Human Resource and Corporate Social Responsibility: Concepts between Fashionable Luxury, Old Conflicts of Interests, and New Lines of Flight

The present project tackles current human resource and corporate social responsibility concepts in Swiss large-scale enterprises. Leaving the commonly used categories aside, it aims to approach the different endeavours by moving beyond fashionable terms like "managing diversity", "health care", "work-life balance", or "corporate volunteering". By means of a multi-perspective qualitative research design, the different constructions are explored and discussed in view of stagnancy and movement. The results suggest three different main discourses or "interpretative repertoires" (Potter & Wetherell, 1987) upon which actors currently draw when making sense of the different human resource and social responsibility endeavours: (1) ideal worker luxury in the centre of the organization, (2) interests of minorities and good deeds on the margins of the organization, and (3) different voices within the overall organization. Modelled on the first two repertoires, the different endeavours turn out to be conceived of either as a fairweather luxury in order to conserve the "ideal workforce" or as well-meant perks for clearly definable minority groups. Finally, the third repertoire approaches the concepts from a broader corporate cultural background. Modelled on the "voices repertoire", the different endeavours are conceived of as diverse ways to bridge the dichotomous spheres and encourage a variety of voices to have their say. From this point of view, drawing on the interrelatedness and common grounds of the different concepts means tapping their full potential for organizational (as well as societal) change. Therefore, the present project offers a perspective on differences that integrates currently well-known fields in management such as managing diversity, human resource management, corporate social responsibility, and, finally, organizational change management.