Chapter-1
INTRODUCTION
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1.1 Introduction:
Human beings are social beings and hardly ever live and work in isolation. We
always plan, develop and manage our relations both consciously and
unconsciously. The relations are the outcome of our actions and depend to a
great extent upon our ability to manage our actions. From childhood each and
every individual acquire knowledge and experience on understanding others
and how to behave in each and every situations in life. Later we carry forward
this learning and understanding in carrying and managing relations at our
workplace. The whole context of Human Resource Management revolves
around this core matter of managing relations at work place.
Since mid 1980’s Human Resource Management (HRM) has gained
acceptance in both academic and commercial circle. HRM is a
multidisciplinary organizational function that draws theories and ideas from
various fields such as management, psychology, sociology and economics.
There is no best way to manage people and no manager has formulated
how people can be managed effectively, because people are complex
beings with complex needs. Effective HRM depends very much on the
causes and conditions that an organizational setting would provide. Any
Organization has three basic components, People, Purpose, and Structure.
In 1994, a noted leader in the human resources (HR) field made the following
observation: Yesterday, the company with the access most to the capital or the
latest technology had the best competitive advantage; Today, companies that
offer products with the highest quality are the ones with a leg
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up on the competition; But the only thing that will uphold a company’s
advantage tomorrow is the caliber of people in the organization. That
predicted future is today’s reality. Most managers in public- and private
sector firms of all sizes would agree that people truly are the organization’s
most important asset. Having competent staff on the payroll does not
guarantee that a firm’s human resources will be a source of competitive
advantage. However in order to remain competitive, to grow, and diversify
an organization must ensure that its employees are qualified, placed in
appropriate positions, properly trained, managed effectively, and committed
to the firm’s success. The goal of HRM is to maximize employees’
contributions in order to achieve optimal productivity and effectiveness,
while simultaneously attaining individual objectives (such as having a
challenging job and obtaining recognition), and societal objectives (such as
legal compliance and demonstrating social responsibility).
1.1.1 Definitions of HRM:
Human
resources
management
(HRM)
is
a
management
functionconcerned with hiring, motivating and maintaining people in
an organization. It focuses on people in organizations.
Human resource management is designing management systems to
ensurethat human talent is used effectively and efficiently to
accomplish organizational goals.
HRM is the personnel function which is concerned with procurement,
development, compensation, integration and maintenance of the personnel of
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an
organization
for
the
purpose
of
contributing
towards
the
accomplishments of the organization’s objectives. Therefore, personnel
management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of the
performance of those operative functions (Edward B. Philippo).
According to the Invancevich and Glueck, “HRM is concerned with
themost effective use of people to achieve organizational and
individual goals. It is the way of managing people at work, so that they
give their best to the organization”.
According to Dessler (2008), the policies and practices involved in
carryingout the “people” or human resource aspects of a management
position, including recruiting, screening, training, rewarding, and
appraising comprises of HRM.
Generally HRM refers to the management of people in organizations. It
comprises of the activities, policies, and practices involved in obtaining,
developing,
utilizing,
evaluating,
maintaining,
and
retaining
the
appropriate number and skill mix of employees to accomplish the
organization’s objectives. The goal of HRM is to maximize employees’
contributions in order to achieve optimal productivity and effectiveness,
while simultaneously attaining individual objectives (such as having a
challenging job and obtaining recognition), and societal objectives (such
as legal compliance and demonstrating social responsibility).
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In short, Human Resource Management (HRM) can be defined as the art
of procuring, developing and maintaining competent workforce to
achieve the goals of an organization in an effective and efficient manner.
1.1.2 Characteristics of Human Resources
Significance of human resources development can also be attributed
to the distinct characteristics of human resources. They are
• Human resource is complete human being i.e. economic, social
and psychological. Employees enter the organization with their
values, sentiments, aptitudes etc.
• The competencies of human resources are developed through
HRD programmes.
• Employee’s background, expectations, values etc. vary from
person to person. Therefore, each employee should be
managed differently based on different principles / approaches.
• The value of human resources increases over the time due to
continuous learning process unlike other resources.
1.2 Functions of HRM:
Human Resources management has an important role to play in equipping
organizations to meet the challenges of an expanding and increasingly
competitive sector. Increase in staff numbers, contractual diversification and
changes in demographic profile which compel the HR managers to
reconfigure the role and significance of human resources management. The
functions are responsive to current staffing needs, but can be proactive in
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reshaping organizational objectives. All the functions of HRM are
correlated with the core objectives of HRM are shown in Chart 1.1.
Chart 1.1 Core Objectives of HRM
HR management can be thought of as seven interlinked functions taking
place within organizations, as depicted in figure 1.1. Additionally,
external forces—legal, economic, technological, global, environmental,
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cultural/geographic, political, and social—significantly affect how HR
functions are designed, managed, and changed. The functions can be
grouped as follows:
1. Strategic
HR
Management:
As
a
part
of
maintaining
organizationalcompetitiveness, strategic planning for HR effectiveness
can be increased through the use of HR metrics and HR technology.
Human resource planning (HRP) function determine the number and
type of employees needed to accomplish organizational goals. HRP
includes creating venture teams with a balanced skill-mix, recruiting the
right people, and voluntary team assignment. This function analyzes and
determines personnel needs in order to create effective innovation
teams. The basic HRP strategy is staffing and employee development.
2. Equal
Employment
Opportunity:
Compliance
with
equal
employmentopportunity (EEO) laws and regulations affects all other HR
activities.
3. Staffing: The aim of staffing is to provide a sufficient supply of
qualifiedindividuals to fill jobs in an organization. Job analysis,
recruitment and selection are the main functions of staffing. Workers job
design and job analysis laid the foundation for staffing by identifying
what diverse people do in their jobs and how they are affected by them.
Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and
specifying the human requirements such as knowledge, skills, and
experience needed to perform the job. The end result of job analysis is
job description. Job description spells out work duties and activities of
employees. Through
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HR planning, managers anticipate the future supply of and demand for
employees and the nature of workforce issues, including the retention of
employees. So HRP precedes the actual selection of people for
organization. These factors are used when recruiting applicants for job
openings. The selection process is concerned with choosing qualified
individuals to fill those jobs. In the selection function, the most qualified
applicants are selected for hiring from among the applicants based on
the extent to which their abilities and skills are matching with the job.
4. Talent Management and Development: Beginning with the orientationof
new employees, talent management and development includes different
types of training. Orientation is the first step towards helping a new
employee to adjust himself to the new job and the employer. It is a method
to acquaint new employees with particular aspects of their new job,
including pay and benefit programmes, working hours and company rules
and expectations. Training and Development programs provide useful
means of assuring that the employees are capable of performing their jobs
at acceptable levels and also more than that. All the organizations provide
training for new and in experienced employee. In addition, organization
often provide both on the job and off the job training programmes for those
employees whose jobs are undergoing change. Likewise, HR development
and succession planning of employees and managers is necessary to
prepare for future challenges. Career planning has developed as result of
the desire of many employees to grow in their jobs and to advance in their
career. Career planning activities include assessing an individual
employee’s potential for growth
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and advancement in the organization. Performance appraisal includes
encouraging risk taking, demanding innovation, generating or adopting new
tasks, peer evaluation, frequent evaluations, and auditing innovation
processes. This function monitors employee performance to ensure that it
is at acceptable levels. This strategy appraises individual and team
performance so that there is a link between individual innovativeness and
company profitability. Which tasks should be appraised and who should
assess employees’ performance are also taken into account.
5. Total Rewards: Compensation in the form of pay, incentives andbenefits
are the rewards given to the employees for performing organizational work.
Compensation management is the method for determining how much
employees should be paid for performing certain jobs. Compensation
affects staffing in that people are generally attracted to organizations
offering a higher level of pay in exchange for the work performed. To be
competitive, employers develop and refine their basic compensation
systems and may use variable pay programs such as incentive rewards,
promotion from within the team, recognition rewards, balancing team and
individual rewards etc. This function uses rewards to motivate personnel to
achieve an organization’s goals of productivity, innovation and profitability.
Compensation is also related to employee development in that it provides
an important incentive in motivating employees to higher levels of job
performance to higher paying jobs in the organization. Benefits are another
form of compensation to employees other than direct pay for the work
performed. Benefits include both legally required items and those offered at
employer’s discretion.
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Benefits are primarily related to the area of employee maintenance as
they provide for many basic employee needs.
6. Risk Management and Worker Protection: HRM addresses
variousworkplace risks to ensure protection of workers by meeting
legal requirements and being more responsive to concern for
workplace health and safety along with disaster and recovery
planning.
7. Employee
and
Labor
Relations:
The
relationship
between
managersand their employees must be handled legally and effectively.
Employer and employee rights must be addressed. It is important to
develop, communicate, and update HR policies and procedures so that
managers and employees alike know what is expected. In some
organizations, union/management relations must be addressed as well.
The term labour relation refers to the interaction with employees who are
represented by a trade union. Unions are organization of employees
who join together to obtain more voice in decisions affecting wages,
benefits, working conditions and other aspects of employment. With
regard to labour relations the major function of HR personnel includes
negotiating with the unions regarding wages, service conditions and
resolving disputes and grievances.
1.3 HRM in the New Millennium:
Human Resources have never been more indispensable than today. The
competitive forces that we face today will continue to face in the future
demanding organizational excellence. In order to achieve this extended
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quality, organization’s need to focus on learning, quality development,
teamwork, and reengineering. These factors are driven by the way
organizations implement things and how employees are treated.
1.3
HR Can Help in Dispensing Organizational Excellence: To
achievethis paradigm shift in the organization excellence there is a need for
organizations to reform the way in which work is carried out by the Human
Resource department. By designing an entirely new role and agenda that
results in enriching the organization’s value to customers, investors and
employees, HR can help in delivering organizational excellence. This can
be carried out by helping line managers and senior managers in moving
planning from the conference room to the market place and by becoming an
expert in the way work is organized and executed. HR should be a
representative of the employees and should help the organization in
improving its capacity for change. HR will help the organizations in facing
the competitive challenges such as globalization, profitability through
growth, technology, intellectual capital, and other competitive challenges
that the companies are facing while adjusting to uncontrollably challenging
changes in business environment. The novel role of HR is to rapidly turn
strategy into action; to manage processes intelligently and efficiently; to
maximize employee contribution and commitment and to construct
favorable conditions for flawless change.
1.4Human Resource Should be a Strategy Partner: HR should
alsobecome a partner in strategy executions by propelling and directing
serious discussions of how the company should be organized to carry out
its
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strategy. Creating the conditions for this discussion involves four steps.
First HR need to define an organizational architecture by identifying the
company’s way of doing business. Second, HR must be held responsible
for conducting an organizational audit. Third, HR as a strategic partner
needs to identify methods for restoring the parts of the organizational
architecture that need it. Fourth and finally, HR must take stock of its
own work and set clear priorities. In their new role as administrative
experts they will need to shed their traditional image and still make sure
all routine work for the company is done well.
3. HR Accountability Should be Fixed to Ensure Employee
Commitment: HR must be held accountable for ensuring that
employeesfeel committed to the organization and contribute fully.
They must take responsibility for orienting and training line
management about the importance of high employee morale and how
to achieve it. The new HR should be the voice of employees in
management discussions. The new role for HR might also involve
suggesting that more teams be used on some projects or that
employees be given more control over their own work schedules.
4. The New HR Must Become a Change Agent: The new HR mustbecome a
change agent, which is building the organization’s capacity to embrace and
capitalize on change. Even though they are not primarily responsible for
executing change it is the duty of the HR manager to make sure that the
organization carries out the changes framed for implementation.
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5. Improving the Quality of HR: The most important thing that
managerscan do to drive the new mandate for HR is to improve the quality
of the HR staff itself. Senior executives must get beyond the stereotypes of
HR professionals as incompetent support staff and unleash HR’s full
potential.
6. Change in Employment Practices: The balance sheet of an
organizationshows human resource as an expense and not as a Capital. In
the information age, it is perceived that the machines can do the work more
efficiently than most people however; technology to work is dependent on
people. The challenges for Employment Practice in the New Millennium will
require that there should be strategic involvement of the people and labourmanagement partnershipsas they both have to take organization ahead.
7. Benchmarking Tool Must be Mastered by HR Professionals:
HRprofessionals must master benchmarking, which is a tool for
continuous improvement- directing the human side associated with
the strategic path adopted by the organization. Through this, HR
department will start appreciating the changes happening within and
outside the environment while expanding the knowledge about how to
add value to decision making at the highest level of the organization.
8. Aligning Human Resources to Better Meet Strategic Objectives:
Toooften organizations craft their strategy in a vacuum. Some organizations
don’t even include key people during strategy formulation resulting in
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lacunae between the actual problems and the solutions implemented- as
critical inputs are not sought from those individuals who are supposed to
implement the new strategies. A past CEO of Sony once said that
organizations have access to the same technology and the same
information. The difference between any two organizations is the
“people”- the human resource. Empowering the workforce is an essential
tool for aligning human resources with the achievement of corporate
objectives. It is the duty of HR manager to hire talented human resource
and to provide them with a positive environment where they will be able
to utilize their skills and potentials and to create an environment in which
these individuals are comfortable taking risks.
9. Promote
From
Within
and
Invest
in
Employees:
Promoting
employeesfrom within sends a powerful message that the organization’s
employees are valued. New blood and fresh ideas often come from
newcomers to the organization. To avoid stagnation of the firm, new ideas
and approaches are critical. Yet to improve employee morale, promoting
individuals from within the organization is essential. This communicates that
the organization values their employees and invests in their human
resources.
10. Review the Recruitment and Selection Process: A key element
ofhuman resource planning is ensuring that the supply of appropriate
employees (with the right skill mix) is on board when needed. This requires a
proactive approach whereby the organization anticipates its needs well in
advance. It is important to identify the competencies being sought. That is, the
criteria upon which selection decisions are to be made should be decided
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in advance. A firm must identify those skill sets required by employees to
be successful. Charles O’Reilly suggests that companies should hire for
attitude (perhaps even more so than technical skills). That is, the fit of
the individual with the values of the organization and the culture of the
firm should also be considered when selecting employees. This has
been referred to as the person-organization fit. It is no longer enough to
simply consider the person’s fit (and technical skill set) with the job. Part
of the employee’s fit with the organization should focus on the core
values and beliefs of the organization. This will increase employees’
contributions to the overall success of the organization if they already
embrace the core values of the organization prior to their selection.
11. Communicate Mission and Vision: If employees are expected
tocontribute to the attainment of the organization’s strategic objectives, they
must understand what their role is. This can be achieved in part by clearly
communicating the mission and vision statements of the firm. The old adage is
certainly true. If a person does not know where he or she is going, any road
will get him or her there. The mission communicates the identity and purpose
of the organization. It provides a statement of who the firm is and what their
business is. Only those employees who understand this purpose can
contribute to the fullest extent possible. The vision statement provides a picture
of the future state of the firm. It should be a stretch to attain. This keeps all the
organization’s employees pulling in the same direction with a common end
point. It is much easier to align human resources with corporate objectives
when these employees are familiar with the mission and vision of the firm. As
the mission and vision statements are articulated,
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organizational members begin to more closely embrace their very
meaning on an individual level. These statements provide a road map
leading employees down the road to achieve organizational
objectives. Employees then identify how they can contribute their
unique talents toward the attainment of these goals.
12. Use Teams to Achieve Synergy: Synergy can be concisely defined
as“two plus two equals five”. In other words, the whole is greater than the
sum of the parts. So much more can be achieved as people work together.
Through the effective use of teams, organizations can often achieve
synergy. Team goals, however, must be aligned with the organization’s
strategic objectives. Aligning team objectives with overall corporate
objectives ensures that people are working toward the same goal.
1.4 IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:
Human Resource Management has a place of great importance. According to
Peter F. Drucker, ―The proper or improper uses of the different factors of
production depend on the wishes of the human resources. Hence, besides
other resources human resources need more development. Human
resources can increase cooperation but it needs proper and efficient
management to guide it. Importance of personnel management is in reality
the importance of labour functions of personnel department which are
indispensable to the management activity itself. Because of the following
reasons human resource management holds a place of importance.
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1.
It helps management in the preparation adoption and continuing
evolution of personnel programmes and policies.
2.
It supplies skilled workers through scientific selection process.
3.
It ensures maximum benefit out of the expenditure on training
and development and appreciates the human assets.
4.
It prepares workers according to the changing needs of industry
and environment.
5.
It motivates workers and upgrades them so as to enable them to
accomplish the organisation goals.
6.
Through innovation and experimentation in the fields of personnel,
it helps in reducing casts and helps in increasing productivity.
7.
It contributes a lot in restoring the industrial harmony and
healthy employer-employee relations.
8.
It establishes mechanism for the administration of personnel
services that are delegated to the personnel department.
Thus, the role of human resource management is very important in an
organisation and it should not be undermined especially in large scale
enterprises. It is the key to the whole organisation and related to all other
activities of the management i.e., marketing, production, finance etc.
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Human Resource Management is concerned with the managing people as an
organizational resource rather than as factors of production. It involves a
system to be followed in business firm to recruit, select, hire, train and develop
human assets. It is concerned with the people dimension of an organization.
The attainment of organizational objectives depends, to a great extent, on the
way in which people are recruited, developed and utilized by the management.
Therefore, proper co-ordination of human effortsand effective utilisation of
human and others material resources is necessary.
1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE PHILOSOPHY:
Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people and
organisations together so that the goals of each are met. It tries to
secure the best from people by winning their wholehearted cooperation.
In short, it may be defined as the art of procuring, developing and
maintaining competent workforce to achieve the goals of an organisation
in an effective and efficient manner. It has the following features:
1. Pervasive force: HRM is pervasive in nature. It is present in
allenterprises. It permeates all levels of management in an
organization.
2. Action oriented: HRM focuses attention on action, rather than on
recordkeeping, written procedures or rules. The problems of
employees at work are solved through rational policies.
3. Individually oriented: It tries to help employees develop their
potentialfully. It encourages them to give their best to the organisation. It
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motivates employees through a systematic process of recruitment,
selection, training and development coupled with fair wage policies.
4. People oriented: HRM is all about people at work, both as
individualsand groups. It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to
produce good results. The resultant gains are used to reward people
and motivate them toward further improvements in productivity.
5. Future-oriented: Effective HRM helps an organisation meet its goals
inthe future by providing for competent and well-motivated employees.
6. Development oriented: HRM intends to develop the full potential
ofemployees. The reward structure is tuned to the needs of
employees. Training is offered to sharpen and improve their skills.
Employees are rotated on various jobs so that they gain
experience and exposure. Every attempt is made to use their
talents fully in the service of organisational goals.
7. Integrating mechanism: HRM tries to build and maintain
cordialrelations between people working at various levels in the
organisation. In short, it tries to integrate human assets in the best
possible manner in the service of an organisation.
8. Comprehensive function: HRM is, to some extent, concerned with
anyorganisational decision which has an impact on the workforce or the
potential workforce. The term ‘workforce’ signifies people working at
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various levels, including workers, supervisors, middle and top
managers. It is concerned with managing people at work. It covers
all types of personnel. Personnel work may take different shapes
and forms at each level in the organisational hierarchy but the
basic objective of achieving organisational effectiveness through
effective and efficient utilisation of human resources, remains the
same. “It is basically a method of developing potentialities of
employees so that they get maximum satisfaction out of their work
and give their best efforts to the organisation”. (Pigors and Myers)
9. Auxiliary service: HR departments exist to assist and advise the
line oroperating managers to do their personnel work more
effectively. HR manager is a specialist advisor. It is a staff function.
10. Inter-disciplinary function: HRM is a multi-disciplinary activity,utilising
knowledge and inputs drawn from psychology, sociology, anthropology,
economics, etc. To unravel the mystery surrounding the human brain,
managers, need to understand Human Resource Function and
appreciate the contributions of all such ‘soft’ disciplines.
11. Continuous function: According to Terry, HRM is not a one shot deal.It
cannot be practiced only one hour each day or one day a week. It
requires a constant alertness and awareness of human relations and
their importance in every day operations.
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1.6 Growth of HR practices in India:
As far as growth of HR practices in India is concerned, it can be
classified into major four phases as given under.
Chart 1.2 Phases of HR Practices
Early phase
Legal phase
Welfare phase
Development phase
Early phase: Though it is said that P/HRM as a discipline is of
recentgrowth, it has had its origin dating back to 1800 B.C. For example:
the minimum wage rate and incentive wage plans were included in the
Babylonian Code of Hammurabi around 1800 B.C. The Chinese, as early as
1650 B.C. had originated the principle of division of labour and they Human
Resource Function understood labour turnover even in 400 B.C. The span
of management and related concepts of organisation were well understood
by Moses around 1250 B.C. and the Chaldeans had incentive wage plans
around 400 B.C. Kautilya, in India (in his book Arthasastra) made reference
to various concepts like job analysis, selection procedures, executive
development, incentive system and performance appraisal.
Legal phase: The early roots of HRM in India could be traced back to
theperiod after 1920. The Royal commission on labour in 1931 suggested
the
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appointment of labour officer to protect workers’ interests and act as a
spokesperson of labour. After Independence, The Factories Act 1948,
made it obligatory for factories employing 500 or more workers.
“In view of legal compulsions and the enumeration of duties the entire
approach of organizations toward their personnel was to comply with the
laws and keep the welfare officers busy with routine functions”
Meanwhile two professional bodies, viz., the Indian Institute of Personnel
Management (IIPM) Kolkata and the National Institute of Labour
Management (NILM) Mumbai have come into existence in 1950s.
Welfare phase: During the 1960s the scope of personnel function
hasexpanded
a
bit,
covering
labour
welfare,
participative
management, industrial harmony, etc. “In this period, the human
relations movement of the West had also had its impact on Indian
organisations”. The legalistic preoccupations slowly gave way to
harmonious industrial relations and good HR practices.
Development phase: In 1960s and 70s the HR professionals focused
moreon developmental aspects of human resources. The emphasis was
on striking a harmonious balance between employee demands and
organisational requirements. HRD has come to occupy a centre stage
and a focal point of discussion in seminars, conferences and academic
meets. The two professional bodies, IIPM and NILM, were merged to
form the National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM) at Kolkata.
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The following table captures the picture more accurately:
Table 1.1 Development Phase of HR Practices
Period
Emphasis
1920 – 30 Welfare
Status
management Clerical
Paternalistic practice
Roles
• Welfare
administrator
• Policeman
1940 – 60 Expanding the role
to Administrative
• Appraiser
cover Labour, Welfare,
• Advisor
Industrial Relations
• Mediator
and
Personnel Administration
• Legal advisor
• Fire fighting
1970 – 80 Efficiency, effectiveness Developmental
• Change agent
• Integrator
dimensions added,
• Trainer
Emphasis on human
• Educator
values, aspirations,
dignity, usefulness
1990s – Incremental
onwards
gains
productivity Proactive,
through
human
growth-oriented
• Developer
• Counselor
• Coach
assets
• Mentor
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Period
Emphasis
Status
Roles
• Problem
solver
During the 1990's, organisational restructuring and cost cutting efforts
have started in a big way-thanks to the pressures of liberalisation,
privatisation and globalisation (LPG era) forcing companies to focus
attention on employee capabilities product/service quality, speedy
response, customer satisfaction etc. Changing demographics and
increasing shortages of workers with the requisite knowledge, skills
and ability have grown in importance. The issue of workforce diversity
has assumed greater importance-in view of the cultural, religious
social, regional backgrounds of workers, especially in global sized
companies such as Reliance, Ranbaxy, Asian Paints, TISCO, etc.
1.7HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (HRD):
HRD is an important sub system of HRM. The term HRD was first
applied in the George Washington University.
The first HRD department in the Indian Corporate Sector was started in the
year 1975 in Larsen and Turbo after the recommendations by the two
consultants Udai Pareek and T.V. Rao from the Indian Institute of
management, Ahmedabad. Influenced by the results obtained by HRD, the
State Bank of India and its associate banks have decide to establish HRD
department. State Bank of India was of the earliest organisation in India to
try sensitively training. Two years later, the Bharat Earth Moves Limited,
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Bangalore one of the large public sector companies in India
established the HRD department.
Pareek and Rao’s model, development in 1974 for L & T envisaged
the HRD function as consisting of six sub system.
1.1 Development oriented performance appraisal
1.2 Potential appraisal
1.3 Training
1.4 Feedback and counseling
1.5 Career planning and development
1.6 Organisation development.
HRD is mainly concerned with developing the skills, knowledge and
competencies of people and it is people oriented concept. HRD can
be applied both for the national level and organizational level.
According to Pulapa Subba Rao, HRD from the organizational point of
view is a process in which the employees of an organization are
helped / motivated to acquired and develop technical, managerial and
behavioral knowledge, skills and abilities and mould the values,
beliefs and attitudes necessary to perform present and future roles by
realizing the highest human potential with a view to contribute
positively to the organizational group, individual and social goals.
Organizations have started using information technology for HRD.
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A competitive analysis of these definitions shows that the third definition
seems to be comprehensive and elaborate as it deals with the
developmental aspects of the components of human resources. Further, it
deals with all types of skills, the present and future organizational needs
and aspects of contribution not only to organizational but also other goals.
The analysis of the third definition further shows that there are three
aspects, viz. (i) employees of an organization are helped / motivated (ii)
acquired, develop and mould various aspects of human resources and
(iii) contribute to the organizational group, individual and social goals.
The first aspect deals with helping and motivating factors for HRD.
These factors may be called Enabling Factors which include organization
structure, organizational climate, HRD climate, HRD knowledge and
skills of managers, human resources planning, recruitment and selection.
The second aspect deals with the techniques or methods which are the
means to acquire develop and mould the various human resources.
These techniques include performance, appraisal, potential appraisal,
career planning and development, training, management development,
organizational development, social and cultural programmes, workers
participation in management and quality circles. The third category
includes the outcomes contribution of the HRD process to the goals of
the organization, group individuals and the society.
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HRD is three pronged focusing on people.
1.
The “Human” aspect where people are seen as heaving skills,
heaving potential and the ability to grow change and develop.
2.
The “Resources” aspects where individual are considered
resources rather than problems and,
3.
The “Development” where there is an emphasis on the
discovery and nurturing of their potentials.
In The late seventies, there were hardly a dozen organisation that have
established HRD departments, by the eighties many started established
HRD departments them. One of the early OD work was done as part of
the HRD department in the associate’s bank of PNB by HRD managers
using survey feedback methodology. A new professional body called the
national HRD network took birth in 1989. This body has also established
a national level research institution called at academy of HRD.
1.7.1 HRD DEFINITIONS IN INDIA:
One of the early definition of HRD in India was given by Rao (1985)
According to whom, “Human Resources Development” in the organisational
context is a process by which the employees of an organisation are helped,
in a continuous, planned way to develop an organizational culture in which
supervisor-subordinate relationships, team-work and collaboration among
sub-unit are strong and contribute to the professional well being motivation
and pride of the employee. Development of their general capabilities as
individual and discover and exploit their own inner potential for own or
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organizational development purpose and Sharpen their capabilities required to
perform various functions associated with their present or expected future.
According to M.N. Khan, HRD is the process of increasing
knowledge,skills, capabilities and positive work attitude and values of
all people working at all level in business understandings.
HRD can be defined as a system and process concerned with an
organized series of learning activities, within specific time limit
designed to produce behavioral changes in the learner so as to utilize
the available human resource in such a way that it acquires a desired
level of competence for a present or future.
- Dattaur (1987)
“HRD” is the process of identifying and developing right people in
succession of various organisational levels”.
“HRD is an organizational context has something to do with the
development of the employees in the organisation. Again employee
development is something to do with the development of their skills, their
techniques, their attitude and their values. In turn, this development is
inseparably related with a change. Change in the ways of thinking working
and living of the employees. Thus HRD is essentially a function of growth of
human beings which is made possible through the creation of climate in the
organisations for a change and growth in the employees and their lives.
- Krishna (1997)
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“HRD is training, performance appraisal, career and succession
planning and personal and organizational development as these
activities are geared towards the development of the people, there
role effectiveness and accomplishment of organizational goals”.
-Singh (1997)
1.7.2 SCOPE OF HRD:
Human resource management deals with procurement, development,
compensation, maintenance and utilization of human resources. HRD
details with development of human resources for efficient utilization of
these resources in order to achieve the individual, group and
organizational goals. Thus, the scope of HRM is wider and HRD is
part and parcel of HRM. In fact HRD helps for the efficient
management of human resources. The scope of HRD includes.
1.
Recruiting the employees within the dimensions and
possibilities for developing human resources.
2.
Selecting those employees having potentialities for development
to meet the present and future organizational needs.
3.
Analyzing, apprising and developing performance of employees
as individuals, members of a group and organizations with a view
to develop them by identifying the gaps in skills and knowledge.
4.
Help the employees to learn from their superiors through
performance consultations, performance counseling and
performance interviews.
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5.
Train all the employees in acquiring new technical skills and
knowledge.
6.
Develop the employees’ managerial and behavioral skills and
knowledge. Planning for employee’s career and introducing
developmental programmes.
7.
Planning for succession and develop the employees.
8.
Changing the
development.
9.
Employee learning through group dynamics, intra and inter-team
employees’ behavior
through
organization
interaction.
10.
Learning through
programmes.
social
and
religious
interactions
and
11.
Learning through job rotation, job enrichment and empowerment
12.
Learning through quality circles and the schemes of workers
participation in the management.
1.7.3 NEED FOR HRD:
All the business and industrial organizations are dynamic. In fact,
liberalization, privatization and globalization made the business firms
further the dynamic. In other words, they have been changing
continuously in terms of technology, type of business, products /
services, organizational strength and the like/. The changes invariably
demand for the development of human resources.
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1.9 Changes in Economic Policies: Almost all the governments across
theglobe have changed their economic policies from communistic /
socialistic pattern to capitalistic pattern. Even the Government of India
liberalized its economic policies in 1991. Liberalization, privatization
and globalization posted threat to the weak firms and created
opportunities to the large firms. These firms started developing their
human resources in order to exploit the opportunities. Thus, the
capitalistic economic policies and their successful implementation
feed the development of human resources in the country at large.
35. Changing job requirements: Organizations dynamism brings
changesin organizational design and job design. The changes in
job design bring changes in job description and job description and
job specifications. These changes demand for HRD.
61.
Need for Multi Skilled Human Resources: The changing trends
inindustrilisation, structuring jobs and organizations demand the
employee to take up multiple activities. The customer centred
approach led to dejobbing, flexible organizations and flexible work.
All these changes demand the employees with multiple skills.
Human resources developmental activities provide the opportunity
to the employees to acquire and develop multiple skills.
IV. Organizational viability and Transformation Process: Organization
viability is continuously influenced by the environmental threats. If the
organization does not adapt itself to the changing environmental factors,
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it will lose its market share. If the organization desires to adopt these
Changes first, it has to develop human resources.
V.
Technological Advances: Organizations in order to survive and
developshould adopt the latest technology. Adaptation of the latest
technology will not be complete until they are manned by developed
employees. Employee development is possible through HRD. This is the
era of information technology and high level production and service
technology. Therefore, HRD is essential in the new millennium.
VI.
Organizational
complexity:
With
the
emergence
of
increasedmechanization and automation, manufacturing of multiple
products and rendering of services, organizations become
complex. Management of organizational complexity is possible
through HRD.
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