Human Resource Development

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 experts in the industry or
by a manager. Healthy organizations believe in Human Resource Development and
cover all of these bases.
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 general 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 organizational context is a process by which the

employees of an organization are helped, in a continuous and planned way to:
Acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with
their present or expected future roles;
Develop their general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their own
inner potentials for their own and/or organisational development purposes; and
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.
• Organisational 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

HRD is needed by any organisation that wants to be dynamic and growth-oriented or to

succeed in a fast-changing environment. Organisations can become dynamic and grow
only through the efforts and competencies of their human resources. 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. Employee capabilities
must continuously be acquired, sharpened, and used. For this purpose, an “enabling”
organisational culture is essential. When employees use their initiative, take risks,
experiment, innovate, and make things happen, the organisation may be said to have an
“enabling” culture.

Even an organisation that has reached its limit of growth, needs to adapt to the changing
environment. No organisation is immune to the need for processes that help to acquire
and increase its capabilities for stability and renewal.
HRD FUNCTIONS
The core of the concept of HRS is that of development of human beings, or HRD. The
concept of development should cover not only the individual but also other units in the
organisation. 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. Such
dyads are the basic units of working in the organisation. Besides several groups like
committees, task groups, etc. also require attention. 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. Finally, the entire department
and the entire organisation also should be covered by development. 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 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.