MODULE 4: HRD- HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

HRD is a process for developing and unleashing human expertise through

organisation development and personnel training and development for the
purpose of improving performance. Human Resource Development (HRD)
refers to a company’s strategic and systematic efforts in upskilling
employees through various initiatives and practices designed to enhance
employee performance, productivity, and overall profit.

HRD provides learning opportunities, training programs, career

development, and employee engagement to foster a skilled and motivated
workforce. The essence of HRD lies in its dedication to investing in
employees’ potential and growth, recognising them as valuable assets
that significantly contribute to the organisation’s long-term success.

HRD is organised learning experiences provided by employers within specified

time to bring about the possibility of performance or personal growth.

Human Resource Development (HRD) is that part of Human

Resource Management which specifically deals with the training and
development of employees. It helps the employees in developing their
knowledge, skills and abilities to achieve self-fulfillment and aid in
the accomplishment of organizational goals.

HRD is defined as activities and process undertaken by an

organisation to formulate the intellectual, moral, psychological,
cultural, social and economic development of the individuals in an
organisation, in order to help them to achieve the highest human
potential as a resource for the community. It means to bring about a
total all-round development of the working human, so that they can
contribute their best to the organisation, community, society and the
nation.

Among the Indian authors, T. Ventateswara Rao worked extensively

on HRD.

HRD goals
1. Facilitating organisational effectiveness: keywords: (development,
productivity= Effectiveness)

2. Enhancing quality and productivity:

3. Promoting individual growth and development

4. Integrating people into business: keywords:

(relations,teambuilding,morale)

 Benefits of HRD

1. Emphasis that people are the major assets and that the organisation
provide developmental opportunities by encouraging and rewarding
innovation and creativity

2. Competency can be developed in people at any point of time and

organisations must encourage competency enhancement

3. HRD provides higher quality of work-life through opportunities of a

meaningful career, job satisfaction and professional development

4. HRD emphasises human well-being & organisational growth

5. HRD policies are relationship centered and the extent of relationship are
lifelong and not merely for 8 hrs a day

6. HRD programs are planned & continuous in order to be effective

7. A signal to the employees that management believes they are important

and should motivate them to acquire new skills and consequent
rewards.

8. HRD fosters intellectual growth and commitment through

communication of values

9. It facilitates identification with organisational goals through better

employee understanding

10. HRD provides a two-way open & interactive communication between

mgmt & employees.
11. It provides job enrichment through training and acquisition of new
skills.
12. Increases the awareness of change management.
HRD FUNCTIONS

Development Functions:

 Training– – HRD is to provide proper training to its employees or

workers. Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills
of an employee for doing a particular job. Training is considered
to be the corner-stone of sound personnel administration. The
employees could be systematically and scientifically trained, if
they are to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. Improving the
knowledge, skills and attitudes of employees for the short-term, particular
to a specific job or task. Employee orientation– Skills & technical training
Skills & technical training – – Coaching – Management training and
supervising.

 Learning and Development–Preparing managers for undertaking future

responsibilities, as well as increasing the capacity to perform at a current
job. The essence of HRD is learning. The very purpose of HRD is to
make the employees acquire knowledge, learn newer concepts and
develop their skills. The core of HRD is to enhance the quality of
workforce by creating an environment which fosters constant learning.

 Organizational Development: HRD aims at not just the development of

the human resources, but at the progress of the organization as a whole.
 Positive changes in work culture, processes and organizational structure
are made.

The process of improving an organization’s effectiveness and member’s

well-being through the application of behavioral science. - Focuses on both
macro micro-levels levels. HRD plays the role of a change agent

 Career Development: HRD helps in the career development of

individuals by matching employee characteristics with job
requirements. Growth of the organization is achieved through growth
and development of individual employee.

Ongoing process by which individuals progress until they achieve their

personal level of maximum achievement. Career planning, Career
management.

 Performance appraisal and potential appraisal: It is also the responsibility

of the HRD to take up the periodical appraisal of the work performance
of the employees. For the purpose of maintaining the quality of work
and achieving the pre-determined targets, the employees are required to
be monitored continuously. Periodical appraisal of the work-
performance will enable the firm to locate the weak spots and correct
the same immediately. Without the periodical appraisal of the work
performance, the quality of work and the efficiency of the workers
cannot be improved and the quality of performance cannot be
maintained.

 Employee empowerment: The organization attempts to provide all the

facilities which are vital for the physical and mental well-being of the
employees to facilitate HRD. Measures like canteen facilities, crèche,
medical insurance, etc. are provided as part of employee welfare.

Maintenance Functions:

 Employee Counselling: Every employee in the organisation should be

given proper counseling services about his activities in the organisation.
Counseling services should be related to how he should grow and what
right practices he should adopt to improve himself and his organisation.
The counseling need not be confined to work-related issues.
 Employee Coaching and mentoring- one on one treatment to address
grievances, evaluation of performance etc.
  Quality Work Life: Quality of work life (QWL) is a fact that an
individual’s life can’t be compartmentalised and any disturbance on the
personal front will affect his/her professional life and vice-versa. A good
work life balance is also what motivates an employee the most to perform
well at his or job and also spend quality time with the family. Therefore,
organisations have started to focus on the overall development and
happiness of the employee for their motivation and reducing his/her stress
levels without jeopardising the economic health of the company. A good
time management schedule helps employees balance their work and
personal life.
Control Functions:

 HRD audit: is a comprehensive evaluation of the current human resource

development strategies, structure, systems, styles and skills in the context
of the short and long-term business plans of a company. HRD audit
attempts to find out the future HRD needs of the company after assessing
the current HRD activities and inputs available.

 Governance of work ethics: Ethics in human resources involves

upholding a set of moral principles and values at all levels of an
organization. It goes beyond mere compliance with laws and regulations,
encompassing the ethical treatment of employees, fair decision-making
processes, and the establishment of a positive work environment. At its
core, ethics in HR is about doing the right thing, even when it may not be
the easiest or most profitable choice.

Organizational Structure of HRD Departments

 Depends on company size and status.

 No single structure used.

HRD MECHANISMS

 HRD Mechanisms/Sub-Systems Human Resource Development (HRD)

is an organizational framework for improving and developing their
human capital for which the management implement certain sub-systems
or methods.

 The intended purpose of implementing such HRD instruments is to gain a

competitive edge in market place through a competent and capable work
force.
 Methods of HRD can focus on teaching the necessary skills to the
employees on the job, more specific abilities that help to accomplish any
task or responsibilities in an organization;

 it improves technical and communicative skills which improves the

efficiency of employees .

 Subsystems /mechanisms/methods which are employed to implement

HRD in an organization : (already explained)

 ƒ Performance Appraisal ƒ

 Potential Appraisal and Development ƒ

 Career Planning ƒ

 Training and Development ƒ

 Career Development ƒ

 Organizational Development

 Role Analysis ƒ Role analysis is a newer concept of defining what is

required from an individual in an organisation in achieving the objectives.
The focus is on establishing role of an individual in the organization. Since
role is a set of expectations, it implies that one role cannot be defined by
without referring to another. Thus, role analysis has to be undertaken as a
process consisting of different steps as focal person’s perception of his role.

 Employee Welfare and

 Quality of Work Life ƒ

 Self-Renewal and Institution Building

 Rewards

 ƒ Quality Circles: Quality Circle is a self-governing group of workers

with or without the supervisors who voluntarily meet regularly in order
to identify, analyse and solve problems of their work field. This process
of solving problems voluntarily enables the workers to learn decision-
making and problem-solving skills from each other.

 Task forces and Assignment Groups ƒ

  Employee Counseling and Coaching

OUTCOMES OF HRD

At the Organizational level ƒ :

 Training increases competency level of employees by updating their

knowledge and upgrading their skills, ƒ

 Comprehensive abilities of the employees increases which enhances their

horizons of vision and performance, ƒ

 Employees become more committed towards the organization and a

sense of belongingness is developed among them,

 ƒ team-spirit among the employees in an organization goes up, ƒ with

the proper implementation of HRD in an organization

 trust and openness is created among the employees and they begun to
respect each other which helps in developing a cohesive working
environment, ƒ

 Collaboration and team-work produces synergy effects, ƒ Employees

feel capable enough of handling competition and becomes ready to accept
change,

 Important and useful data in respect of employees are generated which is

helpful in human resource planning,

 ƒ Participation among employees is promoted so that they could also

contribute their share in decision making leading to sense of pride and
achievement of task,

 ƒ HRD involves human resource aspects like skills, knowledge, creative

abilities and talents which helps in moulding aspects like values, beliefs,
aptitudes and attitude according to the changing needs and aspirations of
individuals along with that of the organization, ƒ

 Improves the problem understanding and solving capability of

employees. ƒ

 Sense of belongingness and dedication is developed in the employees

towards the organization.
At the National Level:

 HRD manifest development of basic human aspects such as aptitude,

attitude, values, beliefs on one hand and knowledge, skills, on the other
hand.

 This process improves the utilization value of the society. ƒ

 HRD facilitates fulfillment of the requirements of dynamism in today’s

ever changing environment like increase in the competition among the
organizations and firms inside a country and also from other countries
globally. ƒ

 Vitality of the work force of any organization which implements HRD is

increased to a desirable extent.

 ƒ HRD makes the work force vital, purposeful and diligent in performing
their duties well and in an organized manner. ƒ

 HRD promotes a culture, where people utilize their knowledge, skills and
ideas to take initiative for innovations to make things happen. ƒ

 It accelerates economic development as HRD creates a congenial and

cohesive working environment in organizations which ultimately exists in
a country and contributes directly to national development.

 It improves the quality of work life, and provides inner satisfaction to the
work force which leads them to higher productivity and better results

STEPS IN HRD PROCESS

Analyze: The first step in the systematic HRD process is needs assessment and
analysis. This stage builds the foundation by identifying the kinds of HRD
intervention needed for an effective effort.

Create: The four basic sections of HRD are personal development, professional
development, performance administration or management, and organizational
development.

Implement: Performance management helps the organization train, motivate and

reward workers. It is also meant to ensure that the organizational goals are met
with efficiency.
Assess: The framework for HRD process includes assessment, design and
development, implementation, and evaluation.