Human resource management and ethical challenges: building a culture for organization success

Purpose Human resource professionals (HRPs) remain challenged by ethical conundrums in the workplace. Business leaders are asked to respond to demands for efficiency in an environment of distrust or skepticism amongst employees and customers. HRPs who understand ethical decision-making as well as ethical perspectives and implications of actions within the organization can create value within their organizations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the five ethical content issues of Hosmer’s (1987) model related to the twenty-first century human resource management (HRM) themes. Design/methodology/approach As a result of a syntheses of leadership and HRM philosophies over several decades, six propositions associated with the content issues are suggested. Findings HRPs are well-positioned to encourage ethical and moral decision-making within their organizations when they are able to contribute to creation of a culture that honors duties to stakeholders and supports organizational success. Originality/value The existence of synthesized analysis regarding organizational leaders, human resource managers, ethics and culture to build organizational success is limited. Thus, this paper highlights a need for organizations and for HRPs to dedicate policies and implement practices which can support ethical sustenance in today’s organizations.