Human Resourece Development

Human Resource Development

-          Dr. D. Sreenivasa Reddy

Meaning of HRD:

Human Resource Development is the part of human resource management that specifically deals with training and development of the employees in the organization.

Human resource development includes training a person after he or she is first hired, providing opportunities to learn new skills, distributing resources that are beneficial for the employee's tasks, and any other developmental activities.

INTRODUCTION

Development of human resources is essential for any organisation that would like to be dynamic and growth-oriented. Unlike other resources, human resources have rather unlimited potential capabilities. The potential can be used only by creating a climate that can continuously identify, bring to surface, nurture and use the capabilities of people. Human Resrouce Development (HRD) system aims at creating such a climate. A number of HRD techniques have been developed in recent years to perform the above task based on certain principles. This unit provides an understanding of the concept of HRD system, related mechanisms and the changing boundaries of HRD.

HRD concept was first introduced by Leonard Nadler in 1969 in a conference in US. “He defined HRD as those learning experience which are organized, for a specific time, and designed to bring about the possibility of behavioral change”.

Human Resource Development (HRD) is the framework for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. Human Resource Development includes such opportunities as employee training, employee career development, performance management and development, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, key employee identification, tuition assistance, and organization development.

The focus of all aspects of Human Resource Development is on developing the most superior workforce so that the organization and individual employees can accomplish their work goals in service to customers.

Human Resource Development can be formal such as in classroom training, a college course, or an organizational planned change effort. Or, Human Resource Development can be informal as in employee coaching by a manager. Healthy organizations believe in Human Resource

Definitions of HRD

HRD (Human Resources Development) has been defined by various scholars in various ways. Some of the important definitions of HRD (Human Resources Development) are as follows:

• According to Leonard Nadler, "Human resource development is a series of organised activities, conducted within a specialised time and designed to produce behavioural changes."

• In the words of Prof. T.V. Rao, "HRD is a process by which the employees of an organisation are helped in a continuous and planned way to (i) acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their present or expected future roles; (ii) develop their journal capabilities as individual and discover and exploit their own inner potential for their own and /or organisational development purposes; (iii) develop an organisational culture in which superior-subordinate relationship, team work and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well being, motivation and pride of employees." .

• According to M.M. Khan, "Human resource development is the across of increasing knowledge, capabilities and positive work attitudes of all people working at all levels in a business undertaking.

THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Human resource development in the organisation context is a process by which the employees of an organisation are helped, in a continuous and planned way to:

1. Acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their present or expected future roles;
2. Develop their general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their own inner potentials for their own and/or organisational development purposes; and
3. Develop an organisational culture in which supervisor-subordinate relationships, teamwork and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well being, motivation and pride of employees.

This definition of HRD is limited to the organisational context. In the context of a state or nation it would differ.

HRD is a process, not merely a set of mechanisms and techniques. The mechanisms and techniques such as performance appraisal, counselling, training, and organization development interventions are used to initiate, facilitate, and promote this process in a continuous way. Because the process has no limit, the mechanisms may need to be examined periodically to see whether they are promoting or hindering the process. Organisations can facilitate this process of development by planning for it, by allocating organisational resources for the purpose, and by exemplifying an HRD philosophy that values human beings and promotes their development.

Difference between HRD and HRM

Both are very important concepts of management specifically related with human resources of organisation. Human resource management and human resource development can be differentiated on the following grounds:

• The human resource management is mainly maintenance oriented whereas human resource development is development oriented.

• rganisation structure in case of human resources management is independent whereas human resource development creates a structure, which is inter-dependent and inter-related.

• Human resource management mainly aims to improve the efficiency of the employees whereas aims at the development of the employees as well as organisation as a whole.

• Responsibility of human resource development is given to the personnel/human resource management department and specifically to personnel manager whereas responsibility of HRD is given to all managers at various levels of the organisation.

• HRM motivates the employees by giving them monetary incentives or rewards whereas human resource development stresses on motivating people by satisfying higher-order needs.

THE NEED FOR HRD

Ø  HRD is needed by any organisation that wants to be dynamic and growth-oriented or to succeed in a fast-changing environment.

Ø  Organisations can become dynamic and grow only through the efforts and competencies of their human resources.

Ø  Personnel policies can keep the morale and motivation of employees high, but these efforts are not enough to make the organisation dynamic and take it in new directions.

Ø  Employee capabilities must continuously be acquired, sharpened, and used. For this purpose, an “enabling” organisational culture is essential.

Ø  When employees use their initiative, take risks, experiment, innovate, and make things happen, the organisation may be said to have an “enabling” culture.

Ø  Even an organisation that has reached its limit of growth, needs to adapt to the changing environment.

Ø  No organisation is immune to the need for processes that help to acquire and increase its capabilities for stability and renewal.

HRD FUNCTIONS

Ø  The core of the concept of HRS is that of development of human beings, or HRD.

Ø  The concept of development should cover not only the individual but also other units in the organisation.

Ø  In addition to developing the individual, attention needs to be given to the development of stronger dyads, i.e., two-person groups of the employee and his boss.

Ø  Such dyads are the basic units of working in the organisation. Besides several groups like committees, task groups, etc. also require attention.

Ø  Development of such groups should be from the point of view of increasing collaboration amongst people working in the organisation, thus making for an effective decision-making.

Ø  Finally, the entire department and the entire organisation also should be covered by development.

Ø  Their development would involve developing a climate conducive for their effectiveness, developing self-renewing mechanisms in the organisations so that they are able to adjust and pro-act, and developing relevant processes which contribute to their effectiveness.

Hence, the goals of the HRD systems are to develop:

1. The capabilities of each employee as an individual.
2. The capabilities of each individual in relation to his or her present role.
3. The capabilities of each employee in relation to his or her expected future role(s).
4. The dyadic relationship between each employee and his or her supervisor.
5. The team spirit and functioning in every organisational unit (department, group, etc.).
6. Collaboration among different units of the organisation.
7. The organisation’s overall health and self-renewing capabilities which, in turn, increase the enabling capabilities of individuals, dyads, teams, and the entire organisation.

Features of Human Resource development

The essential features of human resource development can be listed as follows:

• Human resource development is a process in which employees of the organisations are recognized as its human resource. It believes that human resource is most valuable asset of the organisation.

• It stresses on development of human resources of the organisation. It helps the employees of the organisation to develop their general capabilities in relation to their present jobs and expected future role.

• It emphasise on the development and best utilization of the capabilities of individuals in the interest of the employees and organisation.

• It helps is establishing/developing better inter-personal relations. It stresses on developing relationship based on help, trust and confidence.

• It promotes team spirit among employees.

• It tries to develop competencies at the organisation level. It stresses on providing healthy climate for development in the organisation.

• HRD is a system. It has several sub-systems. All these sub-systems are inter-related and interwoven. It stresses on collaboration among all the sub-systems.

• It aims to develop an organisational culture in which there is good senior-subordinate relations, motivation, quality and sense of belonging.

• It tries to develop competence at individual, inter-personal, group and organisational level to meet organisational goal.

• It is an inter-disciplinary concept. It is based on the concepts, ideas and principles of sociology, psychology, economics etc.

• It form on employee welfare and quality of work life. It tries to examine/identify employee needs and meeting them to the best possible extent.

• It is a continuous and systematic learning process. Development is a life long process, which never ends.

Benefits/ Importance of Human Resource Development

Human resource development now a days is considered as the key to higher productivity, better relations and greater profitability for any organisation. Appropriate HRD provides unlimited benefits to the concerned organisation. Some of the important benefits are being given here:

• HRD (Human Resource Development) makes people more competent. HRD develops new skill, knowledge and attitude of the people in the concern organisations.

• With appropriate HRD programme, people become more committed to their jobs. People are assessed on the basis of their performance by having a acceptable performance appraisal system.

• An environment of trust and respect can be created with the help of human resource development.

• Acceptability toward change can be created with the help of HRD. Employees found themselves better equipped with problem-solving capabilities.

• It improves the all round growth of the employees. HRD also improves team spirit in the organisation. They become more open in their behaviour. Thus, new values can be generated.

• It also helps to create the efficiency culture In the organisation. It leads to greater organisational effectiveness. Resources are properly utilised and goals are achieved in a better way.

• It improves the participation of worker in the organisation. This improve the role of worker and workers feel a sense of pride and achievement while performing their jobs.

• It also helps to collect useful and objective data on employees programmes and policies which further facilitate better human resource planning.

• Hence, it can be concluded that HRD provides a lot of benefits in every organisation. So, the importance of concept of HRD should be recognised and given a place of eminence, to face the present and future challenges in the organisation.

Elements of HRD:

There are 4 key elements of Human Resource Development and these form the basis of Learning & Development processes too. These are-

• Learning
• Education
• Development
• Training

Although these terms ‘training’ , ‘learning’ , ‘education’ are often used interchangeably, it is useful to be aware of the difference.

Ideally, education involves learning which leads to development and could contain training in specific techniques.

Education is the process which aims at developing the intellectual capital, moral values and conceptual understanding of a person so as to enable him/her to make a contribution to society by understanding its traditions.

Training is a narrower process than education and is more planned& systematic in a way to modify specific skills & competencies by means of events, programmes and instructions so as to attain effective workplace performance. It is an organization’s way to promote learning.

Two ways of distinguishing between the 2 are as follows-

Example 1: A full-time Masters student of HRM has a compulsory outdoor-based  training programme which is part of his/her education even though it is run by trainers

Example 2: A 5-day workshop away from a company’s premises is part of training & not education UNLESS there was a wider product associated with it like a degree, diploma or other professional qualification.

So, implicitly both ‘training’ & ‘education’ are ways of developing human potential.

Learning is a process that enables creation of knowledge and a change of behavior through practice and transformation of experience. It is seen as a major source of attaining competitive advantage by an organization by enhancing individual and collective learning. Development is the growth of a person’s potential by means of learning, education & training.

Potential Appraisal:

Introduction

   The potential appraisal refers to the appraisal i.e. identification of the hidden talents and skills of a person. The person might or might not be aware of them. Potential appraisal is a future-oriented appraisal whose main objective is to identify and evaluate the potential of the employees to assume higher positions and responsibilities in the organizational hierarchy. Many organizations consider and use PA as a part of the performance appraisal processes.

Definitions

Potential appraisal is a process of determining an employee’ s strengths and weaknesses with a view to use this as a predictor of his future performance.

Potential appraisal is a future oriented appraisal aimed to identify and evaluate the potential of the employees to assume higher positions and responsibilities in the organizational hierarchy.

Need For Appraisal

•         Create competitive environment for better performance

•         Infuse a healthy organizational culture

•         Boosting the morale and motivation of the employees

•         Attracting and retaining best talent

  Purpose or need of potential appraisal

•         To inform employees of their future prospects

•         To update training and recruitment activities

•         To advise employees about the work to be done to enhance their career opportunities

•         To enable the organization to draft a management succession programme

•         Motivate the employees to further develop their skills and competencies

CHARACTERISTICS

•         Process of identifying hidden skills and abilities in a person

•         The time for potential appraisal is not fixed

•         It is future oriented process

•         Part of performance appraisal

•         It does not guarantee promotion

PARAMETERS OR INDICATORS OF POTENTIAL

•         Sense of reality

•         Creative imagination

•         Power of analysis

•         Breadth of vision

•         Leadership

STEPS AND REQUIREMENTS

1) Role description- A good potential appraisal system would be based on clarity of roles and functions associated with the different roles in an organization. The requirement is extensive job description to be made available for each job. These job descriptions should spell out the various functions involved in performing the job.

2) QUALITY REQUIRED

A) Technical knowledge and skills

B) Managerial capabilities and qualities

C) Behavioral capabilities

D) Conceptual capabilities

•         INDICATORS OF QUALITIES

•         Ratings by others

•         Psychological test

•         Simulation games and exercises

•         Performance appraisal records

3) ORGANIZING THE SYSTEM

•         Once the functions , the qualities required to perform these functions , indicators of these qualities , and mechanism for generating these indicators are clear , the organization is in a sound position to establish and operate the potential appraisal system.

FEEDBACK

•         If the organization believes in the development of human resources it should attempt to generate a climate of openness. Such a climate is required for helping the employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to create opportunities for development. 

TECNIUQES OF POTENTIAL APPRAISAL

•         Self appraisal-

 Self appraisal form

 * Name of employee

 * Designation

 * Department

 * Reporting officer

 * Responsibilities

 * Accomplishments

 * Goals for next appraisal period

 * Area of improving

 * Problems faced

* Solutions tried

* Measures taken for personal and professional development

* Best and worst aspects of the job

* Is the superior supportive

FORM ALSO INCLUDE BEHAVIOURAL PARAMETERS

•                     Communication skills

•                     Inter-personal skills

•                     Problem-solving

•                     Team work

•                     Adaptability/flexibility

•                     Decision making

•                     Leadership

•                     Peer appraisal

•                     Superior analysis

•                     MBO

•                     Psychological tests

•                     Management games

•                     Leadership exercises

Feedback and Performance Coaching:

During the year, you are responsible for coaching and mentoring your employees to assist them in reaching their goals and achieving optimal performance. Ongoing feedback and coaching is used..

Ø  To reinforce appropriate behavior,

Ø  to teach the employee new skills,

Ø  to motivate employee to pursue higher levels of performance,

Ø  to mentor employees, as well as to correct performance deficiencies.

Giving Effective Feedback

Providing feedback to employees about their performance is an important responsibility for all Supervisors/ Managers and an integral part of performance development.

Effective feedback is descriptive, not judgmental. It is focused on behavior, not personal characteristics or “attitude”. It is a collaborative effort intended to help the employee.

Tips for Giving Feedback

1.  Make your feedback specific and related to behavior 

Ex.: “Neena, you have been 15 minutes late for the past three mornings. Please explain why.”

2. Consider your timing. Give feedback either before the event in the form of advice or immediately after as positive feedback

 Ex.: (as advice) “Jane, I’d like to review the content of your speech with you before you make your presentation next week so you can do a really good job.

Ex.: (as positive feedback) “Jane, you did an outstanding job in your presentation. The speech was well-researched and interesting.”

3. Give the feedback in calm and unemotional language

Ex.: “John, I’m sure your progress will be much faster now that you understand how to use the new machine.”

4. Check to make sure clear communication has occurred 

Ex.: “Seenu, do you understand the new protocol now? Can you explain it to me so that I’m sure you understand?”

5. Focus on behavior the employee can change

Ex.: “Radha, we would appreciate you keeping the team informed about the status of the project.”

6. Use “I” statements rather than “you” statements

Ex.: “Geeta, when you play your radio in the work area, I lose my concentration. Would you mind turning it off during work hours?”

7. Define the impact on you, the team, the department, and the university

Ex.: “Ramu, when you don’t get your report to me on time, I can’t get my report to my boss on time. This slows up decisions about resources needed for next month.”

8. Solicit feedback rather than impose it

Ex.: “Ramu, did you say you would like to learn how to handle your difficult coworkers more effectively? Here are some things that have worked for me. How do you think you could incorporate some of these techniques?”

PERFORMANCE COACHING:

 “Coaching is vital to unlocking each executive’s or worker’s natural strengths, creativity, and resourcefulness. The coach will provide unbiased and candid feedback to coachee and objective perspective that he / she can use to produce organizational results.”

 

NEED FOR COACHING :

v  Coaching is a systematic process designed to raise the level of performance in sports, games, workplace , education & training, social/political/military activity; etc.

v  It has many important applications and functions

v  To improve performance

v  To maintain standard performance

v  To encourage employees to exceed performance standards

v  To assist employees in developing new skills “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates”

v  “The coaching process does not rely on prescribed solutions or directives, but rather on mutual understanding, fact finding, careful through reflection, creative action planning, and compassionate follow – up.” { Harvard Business Review}

v  Although the use of the term ‘Performance Coaching’ is a relatively new development over the last decade, there is nothing new about the skills themselves and they can be identified as far as in the writing of Great Socrates, who said: “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think”.

What’s good about Coaching:

v  It focuses on the future and what’s possible

v  Increase a persons awareness of what they are capable of

v  Builds confidence and self belief

v  Inspires people

Benefits of Coaching

Regular coaching will:

• Help your employees build their skills and independence
• Increase productivity, the quality of work and the effectiveness of the work group
• Encourage employees to take more initiative in their professional development
• Support creativity, innovation and problem solving
• Minimize performance deficiencies

When to Coach

·         Performance coaching is a continuous and continual process of providing help to your employees by analyzing their performance and other job behaviors for the purpose of increasing their job effectiveness. It is an integral part of performance development.

·         Both informal day-to-day coaching and regular coaching sessions are recommended. These can be short update sessions to check on progress, give feedback, and address problems that have arisen.

·         It is important, when coaching for improvement, to call the employee to a private setting for the discussion. It is not appropriate to correct or discipline an employee where others can hear or see the conversation. If you are reinforcing positive behavior, however, doing it in a public setting may be appropriate and appreciated.