A Habermasian Critique of Human Resource Management

The article focuses on the Habermasian analysis of the soft or high commitment model of human resource management (HRM). The main thesis of Habermas is that in modern societies, the system colonizes the lifeworld, causing disorder in the reproduction processes of the lifeworld. The study argues, that in modern organizations, colonization occurs through the practices of high commitment HRM model. First, by providing a historical critique of HRM, this study touches upon the role of HRM in retaining tendencies to crisis of the capitalist system latent. Second, by presenting a theoretical critique of HRM, this article also shows how the high commitment model of HRM intervenes into the reproduction of the symbolic structures of the lifeworld.