Abstract

As from the eighties the theoretical basis of the administration of Human Resourceshas been hybridized by the participation of several disciplines. The efforts made byCritical Management, (Alvesson, 1995; Linstead, S., Fulop, L. & Lilley, S. 2004), thecontributions of Applied Ethics to the organization (Cortina, 2000; 2005), thePhilosophy of Language (Flores 1991; 1994 y Echeverría 1998; 2001), among others,should not be ignored since they have enlarged the vision and the way we articulatesocial practices in organizational contexts. In this scenario the critical question is if amanagement of Chilean companies is focused only on classical administration (scien-tificism, objectivation of employee, result orientation and quality of individual life) orif there is a tendency to consider social variables which affect human resources man-agement (ethics, gender, discrimination, exclusion, group learningand development).The purpose of this research is to become acquainted with and to analyze the activitiesand formalities of the Human ResourcesAdministrationArea of two privatized Chileancompanies. A hermeneutic approach and interpretation were applied for the analysis of the information (Ladamer 1992; 2003) Semistructured interviews provided the infor-mation. In the final discussion, the conclusion is that the company orientation is main-ly scientific with a strong economic rationale and low participation of the workers indecision making. Consequently, no ethical or social variables were incorporated to theorganizational activities. Finally, the author raises the question whether this organiza-tional theory should be interpreted as a misleading strategy or as the search of a leadingthread in the construction of the spirit and organization of the companies analyzed