The Moral Aspects of Headhunting. The analysis of work by executive search companies in 'Competition Valley'

Abstract

The moral order is created on the level of interaction and on this level is fully realized. The social world of headhunting also has its own values, social norms and agreements concerning the actions, interactions that pertain to ethical values and issues. Moreover, the moral order refers also to verbal 'accounts' of actions by recruiters which is the second level of moral order of headhunting.

The moral aspects of social world of headhunting will be analyzed in the paper. How do the moral rules are complied with by executive search consultants in a very competitive environment? The next point of analysis will be the topic of 'common sense moral justifications' presented to a researcher by headhunters. How do they relate it to their identity? There will be also shown the way how do the complying with the moral rules create trust in the interactions between recruiters and clients? The conclusions of the paper show the relation a relation between the very competitive environment and the ethics in the context of organizational 'outsoursing of morality', i.e. the taking over the morally ambiguous undertakings by external to organization agencies, e.g. executive search firms.

The paper is based on the qualitative research (free interviews and observation) done in 20 executive search firms in the Bay area of San Francisco (USA).