Paper Summary:

This paper offers a comprehensive review of the practical elements of human resources management (HRM) which a firm must put into place in order to ensure good practise. The paper compares practise in the UK to other parts of the world and addresses the HRM issues of equal opportunities, diversity management and equality, the terms and conditions of employment, data protection, promotional practises and trend monitoring.

Outline:
Equal Opportunities, Diversity Management and Equality
Terms and Conditions of Employment
Data Protection
Promotional Practises
Trend Monitoring

From the Paper:

"One key issue for HR managers and organisations as a whole is the issue of managing diversity within the work place (Bratton and Gold, 2007). On the one hand, in the UK there are bare minimum standards which are enshrined in a plethora of laws ensuring the equal treatment of individuals regardless of age, sex or any other demographic consideration such as cultural background or religion (Liff, 1997, Bratton and Gold, 2007). However, the way in which HR managers choose to implement such legislation in practise varies. On the one hand, traditional approaches towards such equality practises are based upon the concept of "equal opportunities" or EO. The basic premise of equal opportunities practises sees that from a theoretical perspective, HR managers attempt to ignore the differences between individuals which are associated with non-performance related criteria (Liff, 1997). As such, by ignoring considerations, such as age race and gender the theory is that candidates for a job or promotion are judged solely against their ability to meet the needs of an objective specification. Despite the relatively attractive logic of the equal opportunities methodology, there are criticisms of the model. On the one hand some consider that such a model based around the implementation of practises that fulfil legal compliance only lead to the fulfilment of minimum standards in relation to equalities practises (Liff, 1997). Others indicate a more fundamental problem in that in ignoring the traits of an individual may lead to indirect discrimination."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Armstrong, M. 2003. A handbook of human resource management practise. 9th ed. London: Kogan Page.
• Bratton, J, Gold, J. 2007. Human resource management theory and practise. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Carroll, A. 1990. Principals of business ethics: Their role in decision making and initial consensus. Management decisions. 28. 29-24.
• Gilbert, J, A, Stead, B, A, Ivancevich, J, M. 1999. Diversity Management: A new organisational paradigm. Journal of business ethics. 21. pp61-76.
• Handy, C. 1999. Understanding organizations. 4th ed. London: Penguin Books.

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