HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

HRD is a positive concept in human resource management. It aims at overall development of

human resource in order to contribute to the being of the employees, organization and society at
large.

MEANING

Human resource development means developing or tapping hidden qualities in people in order to
make them accomplish new functions leading to organizational & individual goals.

In short, HRD aims at helping people to acquire competencies required to perform all their
function effectively & make their organizational do well.

FEATURES OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

HRD is a system-

It is a system having several interdependent parts or subsystems such as procurement, appraisal,

development, etc. change in one subsystem leads to change in other parts. For example, if there
is change in promotion where seniority is replaced with merit, the chain reaction on affected
individuals, unions shall have to be assessed-keeping difficulties in framing acceptable
guidelines regarding merit in mind.

HRD is a planned process-

It is a planned and systematic way of developing people. Further it is undertaken on a continuous

basis. Learning is a lifelong process and goes on and on.

HRD involves development of competence-

It tries to develop competencies at four levels. At the individual level, employees are made to
realize the importance of playing their roles in tune with overall goals and expectations of others.
At the interpersonal level more stress is laid on developing relationships based on trust,
confidence and help. At the group level, task forces, cross functional teams are created to cement
intergroup relations. At the organizational level the organization is made to nurture a
development climate, where every effort is made to harness human potential while meeting
organizational goals.

HRD is an interdisciplinary concept-

Hrd is an amalgamation of various ideas, concepts, principles, and practices drawn from a
number of soft sciences such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, etc.
BENEFITS OF HRD:

 HRD improves the capabilities of people. They become innovative and enterprising ever
eager to take risk and get ahead. It improves all round growth of an employee.

 HRD improves team work. Employees become more open and they trust each other. The
organizational too improves a lot.

 HRD leads to greater organizational effectiveness.

 Performance related rewards help employees to realize the importance of utilizing their
skills fully in the service of organizational goals.

 The organizations overall health and self renewing capabilities too improve quiet
significantly.

HRD MECHANISMS OR SUBSYSTEMS:

Many HRD mechanisms are available to develop the competences of employees and improve
the overall organization climate. The major ones are discussed below

1. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL:
Performance appraisals have become increasingly important tools for organization to use
in managing and improving the performance of employees and in improving the overall
quality of the firm’s product and services. Appraisal help an organization communicate
its expectations regarding performance and the connection between performance and
reward to employees they increase employee’s confidence when employees receive
feedback that their efforts are being adequately rewarded.

2. POTENTIAL APPRAISAL:
The term potential refers to the ability possessed by an employee but not put to use
currently potential appraisal is deferent from potential appraisal which shows an
employee’s current performance in his existing role.
The objective of the potential appraisal is to identify the potential of a given employee to
occupy higher positions in the organization hierarchy and undertake high responsibilities.
3. CAREER PLANNING:
A career is a sequence of positions held by a person during a course of a life time. Career
planning is a process of integrating the employee’s needs and aspirations with
organizational needs. Career programs and HR programs are linked to the degree that
they help each individual to meet each individual and organizational requirement. In
HRD system managers tiring to transmit the opportunity available for each individual
employee in the long term growth plan. Yet career planning does not guarantee success
but without it employees are rarely prepared to encash the opportunities that come in their
way.

4. TRAINING AND EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT:

Training as gained importance in present day environment where jobs are complex and
change rapidly. Training is a learning experience designed to achieve a relatively
permanent change in an individual that will improve the ability to perform on the job.
Employee development, on the other hand, is a future oriented training process, focusing
on the personal growth of the employee. to illustrate, a bank officer can receive training
to improve skills on a latest computer, where as development may come from a workshop
in effective interpersonal skill. Both training and development focus on learning.

5. ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT:
Organizations are never perfectly static. They keep on changing. Employee’s skills and
abilities, therefore, require continual upgrading. The future is uncertain and full of
surprises. It is not easy to fight the forces of change without adequate preparation and
training. A systematic planned way of managing this change is through the process of
OD.

6. REWARDS:
People do what they do to satisfy needs. They choose to behave in ways which will
maximize their rewards. The most obvious reward is pay, but there are many others.
Intrinsic rewards come from the job itself, such as feeling of achievement, pride in doing
a job, etc. extrinsic rewards come from a source outside the job, including pay,
promotions and benefits offered by management. Rewards could be linked to
performance as well to motivate high achievers to do well. If rewards are allocated
completely on non performance factors such as seniority, job title, etc., then employees
are likely to reduce their effort.

7. EMPLOYEE WELFARE AND QUALITY OF WORK LIFE:

The term employee welfare means the efforts to make life worth living for workman. It
includes various services, facilities and benefits offered to employees by the employers,
unions and government. The purpose is to improve the living standard of workers and
their by improve the quality of work life. Employers voluntarily extend a number of
benefits to employees in the hope that these indirect compensation plans motivate
employees to perform batter.
 Quality of work life efforts are systematic efforts by organizations to give worker a
greater opportunity to affect the way they do their job sand contribution they make to the
organization overall effectiveness it is a way of empowering employees by giving them a greater
opportunity in the decision making process.

HRD IN INDIAN INDUSTRY:

L&T was the first company to design and implement an integrated HRD system the first work
shop on HRD was held in 1979. Looking at the pay offs from HRD systems several leading
Indian company have gone ahead in creating separate HR departments to improve employer-
employee relation.