EVALUATION OF THE HR POLICY OF THE WORLD BANK | | COURSE CODE AND TITLE: HUM 501 (HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT) | REGISTRATION NUMBER: SB/MHR/11/0004DATE: 14TH OCTOBER, 2011 |

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
TOPIC

WHAT IS A HUMAN RESOURCE POLICY?
Generally, a policy, according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7th edition (2007), is a plan of action agreed on or chosen by a political party, a business, etc. en.wikipedia.org describes policy as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s). From these definitions, one can therefore deduce that policies are plans of action, principles, or rules which are meant to serve as guidelines to decision making in order to achieve a rational outcome. Policies are generally adopted by the Board of or senior governance body within an organization. That is to say that adopting the policies of any company does not lie with just anybody because policies serve more or less as guidelines as to what should be done and why they should be done; therefore they should come from the senior governing members of an organisation. Policies can be formulated to serve specific people or situations, depending on the purpose for which it must serve. They can come from either the government of a country, board of governors of a company or even an international control body.
Human resource policy is a typical example of policies. “Human Resource Policies are continuing guidelines on the approach the organization intends to adopt in managing its people. They define 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.” Armstrong (2006). In another light, “human resource policies are systems of