Product Description

As corporations become increasingly more powerful, their decisions have a larger impact on the social and ecological landscape both domestically and internationally. In Ethics and HRD, Tim Hatcher shows how human resource development departments can foster ethical consciousness and play an important role in transforming their organizations into responsible corporate citizens. He describes the relationship between ethical leadership, social responsibility, and HRD and shows how to synthesize them into a new and more sustainable paradigm for HRD. The first book of its kind, it will serve as a guide for managers, human-resource professionals, and students of HRD alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #673407 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
"Complex, balanced...examines the issues that are driving the need for ethical behavior and corporate social responsibility...thorough." -- BizEd January / February 2003

About the Author
Tim Hatcher is an associate professor of leadership and human-resource education at University of Louisville. A sought-after speaker, and the author of numerous articles and monographs on corporate social responsibility and ethical leadership, he lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Customer Reviews

Hatcher reminds us that ethics are vital to our success
This volume lays out why adding value to our shared society is not only practical, but ethical as well. Almost always missing from the conventional wisdom presented in the HRD literature, Hatcher lays out the case in convincing manner. It should be must reading and action for everyone in the field.

Complex but Seminal Work
Tim Hatcher's Ethics and HRD is the first book-length treatment of what most would think are two obviously connected areas - business ethics and the development of human resources. In Ethics and HRD, Hatcher identifies the challenges of "globalization, high-speed technological changes, wildly fluctuating economies, a changing workforce, an unstable environmental climate, and erratic politics". Because of these challenges, Hatcher argues that "we have come to a point where we must have people and organizations that do the right thing ..., organizations and leaders that are moral, ethical, and socially responsible". "HRD professionals," writes Hatcher, "have been complicit in helping to create organizations and workplaces that do little to enhance the human spirit or protect the environment". He proposes a new approach to human resources development that synthesizes ethical leadership and social responsibility. Hatcher believes that HRD professionals can play an important role in transforming their organizations into socially-responsible corporate citizens.
Hatcher's Ethics and HRD is written in dense prose, subtle to the point of apparent contradiction at times, with frequent repletion. I am uncomfortable with some of the author's New Age ideas, such as Gaian philosophy and ecopsychology, the study of the "relationship between our psyches, related behaviors, and what is happening in our environment". Nevertheless, for a first book-length treatment of this important issue, there are seminal ideas and much that is suggestive. Chapter 10, The Imperatives of HRD, especially the section "Strategies, Programs, and Interventions," provides excellent practical suggestions and a myriad of ideas for future research.