Employee Capabilities, Workplace Resonance, and Common-Good HRM

Abstract

The challenge of economic, social and environmental sustainability is one of the most critical dilemmas facing society on an international scale and therefore needs to be a core priority for organizations. To date, businesses are still struggling to balance a future social-mission with established strategic business goals. This conceptual paper reflects on ambiguity surrounding the societal role and purpose of HRM relating to a range of internal and external dysfunctional relationships. Specifically, we develop further the recently proposed Common-Good HRM (CGHRM) paradigm (Aust, Matthews, Müller-Camen, 2020), and address the lack of an explanatory sociological foundation (Why?), a clearly defined definition (What?), and an operational framework (How?). We draw on two main streams of literature, and enrich Sen’s Capability Approach with Rosa’s Theory of resonance. We thereby reinterpret the challenge of sustainability as a crisis of resonance, and the workplace as a possible enabling zone of resonance. By synergistically defining the role of HRM in terms of a capability-enhancer with a special focus on creating resonant workplace relations and collective opportunities for achievement, we reconnect the individual, collective and institutional levels of analysis and infer a fundamental revaluing of the quality of both workplace social experiences and HRMs relations to the wider world. Finally, adapting Ibrahim’s three-stage model, we describe the process through which HRM can move beyond methodological individualism towards collective sustainable organizational and societal transformation and illustrate our arguments with examples of alternative purpose-driven management approaches who are embracing human, societal and economic change.