1

FUTURE PROSPECTS OF
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT IN INDIA



ACADEMIC YEAR: 2010-2011
SUBJECT: human resources
COLLEGE: BHAVANS


2



Index

No. Contents Page no
1. Introduction 5
2. Evolution of HRM in India 6
3. Indian HRM in transition 7
4. Functions and activities of HRM 10
5. Changes in HRM 11
6. Challenges of HRM 12
7. HR managers should do the following things
to ensure success
14
8. HR managers today are focusing attention on
the following
15
9. Human resource management: Futuristic
vision
15
10. HR jobs of the future 16
11. Current trends in HRM 17
12. RELIANCE INFRASTUCTURE 19
13. Conclusion 25
14. Bibliography 26





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INTRODUCTION

Taking a look at the world of human beings is a rewarding experience. Today, in any
organization humans are treated as precious resource. They are called as assets of the
organization as they bring success & prosperity. Human resource deals with human
resources employed in a business unit. It is an approach to the management of people in an
organization.

HRM is relatively a new term for what was called as personnel management. HRM is that
aspect of total business management which deals with human relationships within an
organization. It represents human resource which is different from material resources. It is
rightly said that organizations are not mere bricks, mortar, machineries or inventories. They
are people. It is the people who staff & manage organization. Human resource is the most
productive & versatile. In addition, the manpower in an organization needs human
treatment. Employees have the capacity to feel, think & even to react. Management has to
deal with the employees in a careful & tactful manner.

According to Peter Drucker, The prosperity of any business depends upon the
performance of its managers of tomorrow . This suggests the importance of manpower
planning & development. The material resources alone will not help the organization to
achieve its objective. For this, effective coordination & utilization of material & human
resources are required. This suggests the importance of human resources.
Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people & organization together so
that the goals of each are met". Few years back HRM field was nowhere in existence but
now it is very common in Business word due to its need & importance.
DEFINITION

HRM is the planning, organizing, directing & controlling of the procurement, development,
compensation, integration, maintenance & separation of human resources to the end that
individual, organizational & social objectives are accomplished.
Thus HRM refers to a set of programmes, functions & activities designed & carried out in
order to maximize both employee as well as organizational effectiveness.




4



EVOLUTION OF HRM IN INDIA





Period Development
Services
Outlook Emphasis Status
1920-1930s Beginning Pragmatism of
capitalists
Statutory,
welfare,
paternalism
Clerical


1940-1960s Struggling for
recognition
Technical,
legalistic
Introduction of
techniques
Administrative
1970-1980s Achieving
sophistication
Professional,
legalistic,
impersonal
Regulatory,
conforming,
imposition of
standards on
their functions

Managerial
1990s Promising Philosophical Human values,
productivity
through people
Executive

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INDIAN HRM IN TRANSITION

One of the noteworthy features of the Indian workplace is its demographic uniqueness. It is
estimated that both China and India will have a population of 1.45 billion people by 2030;
however, India will have a larger workforce than China. Indeed, it is likely India will have
986 million people of working age in 2030, which will probably be about 300 million more
than in 2007. And by 2050, it is expected India will have 230 million more workers than
China and about 500 million more than the United States of America (U.S.). It may be noted
that half of Indias current population of 1.1 billion people are under of 25 years of age.
While this fact is a demographic dividend for the economy, it is also a danger sign for the
countrys ability to create new jobs at an unprecedented rate.
When Indias young demographic bubble begins to reach working age, India will need far
more jobs than currently exist to keep living standards from declining. India today doesnt
have enough good jobs for its existing workers, much less for millions of new ones. If it
cannot better educate its children and create jobs for then once they reach working age,
India faces a population time bomb: The nation will grow poorer and not richer, with
hundreds of millions of people stuck in poverty.
With the retirement age being 55 to 58 years of age in most public sector organizations,
Indian workplaces are dominated by youth. Increasing the retirement age in critical areas
like universities, schools, hospitals, research institutions and public service is a topic of
considerable current debate and agenda of political parties.
The divergent view, that each society has a unique set of national nuances, which guide
particular managerial beliefs and actions, is being challenged in Indian society. An
emerging dominant perspective is the influence of globalization on technological
advancements, business management, and education and communication infrastructures
are leading to a converging effect on managerial mindsets and business behaviors. And
when India embraced liberalization and economic reform in the early 1990s, dramatic
changes were set in motion in terms of corporate mindsets and HRM practices as a result of
global imperatives and accompanying changes in societal priorities. Indeed, the onset of a
burgeoning competitive service sector compelled a demographic shift in worker
educational status and heightened the demand for job relevant skills as well as regional
diversity. Expectedly, there has been a marked shift towards valuing human resources (HR)
in Indian organizations as they become increasingly strategy driven as opposed to the
culture of the status quo. Accordingly, competitive advantage in industries like software
services, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology (where India is seeking to assert global
dominance), the significance of HRs is being emphasized. These relativities were
demonstrated in a recent study of three global Indian companies with (235 managers) when
evidence was presented that positively linked the HRM practices with organizational
performance.

6


The above figure presents the key drivers for contemporary Indian HRM trends. In the
figure there are four external spheres of intervention for HRM professionals and these
spheres are integrated in a complex array within organizational settings. The intellectual
sphere, which emphasizes the mindset transaction in work organizations, has been
significantly impacted by the forces of globalization. Indeed, with supporting empirical
evidence from 421 senior level Indian managers, that many of the traditional Indian values
(respect for seniority, status and group affiliation) have been complemented by newer areas
of attention that are more usually linked to globalization, such as work quality, customer
service and innovation. The most important work related attribute of the study was the
opportunity to learn new things at work. Such cross verging trends need to be understood
more widely as practitioners face a new reality of human resource development of post
industrial economic organizations.
The other three spheres, in the above diagram, namely the emotional, the socio cultural and
the managerial domains are undergoing, similar profound changes. For instance, the socio
cultural sphere confronts the dialects of the national macro level reform agenda as well as
the challenge of innovating by addressing the hygiene and motivational features of the
work place. Consequently, this sphere, which is underpinned by the anchors of Sraddha
and Sneha, has the opportunity to leverage work setting creativity in dimensions of
autonomy, empowerment, multiskilling and various types of job design. And the emotional
sphere, which focuses on creativity and innovation to encapsulate the notions of workplace
commitment and collaboration as well as favorable teamwork, brings desirable behavioral
elements of transparency and integrity into organizational procedures and practices. The
managerial sphere provides the mechanisms for shifting mindsets, for in Indian

7

organizations HRM is viewed to be closely aligned with managerial technical competency.
Thus, understanding of the relativity of HRM to strategic intended organizational
performance is less well articulated in Indian firms. The current emphasis of reconfiguring
cadres (voluntary and non-voluntary redundancy schemes), downsizing, delayering and
similar arrangements will become less relevant as holistic perspectives gain ground. A
hallmark of future Indian workplaces is likely to be a dominant emphasis on managerial
training, structural redesign and reframing of institutional architectures to achieve
enterprise excellence. Thus, a primary role of Indian managers will be to forge new
employment and industrial relationships through purposeful HRM policies and practices.
The figure below presents a variety of HRM practices that are being employed in Indian
organizations.
HRM Practice Observable Features
Job Description
Percentage of employees with formally defined work roles is very
high in the public sector.
Recruitment
Strong dependence on formal labour market. Direct recruitment from
institutions of higher learning is very common amongst
management, engineering and similar professional cadres. Amongst
other vehicles, placement agencies, internet and print media are the
most popular medium for recruitment.
Compensation
Strong emphasis on security and lifetime employment in public
sector including a range of facilities like, healthcare, housing and
schooling for children.
Training and
Development
Poorly institutionalized in Indian organizations. Popularity of
training programmes and their effect in skill and value development
undeveloped.
Performance
Appraisal
A very low coverage of employees under formal performance
appraisal and rewards or organizational goals
Promotion and
Reward
Moderately variable across industries. Seniority systems still
dominate the public sector enterprises. Use of merit and performance
limited mostly to globally orientated industries.
Career Planning
Limited in scope. The seniority based escalator system in the public
sector provides stability and progression in career. Widespread use
of voluntary retirement scheme in public sector by high performing
staff. Cross functional career paths uncommon.
Gender Equity
Driven by proactive court rulings, ILO guidelines and legislature
provisions. Lack of strategic and inclusion vision spread.
Reservation System
The central government has fixed 15 per cent reservations for
scheduled castes, 7.5 per cent for scheduled tribes and 27 per cent for
backward communities. States vary in their reservation systems.



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FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES OF HRM

In order to achieve the objectives of an organization, the HRM section or department must
carry out a number of functions. The key functions of HRM can be summarized as the
acquisition, maintenance, development and termination of employees:

Acquisition: This is the 'getting' phase of HRM. It includes estimating both the future
demand and supply for human resources and integrating these resources into a total
human resource strategy. In other words, the objectives and future directions of the
organization must be known before any reliable forecasts of people needs can be made. The
acquiring process includes recruiting, selection and the socialization or induction of new
employees.

Maintenance: This is the 'keeping' function and involves providing benefits, services and
working conditions that are needed if individuals are to remain committed to the
workplace.

Development: This encompasses the whole domain of training and development, which
has become a major area of concern and expense for organizations. Developing also
includes the concepts of organizational change and development and how these processes
impact upon employees.

Termination: This is the 'saying goodbye' activity and is sometimes known as the
separation phase of employment. It involves such issues as retirement, redundancy,
resignation and dismissal. These issues have become of major importance in organizations
in recent years. Moreover, there have been many legislative developments in Australia that
have had a major impact on the arrangements for terminating the employment contract.
(The Howard government is proposing further reforms to industrial relations in Australia
in 2005 which will make it easier for employers to terminate employees by reducing their
protection against 'unfair dismissal').

The HRM functions are broad sweeping. Within each of these functions there are a number
of activities that human resource specialists must carry out if these functions are to be
fulfilled. Human resources activities are those actions taken to provide and maintain an
appropriate workforce for the organization. The five most common activities of HRM
personnel in organizations are identified as:
1) Planning for human resource needs.
2) Staffing identified personnel need.
3) Performance management and remuneration for employees.
4) Improving employees and the work environment.
5) Establishing and maintaining effective working relationships.


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CHANGES IN HRM

Some of the significant changes that are likely to take place in the human resource
management are as follows:
Increase in education levels: Due to technological progress and the spread of educational
institutions, workers will increasingly become aware of their higher level needs. Managers
will have to evolve appropriate policies and techniques to motivate the knowledge of
workers. Better educated and organized workforce will demand greater discretion and
autonomy at the work place.
Technological developments: This will require retraining and mid-career training of both
workers and managers. Rise of the international corporation is proving as a new challenge
for personnel function.
Changing composition of work force: In future, women and minority groups, SCs and STs
would become an important source of man power in future on account of easy access to
better educational and employment opportunities. Therefore manpower planning of every
organization will have to take into consideration the potential availability of talent in these
groups. Changing mix of the workforce will lead to new values in organizations.
Increasing role of the government: In India, personnel management has become legalized.
In future private organizations will have to co-ordinate their labour welfare programmes
with those of the government private sector will be required increasingly to support
government efforts for improving public health, education training and development and
infrastructure.
Occupational health and safety: Due to legislative presence and trade union movement,
personnel management will have to be more healthy and safety conscious in future.
Organizational development: In future, changes will have to be initiated and managed to
improve organizational effectiveness. Top management will become more actively involved
in the development of human resources.
New work ethics: Greater forces will be on project and team forms of organization. As
changing work ethic requires increasing emphasis on individual, jobs will have to be
redesigned to provide challenge.

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Development planning: Personnel management will be involved increasingly in
organizational planning, structure, composition etc. Greater cost-consciousness and profit-
orientations will be required on the part of the personnel department.
Better appraisal and reward systems: Organizations will be required to share gains of
higher periodicity with workers more objective and result oriented systems of performance,
appraisal and performance linked compensation will have to be developed.
New personnel policies: New and better polices will be required for the work force of the
future. Traditional family management will give way to professional management with
greater forces on human dignity.
Thus, in future personnel management will face new challenges and perform new
responsibilities. Participative leadership will take the place of autocratic leadership.
Creative skills will have to be redeveloped and rewarded emphasis will shift from legal and
rule bound approach to more open and humanitarian approach.
CHALLENGES IN MODERN HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
It is a battle where we realize that the balance comes from a lot of sharing of common chore,
of sharing responsibilities and of sharing understanding most of all. The time demands
implementing rigid flexibility.

Globalization: Many Indian firms are compelled to think globally, something which is
Rigid, hierarchical and tall structure Flexible, flat and team based Challenges in Modern
Human Resource Management difficult for managers who were accustomed to operate in
vast sheltered markets with minimal or no competition either from domestic or foreign
firms.
Changed Employee Expectations: Employees demand empowerment and expect equality
with the management. Previous notions on managerial authority are giving way to
employee influence & involvement along with mechanisms for upward communication and
due process. If we look at the workers unions of Otis, Hindustan Lever, ICI, TOMCO, Blue
Star, Webel Electro, and Central Bank. They rewrite their agenda to include quality and
better customer service and are even accusing the management of malpractices. So every
time there is need to reframe the profile of the worker and discover new methods of
training, hiring, remunerating and motivating employees.
Outsourcing HR Activities: The trend towards outsourcing has been caused by several
strategic and operational motives. HR departments are divesting themselves from mundane

11

activities to focus more on strategic role. Outsourcing has also been used to help reduce
bureaucracy and to encourage a more responsive culture by introducing external market
forces into the firm through the biding process. It is a big challenge before the HR Manager
to prove that his/her department is as important as any other functions in the organization.
The relevance of HR is at stack.
Changing Workforce Dynamics: Frequently, physical relocation is required. The increasing
number of dual-career professionals limits individual flexibility in accepting such
assignments and may hinder number of dual-career professionals limits individual
flexibility in accepting such assignments and may hinder organizational flexibility in
acquiring and developing talent. Some demographic changes in the workforce having their
own implications to the HR managers are:
1) Increasing number of working mothers,
2) A steady decline of blue-collar employees who are giving way to white-collar.
3) Employees, increasing awareness & education among workers.

Balancing Work-life: Balancing work & life assumes relevance when both husband and
Family centric, closed minded and secretive rational thinking and vibrant styles of
Dispersed ownership open minded & Caste ridden, superstitious, laid-track Challenges in
Modern Human Resource Management wife are employed. Troubles of a working
housewife are more than a working husband, thus balancing it is becoming a major
challenge for HR manager. So a programme aiming balancing work-life is required and are
supposed to include: Childcare at or near the workplace, Job Sharing, Care for sick children
and employees, On-site summer camp, Training supervisors to respond to work and family
needs of employees, Flexible work scheduling, Sick leave policies, Variety of errands from
dry cleaning, dropping children at schools, making dinner reservations etc and many more
like the same or other.

Making HR activities ethical: Hiring ethical strong employees is only the beginning. The
need to institute mechanisms to ensure ethical conduct of employees is increased a lot with
the passage of time. The Hr manager needs to carefully screen applications for jobs, weed
out those who are prone to indulge in misdemeanors and hire those who can build a value
driven organization.

Organizational Restructuring: Peter Drucker prophesies in his book(The New Realities) is
showing its color and many big companies has reduced their number of management
grades, elimination of layers, & redrawing reporting lines within their organization. ITC,
HLL, Godrej & Boyce, RPG Enterprises, Raymond Woolen Mills, Shaw Wallace, Ballarpur
Industries, Compton & Greaves are some of the companies that are doing so.
Changes are required particularly during the time of Acquisitions and Mergers also during
the bad weather of the firm. This is of need to keep people with and working effectively
and efficiently. These are done according to the changing character of competition, as major
companies operate through complex web of strategic alliances of varying degrees of

12

permanence.

Managing Diversity: Its value is getting more important issue because of: Increase in the
number of young workers in the work-force, increase in the number of women joining the
work-force, increase in the proportion of ethnic minorities in the total work-force, increase
in mobility of work-force, international careers & expatriates are becoming common,
international experience as a pre-requisite for career progression to many top-level
managerial positions. Organizations that can manage diversity better trend to be more
flexible because they have broadened their policies are more open-minded, have less
standardized operating methods and have developed skills in dealing with resistance to
change.

Attitude towards Unions: Unionization is preferable because remaining union-free costs
the organization heavily. Pay raises, out of turn promotions, generous perks & other
benefits need to be doled out frequently to appease workers. General perception of
managers is to avoid unionization but it is very beneficial to the organization. It provides a
mean for workers to express before the management conditions prevailing in the
workplace. But at the same time because of voice mechanism or the instrumentality role,
unionized firm have lower turnover rate and encourage organization to provide more
rational and professional management. So the work of HR mangers gets tough here to
decide whether it should be there in the organization or not and if yes then how to control
it. Strings of the union are required to be checked time to time for better performance in the
firm.

HR MANAGERS SHOULD DO THE FOLLOWING
THINGS TO ENSURE SUCCESS
1) Use workforce skills and abilities in order to exploit environmental opportunities and
neutralize threats.
2) Employ innovative reward plans that recognize employee contributions and grant
enhancements.
3) Indulge in continuous quality improvement through TQM and HR contributions like
training, development, counseling, etc
4) Utilize people with distinctive capabilities to create unsurpassed competence in an area,
e.g. Xerox in photocopiers, 3M in adhesives, Telco in trucks etc.
5) Decentralize operations and rely on self-managed teams to deliver goods in difficult
times e.g. Motorola is famous for short product development cycles. It has quickly
commercialized ideas from its research labs.

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6) Lay off workers in a smooth way explaining facts to unions, workers and other affected
groups e.g. IBM , Kodak, Xerox, etc.
HR MANAGERS TODAY ARE FOCUSING
ATTENTION ON THE FOLLOWING
Policies: HR policies are based on trust, openness, equity and consensus.
Motivation: Create conditions in which people are willing to work with zeal, initiative and
enthusiasm; make people feel like winners.
Relations: Fair treatment of people and prompt redress of grievances would pave the way
for healthy work-place relations.
Change agent: Prepare workers to accept technological changes by clarifying doubts.
Quality Consciousness: Commitment to quality in all aspects of personnel administration
will ensure success.
Due to the new trends in HR, in a nutshell the HR manager should treat people as
resources, reward them equitably, and integrate their aspirations with corporate goals
through suitable HR policies
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:
FUTURISTIC VISION
On the basis of the various issues and challenges the following suggestions will be of much
help to the philosophy of HRM with regard to its futuristic vision:
1) There should be a properly defined recruitment policy in the organization that should
give its focus on professional aspect and merit based selection.

2) In every decision-making process there should be given proper weight age to the aspect
that employees are involved wherever possible. It will ultimately lead to sense of team
spirit, team-work and inter-team collaboration.

3) Opportunity and comprehensive framework should be provided for full expression of
employees' talents and manifest potentialities.

4) Networking skills of the organizations should be developed internally and externally as
well as horizontally and vertically.

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5) For performance appraisal of the employees emphasis should be given to 360 degree
feedback which is based on the review by superiors, peers, subordinates as well as self-
review.

6) 360 degree feedback will further lead to increased focus on customer services, creating of
highly involved workforce, decreased hierarchies, avoiding discrimination and biases and
identifying performance threshold.

7) More emphasis should be given to Total Quality Management. TQM will cover all
employees at all levels; it will conform to customer's needs and expectations improvement
in all spheres and activities of the organization.

8) There should be focus on job rotation so that vision and knowledge of the ; it will ensure
effective utilization of resources and will lead towards continuous employees are
broadened as well as potentialities of the employees are increased for future job prospects.

9) For proper utilization of manpower in the organization the concept of six sigma of
improving productivity should be intermingled in the HRM strategy.

10) The capacities of the employees should be assessed through potential appraisal for
performing new roles and responsibilities. It should not be confined to organizational
aspects only but the environmental changes of political, economic and social considerations
should also be taken into account.

11) The career of the employees should be planned in such a way that individualizing
process and socializing process come together for fusion process and career planning
should constitute the part of human resource planning.
To conclude Human Resource Management should be linked with strategic goals and
objectives in order to improve business performance and develop organizational cultures
that foster innovation and flexibility. All the above futuristic visions coupled with strategic
goals and objectives should be based on 3 H's of Heart, Head and Hand i.e., we should feel
by Heart, think by Head and implement by Hand.

HR JOBS OF THE FUTURE

Though the job picture is still developing, experts see several possible critical roles on the
horizon for HR professionals. Amongst them are:
The CFO for HR: This number cruncher can apply the metrics to demonstrate the inherent
economic value of HR and to analyze the cost-effectiveness of various practices HR
proposes or implements: How much do certain employees contribute to the bottom line?

15

How much does the right training help the business? Which functions or programs do not
add value and should be eliminated?
The internal consultant: This person helps spread HR competencies through the
organization, empowering line managers to recruit, interview, hire and retain the talent that
they need while counseling the managers on crucial legal and ethical matters such as
disability and age discrimination laws.
The talent manager: This person is responsible for finding, developing and keeping the
best and the brightest workers to meet the needs of the organization. He or she will manage
learning and succession planning, moving people through the talent pipeline.
The vendor manager: He or she determines which functions can be handled better and less
expensively outside the organization. This professional monitors quality and costs, stays on
top of trends in this business, and maintains a close working relationship with outsourcing
firms and other vendors.
The self-service leader: This person works with internal and outside information
technology specialists to establish and run web-based portals for many automated
functions, such as benefits and pension administration that employees can access from their
desktop computers.
CURRENT TRENDS IN HRM
1) The recent quality management standards ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 of 2000 focus more on
people centric organizations. Organizations now need to prepare themselves in order to
address people centered issues with commitment from the top management, with renewed
thrust on HR issues, more particularly on training.
2) Charles Handy also advocated future organizational models like Shamrock, Federal and
Triple I. Such organizational models also refocus on people centric issues and call for
redefining the future role of HR professionals.
3) To leapfrog ahead of competition in this world of uncertainty, organizations have
introduced six- sigma practices. Six- sigma uses rigorous analytical tools with leadership
from the top and develops a method for sustainable improvement. These practices improve
organizational values and helps in creating defect free product or services at minimum cost.
4) Human resource outsourcing is a new accession that makes a traditional HR department
redundant in an organization. Exult, the international pioneer in HR BPO already roped in
Bank of America, international players BP Amoco & over the years plan to spread their
business to most of the Fortune 500 companies.

16

5) With the increase of global job mobility, recruiting competent people is also increasingly
becoming difficult, especially in India. Therefore by creating an enabling culture,
organizations are also required to work out a retention strategy for the existing skilled
manpower.
6) The effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that protects investors by requiring
management to provide accurate disclosure in accordance with securities law is causing
increased scrutiny by shareholders and employees, both current and prospective. Increased
concern over fiscal responsibility and integrity has the potential to impact organizational
effectiveness.
7) The demand for customized employment relationships is overtaking the one-size-fits-all
employment relationship of the past. Top-performing employees are looking for
personalized career paths, tools and equipment to work from any location, at any hour of
the day, and a selection of benefits that can be adjusted to meet changing needs.
8) Advancements in technology that enable employers to create virtual work teams, and
automate and accelerate processes.
9) Rising health-care costs that are threatening business growth and competitiveness,
causing employers to constantly re-examine their benefit philosophy including shifting
costs to employees.
10) Crisis management is center stage as CEOs and their HR executives face the
unpredictable such as SARS, 9/11 type catastrophes and military leave.
11) Traditional compensation formulas are a thing of the past as employment relationships
change and include "flex-everything"--flex-time, flex-benefits, flex-work locations.
Attracting and retaining top talent will require a shift from a traditional compensation
formula to a total rewards concept that includes benefits, incentives, work and lifestyle
accommodations and other employer-of-choice issues.





17

RELIANCE
INFRASTRUCTURE
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Reliance Infrastructure Ltd is not only Indias largest private sector enterprise in power
utility but also the largest private sector player in many other infrastructure sectors of
India. In the power sector they are involved in generation, transmission, distribution and
trading of electricity and constructing power plants as EPC partners. In the infrastructure
space the company is focused on roads, urban infrastructure which includes MRTS, Sea link
and Airports, Specialty Real Estate which includes business districts, trade towers,
convention centre and SEZ which includes IT & ITES SEZ and non IT SEZ as well as free
trade zones.

Power Utility

Reliance Infrastructure distributes more than 28 billion units of electricity to cover 25
million consumers across different parts of the country including Mumbai and Delhi in an
area that spans over 1, 24,300 sq. kms. They also generate 941 MW of electricity, from their
power stations located in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa.
They are also emerging as one of the leading players in India in the Engineering,
Procurement and Construction (EPC) segment of the power sector with an order book of Rs
8,300 crore, having executed projects worth Rs 10000 Crores in the past 4 years. They are
also executing the first 100% private sector power transmission project for western grid
with an investment worth Rs 2,250 crores. They are also ranked among top 5 players in
power trading in the country with 1,050 MUs traded in FY2007All this makes them a fully
integrated player in the power sector.
Infrastructure
Road: R-INFRA is the largest developer of road and highway projects for the National
Highways Authority of India under the build, own, transfer (BOT) scheme. With an
investment involving Rs 3150 crores, the company is developing 5 major road projects in
Tamil Nadu totaling over 400 kms of length. Financial closure of all the projects is done and
the projects are currently under construction.

18

Urban Infrastructure: They are also the countrys first and only private sector builder and
operator for Metro Systems. They are already into construction of the first line of Mumbais
Metro system stretching 12 kms from Versova to Ghatkopar. Besides we have also won the
Delhi Metros airport express link stretching a length of 22.5 kms. The total investment for
these two projects is Rs 4900 crores
Specialty Real Estate: They are also the countrys first and only private sector builder to
build Indias first 100 storeyed building, a trade tower and business district in 80 acres of
land in Hyderabad. The total investment for this project is Rs 6,500 crores.
Special Economic Zones: They are also developing over 180 million sq ft of SEZ for
IT/ITES, retail hospitality in Mumbai and Noida with an investment worth Rs 31,000 crores
HR PHILOSOPHY OF RELIANCE
INFRASTURCTURE
The liberalization of the power sector in India has paved way for new business
opportunities and has redefined the nature of the power business. Envisioning future and
to make the power sector credit worthy and capable of funding future investment needs,
these reforms have opened arenas for new technologies. In this new environment of
opportunities, REL with its competitive edge of resources is playing a key role in the
transformation process and aims to emerge as a world class power utility offering
uninterrupted, affordable, quality, products and services to all customers at competitive
costs, with international standards of customer care - thereby creating superior value for all
stakeholders. To achieve this vision REL believes that investment in people and their
potential is one of the greatest investments they can make. For this, they are constantly in
search of talent that can perform excellently with determination and win. Their HR systems
and policies are thereby designed to unleash the latent capability of their people by
fostering a continuous learning and performance based culture where their people have the
opportunity to grow and succeed and realize their true potential while delivering high
quality services. To achieve these objectives the HR Policy is pivotal and aims to: Achieve
organizational and business goals with firm belief that "Our Employees are our Future".
Have empowered and accountable employees to take decisions in response to emerging
challenges and opportunities in a competitive environment. Endeavor to make their
employees "The Best" with an urge for and commitment to excellence.
CAREERS IN RELIANCE ENERGY LTD
Reliance Energy Ltd. offer opportunities for growth that can fill a career. Careers at Reliance
Energy Ltd. are built in course of their concept of forming a team of people or individuals
who are made responsible for specific functions; from concept to development to
implementation, with concomitant empowerment. Reliance Energy Ltd. provides
employees seamless merging of functional roles, to provide a sharper business focus &

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groom employees for larger responsibility across industry sector. They believe, working
smarter would mean not just doing a given job well, but also stretching it into a mini profit-
making project. As the transition from the old HRD to the New People Management has
materialized, the HR function at Reliance Energy Ltd. has begun to play a role much
broader in scope, much stronger in impact & much more permanent in effect.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
1) Exposure to Latest technological know-how
2) World class management practices
3) Multifunctional skills
4) Customer Relationship Management
5) Exposure to Regulatory, Legal and Contractual aspects of business
6) Fast track growth
RECRUITMENT
Woven into strategic planning, recruitment in Reliance Energy Ltd. no longer involves
short-term vacancy or the annual ritual of Campus Recruitment. Translating corporate
strategies into a manpower plan & developing a long term programme accordingly,
Reliance Energy Ltd. is tracking down people with the combination of knowledge,
experience, skills & behavior best suited to achieving the companys objectives.
The focus of Recruitment:
1) Attract people with multi dimensional experiences & skills
2) Induct talent with a new perspective to lead the company
3) Develop a culture that attracts people to the company
4) Locate people whose personalities fit the companys values
5) Devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits
6) Seek out unconventional development ground for talent
7) Design entry pay that competes on quality as well as quantum

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8) Anticipate & find people for positions proactively
INDUCTION
1) A formal induction programme is organized for all the new employees
2) A structured Induction programme is carried out for:
Lateral Joinees: This provides a general overview of the organization to the new recruits
and familiarizes employees with various business processes, culture, business practices of
the company. It also covers soft skills modules like Team Building, Change Management,
and Communication etc.
Graduate Engineer Trainees (GETs): All the GETs undergo a one-year induction training
programme. The induction programme contains the following: Technical Training; On the
Job training; Class room training; Functional Training; Managerial Skill Development.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
To ensure that the talent we have attracted can help us achieve our goals, we create
appropriate working conditions, by adopting following steps:
1) Evaluating all jobs so as to assign them to the individuals best suited for them
2) Designing customized jobs, if necessary, using techniques drawn for behavioral sciences
& industrial psychology
3) Creating manpower configurations to boost the ability of the individuals
4) Through it all, balancing corporate & employee interests by designing individual career
paths.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM
The Performance Appraisal System in Reliance Energy Ltd. provides for:
1) Recognition of individual performance
2) Continual learning and development
3) Better skills and employability
4) Monetary and other rewards

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5) The achievement of the organization's goals
6) Increased productivity and profitability
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
With the changing business environment becoming more & more dynamic, a need on a
continual basis for improved domain expertise is the need of the hour. The core function of
the training department is to bridge the gap between the changing requirements of the job
& the abilities that individuals need to perform these tasks such as self-directed leadership,
self-motivated teams & self generated creativity to excel in their respective areas of
performance.
REPORT ON VISIT TO RELIANCE
INFRASTRUCTURE
We visited R-infra as a part of the project. We met the HR manager Ms. SHWETA
HONAGUDI who gave us a brief overview about the HR functioning of the organization.
When the MUKESH AMBANI (MD) AND ANIL AMBANI (AD) groups separated in 2003
and after the takeover of BSES by the ADAG group in 2003, BSES was renamed as
RELIANCE ENERGY because it was basically into power generation. Later it was renamed
as RELIANCE INFRASTRUCTURE when it got into other infrastructural activities like
construction of roads, metros, sea-links, SEZs etc. Infra based projects are basically owned
by the government, therefore when R-infra, which is obviously a private company, got into
it, their HR requirements were very niche. It was not rational to hire people from countries
like china to meet their HR requirements. Therefore the HR was needed to modify itself
according to the needs of the organization. Since the company is a global organization, the
HR department had to assume a business partnering role. Business partnering simply
means that you are no more just an individual department for ex. Just an operations
manager, but you become a strategic partner. Also the HR policies have been customized
according to the needs of the various business categories.
The recruitment is done on the basis of the job requirement. They have lateral recruitments,
campus interviews etc. After the employee selection they are made to go through an
orientation process which includes briefing the employees about the policies, procedures,
code of conduct and other organizational information. After this they have an induction
programme. Now for the new employees the induction programme includes giving them a
feel of the entire organization. The employees are taken to the DAHANU power plant
where they get an overview of the working of the company. The other induction
programme is a one year programme for the graduate engineer trainees which includes
providing them technical and functional training and honing their managerial skills.

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At a later stage, they have a leadership programme which consists of various categories like
executive leadership, middle leadership etc. for executive leadership they identify
employees from middle level management who have the capability to become top
management executives. For middle leadership they identify personnel who have the
capability to handle middle level managerial positions like mangers etc. They try to groom
their employees to take on various roles through this leadership module.
Like in every organization they have monetary and non monetary benefits for the
employees which include rewards and recognitions etc. They encourage healthy
competition amongst the various divisions. The divisions are classified on the basis of their
geographic distribution. Each division competes with the other where parameters for
excellence include operational efficiency, financial gains, teamwork. Only when each
division acknowledges the performance of the other division, that they are motivated to
perform better. They have trophies like the SHINING STAR, they also have recognitions for
people as well as for those teams who work together and who perform efficiently and
whose work optimistically benefits the organization. Job extension may be given on the
basis of observance. If the superiors believe that an employee has the potential to do a job
with more responsibility then they may give them job extension in their own department.
In order to cope with the rising attrition rate they provide the employees with a career
graph. They have a programme to identify the skills of the employees. If an employee has
the potential and the skills to handle other departments work he may be given a project
related to the new department and eventually he may be asked to handle that departments
work as well. This helps the individual to identify his own talents and it also works well as
a career graph for the employee to realize his potential prospects in the organization. After
all, ultimately what an employee wants is fulfillment of his aspirational needs, career path,
monetary benefits etc. For women, they have provided a day care centre where the women
can actually leave their children. They have mediclaim policies and other medical benefits
which are amongst the best in the industry. They offer annual retention bonuses to the
employees. They encourage a healthy work-life balance.
As an organization they visualize the futuristic needs. For ex: if the company wants to grow
from a 1400 million revenue company to 1800 million revenue company then it is essential
to provide training to the employees so as to cope with the rising responsibilities. As far as
the training needs go, the departmental heads or the organizational heads if the perceive an
employee to be competent enough they provide him training to better his skills. R-infra has
some copyrighted training programmes like SPARSH, UTKARSH for their customer care
executives which are now being adopted by other companies as well, to identify the
potential and provide the necessary training.

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The future challenges are based on the organizational objectives. Like R-infra aims at being
the employer of choice, so it becomes essential that they prove themselves as the best
employer in the industry. Identifying leadership qualities and the best talent from the pool
of excellent employees is another challenge. R-infra is growing multifold and is venturing
into sectors that have not been ever explored by it. This becomes as an ambitious plan for
the company then. Thus it becomes a challenge for the HR department to prove itself by
providing competent and dedicated employees who are ambitious enough to help the
company scale new heights.

CONCLUSION
The human resources (HR) department is critical for employee wellbeing in any business,
no matter how small. This has meant a shift in the focus of HR departments from routine
activities to playing a more proactive role of constantly motivating and retaining
employees. Just as companies have realized the importance of customers and are taking
proactive steps to ensure their satisfaction, they have also recognized the key role played by
its employees in winning the battle of the marketplace. A motivated and innovative
employee can work wonders for a company. Hence getting and retaining a motivated
workforce has found its way on to the CEOs agenda. Also, the slowing economy has forced
the workforce to be productive; once employees become productive, companies want to
retain them at any cost. HR departments are inundated with work related to employees;
some of these activities are routine, repairing little imagination and creativity. That is, most
of the time the HR department does activities of the employees and not for the
employees.




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BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.citehr.com
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www.rinfra.com
www.accelteam.com
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