HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT

Presented by
Dr Rubee Singh
Institute of Business Management
HUMAN RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
Human Resource Development (HRD) is a series of organised
activities, conducted within a specialised time and designed
to produce positive behavioural changes.

This is the definition according to Dr. Leonard Nadler, who

first introduced the concept in the United States in 1969. Dr.
Nadler was a pioneer in the field of HRD and one of its
premier thought leaders.

Simply put, HRD is the training and development provided by

an organisation to increase the employees’ knowledge, skills,
education and abilities.
 .’
 HRD as ‘the part of human resource
management that specifically deals with
training and development of the
employees. Human resource
development includes training an
individual after he/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
HRD includes such opportunities

employee training
employee career development
performance management and development
coaching
mentoring
succession planning
key employee identification
tuition assistance
organisation development
Role of Human Resource Development
towards Macro & Micro-level Performance

Recent years have attested an incremental concern on human

resource development. Even in 1989, did Keep assert that human
resource development is often viewed as core part of meaning,
nature and implementation of strategic human resource
management (Keep, 1989) As significant as HRD is, most of
scholars have moved their focuses towards the functions or
consequence of implementing HRD, furthermore, a major portion
of them inclined to advocate that the functionalist activity of
HRD is mainly concerned with improving organizational
performance. Nevertheless, it is not necessarily the case.
According to Wang, Dou, Li (2002), the functions of HRD
HRD at Macro and Micro Level:
 HRD as stated earlier is mainly concerned with developing
the competencies of people. When we all it as a people
oriented concept then several questions come to mind like
should the people be developed in the larger and national
context or in the smaller institutional context? Are they
different at the macro level and micro level? As things
stand now, HRD applies to both institutional (micro) as
well as national
  (macro issues). The main objective however is to develop
the newer capabilities in people so as to enable them to
tackle both present and future challenges while realizing
organizational goals. However, it is useful both at macro
and micro levels.
 Macro Level:
At the macros level HRD is concerned with the
development of people for the nation’s well being. It
takes health capabilities skills, attitudes of people which
are more useful to the development of the nation as a
whole. While calculating the national income and
economic growth the prospective HRD concept examines
the individuals potentialities their attitudes aspirations
skills knowledge and establishes a concrete base for
economic planning. However, HRD a contribution at
macro level has not gained popularity as yet
 Micro Levels:
 HRD has concern from grass root development in the organizations.
Small wonder then, that HRD was well received by companies.
 Managements as they realized its importance and foresaw its future
contribution for the Individual and organizational development.
Generally
  HRD at micro level talks of the organizations’ manpower planning
selection training performance appraisal, development potential
appraisal compensation organizational development etc. HRD’s
involvement in all these areas is mainly with an objective to
develop certain new capabilities in people concerned to equip tem to
meet the present job challenges and to accept future job requirements
HRD versus Personnel Function
 The traditional personnel function is a service oriented activity,
responding to the needs of the organization as and when they arise.
On the other hand, HRD is productive functions which does not
merely respond to organizational requirements but anticipates them
and prepares he people and the organizations to face future
challenges with confidence. HRD is wider in scope as it tries to
develop the whole organizations instead of focusing attention on
people alone. Instead of concentrating on maintenance factors
(wages, incentives day to day plans, operating procedures etc) it
tries to focus on motivating factors (job enrichment , developing
potentialities of people creating autonomous work groups fostering
innovation and creativity developing trust etc).
 Personnel function,, traditionally is viewed as the
primary job of personnel department HRD, however,
is the responsibility of all managers in the
organization. The personnel function views higher
morale and improved job satisfaction as the
causes of improved performance. HRD on the other
hand regards jobs challenges creativity and
opportunities for development as the main
motivating forces
Points of difference HRD
and Personnel :Personnel Function

 1) Maintenance oriented
 2) An independent function with independent sub functions
  3) Reactive functions responding to events as and when they take place.
  4) Exclusive responsibility of personnel department
  5) Emphasis is put on monetary rewards6) Improved performance is the
results of improved satisfaction and morale
  7) Tries to improve to improve the efficiency of people and
administration.
  Points of distinction: (1) orientation (2) Structure (3) Philosophy (4)
Responsibility (5) motivators (6) Outcomes (7) AIMS
Human Resource development
Functions
 1) Development oriented
  2) Consists of inter dependent parts.
 3) Proactive function, trying to anticipate and get ready with
appropriate responses.
 4) Responsibility of all managers in the organizations.
  5) Emphasis is on higher order needs such as how to design jobs with
stretch pull ad challenge how to improve creativity ad problem solving
skills how to empower people in all respects etc.
 6) Better use of human resources leads to improved satisfaction and
morale.
  7) It tires to develop the organization as a whole and its culture
Management Development
Programme
 Management or executive development is a prominent area of
human resource management and was previously known as the
management revolution. Management Development
Programme (MDP) is a course designed to strengthen the
relationship between managers at all levels (subordinate to
executive management). The aim of this programme is to
transform managers belonging to intermediate management
level into successful leaders. This enables employees at a
managerial level to gain the ability to motivate others, thereby,
allowing them to effectively manage their teams.
Objectives of a management
development programme
 Inducing capabilities to supervise, organize, plan, lead and motivate
thereby, enhancing knowledge and skills;
 Developing mutual trust, cooperation and understanding to foster
teamwork;
 Improving decision-making abilities with regards to customer satisfaction,
relation with employees and vendors and productivity of the organization;
 Ensuring personal growth which involves increasing the tenure of
managerial employees and shaping their future career by giving them the
space to grow;
 Developing succession plans to generate future managerial positions within
the organization;
 Preparing new business expansion strategies;
 Promoting high morale and good organizational environment to enhance
productivity and profits
Types of management
development programme
 External(Off-the-job programmes) – this refers to the
specialised courses based on management and executive
education offered by universities. External management
development programmes also includes management
seminars, conferences and workshops conducted by
management associations or educational institutions.
The specialised courses comprise of the following
subjects:
 o   Marketing management;
 o   Export management;
 o   Financial management;
 o   Personnel management
 Internal(On-the-job programmes) – this includes subjects
focused on various business concerns and how to solve those
issues in a coordinated and planned manner. Technical training
is provided to assistants for them to be capable of undertaking
the responsibilities of a position held by a superior, at a certain
time in the future. The following subjects belong to the internal
category of a management development programme:
 o   Art of delegation;
 o   Job rotation;
 o   Promotions and transfers;
 o   Understudy method;
 o   Coaching by a superior or boss;
 o   Multiple management (membership of committees and junior
boards)
Importance of management development programme

 Allows companies to take a proactive approach towards the growth

of their business;
 Motivates employees and increases employee retention to build a
knowledge-driven workforce;
 Develops a team of innovation managers that can lead to business
improvement and product development;
 Ensures professional development of employees, helping them
improve their skill set by implementing individual or company-wide
training programme;
 Helps to gain a competitive advantage over other companies with
the support of skilled managers;

 Promotes management succession planning and encourages staff

development that is essential for the business to move forward
during inevitable situations;

 Reduces risk and unpredictability related to external recruitment

of managers;

 Helps to hire appropriate employees in the management cadre.

 Effective design of management
development programme

Step 1: Be aware of the correlation between learning

and development −
Utilising the various opportunities of learning and
development that are available;
Acquiring the knowledge necessary to solve a problem
or achieve a certain goal;
Gaining skills to use new information to accomplish
business activities;
Implementing new observational techniques.
 Step 2: Considering different approaches to learn about
management 

 Understanding the different approaches to increase your knowledge

about management;
 Utilizing formal, comprehensive and systematic approaches to
accomplish desired business outcomes;
 Maintaining a balance between formal (traditional classroom
guidance) and informal (reading books, on-the-job training or
keeping a diary) approaches to learning and development.
 Step 3: Learning about management –

 Getting acquainted with the organisational context of management;

 Learning about organisational systems, their dimensions, life cycle and

culture;

 Acquiring the knowledge and skills required for effective management

in organisations
 Step 4: Identifying your learning objectives and
activities –
 Getting assistance from a mentor or a personal coach;
 Practising management skills such as planning, organising,
leading and coordinating;
 Starting a new project or workplace activity to focus in a
new direction, as well as influence others;
 Working towards narrowing performance gaps that are
indicated by your supervisor while reviewing your
performance;
 Taking advantage of upcoming opportunities to reduce
opportunity gaps in your career;
 Assessing your management skills and practices.
 Step 5: Considering additional sources of learning 

 Collecting ideas from friends, peers and supervisors about management

skills;
 Identifying behavioural traits and qualities of senior managers;
 Taking up an internship that involves persistence, risk and initiative;
 Taking up a management role in an association;
 Volunteering to manage community projects