Introduction

HRD is concerned with a planned series of learning activities completed within a set time frame and intended to modify the learner’s behaviour (Naddler, 1969). In the context of an organisation, HRD is a process that assists employees in improving their functional capabilities for current and future roles, developing their general capabilities, harnessing their inner potentialities for both personal and organisational development, and developing an organisational culture to maintain harmonious superior-subordinate relationships, teamwork, motivation, quality, and a sense of belongingness.

11.1 Requirements of HRD

Any organisation that wishes to grow indefinitely requires HRD. Organisations can reach new heights in today’s fast-changing environment through the effective and efficient use of human resources. Appropriate personnel policies can help keep employee motivation and morale strong, but they may not be enough to help the company succeed and branch out into new areas. Employee competencies must be regularly trained, developed, and expanded to achieve this goal. Employees must be encouraged to take risks, try new things, and make things happen in an environment of mutual trust, goodwill, and cooperation. “To complete tasks, people require competence. A higher level or degree of expertise is required to do activities of a higher quality. An organization’s goals are unlikely to be met unless people’s competencies are continually developed. Competent and motivated employees are critical to an organization’s survival, growth, and excellence.”

HRD is required in a company because:

1. Human resource development increases people’s capacities. They become more imaginative and enterprising, always willing to take risks to advance. It enhances an employee’s overall development. Employees grow and perform better due to feedback and advice from superiors.
2. HRD enhances teamwork. Employees become more trusting of one another. The organisational atmosphere also improves significantly.
3. HRD improves an organisation’s efficiency. Appropriate employee-centred policies aid the organisation in meeting its objectives more quickly.
4. Performance-related rewards assist employees in understanding the need to fully utilize their skills to support the organization’s goals. The organization’s overall health and self-renewing capabilities also improve dramatically.

HRD activities are critical for every dynamic and growth-oriented organisation to survive in a fast-changing environment. Recent macroeconomic restructuring in India prompted the requirement for unit (micro) level production restructuring, and production restructuring necessitated labour restructuring of HRD activities in organisations. Market globalisation (a product of the economic reform programme), delicensing and free flow of technology (per the New Industrial Policy of July 1991), and increased competitiveness have made old skills and knowledge obsolete. Manpower obsolescence is becoming a danger to many Indian businesses. HRD efforts have now taken centre stage to combat this.

Employee morale and motivation must undoubtedly improve to attain productivity and functional performance. However, these factors alone will not be enough to sustain a dynamic organisation unless human resource effort and competencies are continually updated, developing an enabling organisational culture. When people in a company are found to use their initiative, take chances, experiment, create, and make things happen, the company develops an enabling culture.

When we consider the fast-changing environment, technological change, and increased competitiveness, the importance and significance of HRD in an organisation may be acknowledged. This has prompted the need for people working in the organisation to renew their capabilities, reinforced by organisational changes through the Organizational Development (OD) process.

When we consider different HRD systems, such as performance appraisal, career planning and development, manpower planning, management succession and development, training (which includes the role of education and development discussed earlier), Organizational Development (OD), Quality of Work Life (QWL), and so on, the role and significance of HRD become even clearer.

11.2 Scope of HRD

Human resources can be defined as the sum of an organization’s people’s knowledge, skills, attitudes, dedication, values, and so on. Development is acquiring skills required to perform the current or anticipated work. In human resource management, human resource development is a positive concept. Human Resource Development (HRD) enhances an employee’s ability to handle additional responsibilities, either formally or informally. Any good HRD programme must meet the needs of the company. To design a workable programme, management must identify and turn the organization’s needs into objectives.

HRD is primarily concerned with improving people’s abilities. When we refer to it as a people-oriented idea, various concerns arise, such as whether individuals should be developed in a broader national context or a smaller institutional setting. Is there a difference between macro and micro? HRD, as it is presently, covers both institutional (micro) and national (macro) challenges. The fundamental purpose, however, is to build people’s newer talents to face current and future issues while achieving organisational goals. It is, nevertheless, beneficial at both the macro and micro levels.

HRD is concerned with the development of people for the nation’s well-being at the macro level. It involves people’s health, talents, skills, and attitudes that benefit the nation’s overall development. The prospective HRD idea considers individuals’ potentialities, attitudes, aspirations, skills, knowledge, and other factors when calculating national income and economic growth and provides a solid foundation for financial planning. However, HRD’s contribution at the macro level has yet to acquire traction.

HRD is concerned with the grass-roots development of organisations at the micro level. It’s no surprise that HRD was well embraced by company executives, who recognised its value and anticipated its future contribution to individual and organisational growth. HRD at the micro level generally refers to the organization’s manpower planning, selection, training, performance appraisal, development, potential appraisal, pay, and organisational growth, among other things. The main driving force behind HRDs in these areas is the need to develop new capacities in those involved to prepare them better to handle current employment challenges and accept future employment expectations.

When considering the definition, role, relevance, purpose, and aims of HRD, it is clear that an organization’s HRD department focuses on the following key areas:

1. Improving ‘enabling’ skills through human resource development, organisational health, team spirit, and employee motivation and productivity.
2. Focus on a healthy organisational culture by conducting frequent surveys, seminars, and conversations that promote openness, mutual trust, team spirit, creativity, initiative, mutuality, collaboration, delegation, autonomy, respect, mistake management, and conflict resolution, among other things.
3. Concentrate on studying contextual elements through professional organisations such as the NIPM, ISTD, HRD Network, AIMA, and others. These professional organisations exchange company experiences through publications, seminars, and workshops.
4. Focus on periodic HRD system reviews, which may necessitate changes to performance appraisal, job rotation, reward systems, career planning, promotion, selection, induction, training and development programmes, and so on.
5. Work to integrate HRD with other business operations, such as production, marketing, finance, materials, and corporate planning. Such integration will aid the creation of an ‘enabling’ organisation.
6. Increase HRD function diffusion by including line managers in various HRD issues such as subordinate training, performance appraisal, promotion, placement, selection, and career planning. Line workers, with their extensive expertise, may make a significant contribution to these HRD areas. Furthermore, their active collaboration will accelerate the development of an integrated HRD system in an organisation.
7. Concentrate on engaging with unions by gaining their trust and collaborating with them. Several examples show that labour unions can be beneficial to organizations. The Syndicate Bank Employees Union and management have partnered to decrease non-performing assets (i.e., bad debt realisation).

11.3 HRD Practices in Indian Companies

It’s worth noting that, in most Indian organisations, personnel duties are linked with HRD functions, except a handful that maintain a separate HRD department dedicated solely to HRD functions. As a result, most organisations renamed their core personnel as Human Resource Managers or Human Resource Development Managers. On the other hand, some organisations have segregated HRD as a training function, entrusting the task to Management Development Officers or Principals of Management Development Centres. Steel Authority of India Ltd., for example, is a public-sector behemoth. (SAIL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), NTPC, ONGC, and Coal India have established management development schools. Separate management development centres exist for departmental businesses such as Indian Ordinance Factories and Indian Railways. Many commercial banks, including the Reserve Bank of India, Regional Rural Banks, the Financial Corporation of India (IFCI), the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), and insurance companies such as the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Corporation of India, have established their staff training colleges to develop their human resources. TISCO, Kirloskar Group, Reliance, Lakshmi Group, Hinduja Group, Modern Group, and Lalbhai Group are private corporations with their own management development centres to develop and train their human resources.

There was a time when HRD was seen as a completely unnecessary department! The expenditures associated with establishing an HRD unit were considered relatively significant, with no obvious tangible rewards. Employers were unsure whether the HR philosophy would result in any tangible benefits. The situation was attempted to be solved in the early 1970s by the development of HRD units in large organisations. Larsen and Toubro were the first corporations to create and execute a comprehensive human resource management system. In 1979, the first workshop on HRD took place. The Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) was the first academic institution to establish a full-fledged human resource development centre. In 1985, a National HRD Network was established. In light of the benefits of HRD systems, several major Indian corporations have established distinct HR departments to strengthen employer-employee relations.

HRD’s goals can be summed up as follows:

1. To improve the competencies of all employees in an organisation concerning their current position.
2. To improve the capacities of all such people in light of their future roles.
3. To improve interpersonal and employer-employee interactions inside a company.
4. To foster a sense of belonging to a group.
5. To improve cooperation among an organization’s many units.
6. Maintaining organisational health by constantly renewing person capabilities (avoiding manpower obsolescence) while keeping up with technological advancements.

When we emphasise the importance of human resources in line with the examination procedure of the ‘Baldridge Award,’ granted internationally to a quality organisation, we can see HRD objectives. HRD methods in an organisation should aim to develop and realise the workforce’s full potential, including management, and create an atmosphere that encourages full involvement, quality leadership, and personal and organisational progress. Human resource development is handled by six organisational units: individual, role, dyad, team, inter-team, and organisation. The efficacy of one contributes to the efficacy of the others, in turn.

HRD goals can also be framed using W. Edward Deming’s fourteen quality improvement principles. We won’t review all fourteen concepts here; instead, we’ll concentrate on the issues relevant to HRD goals. There are a few:

1. Provide on-the-job training.
2. Break down departmental barriers to foster collaboration.
3. Eliminate fear in the workplace.
4. Create an environment that encourages employees to take pride in their work.
5. Education and self-improvement programme at the institute.

We shall discuss the HRD objectives of two leading Indian organisations for a better understanding.