This paper critically reviews Vadera and Aguilera's 2007 article examining the role of international human resources management in the formulation and implementation of ethics programs in multinational enterprises. The review evaluates the article's importance, literature foundation, conceptual development, methodology, and practical contributions. It assesses how the article addresses multilevel factors—institutional, industry, country, and organizational—that influence ethics program effectiveness. The review also considers the article's recommendations for HR practitioners and its directions for future research, ultimately finding the work a valuable theoretical and practical resource for HR managers and scholars studying organizational ethics across global business contexts.
This paper reviews the article "The Role of International Human Resources Management in the Formulation and Implementation of Ethics Programs in Multinational Enterprises," authored by Abhijeet Vadera of the College of Business and Ruth Aguilera of the Department of Business Administration, published in 2007 (Vadera & Aguilera, 2007).
The article aims to present issues related to ethics programs in organizations, including their formulation, content, communication, and effectiveness. It also examines future avenues for research, such as the integration of ethics into human resource planning, staffing, training and development, performance evaluation, and compensation. An additional area of interest explored by the article involves multilevel factors affecting the role of ethics in human resources management, including institutional factors, industry and country-level factors, and organizational factors.
The article focuses on demonstrating that multinational companies across the world are implementing, or attempting to implement, ethics programs—but that outcomes differ in each case. Without consistency in results, it is difficult to develop a standard framework or model for ethics programs that could be successfully applied across multiple companies, especially those operating in the same industry.
The article proposes a series of strategies that could facilitate the implementation of ethics programs and help ensure their effectiveness. The importance of this topic is recognized by both theoreticians and practitioners in the human resources field. Some argue that ethics should be "a component of the performance review process" and that "ethics have to be factored into the compensation system" (Lachnit, 2002). Employees and their managers make decisions every day that affect their own work, the company's operations, and the lives of others—which means their decisions must be ethical and moral above all else (Gross, 2009).
Business ethics carries a range of implications, including global competition, constant pressures, and customer expectations (CPML, 2009). The treatment of employees in the workplace can generate unethical behavior in certain circumstances (Moberg, 1997). Creating an ethical environment is a contribution that all employees must share (Hanson, 2008), and several ethical models exist that organizations may consider (Federwisch, 2007).
Any theoretical aspect regarding the role of ethics in human resources management has practical implications. The purpose of the article is to create a theoretical model that can be implemented in practice by multinational companies. To support this, the article provides examples drawn from managerial practice that illustrate the varied effects of ethics programs implemented by multinational organizations.
Such an article is valuable for students because it provides an opportunity to examine specific aspects of ethics program implementation and the factors that contribute to their success or failure. It is equally important for human resources managers, who can observe the potential effects of such programs before rolling out their own, thereby enabling them to take preventive measures against any negative consequences that might arise.
The article focuses more on the practical dimensions of ethics in human resources management than on purely theoretical ones, and it does not include a clearly delineated literature review section. Nevertheless, the article demonstrates familiarity with the relevant scholarly literature—without which it could not have been written. Research studies referenced in the article have been published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, American Journal of Sociology, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, California Management Review, Journal of Law and Economics, and International Journal of Management Reviews, among others.
The direction taken by the study is well justified. The article begins with the earliest stage of ethics program development—formulation—and proceeds to discuss program content, how programs are currently communicated versus how they should be communicated, and their overall effectiveness. The subject matter, combined with the analysis of implementation components and the solutions proposed, reflects a sound understanding of the existing literature. The findings and results from the referenced studies are neither misinterpreted nor exaggerated. However, as noted above, the absence of a formal literature review section is an observable gap that affects how the reader can assess its organization.
The article analyzes ethics program implementation at the organizational level while also considering effects and implications at the individual level, from the employees' perspective. The key variables examined include institutional factors, industry and country-level factors, and organizational factors. Each variable is presented with clarity and clear delimitation. The assumptions associated with the variables are explicitly stated and grounded in evidence drawn from the reviewed research studies.
While the article does not summarize a large and diverse literature in the conventional sense, it compensates by engaging deeply with a focused set of studies conducted by specialists in the human resources field across multiple countries. It addresses both recent studies—which reveal current trends in the relationship between ethics and human resources—and older studies that allow for a longitudinal perspective on how this relationship has evolved.
These studies include: Bailey and Spicer (2007); Farrell (1998, Australia); Langlois and Schlegelmilch (1990, Europe and the United States); Melé, Debeljuh, and Arruda (2006, Argentina, Brazil, and Spain); Palazzo (2002, United States and Germany); Robertson and Schlegelmilch (1993, United States and Great Britain); Singh (2006, Canada); and numerous others.
Notably, the article goes beyond reviewing existing research. It also provides solutions, alternatives, and recommendations that human resources managers can draw upon when developing and implementing ethics programs within their organizations. The article additionally identifies directions for future research—such as the integration of ethics programs into HR processes including staffing, training and development, performance evaluation, and compensation—as well as multilevel issues that affect ethics program implementation.
The temporal scope of the article is appropriate. The oldest study analyzed was conducted in 1990 by Langlois and Schlegelmilch, focusing on corporate codes of ethics in Europe and the United States. The most recent study, at the time of publication, was conducted in 2007 by Bailey and Spicer on international business ethics.
"Assesses sample diversity and reliability of evidence"
"Reviews how findings are interpreted and presented"
"Practical and theoretical value of the article"
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