Ethics, Stakeholders and Context in the Management of Human Resources: An Exploratory study of Microfinance banking industry in Pakistan

Abstract

This thesis explores Ethics, Stakeholders and Context and their role in the Management of Human Resources. More specifically, it explores why and how HR Heads frame and respond to stakeholder ethical issues in Microfinance banking industry in Pakistan. It does so by analysing the Harvard Model of Human Resource Management (HRM) and by employing the Managerial Stakeholder theory while finding and exploring through data and analysis the need to integrate the two. This research employed an interpretive qualitative approach entailing, inter alia, semi-structured interviews with twenty stakeholders (very senior executives/managers) including seven HR Heads (out of total eleven banks in the industry), departmental heads, CEO and Chairman from the Microfinance banking (MFB) industry, Pakistan. The executives sample made it possible to understand the strategic managerial perspective that both the Harvard model and the Managerial stakeholder theory entail. The findings revealed that the Managerial stakeholder theory can play a very important role in the Harvard model of HRM by addressing its neglected aspects in research, specifically the need for an ethical (normative) lens besides identifying the stakeholder salience and the stakeholder ethical issues. The findings underline the increasing importance of corporate governance and the role played by the Central bank (regulator) and the Board of Directors in engendering Ethics as well as arresting the Mission Drift that MFB is facing in Pakistan. The study findings also confirm the important role of HR in Ethics in MFB Pakistan especially through its policies and procedures; most important being the organisational Code of conduct followed by Training and Development. This research endeavours to fill the significant gaps in the Business ethics & HRM literature in understanding stakeholder ethical issues in a context-sensitive manner. The study concludes by presenting a ‘Stakeholder model for Ethical HRM’ as its main contribution.