CHAPTER 1

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

HRD can be defined as a set of systematic and planned activities designed by an

organization to provide its employees to generate and develop their competencies
through learning necessary skills to meet current and future job demands.

Definition
T. V. Rao “HRD is a process in which the employees of an organization are continually
helped in a planned way to
 Acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions
associated with present or expected future rolls.
 Develop their general capabilities so that they may be able to discover their
own inner potentialities and explore them to full for their own and
organizational development purpose.
 Develop an organizational culture where superior subordinate relationships,
team work and collaboration among different subunits are strong and
contribute to organizational wealth and motivation and pride of the
employees.

HRD Aims
It aims at developing peoples‟ knowledge, expertise, productivity and satisfaction for the
benefit of the individual and organization in particular and community and nation as a
whole.

HRD Activities
It should begin as soon as an employee joins the organization and continues throughout
his or her career.

HRD Programmes
They are designed to respond to job changes and integrate the long term plans and
strategies as the organization to ensure the overall development of an employee.

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Features of HRD
Main features of human resource development are as follows:
1. It is a planned and systematic approach to the development of the people
2. It is a continuous process of developing the competencies, motivating them to
continuous improvement in their efficiencies
3. It is based on the belief system that the development of an individual is a never-
ending process
4. It is an interdisciplinary concept and involves confluence of idea from many
sciences.
5. It is concerned with improving the skills, attitudes and behaviors of employees to
benefit both the individual as well as organization.

Importance of HRD
The importance of human resources development can be understood through following
points.
1) Develops Hidden Potential - enhances the capabilities of people by exploring
their hidden potentials and shaping them to achieve organizational goals.

2) Improves the Communication System - improves the communication system to

open the channel of communication so that everyone understands the other
person in a better way and there is no chance of ambiguity.

3) Enhances Employee Morale - enhances the employee morale as well as

develops the same of belongingness as proper rewards are being given to the
star performer.

4) Improves Coordination and Cooperation leads to cohesive groups and terms

5) Achieving Organizational Goals - ultimately leads to overall growth and

development of the employee through the above mentioned techniques.

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 6) Brings Innovation:
It creates trust and openness among employees and develops analytical and
rational skills among employees which help them in becoming more innovative,
proactive and risk taking.

7) Helps in Bringing Change makes employees ready to change and undergo

transformation and relearn after unlearning what they had already learnt.

Functions of HRD
1. Training and Development:
Training and Development focus on changing or improving the knowledge, skills
and attitudes of individuals. Training typically involves providing employees the
knowledge and skills needed to do a particular task or job. Developmental
activities have a longer term focus on preparing for future work responsibilities
while also increasing the capacities of employees to [perform their current jobs.

2. Employee Orientation:
When a new employee enters the organization, usually in the form of employee
orientation and skills training. Employee orientation is the process by which new
employees learn important organizational values and norms, establishing working
relationships, and learn how to function within the jobs. The HRD staff and the
hiring supervisor generally share the responsibility for designing the orientation
process, conducting general orientation sessions and beginning the initial skills
training.

3. Coaching:
In the coaching process, individuals are encouraged to accept responsibility for
their actions, to address any work related problems and to achieve and sustain
superior levels of performance. Coaching involves treating employees as partners
in achieving both personal and organizational goals.

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4. Counselling:
Techniques are used to help employees deal with personal problems that may
interfere with the achievement of these goals. Counselling programs may address
such issues as substance abuse, stress management, smoking cessation, or fitness,
nutrition, and weight control.

5. Management Development Program:

To ensure that managers and supervisors have the knowledge and skills
necessary to be effective in their positions. These programs may include
supervisory training, job rotation, seminars or college and university courses.

6. Organization Development:
It is defined as the process of enhancing the effectiveness of an organization and
the well being of its members through planned interventions that apply
behavioral science concepts. The role of the HRD professional involved in an OD
intervention is generally to function as a change agent. Facilitating change often
requires consulting with and advising line managers on strategies that can be
used to effect the desired change.

7. Career Development:
It is “ongoing process by which individual‟s progress through a series of stages,
each of which is characterized by a relatively unique set of issues, themes and
tasks.” Career development involves two distinct processes; career planning and
career management. Career planning involves activities performed by an
individual, often with the assistance of counsellors and others, to assess his or her
skills and abilities in order to establish a realistic career plan. Career management
involves taking the necessary steps to achieve that plan, and generally focuses
more on what an organization can do to foster employee career development.

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Emergence of Human Resource Development :
 During the 1960s and 1970s, professional trainers realized that their role
extended beyond the training classroom. Training and Development
Competencies therefore expanded to include interpersonal skills such as a
coaching, group process facilitation, and problem solving. This additional
emphasis on employee development inspired the ASTD to rename itself as the
American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

 Further in the 1990s and up to today, efforts were made to strengthen the
strategic role of HRD that is how HRD links to and supports the goals and
objectives of the organization. There was also an emphasis within ASTD on
performance improvement as the particular goal of most training and HRD
efforts, and on viewing organisations as high performance work systems.

Emergence of Human Resource Development in India

 The concept of HRD was introduced in India by T V Rao. He is regarded as the
father of HRD in India. Larsen and Toubro was the pioneer in India to design
and implement an integrated HRD system in the 1970s. Slowly other companies
also started establishing it. The concept of HRD scorecard was introduced in
India by T.V. Rao and Dr. Udai Pareek.
 HRD scorecard is an indicator of the level of HR maturity of an organization and
its alignment with the organization‟s strategy. The model is based on the
assumption that competent and motivated employees are needed to provide
quality products and services at competitive rates and ways that enhance
customer satisfaction. In the HRD scorecard, the maturity level of HRD in an
organization is measured on four dimensions.
 Four indicators, as described after this, are used to arrive at a comprehensive
score for HRD maturity.

a) HRD Systems Maturity Score:

Employee competency and commitment can be developed through appropriate
HRD mechanisms (tools and systems). In an HRD mature organization, there will
be well-developed HRD systems such as:

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  Human Resource Planning and Recruitment
 Performance Management System
 Training
 Career Development and Succession Planning
 Job Rotation
 OD Interventions
 HR information systems (HRIS)

b) HRD Competence Score:

The competencies of the staff from different groups (HRD department, top
management, line managers and supervisors, trade union leaders, and blue /
white collar employees) are measured. Each group is assessed on the following
dimensions:
 The level of HRD skills they possess.
 Attitudes and support to learning and their own development
 Extent to which they facilitate learning among others in the corporation
and those who work with them
 Their attitudes and support to HRD function and system

c) The HRD Culture:

The HRD culture measures values and processes created by the HRD tools.
Employees and their styles also play a crucial role in building sustainable
competencies in the organisation, these needs to be measured and monitored. It
is possible for some organizations to have minimal formal HR systems and yet
have a high level of HR competencies and HRD culture. Specialized
questionnaires have been developed for measurement of HRD culture for such
organizations.

d) Business Linkage Score:

This score indicates the extent to which HRD efforts (tools, processes, culture,
etc.) are driven to achieve business goals or goals of the organization. The
business linkage goals include:

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  Business excellence including profitability and other outcomes the
organization is expected to achieve
 Internal Operational Efficiencies
 Internal Customer Satisfaction
 External Customer Satisfaction
 Employee Motivation and Commitment
 Cost-effectiveness and Cost-Consciousness among Employees

HRD Culture
In the fast changing environment, the organisations have to develop and maintain an
enabling culture to become dynamic and growth oriented. The purpose of HRD is to
facilitate development of such a culture in the organisation. An enabling culture is one
where employees use their initiative, risk, experiment, innovate and make things happen.

HRD Culture Variables:

The term OCTAPACE has been coined to denote the characteristics of HRD culture which
include:
a) Openness: The term „openness‟ refers to “freedom to express ideas, opinion,
views”, “frankness”, “outspoken”, “straightforwardness”.
b) Confrontation: The term confrontation refers to “conflict”, “encounter”,
“dispute”, “estrangement”, to evolve effective and efficient suggestions and
solutions to a given problem.
c) Trust: Trust means “belief”, “confidence”, “faith”. One cannot order others to
trust, it comes only through their experience.
d) Autonomy: The word autonomy refers to “freedom”, “independence”. Freedom
to do a thing in the way one wants tends to act as a morale booster.
e) Proaction: The term “pro-action” generally refers to “planning in advance”, “lead
from the front”, “the state of alertness / preparedness”.
f) Authenticity: The term “authenticity” refers to “genuine”, “factual”, “legitimate”,
“actual”. Every institution has a goal and various departments are used in the
process to achieve the objectives through their varied and specialised skills.

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 g) Collaboration: The term “collaboration‟ refers to “cooperation”, “participation”,
“teamwork”, “association”. Cooperation means working together.
h) Experimentation: Modern organisations are often systems and to cope with
environmental challenges, they allow their members to experiment with new
ideas.

HRD Climate
Organisational climate is the summary perception which people have about an
organisation. It is a global expression of what the organisation is. Organisational climate
is the manifestation of the attitudes of organisational members toward the organisation
itself. An organisation tends to attract and keep people who fit its climate so that its
patterns are perpetuated at least to some extent.

HRD climate may be defined as perceptions the employee have of the

developmental environment of an organisation. HRD climate contributes to the
organisations‟ overall health and self-renewing capabilities which, in turn, increase the
enabling capabilities of individual, dyads, teams and the entire organisation.

HRD Matrix
HRD Matrix identifies the interrelationships between HRD instruments, processes,
outcomes and organisational effectiveness. HRD instruments include performance
appraisal, counseling, role analysis, potential development, training, reward system, job
enrichment, etc. These mechanisms may vary depending upon the size of the
organisation, the commitment of the top management, the environment, the culture and
climate, the perception of the people, technology used, methods employed by the
competitors etc.

HRD Sub-Systems / Mechanisms / Instruments

T.V. Rao is of the opinion that HRD sub-systems comprise performance appraisal,
potential appraisal, career planning, training, performance coaching, organisation
development, employee welfare, rewards, quality of work life and human resource
information system. Udai Pareek refers to performance appraisal, feedback, counseling,
potential appraisal, career advancements, career planning and training as dimensions of
HRD.

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A well designed HRD programme should have the following sub-systems:
i. Performance Appraisal:
It is the process of determining how well a worker is performing his job. It
provides a mechanism for identification of qualities and deficiencies observed
in an employee in relation to his job performance. The object of appraisal is
to determine the present state of efficiency of a worker in order to establish
the actual need for training.

ii. Potential Appraisal:

 It provides necessary data which helps in preparing career plans for
individuals. It aims at development of latent abilities of individuals.
 The HRD function has a long way to go in introducing a streamlined
potential appraisal system which ensures a good match between the
employees and the job.

iii. Feedback Counselling:

Feedback of performance data can be used to monitor individual
development and for identifying training needs. Career counselling and
verbal rewards are integral parts of review discussions between the superior
and the subordinate.

iv. Training:
It is a process that involves the acquisition of skills, concepts and attitudes in
order to increase the effectiveness of employees in doing particular jobs.
Training is expected to provide the needful stimulus to initiate impulses of
changes in management and to improve efficiency, productivity and
administrative effectiveness.

v. Role Analysis:
It is a participatory process which aims at defining the work content of a role
in relation to all those with whom the role occupant has significant interaction
in the performance of his job.

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vi. Career Planning:
It means helping the employees to plan their career in terms of their
capacities within the context of organisational needs. It is the planning of
one‟s career and implementation of career plans by means of education,
training, job search and acquisition of work experiences.

vii. Job Rotation:

The work tasks should be rotated among the employees so as to broaden
their field of specialization as well as their knowledge about the
organisation‟s operation as a whole. The work-tasks, therefore, should be
rotated once a year among the various employees depending upon their
qualifications and suitability to perform new roles.

viii. Quality Circle:

It is a small group of employees doing similar or related work who meet
regularly to identify, analyse and solve product-quality problems and to
improve general operation. The quality circles are relatively autonomous
units (ideally about 10 workers), usually led by a supervisor or a senior worker
and organised as work units. The workers, who have a shared area of
responsibility, meet periodically to discuss, analyse, and propose solutions to
ongoing problems.

ix. Reward System: Rewarding employees performance over and above their
normal wages and salaries is considered to be an important task of the HRD.
In any organisation, the managers and workers have similar motivations,
although the manager controls the means of achieving need-satisfaction at
work and each employee seeks self-development to go as far as possible on
his own ability.

x. Organisation Development (OD):

It is an organisation-wide, planned effort managed from the top, placing
emphasis on making appropriate intervention in the ongoing activities of the
organisation. It provides a normative framework within which changes in the
climate and culture of the organisation towards harnessing the human
potential for realization of organisational objectives is brought out.

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 xi. Quality of Working Life (QWL):
 The conditions under which the workers work and live, assume the form of
another important factor contributing to workers satisfaction or otherwise
and consequently the job satisfaction.
 For an employee to be able to work at his best, it is necessary to
understand that inadequate working and living conditions produce
adverse mental and physical effect on the employee, ultimately causing
decline in the efficiency.

xii. Human Resource Planning:

It is the process aimed at ensuring that the organisation will have adequate
number of qualified persons, available at proper time, performing jobs which
would meet the needs of the organisation and also provide satisfaction for
the individuals involved.

xiii. Recruitment, Selection and Placement: Recruitment is generation of

applications for specific positions for anticipated vacancies. The ideal
recruitment efforts will be to generate adequate number of suitable
applicants. Selection is the process of ascertaining the qualifications,
experience, skills, knowledge, etc. of applicants with a view to appraising their
suitability for a job. Placement is the process of assigning the selected
candidate with the most suitable job.

Challenges to HRD Professionals: Challenges include:

a. Increasing Workforce Diversity

b. Competing in a Global Economy
c. The Need for Lifelong Learning
d. Meeting the Need for Lifelong Individual Learning

a. Increasing Workforce Diversity:

The workforce has become increasingly more diverse, and this trend toward
diversity will continue. This includes increasing diversity along racial, ethnic, and
gender lines, as well as an increasing percentage of the workforce that is over
age.

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b. Competing in a Global Economy:
Competing in the global economy requires more than educating and training
workers to meet new challenges. In addition to retraining the workforce,
successful companies will institute quality improvement processes and introduce
change efforts (for example, high involvement programs). The workforce must
learn cultural sensitivity to better communicate and conduct business among
different cultures and in other countries.

c. The Need for Lifelong Learning:

The challenge in HRD professionals is to provide a full range of learning
opportunities for all kinds of employees. One way that organisations are meeting
this challenge is by establishing multimedia learning centres (sometimes on the
organisation‟s intranet). These centres offer a variety of instructional
technologies that can be matched to each trainee‟s unique learning needs.

d. Facilitating Organisational Learning:

One challenge of HRD professionals is facilitating a transition from traditional
training programs to emphasising three things: learning principles and tactics;
how learning relates to performance; and more importantly, the relationship
between learning and fundamental change.

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 Sample Multiple Choice Questions
1. Who is regarded as father of Human Resource Development in India?
(a) T. V. Rao (b) Ishwan Dayal
(c) Dr. Manmohan Singh (d) None of the above

2. Which company is considered as pioneer in India to design and implement

Human Resource Development System?
(a) Larsen and Toubro (b) Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (HEL)
(b) Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) (d) All of the above

3. Human Resource Development may include the following Processes / Sub-

Systems
(a) Career planning, manpower planning and Collective Bargaining
(b) Performance Appraisal, Training, Role Analysis
(c) Quality circle, Organisational Development, Industrial Relation
(d) Quality of Work Life, Quality Circle and Grievance handling

4. Which of the following is the main objective of Human Resource Development ?

(a) To provide suitable need based training Programmes
(b) To contribute towards the excellence of technical management education
(c) To motivate the employees to achieve organisational goals.
(d) All of the above

5. Human Resource Development can be

(a) A platform for organisational transformation
(b) A vehicle for global knowledge transfer
(c) A mechanism for balancing work life
(d) All of the above

6. Who has given the concept of OCTAPACE culture?

(a) T.V. Rao (b) Udai Pareek
(c) Dharni P. Sinha (d) D.M. Pestonjee

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7. What is the process of training and developing employees to improve and
update their knowledge and skills, so as to perform their jobs better known as:
(a) Knowledge management (b) HRD
(c) Managing Human Relations (d) Compensation Management

8. The concept of total quality control i.e., that quality must be attended to at all
stages of the industrial cycle and throughout the organisation, is the creation of
which of the following pioneers?
(a) Joseph M Juran (b) W. Edwards Deming
(c) Genichi Taguchi (d) Armand Feigenbaum

9. Who has coined the term „Quality Circle‟?

(a) Kaoru Ishikawa (b) W. Edwards Deming
(c) Joseph M. Juran (d) Bill Cosby

10. Which of the following can be considered as HRD functions?

(a) Identifying and imparting training needs
(b) Identifying and selecting the best candidate
(c) Mapping the competency and encouraging the employee
(d) All of the above.

ANSWERS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a a b d d b b d a d

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