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What is sustainable human resource management (HRM)

There are many published definitions on sustainable HRM which shaped the new and emerging field of sustainable HRM to facilitate large and small organizations to implement corporate sustainability business strategy to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). For example, the earliest definition on sustainable HRM was provided by Mariappanadar (2003) and it was about the management of human resources (HR) to meet the optimal needs of the company and community of the present without compromising the ability to meet the needs of the future. Subsequently, Ehnert (2009) highlighted conservation of HR capabilities required by organizations to operate effectively in dynamic environment.

Mariappanadar (2014) revised the definition of sustainable HRM to include economic, social/human, and natural environment sustainability outcomes to shape HRM functions to implement corporate sustainable development goals (SDGs). Hence, the revised sustainable HRM definition is about “as those HR systems or bundles that enhance both profit maximization for the organization and also ‘reduce the harm’ on employees, their families and communities” (p. 313). Similarly, Ehnert and her colleagues (2015) defined sustainable HRM as “the adoption of HRM strategies and practices that enable the achievement of financial, social, and ecological goals, with an impact inside and outside of the organization and over a long-term time horizon while controlling for unintended side effects and negative feedback (externalities/harm)” (p. 3). These two definitions by Mariappanadar (2014) and Ehnert et al., (2015) highlighted the use of HR in achieving individual aspects of sustainability financial, social/human, and environmental outcomes. However, these two definitions do not include the tension/paradox which organizations will experience while engaging HR to synthesize and achieve the complementary but seemingly contradictory financial, social/human, and natural environment outcomes of SDGs. Hence, the recent definition of synthesis effect of sustainable HRM is explained to highlight how HRM practices could accept and manage the diverse outcomes of corporate sustainability without ignoring the tension created by these diverse financial, social/human, and natural environment SDGs.

Sustainable HRM from the synthesis paradox (Mariappanadar, 2019) is about HR systems or bundles of HRM practices that engages employees to synthesis increased organizational performance outcome while simultaneously reducing the unsustainable impacts on environment as well as on employees and their families (i.e., stakeholders).

Reference: Mariappanadar, S. (2003). Sustainable Human Resource Management: The Sustainable and unsustainable dilemmas of downsizing”, International Journal of Social Economics, 30 (8), 906 – 923.

Ehnert, I. (2009). Sustainable human resource management: A conceptual and exploratory analysis from a paradox perspective. London: Springer.

Mariappanadar, S. (2014). Stakeholder harm index: A framework to review work intensification from the critical HRM perspective, Human Resource Management Review, 24 (4), 313-329.

Ehnert, I., S. Parsa, I. Roper, M. Wagner, and M. Muller-Camen. (2015). Reporting on sustainability and HRM: A comparative study of sustainability reporting practices by the world's largest companies. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 27 (1), 88-108.

Mariappanadar, S. (2019). Sustainable Human Resource Management: Strategies, Practices and Challenges, Macmillan International Publisher, London.