Organizational characteristics and HRM policies on rights: Exploring the patterns of connections

The protection of employee rights in the workplace is one of the fundamental ethical questions facing organizations today. Organizations differ in the extent to which they protect the rights of both employees and themselves as employers, yet little research has examined the types of organizations that have rights protection policies. Instead of the classic normative approach to ethical issues, this study took a contextual approach to the management of rights in the workplace through human resource policies. Associations were found between the organizational characteristics of size, industry, unionization, business condition, and the existence of employee and employer rights policies. Additional analyses revealed underlying dimensions in right policies and the relationship of organizational characteristics to these aspects of rights management were examined. The results are discussed in terms of understanding human resource rights management within an organizational context.Catherine E. Schwoerer is an Assistant Professor in the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Her research interests include work place rights and responsibilities, training and development, self-efficacy, and aging and work.Douglas R. May is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at the University of Nebraska. His research interests include social issues management and the impact of the physical environment on employees' attitudes and health.Benson Rosen is Hanes Professor of Management and Chairman of Management Area at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, The University of North Carolina. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the Academy of Management.