Human Resources Development (HRD) is concerned with an organized series of learning activities, within a specified time limit, designed to produce behavioural change in the learner (Leonard Nadler and Zeace Nadler, 1969). From the organizational context, therefore, HRD is a process, which helps employees of an organization to improve their functional capabilities for their present and future roles to develop their general capabilities to harness their inner potentialities both for their self and organizational development. It also helps in developing organizational culture to sustain harmonious superior-subordinate relationships, teamwork, motivation, quality and a sense of belongingness.
There are a lot of misconceptions about training, education and development functions vis-a-vis HRD. Essentially, HRD activities are designed to make people effective in their present job position, which is a part of training function. However, when the focus is on future identifiable job it becomes a part of education function.
For future unidentifiable jobs, i.e., to develop capabilities for a future position or new activities within the organization, which are not very specific at the present stage, it becomes a part of development function.
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Without precisely knowing the functions of training, education and development, it would further make it difficult for us to appreciate the objectives, roles and significance of HRD in an organization. In the succeeding paragraphs, we will take a cursory view to these functions before we go for elaborating on other issues of HRD.
1. Training:
Training concerns people already employed with the organization and whose jobs are so defined that we are able to identify what should be the desired job behaviours. The focus on training programmes should be such, so as to enable the individual to perform more effectively in his present job position.
Training is needed when a person is hired without the requisite skills, attitude or knowledge or may be when after putting the person on the job, the management able to identify his deficiencies that could be rectified through training.
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Even in cases, where an employee may be performing very well, change in procedures, materials, processes may stimulate the need for further training. Concepts like total quality management (TQM), small group activities (SGA) or quality circles (QC) are now calling for new areas of training for employees to make them functionally more effective in their restructured jobs.
We have discussed these issues in a separate supplementary note. For effective results, the responsibility for training should be on the immediate supervisor of the trainee. As the pay-off of the training is verified on the job, the supervisor is expected to see the results and, therefore, he is the right person to allocate physical and financial resources to improve his human resources.
However, in most of the organizations, supervisors are made responsible for identification of training needs and their role is restricted to impart technical skills. For conceptual and human skills, training is given by a specialized group of trainers. Training can either be conducted through in-house programmes or by retaining professional trainers/consultants.
The evaluation of training is done in direct relation to the job. At the end of the training, it is expected that there should be some identifiable changes in job behaviour. Where no such changes in job behaviour could be identified, we expect there may be one or more of the following problems—ineffective training programme, lack of linkage between the training programme and the job or negative reinforcements in the work situation. Evaluation of training is easy because of its job relatedness.
2. Education:
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Educational experiences benefit those who are employed and who are required to be gradually equipped for other positions in the organization. Thus, educational component of HRD is future oriented for identifiable job positions. Since, the return on investment from education is unclear or unascertainable, very few organizations are prepared to invest on employee educational programmes unless future needs or manpower plan of the organization substantiates the possibility of redeployment of employees after the completion of education programme.
Many organizations allow their employees to go on study leave for pursuing institutional studies on areas like, Management, Accounting and Finance, Quality, Engineering or even for Research, which have relevance to the organizational needs. Employees are allowed to draw their pay and get reimbursement of actual cost for study during this period, and such leave is not debited against employees’ leave account.
Some organizations encourage their employees to get enrolled in part-time evening programmes and allow them reimbursement of actual cost. In India, nowadays a number of institutes encourage sponsored candidates to pursue studies as full time students.
However, education within the organization is considered as a better alternative as it simultaneously ensures employees’ on-the-job activities and learning of new techniques for their future roles. To take an example, some organizations with their in-house talents run professional programmes for their employees like, engineering degree courses of Institute of Engineers, Indian Institute of Metals, management degree courses of All India Management Association, National Institute of Personnel Management, ICFAI Business School, International Institute of Management Science, professional programmes of Indian Society for Training and Development, National HRD Network, Academy of HRD, etc.
This is considered more cost effective than the earlier two methods, and this also reduces the time- lag between the time of educational experience and its application on the new job. Many international organizations has also recently started their own corporate universities to periodically educate their employees, viz., Sears, Lucent, Motorola, McDonalds, etc. These organizations systematically depute their employees to go for long-term educational programmes to renew their knowledge base.
Employee education calls for attitudinal changes of corporate leaders as they should be prepared at the outset to invest in the future of individuals who may or may not remain with the organization. It is also necessary to identify individuals who are future oriented. Evaluation of employee education is difficult when there is considerable time-lag between learning and its actual on-the-job application.
3. Development:
Development component of HRD is to conduct learning experiences for a future undefined job. The focus being on future undefined job in an organization, before going ahead with employee development, organization must be able to identify individuals who enjoy high risk and new undefined challenging jobs. Such risk takers may not necessarily confine in higher levels of an organization, even though conventionally, developmental function rests in the higher levels only.
Since, decisions on investment in employee development are taken at higher levels and people at higher levels are considered to be more knowledgeable (both by virtue of experience and educational background) than people at lower levels, hardly a few organizations consider it right for risking the investment to develop employees at lower level. However, experience shows, carefully planned developmental experiences can be helpful in realizing the human potentials, irrespective of their hierarchical levels and functional areas.
Before the introduction of computers in Indian organizations, computer literacy was considered as a developmental function. At present, however, TQM, Business Process Re-engineering, Benchmarking, and ISO: 9000 Quality Systems, Value Engineering, Knowledge Management, Customer Relationship Management, etc., are considered as new areas of development.
Valuation of employee development programmes is extremely difficult both in terms of return on investment and application of learned experiences, for obvious time-lag, in the organization.
However, success of training, i.e., HRD efforts of an organization in the form of education and developmental programmes, largely depends on simultaneous changes in the organization, which is known as organizational development (OD).
Changes in the employee behaviour for training, education and development programmes are reinforced by changes in the organization by OD process, which uses many strategies and interventions. Hence, HRD efforts should be in congruence with OD investments.