scholarly journals A Role For HR In Corporate Ethics? South African Practitioners’ Perspectives

Author(s):  
L. J. Van Vuuren ◽  
R. J. Eiselen

Since few South African organisations have as yet appointed ethics officers, there is often a lack of clarity on who should take responsibility for coordinating organisations’ ethics management efforts. The purpose of this paper was to assess HR (the Human Resource function and its practitioners) as a possible contender to assume responsibility for ethics management in SA organisations. To this end a mail survey was conducted among registered HR practitioners (N=410). Two factors related to 1) the extent of HR’s ethics management competence and 2) HR’s responsibility for ethics management, were identified. The results showed that HR practitioners on average believe that they indeed have an ethics management competence and that they should be involved in ethics management. However, practitioners with a great deal of exposure to organisations that manage ethics believe to a lesser extent that they should be involved in ethics management. The implications of the findings are discussed.

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-428
Author(s):  
R Wordsworth ◽  
BJ Erasmus

This article reports on the results of a survey conducted among human resource practitioners in South Africa regarding their involvement in and experience of business ethics and unethical behaviour in their organisations. The results of the study concur with the theoretical perception that human resource managers have an important role to play in the institutionalisation of good ethical behaviour in the organisation, with the majority of respondents reporting that the human resource department is a primary resource for ethical initiatives and that human resource professionals are involved in the formulation of ethics policies. The article provides some insights in terms of the role of the human resource managers in the management of ethics. In so doing, an attempt is made to address the question of whether human resource managers should be the drivers of ethics initiatives in the organisation.


Author(s):  
A. S. A. Du Toit

Using competitive intelligence (CI) can help developing countries to increase their competitiveness. This paper compares the CI activities between two retail banks in Brazil and South Africa. An e-mail survey in a sample of 2550 employees in a retail bank in Brazil and 847 employees in a retail bank in South Africa was carried out in which CI practices were measured. Respondents in both countries were not very effective to conduct effective CI analysis. Respondents from Brazil consider information on operational risks as the most important while for South African respondents the most important information was on changing regulatory requirements. Although there is a culture of competitiveness in both organizations, it is recommended that if they want to compete effectively in the global economy, they should create CI awareness by organizing CI training sessions for employees.


1983 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-59
Author(s):  
R. Abratt

The involvement of personnel executives in the strategic planning of the enterprise is a controversial issue. Personnel has been considered a staff function which deals with day-to-day administration issues and as such has often been regarded with some contempt by the top management team. Concomitantly many firms are viewing the personnel function in an entirely different light; it now participates in the decision making of the company. The objectives of this paper are two fold: firstly to find a link between corporate strategy and human resource management and secondly, to find out whether personnel managers of quoted South African companies participate in corporate strategy formation. The company comprises of a number of varying dimensions and systems. Every organizational dimension and system must be consistent, not only with the strategy, but also with every other organizational dimension and system. The personnel department is often excluded from the corporate planning process. This exclusion represents a high cost to the total system due to less than optimum usage of an organization's human resources. This paper discusses the need for planning by management with particular reference to manpower planning in relation to corporate planning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
Ayesha Irum ◽  
Rama Shankar Yadav

Purpose The article presents an overview of the Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) and its relevance in the current organizational context. It broadly captures the advantages of HRIS and the significant challenges involved in its implementation and succeeding stages. Design/methodology/approach A string of research articles in the domain is reviewed for the briefing. Findings HRIS is salient in supplementing various Human Resource (HR) functions ranging from HR planning to performance management. It can act as a catalyst in establishing the significance of HR in strategic decision making. It helps managers to effectively store large amounts of employee data and draw inferences from it to make pro-employee decisions. However, despite being relevant in HR functions, HRIS is often surrounded by concerns like employee privacy breach and misuse of information. Originality/value The article showcases the transformation of the Human Resource function to strengthen its strategic position in the organization and sustain HR professionals. Adoption of HRIS helps to convert HR to a data-driven function.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Vorster

This contribution argues that competing justice values are hindering progress in the land debate in South Africa. Two factors contribute to this state of affairs: Firstly, social justice is a multifaceted concept undergirded by a range of values. These values often stand in tension with each other, especially when it comes to intergenerational conflicts and transitional social contexts. Secondly, South African approaches to justice seem to be closely related to group identities, particular historical experiences and political interests. To address the impasse on land, we need to recalibrate our disposition to the hierarchy of justice values and the priority we assign to each value. Moreover, we need to address the relationship between justice dispositions and identities. The question posed is the following: Can reformed-theological resources add an extra ingredient to our understanding of social justice? What would be the implications of such a recalibration for our understanding of human identity? This article proposes the concept of embracing justice as orienting principle in resolving the land issue. Furthermore, it draws on reformed notions of self-denial and cross-bearing to advocate a permeable notion of identity that internalises and enacts the demands of embracive justice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-29
Author(s):  
Roshni Das

Purpose The paper’s premise is based upon the finding that organisations have not been able to optimally harvest the diversity dividend in the absence of proper integration with strategy. The paper aims to address this gap in practice by proposing a framework. Design/methodology/approach A critical analysis of the diversity literature is conducted. Findings Multi-level, conceptual linkages with employee performance are derived and a five-point implementable agenda is outlined for the strategic human resource function. Originality/value This paper highlights for the practitioner, the value of having a structured approach to diversity management.


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