Human Resources Policies Essay Example for Free

Human Resources Policies Essay Armstrong, (2006) defined Human Resource policies as continuing guidelines on the approach the organization intends to adopt in managing its people. In addition, it can also be defined as the philosophies and values of the organization on how people should be treated, and from these are derived the principles upon which managers are expected to act when dealing with Human Resource matters. Human Resource policies therefore serve as reference points when employment practices are being developed, and when decisions are being made about people. Mullins, (2005) highlighted that Human Resource Management must be committed to creating a working environment free from discrimination and where all employees are treated equally with dignity, courtesy and respect. This can be done by putting into place Human Resource policies that shows how people should be treated, and from these are derived the principles upon which managers are expected to act when dealing with Human Resource matters. The most common areas in which specific Human Resource policies exist are HIV and AIDS, discipline, employee development, employee relations, recruitment and selection, equal opportunity, grievances, health and safety, managing diversity, promotion, redundancy, reward, sexual harassment, substance abuse and work life balance and e-mails and the internet. Cole (1997) argued that this employment equity policy helps in preventing discrimination and promoting equality in the workplace. The equal opportunity policy should spell out the organization’s determination to give equal opportunities to all, irrespective of sex, race, creed, disability, age or marital status. The policy should also deal with the extent to which the organization wants to take affirmative action to redress imbalances between numbers employed according to sex or race, or to differences in the levels of qualifications and skills they have achieved. According to the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01),Section 5 states that no employer shall discriminate any employee or prospective employee on grounds of race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed, gender, pregnancy, HIV/AIDS status or subject to the Disabled Persons Act (Chapter 17:01). Every manager must take steps to promote equal opportunity in the workplace by eliminating unfair discrimination in any employment policy or practice within their sphere of authority. All forms of unfair discrimination, whether direct or indirect, are prohibited and it is the responsibility of all employees to inform themselves about and refrain from perpetrating unfair discrimination. The sexual harassment policy is another policy which aims at preventing and managing sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment is unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of employment; or is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such an individual. The company must prohibit inappropriate conduct that is sexual in nature at work, on company business, or at company sponsored events. This can be done by prohibiting comments, jokes, or degrading language or behavior that is sexual in nature, sexually suggestive objects, books, magazines, photographs, cartoons, pictures, calendars, posters or electronic communications and unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, or any sexual touching this is according to Armstrong (2006). Sexual harassment is prohibited whether it’s between members of the opposite sex or members of the same sex. All managers have a key responsibility in establishing and maintaining a workplace free from personal harassment and they are directly responsible for the conduct of their staff. Sexual harassment is regarded as gross industrial misconduct and if proved makes the individual liable for instant dismissal. Less severe penalties may be reserved for minor cases but there will always be a warning that repetition will result in dismissal. Therefore all employees are expected to comply with this policy and that it is the pers onal responsibility of each employee to ensure that inappropriate conduct does not occur, as stated by Armstrong (2010). Safety policies should reflect the employers commitment to safety and health at work and should indicate what standards of behavior are to be aimed for in safety and health welfare matters. The policy statement should be drawn to the attention of all employees. In practice this is achieved by issuing a safety policy document to all employees via their pay packets, or by issuing company handbooks which include details of the policy. The important point is that the employer should be able to show that he has done more than just pin up a notice in various parts of his premises, this is postulated by Mullins (2005). The HIV/Aids policy is also used and its purpose is to provide guidance on managing departmental responses to HIV/AIDS in a manner that complies with the National Aids Policy and applicable laws, eliminates unfair discrimination and enables the harnessing of each person’s full potential. Employees who know that they are infected with HIV will not be obliged to disclose the fact to the company, but if they do, the fact will remain completely confidential. There must be no discrimination against anyone with or at risk of acquiring AIDS. In addition, employees infected by HIV or suffering from AIDS must be treated no differently from anyone else suffering a severe illness. All human resources processes and practices should promote an affirming non-discriminatory environment that fosters respect for the dignity of all while ensuring the maximum productivity of each employee regardless of HIV/AIDS status. This will be done through a regular review of all human resources practices and processes to eliminate existing or potential direct and indirect discrimination on the ground of HIV/AIDS. A prospective employee will not be required to disclose his or her HIV/AIDS status, there shall be no pre-employment HIV/AIDS testing in respect of a prospective employee and both permanent and contract employees are not obliged to disclose their HIV/AIDS status, as subject to Labour Relations Act (chapter 28:01). Recruitment and selection policies are also used to ensure a work environment that is anti discriminatory, democratic, respectful of rights, mindful of dignity and legally sound or legitimate. The Human resource department must be committed to utilise recruitment and selection practices that are based on merit, equity, objectivity, fairness and the need to redress the imbalances of the past so as to achieve a department that is broadly representative. According to Storey (1995), the recruitment process should reflect the department’s employment equity values and goals. Moreover, all phases of the recruitment process must support the recruitment of suitably qualified men and women from diverse racial and other backgrounds with a view to giving them an opportunity to serve all the people with excellence and responsiveness. Considerations of affirmative action will inform the entire recruitment process. The policy on age and employment should take into account that age is a poor predictor of job performance. It is misleading to equate physical and mental ability with age. More of the population are living active, healthy lives as they get older. Therefore the policy should define the approach the organization adopts to engaging, promoting and training older employees. It should emphasize that the only criterion for selection or promotion should be ability to do the job; and for training, the belief that the employee will benefit, irrespective of age. The policy should also state that age requirements should not be set out in external or internal job advertisements. Armstrong (2006). Diversity management policy is a concept that recognizes the benefits to be gained from differences. A policy on managing diversity recognizes that there are differences among employees and that these differences, if properly managed, will enable work to be done more efficiently and effectively. This concept does not focus exclusively on issues of discrimination but instead concentrates on recognizing the differences between people. Maund (2001) express it, the concept of managing diversity is founded on the premise that harnessing these differences will create a productive environment in which everyone will feel valued, where their talents are fully utilized and in which organizational goals are met. The diversity management policy must acknowledge cultural and individual differences in the workplace, state that the organization values the different qualities that people bring to their jobs, emphasize the need to eliminate bias in such areas as selection, promotion, performance asse ssment, pay and learning opportunities and focus attention on individual differences rather than group differences. Mathis, (2003) is of the view that the disciplinary policy should state that employees have the right to know what is expected of them and what could happen if they infringe the organization’s rules. It would also make the point that, in handling disciplinary cases, the organization will treat employees in accordance with the principles of natural justice. It must be the policy of the company that employees should be given a fair hearing by their immediate supervisor or manager concerning any grievances they may wish to raise, have the right to appeal to a more senior manager against a decision made by their immediate supervisor or manager and have the right to be accompanied by a representative of their own choice when raising a grievance or appealing against a decision. Cole, (1997) highlighted that the reward policy must cover matters as providing an equitable pay system, equal pay for work of equal value, paying for performance, competence, skill or contribution, sharing in the success of the organization and the relationship between levels of pay in the organization and market rates. There must not be discrimination of employees in pay levels. This will encourage the optimum productivity from employees and ensures high level of quality output. A performance management system must be put in place so as to pay employees according to their performance and efforts. Armstrong (2006) is of the opinion that job evaluation must also be done in a fairly and equitable manner so as to have a free work environment. In conclusion, companies must be committed to providing a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. Human Resource policies must prohibit discrimination and harassment in the workplace, whether committed by or against managers, co-workers, customers, vendors, or visitors. Employees must work and develop in an environment that is anti-discriminatory, democratic, respectful of rights, mindful of dignity, legally sound and productive. Workplace discrimination or harassment based on an employee’s race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age status, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, or any other basis prohibited by law, must not be tolerated. REFERENCES Armstrong, M. (2006) Strategic Human Resource Management, (3rd Ed), London: Kogan. Armstrong, M. (2006) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, (10th Ed), London: Kogan. Cole G.A. (1997), Personnel Management, Theory and Practice, London: Continuum. Labour Relations Act Regulations (1998), HIV and AIDS, Government Printers: Zimbabwe. Maund, L. (2001), An Introduction to Human Resource Management Theory And Practice, New York: Palgrave. Mullins, L. J. (2005), Management and Organizational Behavior, England: Prentice Hall. Storey, J.(1995), Human Resource Management: A critical text, London: Routledge.

Essays --

You all probably celebrate this December time with caroling kids to decorating your Christmas tree. We all love Christmas and its holiday cheer. But today I want to talk about a place that holds many great traditions, the country we all know and love...France. You may have heard of France because of ts very famous city called Paris. French citizens also celebrate Christmas but they also celebrate traditions and celebrations that are very different from how we usually preform occasions here. France is located above Spain, below the United Kingdom, and to the right of the Atlantic Ocean. In France, I would say that the biggest celebrated tradition is known as "le reveillon" the holiday with a feast fit for ten kings. Aside from the holidays and stuff, lets talk about France's goverment. France's type of goverment is a semi-presidental system. Do you have a religion? Well here is some of the religions practiced in France. Some of Frances major religions are Catholicism, Islam, and Ju dasim. French people also have a different language than we do. French is an italic language descended from the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire. We will get into all this later. So sit back and relax and listen to a more about France's points of goverment, language, religion and stuff like that. France has a very different overall perspective than the United States. So now lets go into detail about France's goverment. Like I said France's goverment is a semi-presidential system. Semi-presidential system is defined as a powerful president when there is a unified majority. The Prime Minister becomes secondary to the President in all legislative and diplomatic areas. If a President is weakened by having two opposing parties, presidental an... ...is also shares similar attributes. They elect a President by popular vote just like we do. But it seems to me that the Prime Minister has more control. We also have more religions than France does. The United States as I see it is more diverse, the freedom in our country is unmatched by any other. We have Catholicism, Judasim, Baptist, Muslim, Protestant, Methodist, Pentacostal, Non-Denominational, Buddahism, Scientology, Hinduism, etc. Proving that we accept all religious freedoms throughout our country. We may not all agree but atleast the freedom is there. Also I have learned alot on the other traditions and pratices in France. Like the french Ballet, it is the dance always associated with France when it did not begin with french origins. I would have to conclude in saying that I would love to visit France and see for myself what I have only read about.

To What Extent Are Conformity and Obedience Likely Outcomes of Human Behaviour

Conformity and obedience are forms of social influences which strongly affect our behaviour in social situations from following fashions to committing immoral acts because we are commanded to by someone who appears to be in a position of authority. This essay looks at to what extent are conformity and obedience likely outcomes of human behaviour and can individuals avoid these social influences? Conformity is a change in belief or behaviour in response to real or imagined group pressure when there is no direct request to comply with the group nor any reason to justify the behaviour change (Gross: 2010: P401).Research has shown that when confronted by social norms individuals will often adjust their behaviour closer to the perceived norm. The Asch (1951) experiment involved subjects performing a perception task saying which of a selection of lines matched a control line in length. The subjects were unaware that the other participants in the room were confederates. During the experimen t confederates would give the same incorrect answer to the question. Asch found that no one conformed on all the critical trials, and 13 of the 50 participants (26 per cent) never conformed.One person conformed on 11 of the 12 critical trials, and about 75 per cent conformed at least once during the experiment. (Gross: 2010: P403). This is backed up by Doms and Avermaet (1981) experiment they reproduced the same result as Asch. Obedience means behaving as instructed, but not necessarily changing your opinions. Obedience happens when you are explicitly directed to do something. Most obedience is reasonable, but when it is to unjust authority, the consequences may be disastrous. Flanagan: 2008: P125) In Milgrams experiment (1963) each participant took the role of a teacher who would then deliver a shock to the student every time an incorrect answer was produced. Whilst the participant believed that he was delivering real shocks the student was actually a confederate in the experiment. As the experiment progressed the teacher would hear the learner plead to be released. Once the 300-volt level had been reached the learner banged on the wall and demanded to be released.After this point the learner was completely silent and refused to answer any more questions. The experimenter then instructed the participant to treat this silence as an incorrect answer and deliver the shock. Most participants asked the experimenter if they should continue. The experimenter issued a series of commands to prod the participants along â€Å"please continue† and â€Å"the experiment requires that you continue†. The results of the experiment show that of the 40 participants 26 delivered the maximum shocks while only 14 stopped before reaching the highest levels.Some participants became extremely agitated and angry at the experimenter but continued to follow his orders. The findings from both these experiments would suggest that we conform and obey to a great extent. Howeve r levels of obedience did alter when we look at different variations of Milgram’s experiment (1963) for example proximity of learner – If the teacher was placed in the same room as the learner and had to press the learner’s hand on the shock plate, obedience fell to 30%. Flanagan: 2008: P125). Moscovici in his experiment of minority influence showed that people did not conform or obey. He placed 2 confederates together with 4 genuine participants all had no colour blindness. They were shown 36 slides which were clearly different shades of blue and asked to state the colour out loud. In the first part of the experiment the 2 confederates answered consistently green for each of the 36 slides. In the second part they answered inconsistent green 24 and blue 12 times.Moscovici found that the participants in the consistent condition yielded and called the slides green in 8. 4% of trials. 32% of the participants in the consistent condition reported a green slide at lea st once. Participants in the inconsistent condition yielded and called the slides in only 1. 3% of the trials. In this situation we can see that social influence occurs as a result of minority, rather than majority influence therefore minorities can influence the majority but not all the time and only when the confederates behaved consistently.Moscovici shows that if majority influence was the only process, then opinions would never change because we all would continue to follow the majority. Yet history is littered with examples of changing attitudes, such as those towards females and homosexuals. These changes are due to minority influence. These findings to somewhere towards answering the initial question of this discussion – to what extent are conformity and obedience likely outcomes of human behaviour?Obviously there is no definite answer and never will be as all humans are individuals with their own personality. Every person is born into society with their own particula r culture, language, style of dress and behaviour. However, every person is introduced to acceptable attitudes and beliefs, and learn certain norms and values which are thought ‘appropriate’ by other members of their group. This socialisation can effect peoples decision making and choices because we as humans feel the need to have acceptance and to be part of a group – therefore to conform and obide.In answer to the second question can individuals avoid these social influences? Social influence occurs when one’s emotions, opinions or behaviours are effected by others and can be seen in conformity and obedience. Social Influence is largely concerned with the factors that maintain the status quo by conforming to the views or behaviour of the majority or obedience to those in a position of authority. People with strong moral convictions are less likely to be influenced therefore avoiding social influence. (Flanagan: 2008).

Galileos Mathematical-Experimental Method Essay - 1857 Words

Gabriel Glasser Professor Damnjanovic December 3, 2012 The Unveiling of the Heavens In summer of 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) pointed his revolutionary astronomical telescope to the heavens under the starry Venetian sky; his greatly important observations unveiled the mysteries of universe and would end up changing the course of scientific thought forever. Galileo lived in an age where there was much status quo, when scientists and philosophers would accept scientific and religious doctrine that had stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years instead of challenging the accepted knowledge in favor of intellectual progress. Galileo’s scientific methods lead to significant discoveries explaining key scientific laws, such as the†¦show more content†¦(Frova 41) Galileo’s confirmation of Copernican’s heliocentric theory explained through logical arguments and mathematical laws clearly the answers to these difficulties. Galileo’s observational discoveries in astronomy allowed for the basis to begin discrediting the old ideas in favor of a new understanding of the universe. The longstanding way of thought in astronomy favored a spherically rotating universe around the Earth with unchanging and perfectly symmetrical constellations and planets. The contemporaries of Galileo believed, for example, that the moon had the face of a shiny, polished sphere, whereas Galileo showed that the surface of the moon to be imperfect with rough mountainous areas along with deep valleys (or â€Å"seas† as he called them) marked with dark sports (Frova 162). This surface very much paralleled the rough surface of the Earth (meaning that Earth’s surface was not unique). Also with his improved telescope, Galileo was capable of viewing the stars with much more clarity. Galileo discovered newly formed stars and star clusters, which challenged the Aristotelian philosophy of an ageless universe. 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