HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTBy Dr. Babita Dosajh

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT It can be defined as a set of systematic and planned activities designed by an organization to provide its members with the opportunities to learn necessary skills to meet current and future job demands. Human resource development activities begin when an employee joins an organization and continue throughout his or her career.

Human Resource Development is a system of developing in a continuous and planned way the competencies of the individual employees, groups (superior and subordinate), teams and the total organisation to achieve organisational goals. It maximises the congruence between the individual and organisational goals of employees and develops an organisational culture in which superior subordinate relationship, teamwork becomes strong and contribute to the motivation and pride of employees.

According to C.Leon Magginson, HRD may be defined as development of people by providing the right environment where each individual may grow to his fullest potentialities. Human resources are viewed as tatal knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitude of an organisation workforce as well as values, attitudes and beliefs of individuals involved.

THE EVALUATION OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTEarly Apprenticeship Training Programs.Early Vocational Education Programs.Early Factory Schools.Early Training Programs For Semiskilled and Unskilled Workers.The Human Relations Movement.The Establishment of the Training Profession.

EARLY APPRENTICESHIP TRANING PROGRAMS The origin of HRD can be traced to apprenticeship Programs in the 18th century. During this time small shops operated by skilled artisans who produced virtually all household goods. To meet the growing demand of their products, owners had to employ additional workers. At that time their were no vocational and technical schools, so owners had to educate and train their workers so that they can work effectively.

EARLY VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS In 1809, a man named DeWitt Clinton founded the first recognized privately funded vocational school, also referred to as manual school, in New York City. The purpose of the manual school was to provide occupational training to unskilled young people who are unemployed or had criminal records. Manual schools grew in popularity, particularly in the western states because they were a public solution to a social problem. Today vocational education has an important part of each states public education system.

EARLY FACTORY SCHOOLS With the advent of the Industrial Revolution during the late 1980s machines began to replace the hand tools of the artisans. This marked the beginning of the factories. Factories created a significant demand for engineers, mechanists and skilled mechanics. In order to meet this demand, factories created mechanical and machinist training programs which were referred to as Factory Schools.

EARLY TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR SEMISKILLED AND UNSKILLED WORKERS. Although both apprenticeship programs and factory schools provided training for skilled workers, Very few companies during this time offered training programs for the unskilled or semiskilled workers. This change was the advent of two significant historical events. The first one was the introduction of the Model T by Ford in 1913. The Modal T was the 1st car to be mass produced in which production required only the training of semiskilled workers to perform several tasks.

Another significant historical event was the outbreak of world war 1. To meet the huge demand of military equipment, many factories that produced nonmilitary goods had to retool their machinery and retain their workers, including the semiskilled. So they started giving training to the semiskilled workers also.

THE HUMAN RELATIONS MOVEMENT One of the by products of the factory system was the frequent abuse of unskilled workers, including children, who were often subjected to unhealthy conditions, long hours and low pay. The appealing condition spurred a national anti-factory campaign. Led by Mary Parker Follett and Lillian Gilbreth, the campaign gave rise to human relations movement advocating more humane working conditions. Theories like Maslows serve to reinforce th notion that the varied needs and desires of the workers can become important sources of motivation in the workplace.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRAINING PROFESSION With the outbreak of the world war II , the industrial sector was once again asked to reboot its factories to support the war effort. Many defense related companies established their own training departments with trained instructors. In 1942, the American Society of training Directors (ASTD) was formed to establish some standards within this emerging profession. This helped in developing trained persons who can work as instructors.

EMERGENCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT During the 1960s and 1970s professional trainers realised that their role extended beyond the training classroom that include interpersonnel skills such as group process facilitation and problem solving. This additional emphasis on employee development inspired the ASTD to rename itself as the American Society For Training And Development. This name was further changed to Human Resource Development.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTHRD IS A SYSTEM HRD is made up of several mutually dependent parts or subparts such as procurement, development, performance appraisal etc.

HRD DEVELOPS THE COMPETENCIES AT 4 LEVELS individual, dynamic, group and organization.

HRD IS A CONTINUOUS AND PLANNED PROCESS HRD is undertaken on a continuous basis as proactive measure integral to a planned programme for organizational growth.

THE ULTIMATE OBJECT OF HRD IS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROFESSIONAL WELL BEING motivation and pride of employees

NEED FOR HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTHRD is needed to develop competencies.HRD is needed to mitigate some of the evil consequences of industrialisation.HRD is needed to bring about system wide changes.HRD is needed to develop a proper climate in the organisation.

NEED FOR HRD IN THE INDIAN CONTEXTRestructuring of organisations.Emphasis on core competency.Technological changes.Work force environment.More attention to special categories of workers.Greater employee commitment.

VARIOUS INSTRUMENTS OR MECHANISM OF HRDPerformance Appraisal.Potential Appraisal.Counselling and Monitoring.Training.Building Morale and Motivation among the employees of the organisation.Development of team work.Developing Emotional Intelligence.Quality Circle.Quality of working life.

VARIOUS INSTRUMENTS OR MECHANISM OF HRD (cont)Emphasis on Excellence.Flexibility.

OUTCOMES OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTPeople in the organisation became more competent because they are now aware of the skills required to do a job.Now people understand their roles better because of increased communication.People became more committed to their jobs because now there is greater objectivity in the administration of rewards.Now there is greater collaboration and team work which produces synergy effect.

People find themselves better equipped with problem solving capabilities.Lot of useful and objective data on employees are generated which facilitate better human resource planning.The top management becomes more sensitive to employees problems and human processes due to increased openness in communication.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN AIRTELPEOPLE POLICY MANUAL Airtel while formulating, redesigning and compiling Policy Manual keeps people interest in mind with the core philosophy of balancing the employee aspirations and organizational goals and create a nurturing work environment. With this aim company makes policies relating to :-Recruitment & Selection Leave & General Rules Domestic / Overseas Business Travel rules Conveyance/ Vehicle Policy Loan Policy

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN AIRTEL (cont)Policy on Telephone/Mobile, Gift PolicyHard Furnishing Policy, Housing Policy Lunch/Dining Room Facility, Long Service Award, Credit Card Policy Safety & Security guidelines Separation Policy

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN AIRTEL (cont)SURVEYS

To assist organizations to prioritize the review, formulation etc. of various policies related to employees and business processes to enhance employees motivation level and customer satisfaction respectively, airtel undertakes following surveys on behalf of the client:

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN AIRTEL (cont)EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEY Employee Satisfaction Survey is a strategic tool to judge the Employee Satisfaction Index on various people related issues in any organization. The benefits of such surveys are: That the organisation gets to know whats going on, as the survey findings illustrate the way employees feel about their jobs, work environment and management policies.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN AIRTEL (cont)That it provides a formal opportunity to discuss key workplace topics with employees. Even if the organisation know whats going on communicating with employees about survey results lets them know the importance of communication in the workplace and gives context to many of the things management may have heard informally through the grapevine or other sources

That it allows the management to prioritise actions based on objective data, rather than gut feeling. Management can attack issues, which are important & critical instead of wasting time, money and energy on issues that has low importance.

That it is a benchmark. Management gets a snapshot of the workplace. It has structured database to compare with, like: Are things really getting better? How can it be improved? Employee Satisfaction Survey let the management know whether things are getting better (or worse), and exactly how much?

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN AIRTEL (cont)CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY Customer Satisfaction Survey is a tool to identify issues that may contribute or are already contributing to the dissatisfaction to the Customers, thus hampering the organisational credibility

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