passing of time and the hegemony of HRM discourses in the business world,

the negative side effects of HRM become naturalised as inherent parts of life in the organisation. As

such, they are not challenged – or when they are, challenge becomes undermined by counter-

resistance.

66

Greenwood, 2002: p. 272 67


Townley, 1993: pp. 535-536 69

Greenwood, 2002: p. 267 70

Greenwood, 2002: p. 273 71

Greenwood, 2002: p. 274 72

Ashman & Winstanley, 2007: p. 93




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So, should we liberate ourselves by abandoning all thought of HRM and accuse companies of

having imposed on us without our awareness? Here, the problem of moral agency arises which

questions whether a social construction like a company can in itself be morally responsible. Most

agree that business ethics can only be the responsibility of individual actors of management73. So,

the fact that the HRM systems at Excellence and Magnum no longer lives up to their original good

intentions, as time changed practices and embedded the negative side effects, cannot be traced

back to one or some particular individuals.

Generally, it is presumed that organisational ethics is a matter of unitarism which is based on the

assumption that ethics can be “managed” by a single overarching moral code implemented by

management74. However, since a concept like ethics is open to individual interpretation – what

might seem ethical to one, might not to another – perhaps organisations should aim at democratic

“dissensus” rather than enforcing a consensus-based ethical stance75.

Therefore, some opt for action ethics rather than theories, codes, or values of ethics. Since only

individuals can be ethical, the responsibility for the organisation’s ethics lies with them. Action

ethics situates morality in all relationships that we engage in with other moral beings, and it

practically represents itself in the – perhaps vague – notion of always considering the needs of the

other76. In the Excellence and Magnum Consult cases, ethical behaviour on managers’ sides would

have meant objecting to 80 hour working weeks, paying employees for the overtime that they

perform, and realising that it is untenable that employee evaluations are filled out by the employees

themselves. All in all, they should not have allowed for such practices to become accepted and

embedded.

It might seem appealing to see a business function such as HRM, which supposedly aims at

ensuring a positive working experience for employees, as the natural “ethical guardian” of the

organisation; that ethics is somehow naturally inherent within HRM practices. However, since

HRM is an extension of management activities, such idealisations are unrealistic77. Some might

even question if HRM should be ethical. From the perspective of Milton Friedman, business has no

responsibility beyond making profit for shareholders78. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the key to

ethical HRM is not to let HRM enforce its own ethical system, but constantly to bring HRM

practices into question and debate, and not allow for unethical practices to become legitimate79.

This entire debate relating to HRM and ethics might seem quite discouraging. It is easy to discover

unethical practices within HRM, and based on commonsensical ethical codes rearticulate a new

and “better” version of HRM. Yet, this would only be scratching the surface of organisational

ethics80.

73

Storey, 2007: p. 259 74

Rhodes & Harvey, 2012: p. 52 75


Storey, 2007: p. 254 77


Greenwood, 2002: p. 266 79


Jack et al., 2012: p. 2




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Thus, to end this paragraph on a somewhat more optimistic note, it is assumed that – though the

Excellence and Magnum Consult cases might indicate otherwise – ethics does not need to be

injected into the organisation; it is already there. This emphasises the need for more thorough

investigation and for asking more complex questions in order to understand how individuals in

organisations relate to each other as ethical beings81. Finally, it is presumed that it is not only

possible but desirable to make organisations and individuals more ethical. More ethical

organisations are necessarily better organisations, since more ethics assumes more “goodness”82.

81

Jack et al., 2012: p. 5 82

Jack et al., 2012: p. 5




18

8. Conclusion

This paper has shown that there is a down side to human resource management; that from a

critical perspective, HRM might indeed be viewed as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Above all, this

paper has emphasised the essentiality of words and language use in organisations. When

presumably rational administrative practices are deconstructed, we find that employees apparently

subordinate themselves to working conditions that border on exploitation and that they comply

with bureaucratic, old-fashioned hierarchies “forced” by nothing but the words that management

use. Practices of so-called soft HRM, such as employee performance evaluation, training and

development, as well as promotion, have been proven to play immense parts in processes of

behaviour and identity regulation. Thus, HRM practices represent mechanisms of organisational

control of which we have seen several examples in the two case studies by Alvesson and Kärreman.

First, through employee performance evaluation and the conceptual fixation that happens

simultaneously, employees are created by means of the labelling process (the application of words

to employees) that this HRM practice implies. We saw in the cases how what it means to be a “good

employee” within Excellence and Magnum is constructed through the skills and knowledge

(words) that employees are supposed to possess. This mechanism represents a strong behaviour

regulating force, as employees are prone to changing their behaviours based on negative

evaluations in a given direction which they think will result in better evaluations and perhaps a

promotion next time. According to Foucault, employee performance evaluation involves the

production of knowledge in order to render individuals known which makes them amenable to

intervention.

Furthermore, this is closely related to how HRM functions as a powerful mechanism for the

alignment of personal identity with organisational identity. Employees in “career companies”

(words) such as Excellence and Magnum are highly influenced by the prestige discourse and are

motivated by the possibility of promotion. The desired superior job positions become part of

employees’ self-perceptions as desired future identities, and HRM practises represent a means for

achieving those identities. If employees behave in accordance with the way a “good employee” is

defined through skills and knowledge, they will be evaluated positively and perhaps promoted.

Also, we saw in the Magnum Consult case, how the representation of the company as an elite

(words) becomes a strong identity regulating force within the company. Employees internalise the

perception of themselves as members of an elite team which downplays individuality and

emphasises conformity to the group.

This control mechanism is also detectable in the organisational hierarchies at Excellence and

Magnum Consult. Influenced by the prestige and career company discourses, employees aspire to

superior positions which become part of their imagined future identities. At the companies,

hierarchical position is believed to accurately reflect individual competence level which induces

lower level employees to comply with hierarchical subordination. They have faith that if they

perform better, they will be evaluated well which will lead to their own promotion to higher level

positions.




19

Consequently, management job titles (words) become motivation for employee identity and

behaviour regulation. As such, the hierarchy can be viewed as being based on nothing but words,

but it is, however, loaded with meaning when enacted between employees in the organisation.

From a Foucauldian perspective, the hierarchy becomes a truth that is not questioned because

questioning the legitimacy of the hierarchy implies, for the employees, in essence questioning

themselves. Therefore, in reality, subordination and compliance become the only alternatives.

In addition, this paper has engaged in an ethical discussion of HRM practices. There is no question

of the hegemony of HRM discourses in today’s business world; a company with no HR department

is not likely to be perceived as legitimate. Remembering Foucault’s idea of the need for truth, HRM

has become such a truth that excludes the possibility of not having an HR department. Thus,

having transformed into this super-individual, overarching natural system, HRM is perceived as

being inherently ethical. As such, it is hardly surprising that employees at Excellence and Magnum

believe there to be an unambiguous cause-effect relationship between HRM practices and their

consequences. Nevertheless, research emphasises human bounded rationality which explains why,

in spite of the best intentions, reliable employee performance evaluation and rational decision

making in relation to promotion is unrealistic.

It might be argued that since HRM implies hidden mechanisms of control – wrapped up in words

that are positively perceived in society, e.g. “empowerment”, “flexible working conditions”, “self-

managed teams” etc. – the abolishment of HRM practices would have a liberating effect. We might

even prefer a return to traditional, autocratic management styles, based on the assumption that

when exercise of power is obvious, at least people know to take care. Nevertheless, this paper takes

the stand that HRM can still be returned to its original good intentions if we stop mincing our

words; we need to acknowledge that a function such as HRM will inevitably contain mechanisms of

control, since it represents an extension of management. HRM, just as all discourses that have

taken hegemonic positions in society, must constantly be challenged, questioned, criticised and

debated, so that we avoid taking them for granted in the future.

Moreover, this paper claims that ethics already exists in organisations. Here we are not talking

about ethical codices, values of ethical behaviour, or similar “fluffy” formulations (words)

introduced by management. It might be necessary with a different and more pragmatic approach to

organisational ethics, such as; action ethics which situates morality in all interpersonal

relationships, or democratic “dissensus” which emphasises trust in individuals’ own

interpretations of what can be seen as ethical.




20

9. Literature:

Title: Unravelling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Control in a Management Consulting

Firm

Authors: Mats Alvesson and Dan Kärreman

Published: INFORMS, 2007

Source: Organization Science, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 711-723

URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25146131

Title: Resisting Resistance: Counter-resistance, Consent and Compliance in a Consultancy

Firm

Authors: Mats Alvesson and Dan Kärreman

Published: SAGE, 2009

Source: Human Relations, vol. 62, no. 8, pp. 1115-1144

URL: http://hum.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstracts/62/8/1115

Title: Identity Regulation as Organisational Control: Producing the Appropriate Individual

Author: Mats Alvesson and Hugh Willmott

Published: University of Cambridge, UK, 2002

Source: Journal of Management Studies, 35:5

URL: http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy1bib.sdu.dk:2048/login.aspx?direct

=true&db=bth&AN=6778511&site=ehost-live




21

Title: Den refleksive leder – Se dig selv udefra

Authors: Ole Steen Andersen, Lars Goldschmidt and Søren Barlebo Rasmussen, 2. udgave

Published: L&R Business, 2011

Title: For or against Corporate Identity? Personification and the Problem of Moral Agency

Authors: Ian Ashman and Diana Winstanley

Published: Springer, 2007

Source: Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 76, no. 1, pp. 83-95


Title: Democracy in an Age of Corporate Colonization - Developments in Communication

and the Politics of Everyday Life

Author: Stanley A. Deetz

Published: SUNY Press, 1992

Source: Wilfred Laurier University, Canada

URL: http://www.quartetfest.ca/documents/34519/CS323-Reading-(2)-Week_7.pdf

Title: Ethics and HRM: A Review and Conceptual Analysis

Author: Michelle R. Greenwood


Source: Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 36, pp. 261-278





22

Title: Det tome menneske – Introduktion til Michel Foucault, 2. udgave

Author: Dag Heede

Published: Museum Tusculanums Forlag, Københavns Universitet, 2002

Title: Frontiers, Intersections and Engagements of Ethics and HRM

Authors: Gavin Jack, Michelle Greenwood and Jan Schapper


Source: Journal of Business Ethics, November, vol. 111, pp. 1-12

URL: http://link.springer.com.proxy1-bib.sdu.dk:2048/article/10.1007%2Fs10551-012-1427-y

Title: Hermeneutics and Critical Hermeneutics: Exploring Possibilities within the Art of

Interpretation

Author: Elizabeth Anne Kinsella

Published: www.qualitative-research.net

Source: Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol. 7, No. 3, May 2006

URL: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/145/319#g31

Title: Deconstructing Discourse Analysis: Extending the Methodological Conversation

Author: Catriona Macleod

Source: South African Journal of Psychology, 2002, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p. 17

URL: http://eprints.ru.ac.za/747/1/dda.pdf




23

Title: Agonism and the Possibility of Ethics for HRM

Author: Carl Rhodes and Geraint Harvey


Source: Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 111, pp. 49-59

URL: http://link.springer.com.proxy1-bib.sdu.dk:2048/article/10.1007%2Fs10551-012-1441-0

Title: Corporate Culture and Organisational Ethics

Author: David Smith and Louise Drudy


Source: Leadership and Business Ethics, vol. 25, pp. 165-176

URL: http://download.springer.com.proxy1-

bib.sdu.dk:2048/static/pdf/934/chp%253A10.1007%252F978-1-4020-8429-

4_11.pdf?auth66=1386880766_96f068cd828eb861b1d72eb144bda47e&ext=.pdf

Title: Human Resource Management – A Critical Text, 3rd edition

Author: John Storey

Published: South-Western, CENGAGE Learning, 2007

Title: Foucault, Power/Knowledge, and its Relevance for Human Resource Management

Author: Barbara Townley

Published: Academy of Management, 1993

Source: The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 518-545





24

10. Appendix

10.1. Summary: The Excellence Case

Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007:

Unravelling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Control in a Management Consulting firm

This case study tells the story of the large management consulting firm Excellence which is built on

ambitious HRM designs. The company brands itself as a career company, and both potential job

candidates and current employees expect rapid advancement which makes Excellence an attractive

employer in the job marked and a prestigious company in which to be employed. Moreover,

Excellence practices extensive employee performance assessment and evaluation which is meant to

form the basis for choices regarding training and development, and promotion.

In contrast to the expected, the study shows that Excellence takes a rather non-rational approach

to the actualisation of HRM practices. Evaluations are highly formalised and standardised;

however, discrepancies exist between policies and how evaluations are practically carried out. For

example, managers often do not have time to fill out evaluations for employees, which means that

employees must do it themselves. Promotion is supposed to be based on evaluations, but it appears

that they in fact have little impact. Promotions, in reality, are typically based on personal

preferences and forming coalition in support of one candidate rather than the other.

What is striking is that employees’ personal experiences of these discrepancies seem to have little

impact on their opinion of HRM efficiency. Employees believe that the corporate hierarchy directly

mirrors accomplishments and merit. The authors introduce the concept of excess ceremoniality

which refers to arrangements that are detached from operational efficiency, that go beyond

legitimacy and stand out as something superior, which is how HRM practices work at Excellence.

Though the company has many traits of a traditional bureaucracy, exercise of power within the

company does not happen explicitly; rather, employees engage in self-regulation based on what the

authors term aspirational control. Aspirational control occurs when the individual ties his or her

self-perceptions to some career prospect or a projected future identity.

The HRM system at Excellence plays a major part in employees’ identity aspirations, as HRM

practices provide methods for constant self-improvement in order to advance. Moreover, the

structure provided by the HRM system legitimises temporary positions – even at subordinate levels

– within an old-fashioned formal hierarchy. Thus, according to the study, HRM becomes an

alignment between organisational and individual identity, which furthermore impedes disbelief

and resistance and fosters a sense of solidarity among employees and loyalty to the company and

the system.




25

Also, within Excellence, there is careful surveillance of employees expressing negative opinions and

telling non-affirmative stories about the HRM system. Questioning HRM would mean questioning

resources for identity construction and thereby oneself, and the fact that HRM structures work to

reduce insecurity for employees leaves little room for rationally considering doubts about the

actual efficiency of HRM practices.

As such, Excellence does not use HRM as an objective-functional system, but as a meaning-

creating device which helps employees understand who they themselves and their company are.

Therefore, the authors suggest a reconceptualisation of HRM from a system of policies and

practices applied to the effective management of people processes within the organisation, to a

means for the creation of meaning that employees draw on in their understandings of themselves

and their company.




26

10.2. Summary: The Magnum Consult Case

Dan Kärreman and Mats Alvesson, 2009:

Resisting Resistance: Counter-resistance, Consent and Compliance in a Consultancy Firm

The context of this study is a management consultancy company. What characterises this type of

company is that its work force is based on knowledge workers which normally implicates that

employees are allowed quite a lot of discretion because, as experts, they must be able to make quick

decisions in the moment. However, at Magnum the situation is different; the firm places a lot of

pressure on its employees to be hardworking, always keep deadlines, and to be willing to

subordinate themselves to hierarchy and standards, making it resemble a traditional bureaucracy.

The researchers of the study identify two groups of dominant but conflicting discourses within

Magnum: First, the Ambition discourses have to do with a common understanding of what it

means to be a consultant and to work within the consultancy business, competences and employee

development, career and promotion. These discourses highlight compliance and subordination

which make employees refrain from resisting. However, there are also discourses that construct the

work life at Magnum quite differently. The Autonomy discourses have to do with the difficulties

that employees experience with balancing work and home life, and the discrepancy between

expressed versus felt degree of autonomy and discretion.

What is apparent in interviews with Magnum employees are the struggles that they face, being

caught between the conflicting dominant discourses. Subjects feel deviant if they do not perform

according to the norm at the company, and they are socially punished for resisting the extreme

work load. But, at the same time, they feel like “corporate dopes” who are not living up to the

norms that say that a good life is one of freedom to do the things you love in your spare time –

which is something that Magnum employees do not really have. Therefore, in interviews,

employees engage in what the researchers label counter-resistance.

When interviewed employees display insight and reflexivity; they know that 80 hour working

weeks are extreme, they know they should have spare time to be with families or to do their

hobbies, they know that they are being subordinated by the formal hierarchy, etc. They constantly

hint at alternative and better positions; at resistance, which is then however immediately resisted.

In other words, the impulse to protest is somehow neutralised.

At Magnum employee compliance is achieved through subordination, identification, and

conformity. Recruitment is primarily targeted at recent business school graduates who more or

less automatically subordinate themselves to structure and systems. The hierarchy of the company

is accepted, even celebrated, as an accurate representation of competence and as positives future

identities through promotion, thus becoming a motivational factor.

Identification happens through Magnum’s HRM practices, such as employer branding: Magnum is

viewed as an attractive employer despite its almost exploitive work load and structures, due to

benefits such as upmarket recruitment, continuous competence development, high wages and good

career prospects.




27

The image of Magnum as an elite encourages a shared common identity and downplays

individuality. Furthermore, there is a strong emphasis on team work, cooperation and conformity.

Social identities and processes of identification provide comfort and security for the individual;

however, it also impedes spontaneity and creativity.

In short, employees are left with the choice of aligning themselves with the company, which means

resisting resistance, or leaving – which they do not. Subordination, identification and conformity

do not eliminate resistance, but they clearly limit the available actions of resistance. Since

subordination, identification and conformity are integral aspects of the company, social

interaction, structure, culture (achieved primarily through HRM practices), Magnum employees

cannot protest against perceived exploitation, because it would mean questioning the very essence

of the company. And, as long as members stay with the company, identify and align themselves

with Magnum, resistance would also mean questioning who they are as individuals.