Firm–Employee Relationships from a Social Responsibility Perspective – Developments from Communist Thinking to Market Ideology in Romania. A Mass Media Story

Abstract

<p> &gt; <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">Firm&ndash;employee relationships are dependent on <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">the wider societal context and on the role business plays in <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">society. Changes in institutional arrangements in society <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">affect the perceived responsibilities of firms to their personnel. In this study, we examine mass media discussions<br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">about firm&ndash;employee relationships from a social responsibility perspective via a longitudinal study in Romanian <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">society. Our analysis indicates how the expected responsibilities of firms towards employees have altered with the <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">changing role of firms in society since the early 1990s.<br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">These transformations correspond to the ideological <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">developments, from communist to market-based thinking, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">which have taken place in post-communist Eastern Europe.<br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">More specifically, our study shows how the diminishing <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">linked in mass media to increasingly important talk of<br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">human resource management (HRM). HRM is a modern <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">business approach believed to address personnel needs and <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">organisational objectives simultaneously. The congruency <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">of goals in HRM may mistakenly lead to the conclusion <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">that organisations are inherently responsible toward their<br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">personnel. We argue that this may not necessarily be the <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">case. HRM, matching well the new free-market ideology in <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">post-communist Eastern Europe, was eagerly embraced in<br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">that it defined firm&ndash;personnel relationships. In this study, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">we question whether this was an adequate theoretical perspective for Romanian firms to adopt as it lacks sufficient<br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">ethical grounding. We also call for a higher awareness <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">concerning the role of mass media in the management <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">literature, since its current role in constructing the &lsquo;rightness&rsquo; and &lsquo;wrongness&rsquo; in firm&ndash;personnel relationships is <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: AdvPTimes; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">hardly considered.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>