People and organization: Principles and Practice in Global Context

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT(HRD)

 

Human Resource Development speaks about the organizational process which the employees are helped to develop, gain or sharpen their abilities, skills and knowledge required to perform their present or expected future roles.

HRD concept was initially 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”.

According to MM 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”. (whatishumanresource .com)

It also discovers the employee’s unlimited inner potentials for their own development as well as for the Organizational growth. HRD is a key factor of an organization that wants to be dynamic, diversified and for the continuous growth. It ensures the effectiveness and advancement of individual employees, collective department and the organization itself (December 12, 2022 Workhuman)

Further it nurtures the organizational culture where the relationship between supervisor and subordinate is strong, team work and collaboration among departments are harmonious and enhance the wellbeing and self-esteem of the employees.

Successful organization believes that HRD is not merely a set of techniques and mechanism but a continues process which has no limit and keep on reviewing in a fast-changing environment. Organizations can facilitate this process by allocating resources and planning for the development and generate policies that values human wellbeing and promote employee development.  

When employees use their initiative, take risks and make things happen, those organization could be reach to accomplish the goals. Even an organization that has reached its limit of growth, needs to adapt to the changing environment. Hence it is essential to an organization to examine periodically to see the existing mechanisms are not hindering the process. Most organizations are eager to possess a process that acquire new abilities and increase current capabilities for the sustainability of the organization.

FEATURES OF HRD

Essential features can list as below.

• ·       It stresses on development of employee’s skills and knowledge in relation to current job role and expected future position.
• ·       It ensures the best utilization of the capabilities of individual in the interest of the employee and organization.
• ·       It helps on establishing and developing inter personal relationship in terms of trust and confidence.
• ·       It provides a healthy environment to develop competencies in the organization.
• ·       It provides employee welfare and a quality work life while meeting employee needs to the best possible extent.
• ·       It is a multi-disciplinary subject which based on the concepts, innovative ideas and principles of sociology, psychology, economics, management etc.
• ·       It is a continuous and systematic learning process which never ends.

OBJECTIVES OF HRD

The prime objective of the HRD is to facilitate an environment which employees of the organization are considered as most valuable assets of the organization. Other objectives are as follows.

Equity –

            Create an organizational culture where every employee recognized and provide equal opportunities in matters of career planning, promotion, training and development. No discrimination is allowed based on gender, cast, religion etc.

Employability – 

            Employability means an individual’s ability, skills and competency to seek gainful employment anywhere. HRD should aim at developing employee capabilities to motivate them to work effectively. Kanter (1997) argues that in a post entrepreneurial world the best source of security for people is a guarantee not of a specific job or a specific employer but of their employability.

Adaptability –

            Support employees to adapt themselves to organizational change that take place on a continuous basis. This can be done through a continuous training process.

(Smriti Chand Articallibrary.com)

BENEFITS OF HRD

In current context HRD is considered as the key to higher productivity, larger profitability and provide unlimited benefits to any firm. Some important benefits are listed below:

•              Attracting only the best employees as HRD plan can be a major attraction to the employees in the market. Career oriented employees are always in search of opportunities to develop their skills.
•             Increase retention of employees through HRD as it increases their job satisfaction. Most employees believe that career development is important to their overall job satisfaction.
•             With appropriate HRD plan, people become more committed to their jobs which boost their performance level.
•             HRD helps prepare employees for the future and identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees, enabling to create succession planning strategies.
•             It also enhances the work culture where the employees are ready to accept changes in the organization in the competitive and rapidly changing world.

CONCLUSION

Human Resource development has become critical part of the Organization’s competitive capabilities as the organizations consist of human and the development of this human capital is paramount important.

It is a vital area for organizations because ideas for innovations, quality and continuous improvement and other critical inputs which required to compete with the competitors in the fast-changing modern business world come from people and not from machines.

“To perform well under these highly competitive conditions takes a particular kind of competitive advantage, one that is highly firm- specific and difficult to imitate. In doing so such organizations have unique capability or competence which depends on human resources.” (Kay,1993) 

“Human Resource Development ensures that organization members have access to resources for developing their capacity for performance and for making meaning for their experience in the context of the organization’s strategic needs and requirement of their jobs” (Yorks,2004,p.11)

Successful leaders invest on developing their assets and your employees are your strongest asset.

References

A Strategic Perspective on Human Resource Development by Thomas N Garavan Advances in Developing Human Resources; Feb 2007; 9, 1; ABI/INFORM Global retrieved online from

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Garavan/publication/249631435_A_Strategic_Perspective_on_Human_Resource_Development/links/0c96053c56d2ae675e000000/A-Strategic-Perspective-on-Human-Resource-Development.pdf

Human Resource Development Strategy and Tactics by Juani Swart, Clare Mann, Steve Brown and Alan Price; 2005 rretrieved online from

https://books.google.lk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NrYsBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Human+resource+development&ots=HOeQWvKPpG&sig=BvN6P6jsXJVVFWK_YTQUb49urKk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Human%20resource%20development&f=false

Foundations of cooperate success by John Kay 1993 Oxford university press

https://www.whatishumanresource.com/human-resource-development

https://www.workhuman.com/blog/human-resource-development-