BT Resource Management Before exploring the various answers to the question, I will begin by briefly describing the role and purpose of HRM (human resource management) within a company . HRM is primarily concerned with the human side of management and believes that the management team and subordinates have the same goals. Combine elements of; work psychology, personnel management, labor law, business organization, training and industrial relations. The HRM team is therefore involved in every aspect of the employees' tenure within the organisation. After reading the case study, it is clear that there are different manifestations of various problems that can be related to HRM within the call center. BT system. The most obvious are the complaints about the working conditions of the staff in these centres, defined as "oppressive" by the CWU (Communications Workers Union). This ultimately led the union's 4,000 members to vote to strike for the first time in 13 years (Financial Times, November 23, 1999). Examples of the poor conditions highlighted by members included; inadequate staffing levels, high surveillance and frequent changes in objectives (Caulkin S., 1999). These factors have led to call center staff being overworked in the absence of an adequate level of staffing. In addition to having to make up for staff shortages, staff were often given performance targets that they felt were unrealistic. Another complaint from union members was that, although BT employed 8,000 staff across all its call centres, the staff employed were almost equal to that of union members. In their view, BT deliberately used this tactic because temporary staff are not entitled to the same pay, pension and redundancy rights as permanent unionized employees. These problems caused employees to experience severe stress, resulting in high levels of absenteeism, high staff turnover and in some cases even musculoskeletal disorders (Financial Times, November 30, 1999). One such case even led to 13 employees taking legal action against BT over health complaints (Darby I., 2000). BT said the industrial action had had a “minimal impact” on their service – a comment which fueled the anger of union members as it was essentially discounting the enormity of their actions. Taking all these issues into consideration, it is quite easy to assume that the HRM department is clearly at fault.