Leadership - Dignity Framework: The Role of Individualized Human Resource Management (HRM) Practices

In the wake of multitude of crises that we face today, the humanistic management of organizations has become a moral imperative. Recently ‘Workplace Dignity’ has found its mention in the contemporary analyses of work, ethnographies and inquiries into humanization of work. This study introduces a leadership - dignity framework in the context of individualized human resource management (HRM) practices like Idiosyncratic deals (I-deals). A new leadership – dignity framework is presented and further, drawing upon the social comparison and self-verification theory, it examines the role of extension of I-deals in the leader-employee relationship under the dignity paradigm. The paper contributes to the leader-employee relationship literature with relevant inputs towards conceptualization of dignity at work, enhancing the overall employee experiences in organizations.