MICHAEL OKPARA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, UMUDIKE

UMUAHIA, ABIA STATE

COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT SCEINCE (COLMAS)

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT

AN ASSIGNMENT WRITTEN IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE

REQUIREMNT OF COURSE: IRP 325
(COMPARATIVE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT)

TOPIC:
EXAMINE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND
PRACTICES IN UNITED KINGDOM (UK)

BY
GROUP 2

S/N NAMES MATRIC NO

1 NWAIWU. C. CHRIS MOUAU/IRP/15/84653
2 OKEIYI CHIAMAKA VIVIAN MOUAU/IRP/15/84742
3 EGBEIKE MERCY CHIBUZO MOUAU/IRP/15/85244
4 AZUBUIKE MARTHA CHIJINDU MOUAU/IRP/15/87444
5 UDENSI NKECHINYERE ANN MOUAU/IRP/15/84877
6 OKENWA ESTHER OBIOMA MOUAU/IRP/15/87984
7 KANU UZOAMAKA ESTHER MOUAU/IRP/15/86046
8 OKOKO THERESA CHIMDI MOUAU/IRP/15/88898
9 NWOSU GRACIOUS MOUAU/IRP/15/86718
10 ODUKWE CHISOM MERCY MOUAU/IRP/15/86506
11 AIGBE EFOSA MOUAU/IRP/15/84927
12 NWEKE CHRISTIANA. C MOUAU/IRP/15/84957

1
13 AKUKWE CYNTHIA. U MOUAU/IRP/15/85421
14 IKORO OBIANUJU RUTH MOUAU/IRP/15/85883
15 ONUKA BLESSING REBECCAH MOUAU/IRP/15/86601
16 OBIOMA OKWUCHI. R MOUAU/IRP/15/87549
17 AHUWA PRISCA ONYINYECHI MOUAU/IRP/15/85831
18 OJIEH REBECCA. O MOUAU/IRP/15/86198
19 EZIEKE SOMADINA STANLEY MOUAU/IRP/15/84866
20 ONYEMA AMARACHI MARTINA MOUAU/IRP/15/91678
21 TIMOTHY HOPE CHINENYE MOUAU/IRP/15/84726
22 OKECHUKWU ANTHONY MOUAU/IRP/15/84179
23 NDUDIM ELIZABETH KELECHI MOUAU/IRP/15/88936
24 OGBONNA CHIDINMA GLORY MOUAU/IRP/15/86206
25 NGWAMAGHI GERALDINE CHINAZA MOUAU/IRP/15/86144
26 OMOKWE JAMES KALU MOUAU/IRP/15/85375

LECTURER:
MR. CHARLES OBOCHI

JUNE, 2018

2
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Through out the years, because of the increasing development in all areas and the
globalization, economies are becoming more integrated. Multinational companies (MNCs) had to
increase their global activity by inventing new management policies and practices.
A major challenge for organizations in the future seems likely to be an ever more urgent
search for competitive advantage. It is increasingly argued that the organizations best able to meet
this challenge will be those that can acquire and utilize valuable, scarce and inimitable resources
Armstrong, M. (2006).
Human resources can fall into this category, it is argued, particularly if they are effectively
deployed through appropriate human resource practices and the management of organizational
culture (Baird, M. and McGrath-Champ, S. in Kaye, L. (2008). One of the key tasks for
organizations will therefore be the effective management of human resources. This presents a
challenge, both for organizations and for nations such as the UK, as firms seek to compete in world
markets and search for increased productivity by encouraging the spread of high-performance
workplaces. Additional challenges to the future management of people at work arise from the
growing expectations of an increasingly well-educated workforce that demands both challenging
work but also scope for an acceptable work–life balance. To attract and retain key workers, it will
be essential to present and apply the kind of human resource policies and practices that an appeal
to such workers. By implication, organizations may find that they need to ensure the involvement
and commitment of workers as part of the route to high performance.
In other words, there is what might be termed an upward influence coming from the
employees. While companies may benchmark HRM ‘best practices’, the actual adoption and
success of these practices depends, to a large extent, on perceptions and acceptance from
employees. Despite this, the opinions of non-managerial employees have been largely neglected
in the studies of HRM (Legge, 1995; Guest, 2002; Edgar and Geare, 2005; Qiao, Khilji and Wang,
2009). Cooke (2009), after reviewing studies on HRM in China published between 1998 and 2007
in major business and management journals, reported that two-thirds of the studies had collected
data from managers and most of them relied on managers as the sole source for information. Since
the information has mainly been provided by managers, there is the potential for bias because
feedback from the managers probably reflects the ideal or ‘best practices’ of HRM that those
managers want to implement, rather than the actual HR policies or practices being used in the

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organization. Thus Baird, M. and McGrath-Champ, S. in Kaye, L. (2008) argued that ‘unless we
can broaden our research catchment to include views from the widest range of stakeholders,
particularly the employees, our understanding of HRM in UK remains partial, from management’s
lens’.
The research reported in this paper explores the relation between human resource management
(HRM) and corporate performance in a cross-section of UK firms. A feature of the study is a
comparison of various objective and subjective outcome measures. , we will try to compare the
HR practices and policies an MNC follows in subsidiaries in United Kingdom. In extension, we
will provide details of HR practices and policies of the local firms in UK.

1.1 MEANING AND DEFINITION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

We cannot defined human resource management without the gear knowledge of
management. ‘Management’ can therefore be defined as the art and science of coordinating
activities within a firm, via a process of managerial decision-making, including areas such as
finance, operations, sales and marketing, and human resources, while HR management can in turn
be defined as: ‘The process of analyzing and managing an organization’s human resource needs
to ensure satisfaction of its strategic objectives’ (Hellriegel. Jackson, Slocum and Staude, 2009)
and ‘The policies and practices involved in carrying out the “people” or human resources aspects
of a management position, including recruitment, screening, training and Human Resource
Management provides an international forum for discussion and debate to promote the
understanding of the importance of human resource management and people management to
business strategy. Human resource management (HRM), as defined by Bratton, J. & Gold, J.
(2003), is "A strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that
leveraging people's capabilities is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, this
being achieved through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies, programmes and
practices."
According to this definition, we can see that human resource management should not
merely handle recruitment, pay, and discharging, but also should maximize the use of an
organization's human resources in a more strategic level. To describe what the HRM does in the
organization, Ulrich, D. & Brocklebank, W. (2005) have outlined some of the HRM roles such as
employee advocate, human capital developer, functional expert, strategic partner and HR leader

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etc. New challenges arise even now for the organization, and it is certain that new challenges will
never cease to emerge. Therefore, the use of proper Human Resources techniques is a really
powerful way for organizations to overcome these challenges, and to improve not only their
quantitative goals but also their organizational culture, and their qualitative, cognitive aspects.
Multinational companies (MNCs) had to increase their global activity by inventing new
management policies and practices. That led to the internationalization of HRM. Firms had to
implement global strategies in their subsidiaries, to promote the maximization of economic goals.
But in order to do that, they had to respect certain laws (written and unwritten) of the host country.
First, MNCs had to consider the factor of culture. Wanted to define culture, Biscoe et al. (2009)
said that "is the characteristic way of behaving and believing that a group of people have developed
over time and share".

The respect of differentiation of each country should be above all when a subsidiary wants
to be established abroad and hire local people, otherwise there would be lack of trust and alienation.
Although, firms have their own company culture, they should adjust the parents' company human
resource (HR) practices to the local environment up to a point. MNCs should tailor their products
in order to introduce them to the local market, but their practices, even in the slightest, will mirror
those of the country of origin. Second, firms had to design new human resource strategies, some
of them associated with training and rewarding. Training, including language training and cross-
cultural awareness, develops sensitivity to foreign cultures (Kamoche, 2001; Edwards and Rees,
2006) and reward reflects the individuals' contribution to the organization (Goss, 1995). Thus,
when an MNC decides to choose a country for her expansion, should be responsive to the local
environment, achieve economies of scale and respond rapidly to evolving markets.

1.2 DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN UK

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In the UK this was manifested in the reluctance of the management to adopt the American strategic
approach to HRM. Essentially, what worked in the US, didn’t work in the UK due to different
histories, traditions and institutions (Beardwell, 2001)
The historical background Of HRM Policies and Practices in the UK is based on the pluralist
tradition which assumes that there exists a conflict of interests between management and labour,
and that collective bargaining is the main instrument to deal with this (Atterbury et al. 2004). This
model is however no longer prevailing as union density has declined and organizations are facing
increasing competition and restructuring. Consequently human resource management no longer
just deals with maintaining peace between labour and management, as it did before. Now HRM in
the UK has become an important strategic function with potential to affect the organizations
performances. The significance of HRM is manifested in the UK based Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD), which is the largest professional body in this field, in Europe
with over 100,000 members. (Beardwell 2001.) The Finnish equivalent of CIPD HENRY, has only
2450 members (HENRY, 2007). Considering the differences in population, the membership of
CIPD is still relatively much higher. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the role of the local government
changed significantly in the UK, as Margaret Thatcher transformed the society. Expenditure
controls, specific financial targets and competition from private sector contractors forced public
sector organizations to change their management systems, as the traditional management practices
became too inflexible and simply outdated. Pursuing higher productivity meant losing the role o f
a model employer based on national pay, life-time employment and stability. (Keen 1992). The
public sector was now expected to compete with the private sector for employees, customers and
markets, transforming its management practices accordingly. Due to the pressure to adopt similar
methods of operation to the ones in private sector organizations, the British Rail for example,
changed its reward system from collective bargaining to performance related pay. In accordance
with the British culture the objective of the performance-based system was to recognize individual
contributions, rather than to encourage uniformity by rewarding everyone in a similar way
regardless of their actual measured performance. Furthermore the performance-related pay system
decentralized pay determination from the national level to the individual level. (Pendleton 1992.).

1.3 CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN UNITED KINGDOM

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 United Kingdom (UK) is consisted by four countries: England, Wales, Northern Ireland
and Scotland. According to the list by the International Monetary Fund (2009) is the sixth largest
economy by nominal GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and during the 19th and 20th century was
one of the leading economies. After the consequences in the economy of two World Wars, UK
had lost the leading role in the global affairs, but still has a primary role to economy, culture and
political influence. UK joined UK Community in 1973 and since 1980 barriers fell and new
avenues for the freedom of the companies opened. Foreign subsidiaries who wanted to invest in
UK were attracted, i.e. manufacturing companies, and until 1995 the percentage of foreign direct
investment was very high.
The government grants, the Greenfield sites, the English language and the political stability
were some of the reasons foreign firms, particularly from German, Japan and United States (US)
at first, wanted to invest in UK (Erwee, R. 2003).
The main concept of HR priority in the industries in UK was industrial peace and that led to the
expansion of HR practices in order to form a more structure management. HRM was a very
important function for UK, that's why the development of professionalism was so fast. UK has
already formed an organization (CIPD: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) for the
best practice of HRM and its members are committed to a Code of Professional Conduct (Brewster
et al., 2004).
The economic development has made national boundaries increasingly meaningless
(Ferner, Quintanilla and Varul, 2001). Foreign owned establishments pay great attention to the
integration in the culture of UK. They have clearer HR policies and more extensive HR practices
than UK firms and that helps to shape the organizational culture. According to Guest and Hoque
(1996) foreign subsidiaries are more successful because they have a range of communication and
they use certain practices to gain the involvement and commitment of the workforce. MNCs
subsidiaries adopt similar HRM practices to the countries to which they operate. But,
Within the same subsidiary there would be practices closer to the parent company and other closer
to the host country.

UK firms use a wider range of HR practices which are designed for flexibility. In terms of
recruitment and selection the main ways don't differ from those of the foreign subsidiaries.

7
Interviews, CVs, application forms and references are the most common, but there are also other
techniques such as psychometric tests and assessment centers. Their selection seems to be based
on objective criteria, such as education and experience, but all applicants are interviewed and this
is the final stage.
Another key activity of HRM is training and development. The effective utilization of
human resources offers one of the strongest bases for competitive advantage and this contributes
to the achievement of the company's goals. Both UK firms and foreign subsidiaries, spend a lot of
money in the training of their personnel, in a yearly basis, through seminars, conferences and
travels and expect from them to be well informed about the new practices of the market and the
policies of the company. The effectiveness of the training UK organisations provide is monitored
in order determine what changes should be made, so that employees would be more productive
and competitive, Gandossy, R., Tucker, E. and Verma, N. (2006).
Also, according to Brewster et al. (2004), the management of remuneration is a necessary
condition of successful management. In UK firms and subsidiaries rewards reflect the contribution
of the individual inside the organisation and the "reward systems" have integrated in the culture of
the companies. Thierry (1992, cited by Goss, 1995) explained that payment can reflect how much
the work of an employee is appreciated, how his behaviour is valued and how the organisation
appreciates the performance and the achievements. Although UK is famous for the non-
discrimination between sexes, Brewster et al., (2004) highlights that in terms of incomes that do
not exist. Men are paid more than women at all ages and lower employees are paid less than
managers. Naturally, there are factors that influence the range of payments such as the size of the
company or the skill specialization, but one of the most important, as Lucas et al., (2006) say, is
culture. Organizations wanted to be established use their rewards and benefits policies, which
constitute their organizational culture. But, it is important for foreign affiliates to understand the
natural cultural in order to practice the international reward management.
According to what we have analyzed, HRM in UK is more developed in all areas. Because
of the homogeneity that exist, there aren't many differences between foreign subsidiaries and UK
firms. MNCs have increasingly managed to disengage themselves from national constraints Erwee,
R. (2003) and that led some subsidiaries to have the same characteristics as the UK firms.

8
 Subsidiaries in UK have understood that a successful practice in the home country is not
always successful in the host country, that's why in UK there is a similarity in the majority of HR
practices and policies between foreign affiliates and UK owned firms.
The economic downturn in Europe from the mid-1980’s to the mid-1990’s weakened the future
prospects for businesses. Downsizing, layoffs and financial restrictions had a significant impact
on the development of HRM. During those difficult times in UK organizations were not able to
maintain the objective of organizational growth and development, and some HR practices, like
training and development, were neglected as individual and managerial development were not a
priority. (Larsen & Ellehave 2000, 92.) According to Hellriegel, Jackson, Slocum and Staude,
(2009), British companies neglected their human resources due to the economic slump, which
resulted in a further decline in the competitiveness of the British economy. The effects of deflation
and recession in the UK had a damaging effect on employment during the 1980’s and the move
towards privatization and a more market-based economy shifted the attention of industrial relations
from job regulation and collective bargaining to coping with the effects of downsizing and
outsourcing (Beardwell 2001). HRM became widely recognized in the UK in the late 1980’s, due
to the economic pressures, increased market competition and new technology. Furthermore, the
UK government wanted to reform the traditional model of industrial relations by taking an
entrepreneurial and anti-union approach. Consequently, managers in the UK found themselves in
an employer-oriented environment. Still, the first approaches to HRM in the UK were based on
the American Harvard model, recognizing the fact that a variety of stakeholders, including
employees, shareholders and the wider community, constitute an organization.

9
 CHAPTER TWO

2.0 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN UNITED

KINGDOM
2.1 HUMAN ROSOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICIES IN UK
Human resource management (HRM) policies are continuing guidelines on the approach an
organization intends to adopt in managing its employees in UK firm. They define the philosophies
and values of the organization on how people should be treated. From these flow the principles
upon which managers are expected to act when approaching HR matters. HR policies are
distinguished from procedures or practices.
The following are the human resource management policies in the United Kingdom (UK):
Work permission and Eligibility to work in UK:
i. If you are not from the UK or the European Union, you will need permission to work
by government (Usually called a Work Permit).
ii. Your employer will need to know if it is legal for you to work in UK and whether you
need a work permit or visa. You will need to show proof of your right to work.
iii. If you have to get a visa, you’ll need to be cleared by officials at British Overseas
Mission in your country of origin. Once cleared, the entry clearance certificate or visa
will be put into your passport or travel document.
Terms & conditions of employment.
i. Most people who work in the UK are “employees “with a contract of employment. The
law says this must have certain terms and it can usually only be changed with your
agreement.
ii. All employees having a contract of employment are entitled to a written statement of
the main terms within two months of starting work.
iii. The contract is made as soon as you accept the job offer and both sides are then bound
by its terms until it’s properly ended (usually by giving notice) or until the terms are
changed (usually by mutual agreement).

10
Then written statement should include the following:
 Pay.
 Hours of work.
 Holiday entitlement.
 Sick pay agreements.
 Notice periods.
 Information about disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Compensation, benefits and performance management

National Minimum Wages:
i. All workers in UK aged 16 or over are legally entitled to be paid a minimum amount
per hour. This is regardless of the kind of work they do or the size and type of company.
ii. There are different levels of National Minimum wages, depending on the age of the
worker.

Eligibility for national minimum wage:

Almost everyone who works In UK is legally entitled to be paid the National Minimum wage . For
example, you are entitled to receive the minimum wage if you are…..
 Employed by an agency.
 A home worker.
 Apart-time worker.
 A casual worker.
 A Piece worker.
 A worker on a short-term contract.
Here are some of the key policies that you should include:

 Equal Opportunities: the Equality Act 2010 brought together provisions from previous
legislation (including Sex Discrimination, Race Relations and Disability Discrimination
legislation) and updated it and included bans on discrimination on the basis of age, religion
or sexuality to name a few. Essentially, the Equality Act demands that everyone is treated
fairly, that ‘reasonable adjustments’ may need to be made to ensure that an employee is

11
 able to function effectively in the workplace and that all employees should receive ‘equal
pay for equal value’ work. Asking health-related questions in an interview is likely to be
unlawful.

 Disciplinary: Most disciplinary procedures will map out a staged process for disciplining
an employee, starting with an informal conversation escalating to a formal procedure where
necessary. Most employees will be given informal or formal warnings with a clear
expectation of what needs to change, but occasionally the offense is so serious that it will
count as gross misconduct and lead to immediate dismissal. Employees have the ‘Right to
be Accompanied’ to any hearing. This can be a trade union representative or another
employee. The employer is not allowed to refuse a companion provided they fall under one
of these two categories. There should also be a clear appeals process, where possible to a
higher level of management within the organisation.

 Grievance: A grievance is a complaint that an employee has about their employer or a

colleague’s actions towards them. Like the disciplinary process, there can be informal and
formal stages. You could also use mediation to resolve the issue, and if there is any
possibility that the grievance might end up at an employment tribunal this will certainly be
expected in advance.

 Health and Safety: As soon as you have five or more employees, you have a legal
requirement to have a health and safety policy. The policy should cover these key areas:
general responsibilities, first aid, accidents and incidents, risk assessments, manual
handling, fire precautions, electricity, smoking, drugs and alcohol. You also have to display
an HSE Health and Safety poster at your premises. The risk assessment section should take
account of the specific issues at your workplace including any food preparation, working
at height, working with specific equipment and so on.

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2.2 HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES IN UK
This discusses in more detail HRM (for a more extensive analysis of HRM practices in UK-owned
firms, see Mayo, Elton (1945). This analysis will look at the areas of: human resource flow, terms
and conditions, and communication

RECRUITMENT:
The United Kingdom uses one of the most highly position-based recruitment systems of all
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (COECD) countries. Entry into the
civil service is through open competition for a position and is subject to audits to ensure
recruitment adheres to the established guidelines. Some departments, and the Fast Stream graduate
programme, use assessment centres. All vacancies are considered in the context of departmental
plans to reduce expenditure, so that some vacancies are filled internally from surplus staff pools
before being opened up to other government departments. Recruitment of external applicants is
now severely constrained by a recruitment freeze. A range of diversity targets are still in place
that aim to establish 34%women in top management posts, 39% women in the Suite Centers
Sunderland (SCS), 5% of the SCS from minority ethnic backgrounds and 5% disabled in the SCS
by April 2013.

PERFORMANCE:
The United Kingdom makes substantially more use of performance assessment in HR decisions
compared to the average OECD country. Assessment is used for almost all staff and takes the form
of an annual meeting with and written feedback from, the immediate superior. Some departments
also use 360° feedback. A comprehensive range of criteria is used, including activities undertaken,
timeliness and quality of outputs, improvement of competencies, interpersonal skills and cost
effectiveness of work. Assessment is of high importance to Career advancement and remuneration.
In addition, the United Kingdom uses performance related pay (PRP) to a significantly greater
extent than the OECD average. PRP is used for most employees and takes the form of permanent
pay increments and one- off payments.

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PAY SETTING:
Base salary and bonuses are set through decentralized collective bargaining and are not indexed to
other variables for administrative grades. SCS pay is set centrally by an independent pay review
body. Base salary is usually revised annually. The particular ministry and relevant experience are
the most important determinants of base salary for all grades, with qualifications, job content,
performance, and seniority also factoring in. Seniority based pay is still used.

PROMOTIONS: Competency-based interviews are the main determinant of promotions and

there are no formal restrictions to promotion between hierarchical grades. After considering any
surplus staff, vacancies are placed on transparent listings open to the whole of government, and
there is some use of assessment centres to ensure merit-based selection. No specific policies to
advance the promotion of under-represented groups are in place.

WORK CONDITIONS: The average yearly working hours in the United Kingdom, 1 667 hours
in 2010, is below the OECD average of 1,745 hours. This is driven by fewer weekly working hours
and public holidays, and is partly offset by slightly more annual leave. The average number of
working days lost due to sickness was 7.6 days in 2012, and paid sick days without a medical
certificate are limited.

MOBILITY: Data are unavailable regarding the trend in internal mobility, but there are plans to
increase mobility through the publicity of available positions. External mobility through
considering external posts and special secondment in career planning is encouraged.

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 CHAPTER THREE
3.0 INFLUENCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN UK
Environment Influence: Patrickson, M. and Hartmann, L. (2001) argue that there is a growing
recognition that HRM is shaped and shapes, influences and is influenced by the environments in
which it is embedded. A survey of some 21 countries in Asia-Pacific comparing the main HRM
issues and trends in HR policies and programmes, concluded that there is enormous diversity
among APEC member economies HRM policies and practices, trends and issues, and this diversity
is shaped by the contextual factors residing in various societies both within and out with national
boundaries, and there various geographic, historical, socio-cultural, political and economic
conditions.

State influence: The role of the state has influence on HR policy and practice, particularly in
factors such as job security. In UK it is typical for governments to be major employers in their
own right, since the public sector forms a substantial proportion of the total economy, for example
in Sweden., and many governments subsidize these jobs extensively. Likewise, on becoming
unemployed, workers in the US initially receive a level of benefit of about two-thirds their income,
but those levels fall sharply after six to none months. In UK countries, in contrast, benefits are
either not time-limited or actually increase the longer people are out of work. The major difference
between HRM in the UK and in Western Europe is the degree to which HRM is influenced and
determined by state regulations. Companies have a narrower scope of choice in regard to personnel
management than in the UK.

Generational influence: Wilson, P. (2009) discuss the differences caused by HR policies which
encourage greater control of personal time, offer rewards for hard work and involve people in
exciting projects are more likely to attract younger people. The generation born after 1982 have a
different perception of work than their parents. Young people want money, greater control of their
time and a chance to use some of their intellectual potential. Organizations which are future-
oriented and developing and using new technologies are more attractive. These types of
organizations include consultancies as opposed to organizations where people's intelligence and
individual contribution are perceived to be of only limited value, such as primary manufacturing.
This affects work-life policies, and the HR practice of allowing home working on a regular basis
is a response in some consultancy companies such as Cap Gemini.

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3.1 THE STRATEGIC INTEGRATION OF HRM IN UK
According to Nankervis, A., Chatterjee, S. and Coffey, J. (2007), the human resource
management strategies and organizational strategies of UK organizations overall have interactive
relationships, where HRM issues are expected to be taken into consideration as part of the
organizational strategy. Hence, organizational strategy and HRM strategy are expected to be
symbiotic, compatible and parallel (Brewster & Larsen 2000). Despite this generalization, some
differences between the UK and Finland remain when it comes to the role of HRM in strategic
decision making.
As Ogier, J. (2003) suggests, the power of the human resource specialists and the overall
status of HRM are indicated by their presence in the Board of Directors. According to the Cranet-
E survey (The Cranfield Network 1999/2000), the human resource function is represented in the
main decision-making bodies of only roughly 50% of the organizations in the UK, whereas in
Finnish organizations the proportion of representation is higher.
This suggests that the HR function does not play such an important role in practice, when
it comes to UK based organizations. On the other hand it has been argued that the influence of HR
in organizations does not always correlate with the number of board-level representatives, as
various members of staff can practice human resource management. Still, it’s likely to indicate the
role of HRM in strategic decision making, as strategic outlines are usually negotiated in the board
room. Paauwe, J., & Boon, C. (2009). Use the evidence from the Cranet-E survey to examine the
integration of HR strategies and corporate strategies in organizations in UK countries. There seems
to be some differences between the UK and Finland when it comes to the involvement of HR in
the strategic decision making, Nankervis, A., Chatterjee, S. and Coffey, J. (2007).
In the UK, the integration of HRM from the outset of corporate strategy development is in
balance with the board-level presence of HR specialists. In Finland on the other hand, the HR
aspect is represented in a significant number of boards but nevertheless, according to a study in
1995, the specialists were not involved in the strategic decision making process until a later stage.
(Brewster et al. 2000c). The more recent study (The Canfield Network 1999/2000) reveals that the
higher Finnish board level representation is beginning to show in the involvement of the HR aspect
in corporate strategy. (Lindeberg et al. 2004). Now the integration of the HR aspect seems to be in
line with the board level presence in Finnish organizations as well.

16
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study was to examine the Human resource management policies and practice
in the United Kingdom (UK). In conclusion, based on the research we can see that UK differ in
their HR practices and policies both within local companies and foreign subsidiaries.
Organizations today recognize that human resource (HR) is their key asset to gain an edge over
competition and achieving organizational success and effectiveness. Thus, human resource
management (HRM) has now become an emerging field in the business world and a key ingredient
for staying abreast of competition. Within most large organizations in UK, HRM has taken on
much the same role as Personnel Management, but with some additions, particularly in regard to
business strategy. However, HRM essentially involves the policies and practices one need to carry
out the human resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting, screening, training,
rewarding, and appraising. This issue of integration with the general management is an important
one for HRM. There is already some evidence to indicate that when senior management manages
HR issues they are taken more seriously. A properly functioning HRM system is an invisible asset
that creates value and involves the acquisition, development, reward and motivation, maintenance
and departure of an organization's human capital.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendation where made by the researchers:

 Both UK firms and foreign subsidiaries, should spend a lot of money in the training of their
personnel, in a yearly basis, through seminars, conferences and travels and expect from
them to be well informed about the new practices of the market and the policies of the
company.
 The transfer of HR practices and policies should be done with extra caution from one
country to another, considering the socio-political, cultural institutional and economic
factors (Kamoche, 2001). After all, this is a field that needs further research and these
differences are what make each of these countries unique in their use of HR practices.

 HR policy makers in UK, the public sector with continuing tensions between immediate
employees should maximize resources and reduce costs and longer term to aims of building
organizational capability and enhancing employee commitment to the organization (OPM,
2003).
 The Uk multinational companies should adhered to the others country HR policies and
practices provided is monitored in order to determine what changes should be made, so
that employees would be more productive and competitive (Brewster et al., et al., 2004).

 They HR managers should ensure prompt action for taking decisions because the policies
serve as standards to be followed. They prevent the wastage of time and energy involved
in repeated analyses for solving problems of a similar nature.

 The HR managers at various levels of decision making should not make any decisions
without consulting their superiors. Subordinates are more willing to accept responsibility
because policies indicate what is expected of them and they can quote a written policy to
justify their actions.

 On the contrary, HR managers should try to implement a strategy which is fruitful and
acceptable to both top level management and employers working for it.

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