Abstract

Two Chilean Companies: Their Human Resources Policies and Practices As from the eighties the theoretical basis of the administration of Human Resources has been hybridized by the participation of several disciplines. The efforts made by Critical Management, (Alvesson, 1995; Linstead, S., Fulop, L. & Lilley, S. 2004), the contributions of Applied Ethics to the organization (Cortina, 2000; 2005), the Philosophy 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 articulate social practices in organizational contexts. In this scenario the critical question is if a management of Chilean companies is focused only on classical administration (scientificism, objectivation of employee, result orientation and quality of individual life) or if there is a tendency to consider social variables which affect human resources management (ethics, gender, discrimination, exclusion, group learningand development). The purpose of this research is to become acquainted with and to analyze the activities and formalities of the Human Resources Administration Area of two privatized Chilean companies. A hermeneutic approach and interpretation were applied for the analysis of the information (Ladamer 1992; 2003) Semistructured interviews provided the information. In the final discussion, the conclusion is that the company orientation is mainly scientific with a strong economic rationale and low participation of the workers in decision making. Consequently, no ethical or social variables were incorporated to the organizational activities. Finally, the author raises the question whether this organizational theory should be interpreted as a misleading strategy or as the search of a leading thread in the construction of the spirit and organization of the companies analyzed.