The following high standards are expected by CIPD-London , of HR Practitioners in a Business context. They are reproduced below as a note to all who are currently following various Advanced studies in HR to incorporate into their own agenda of self-development .

Purpose

Organisations and those responsible for managing them are increasingly subject to environmental turbulence and uncertainty. The external contexts within which businesses, public services and voluntary organisations operate are no longer stable and predictable but increasingly volatile and subject to rapid change.

As a result, managers have to identify, devise and implement appropriate strategies to ensure organisational survival, plan to achieve their goals and objectives, and respond to market and contextual uncertainties. Managers also have to take account of the normative values and ethical standards within which organisations and society operate.
The overall purpose of this Standard is to identify, examine and analyse the major contexts within which organisations operate, indicating how managements respond to contextual diversity, continuous change and ethical ambiguities. There is considerable emphasis within this Standard on knowledge and understanding, rather than on skills and competences.

Performance indicators
Operational indicators
Practitioners must be able to:
1. Assess current economic and market changes and their impact on organisations.
2. Undertake SWOT and PESTLE analyses and advise on the opportunities and threats arising from this.
3. Provide examples of how organisations are affected by political institutions and processes and how organisations can influence the policy-making process.
4. Advise management on the possible effects of government policies, legislation and European directives on organisations and their activities.
5. Report on projected demographic and social changes and their relevance for organisations.
6. Identify current technological developments and consider their significance for organisational stakeholders.
7. Identify and comment on indicative international factors affecting organisations.
8. Evaluate the ethical issues facing organisations in dealing with stakeholders.
Knowledge indicators

Practitioners must understand and be able to explain:
1. The nature of strategy and the main elements within the strategic process.
2. The differences between strategic search, choice and implementation.
3. The ways in which strategy is determined.
4. Types of strategy adopted by organisations and the importance of strategic review, monitoring and benchmarking.
5. How the external environment impacts on private, public and voluntary organisations.
6. The concept of PESTLE and SWOT and the dynamics of the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental contexts on organisations.
7. The main features of the market economy, its structure and processes and their implications for organisations.
8. Interactions between political and economic systems, including the European dimension.
9. The changing social structure and its implications for organisations and their stakeholders.
10. The nature, sources and administration of law, especially contract, consumer, competition and employment law.
11. New technologies, their applications and implications for organisation stakeholders.
12. Globalisation and competing theories of economic change.
13. The relevance of business ethics and social responsibility for organisations and managerial decision-taking.

Indicative content
1 Strategic framework
1. The nature and role of strategy and planning within organisations; rational, incremental and reactive approaches to managing; the concepts of strategy analysis and strategic search, choice and implementation; SWOT and PESTLE analyses; mission statements, corporate plans and business plans; the actors in strategy determination and implementation; constraints upon managing strategically: uncertainty, risk and human judgement.
2. Converting strategy into practice; links between corporate and functional strategies: business plans and operational and programme budgets; integration of strategy and policies; cascading processes; monitoring and evaluating strategy; the concept of the learning organisation.
3. Organisational stakeholders (including owners, workers, customers, suppliers and communities) and stakeholder theory; the implications of stakeholding for corporate decision-making and strategy.
2 The external contexts of organisations
1. The economy: changing structure of the national and international economies; types of organisations: businesses, public services and voluntary bodies; markets, prices and market regulation; role and functions of the state in the economy and economic management; European Monetary Union.
2. The political system: national and European institutional political structures; forms of governance and the democratic process; citizenship; roles of elections, political parties and pressure groups (including business and employee groups) in public policy formation; the legislative process.
3. Social structure: main demographic and social trends; social stratification; changing social attitudes, values and beliefs; education, training and their relation to economic performance.
4. Legal framework: the legal system; sources of law; contracts: formation, application and enforcement; legal protections for employees and consumers; competition law.
5. Technology: new technologies and their impacts on people, organisations and society. 6. International factors: international institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, GATT, WTO and OECD; transnational companies; regional economic groupings (eg EU, NAFTA, ASEAN); globalisation and patterns of international trade.

3 Social responsibility and business ethics
1. Obligations of organisations to owners, workers, customers, suppliers, communities and the eco-environment.
2. Social responsibility and legal accountability.
3. Ethics and professionalism; ethics and corporate stakeholders.

Prof. Lakshman Madurasinghe., MA.,MS(Psy)., PhD., Chartered Fellow CIPD-Lond., Consultant Psychologist/Attorney

Web: http://lmadurasinghe.googlepages.com