One of the biggest changes in human resource management is the transition in assumptions made regarding human resources. The conventional Theory ‘X’ assumes most people basically disdain work. It also assumes that workers are less concerned about what they do than how much they are paid for doing it. It also assumes that workers are unable to handle and do not desire employment that encompasses creativity, self-direction or ownership. Theory ‘Y’, in complete contrast, assumes people like work and wish to employ themselves in goals that have meaning. It also views personnel as having untapped reservoirs of creativity, self-direction and ability for ownership that their present positions fail to exploit. Policies also differ between the conventional Theory ‘X’ and the modern Theory ‘Y’, policies which will shape human resource management into the 21st Century. The table below summarizes the differences in policies between Theory

As we have seen there are different assumptions, policies and expectations in today’s human resource management theories and concepts than were inherent in traditional paradigms of human resource management. The rapid pace of today’s workplace environment and its global reach mandate the need for human resources and human resource management that is adaptable, flexible and capable of self-direction and continuous learning. Technology has helped make many things obsolete in the workplace and conventional human resource management is one of them. Another is the escalating diversity of the workforce and myriad needs created by it among personnel. A further factor responsible for transforming conventional human resource management is the global reach of the workplace. Companies that are worldwide need to transpose successful human resource management policies and practices to a workforce in another location often of a different culture. The escalating diversity among Americans, the acceptance of women and minorities (including blacks, homosexuals, and the handicapped) in the workplace, and other social phenomena continue to challenge human resource managers as they try to fulfill a tenet of modern thought: tap the potential yet to be developed within the individual. Greater ethics in management, including more sensitivity to employees, community and the environment, also act as strong winds of change for human resource management. Regardless of all the forces for progression, there are still many obstacles to be overcome. For example, how does one justify to an excellent homosexual employee that they may not have “domestic-partner” benefits when the employees who perform on an equal level or less enjoy such benefits merely because they are heterosexual? Nonetheless, changes will continue to occur into the 21st Century for human resource management, but the exact degree of change o