It is a known fact that given the current social and economic changes businesses have significantly altered the way they manage human resources. However, a deep hiatus still remains between a management discourse that is quite centered on the human factor and the practices effectively carried out by companies. At the theoretical and conceptual level extra attention has been given to the importance of people's creative potential as a crucial strategy for companies' adjustment to change. That factor emerges as a basic condition for survival of companies in a highly competitive and extremely uncertain context. The current spread of concepts and theories about intellectual capital, knowledge management, and emotional intelligence is a clear example of that extra importance attributed to the human element. Nevertheless, the workings of the economic and social system are a lot more complex, showing a multifaceted reality that neither always fits that conceptual approach nor effectively corresponds to policies publicized by companies. Instead of the much spread valorization of human capital, what is seen is the emergence of dual practices and a segmentation of human resources within companies. Regarding the labor market, even though a gradual deregulation is often advocated - usually to favor more economic flexibilization and job generation - the fact is such diversification of contractual relations has been often associated to an increasing precarization of labor and employment relations. Our analysis will focus on those multiple movements and contradictions between theoretical assumptions and real practices developed by businesses.
human resources management; intellectual capital; knowledge management; networks and labor market