HR's role in corporate governance: Present and prospective

✍ Scribed by Richard W. Beatty; Jeffrey R. Ewing; Charles G. Tharp

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 175 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0090-4848
• DOI: 10.1002/hrm.10084

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Corporate wrongdoing is damaging investor confidence and tarnishing the credibility of the U.S. business
community, guilty and innocent alike. Some misdeeds are clearly criminal, others simply unethical or damaging to
reputations. They range from “massaging” numbers (“managed earnings”), which
tests the limits of financial prudence, to outright fraud. Caught in the limelight are U.S. corporate giants
representing some of the world's best‐known brands and most famous CEOs, many only yesterday lionized
in the business press.

We have explored this issue from the perspective of the HR function through a survey of the senior HR
professionals who attended the Human Resources Forum. The survey was augmented with focus groups. Our purpose was
to understand current practices, attitudes, and behaviors with respect to legal standards and professional and
ethical codes. We also explored the roles of the CEO, HR leadership, and the HR function in minimizing ethical
breaches that have diminished investor and public trust. We hope to shed light on the responsibilities, actions,
and risks of the HR function and its leadership now and in the future. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.