Abstract
In the emerging sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) literature, advocating to ‘rehumanize’ and pluralize HRM, dialogue is put forward as a silver bullet to cope with paradoxical tensions and pluralist workforces. This conceptual paper aims to add to the sustainable HRM literature by examining the position and application of dialogue within sustainable HRM, using ideas and concepts from dialogue literature and complexity thinking. We applied core concepts of complexity thinking (i.e., self-organization, nonlinearity, attractors, and emergence) to deepen our understanding of the positioning of dialogue, the position of power, and the emergence of intended and unintended outcomes. Moreover, through the distinction between intentional and continuous dialogue, the intentional, dynamic, and emergent nature of dialogue was explored. Connecting, sensing, grasping, and influencing the local patterning of continuous dialogue is important for positioning dialogue within sustainable HRM, and intentional dialogical practices can support this. More specifically, based on our literature review, we present a conceptual model that furthers our understanding of (1) conceptualizations of dialogue as both intended and continuous; (2) the role of power in dialogue; (3) how stability and novelty emerge from dialogue. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the developed perspectives on dialogue for future research as well as management practices.
Highlights
In the wake of the Brundtland Commission report [1], Elkinton’s [2] ‘Triple-P model’(People, Planet, and Profit), and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations [3], human resource management (HRM) has engaged in the search for more sustainable strategies and practices
Influenced by critical management studies [4], HR scholars and practitioners have increasingly focused on fostering sustainability both on the individual level, aiming for sustainable employment and sustainable careers [5], and on strategic levels, by developing sustainable HRM policies, practices, and processes [6]
This attention has led to the emergence of sustainable HRM, considered to be the phase in the development of the field of strategic HRM [7]
Summary
In the wake of the Brundtland Commission report [1], Elkinton’s [2] ‘Triple-P model’(People, Planet, and Profit), and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations [3], human resource management (HRM) has engaged in the search for more sustainable strategies and practices. Influenced by critical management studies [4], HR scholars and practitioners have increasingly focused on fostering sustainability both on the individual level, aiming for sustainable employment and sustainable careers [5], and on strategic levels, by developing sustainable HRM policies, practices, and processes [6]. This attention has led to the emergence of sustainable HRM, considered to be the phase in the development of the field of strategic HRM [7]. Sustainable HRM can be defined as “the pattern of planned
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