INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MODERN MANAGEMENT (IIMM)

Registration No. : IIMM/DH/1/2007/5516

Course : PM & HRD

ASSIGNMENT :-Human Resource Development

Answer 1. (a)

For the organization, its ability to attract and retain human capital will depend on its reputation as
an employer. The reputation about the organization says something about who you are, what you stand for,
and how you relate to others including yours employees. All this is partially formed through the
organization’s commitment to the employees and vice –versa.

A sure way of making any organization best place to work in is by showing unwavering respect
towards its employees. To gain their commitment, organizations have to smoothen communication
channels with the employees, assess their capacity to engage in various initiates’, give honest feedback,
and invest in aligning its objectives with employees’ aspirations.

The goal of HRD is to improve the performance of our organizations by maximizing the efficiency
and performance of our people. We are going to develop our knowledge and skills, our actions and
standards, our motivation, incentives, attitudes and work environment.

HRD and Organizations: A Natural tie up

HRD has a critical role to play in the achievement of organizational goals and helping the
organization to achieve and maintain excellence. Good people and a good culture make good organization
to achieve and maintain excellence. Good people and a good culture make good organization. HRD has the
responsibility of getting the right kind of people, creating and maintaining a culture that nurtures and
rewards talent. While HRD department will facilitate the process, the real challenge in modern
organizations is to share this responsibility with every line manager.

HRD can give you the tools you need to manage and operate your organizations. Everything --
production, management, marketing, sales, research & development, you-name-it -- everything may be
more productive IF your people are sufficiently motivated, trained, informed, managed, utilized and
empowered. In future articles in this series, we're going to tell you how to do it. Stay tuned.

Every organization needs to enhance the capabilities of its workforce. Given the dynamic
environment they operate in, organizations must also get its employees to change and adapt to this
dynamism. Increasingly, organizations are creating role called “Chief Learning Officer” or “Knowledge
Manager”, whose responsibilities include:

• Managing tangible intellectual capital such as copyrights, patents and royalties

• Gathering, organizing and sharing the organization’s information and knowledge assets

• Creating work environments for sharing and transferring knowledge amongst employees

• Leveraging knowledge from all stakeholders to build innovative corporate strategies

Need for HRD

As organizations evolve, their infrastructure and approaches to HR development become

established. Whilst HR development vocational programs and supporting management techniques, tools,
procedures and standards, etc., are essential, they often introduce organizational rigidity.

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 Also with “maturity” organizations often become too big, have too many management levels and
get over complicated. Consequently departments, functions, or divisions do not interconnect well. The
result is decision making becomes unclear, information is poorly communicated, projects do not get
finished, or are late (and usually over budget) and internal politics creep in, resulting in power bases and
pressure groups becoming established.

Organizational paralysis, even chaos, sets in with problems and frustration spreading resulting in
falling performance. Within this general confusion and with constant organizational change being a
modern necessity, the individual’s role becomes unclear and difficult to execute even to the point of being
meaningless.

To be successful in the current rapidly-changing world, we need to maximize the productivity of all
of our resources -- physical, financial, information, and human. How are we doing?

• Physical resources: We've made major investments in updating our physical equipment, so we can compete
with state-of-the-art production tools and facilities.

• Financial resources: Sure, we're really capital intensive. But that's the nature of our production businesses.
The money will follow our ideas, our successes, and our productivity.

• Information and knowledge resources: That's one of our success stories. The paper industry is more open
and cooperative than other manufacturing industries. Tappi has been right at the centre of this. But we have
our work cut out for us -- to continue attracting capital in competition with other industries; we need to be
as good as they are in accessing the new world of information. It's time to join the Internet. But that's
another story for another time.

• Human resources: This is the leverage point! Here's where we can make significant differences in our lives,
our careers, and our organizations.

People ask “Why am I here?”, and “I no longer seen to have a purpose, a direction or adequate
support”. Consequently they either leave or slide into impotence and so the organization becomes
weakened, even unmanageable.

HR development imperatives

• It is imperative that HR development programs help managers to equip their people with the skills
needed to progress self-learning.

• It is imperative that HR development programs succeed in improving morale, releasing energy and
enhancing productivity.

• It is imperative that HR development programs lead the way in forging an empowered culture that
can task individuals and teams in the mission of supporting organizational change and
development.

With these HR development aims realized, managers can focus attention on acquiring the essential
business and entrepreneurial sills they need to play an effective role in organizational development.

In this context, it is also imperative that HR development programs help managers to become
business strategists and agents for leading organizational change.

Only through having a learning culture, with respected HR development programs, can the
organizations continue to develop and grow.

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Answer 1. (b)

Today middle management HR development programs are less concerned with vocational
awareness and more concerned with business awareness and continuous improvement. Why? Because
supervisor and junior management HR development programs have successfully developed departmental
resources that are well able to manage day-to-day operations (if empowered to do so). Therefore the key
challenge for middle management HR development is in developing the skills needed to lead empowered
individuals, and teams, in the journey to make the organizations vision and values a reality. This means that
middle management HR development needs to focus on environmental management issues, across the
process chain, between organizational units and transcending organizational levels, and through effective
working relationships with the organizations strategic partners.

It is therefore imperative that middle management HR development programs focus on leadership

and change management techniques to foster the attitudes, behaviours and skills necessary to break down
and overcome barriers and constraints.

Middle management HR development also needs to develop management ability to cope with
organizational demergers, unitisation, flatter structures, changes in power bases, etc.

Role of HRD Professional and Function

The new scenario would require the HR professional is an organization to take up newer roles like
those given below:

1. Commitment Reflector: In a scenario where every employee would be loyal as long as his
knowledge is appreciated and required, it would be required from the R professional to be a
generator of organizational commitment.

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2. Change Seller: In a climate where change is the only constant phenomenon, the workforce needs to
be sold the concept of embracing and accepting change for their own betterment. The HR
professional should play a lead role in selling change to the workforce.

3. Cross-Seller and Image builder: In face of cut throat competition, the business expects each
functional group to hard sell the company’s image in an attempt to get ahead. In this pursuit, the
HR person can play a lead role at various forums to attract talent.

4. Strategic business partner: The organization expects each function to align itself to the business
goals and priorities. The same has to be reflected by the HRD function by gaining knowledge of
business process, competitors, technology etc.

5. Relationship Manager: In a business where customers are very choosy, it would be required by all
functions, including HRD, to key their focus on satisfying and retaining key accounts. Also, the
employees need to be wedded to the organization by good relationship management internally. This
is the role of HRD.

6. Creativity and Innovativeness: In an environment where the key to survival is influenced by the
organization’s ability to innovate continuously, it is the role of the HRD professional to create and
diffuse an atmosphere conducive for innovation. He should take the lead in driving away the “fear
of failure” from the workplace and create strategies, which would reward innovation.

7. HR strategic advisor: In this role the issues and trends concerning an organization’s external and
internal people are brought to the attention of the strategic decision-makers.

8. HR systems designer and developer: This role involves designing and preparing HR systems for
implementation so that HR systems and actions are mutually reinforcing and have maximum
impact on organizational performance, development and endurance..

9. Organization change consultant: This role means facilitating the development and implementation
of strategies for transforming organizations.

10. Organization design consultant: This role involves identifying the work required to fulfil
organizational strategies. It also involves organizing the work so that it makes efficient and
effective use of resources.

11. Learning program specialist: In this role learning needs are identified to design and develop
structured learning programs and materials in a variety of media formats for self-study and
workshop or electronic delivery.

12. Instructor/facilitator: This is an increasingly difficult role. In it information is presented, structural

learning experiences are lead and group discussions and group processes facilitated.

13. Individual development and career consultant: This role involves helping people assess their
competencies, values and goals so they can identify, plan, and implement development actions.

14. Performance consultant: This role means assisting a group or individuals to add value in the
workplace. It’s a coaching and consulting role in which HRD people perform both analytical and
systems design work.

15. Researcher: This role involves assessing HRD practices and programs and their impact empirically.
It also means communicating results so that the organization and its people accelerate their change
and development.

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Answer 2 (a) Human Resource Planning

Human Resource Planning defines project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships. One
key result of Human Resource Planning is the Staffing management plan which depicts how and when
team members are added to the team, and how the team members are released from the project, the training
needs of the team, and several other key components.

The inputs to Human Resource Planning are:

1. Enterprise Environmental Factors – The Enterprise Environmental Factors that comprise of

individuals of an organization interact and relate with one another are an input into Human
Resource Planning. Items to considers about enterprise environmental factors involving
organizational culture and structure are:

• Organizational – Which organizations or departments are going to be engaged in the project? Are
there existing working arrangements between them? What are the formal and informal
relationships between the departments?

• Technical – What are the areas of expertise needed to successfully complete this project? Do these
skills need to be transitioned to the supporting organization?

• Interpersonal – What types of formal and informal reporting relationships exist among the team
members? What are team member’s current job descriptions? What are their supervisor-subordinate
relationships? What levels of trust and respect currently exist?

• Logistical – Are people in different locations or time zones? What are other types of distances
between team members?

• Political – What are the individual goals and agendas of the stakeholders? Where is the informal
power base and how can that influence the project? What informal alliances exist?

In addition to these factors, there are also constraints. Examples of inflexibility in Human Resource
Planning are:

• Organizational Structure – An organization with a weak matrix structure is commonly a

constraint.

• Collective Bargaining Agreements – Contractual agreements with service organizations can

require interesting nuances to certain roles and reporting arrangements.

• Economic Conditions – Hiring freezes, little to no training funds, and a lack of travelling budget
can place restrictions of staffing options.

2. Organizational Process Assets - As an organization's project management methods evolve,

experience gained from past projects are available as organizational process assets. Templates and
checklists reduce the planning time required and the likelihood of overlooking key responsibilities.

3. Project Management Plan - The Project Management Plan contains activity resource requirements
and project management activity descriptions which assist in identifying the types and quantities of
resources required for each schedule activity in a work package.

With the proper inputs, the results are going to have a good foundation. Project teams use different
tools and techniques to guide the Human Resource Planning process. These three tools and techniques are:

• Organization Charts and Position Descriptions - Organization charts and position descriptions
are used to communicate and clarify team member roles and responsibilities and to ensure that
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 each work package is assigned. Organization charts can have three formats: Hierarchical-type
Organization chart, Matrix-Based Responsibility Chart, and the Text-oriented format.

• Networking – Informal interactions among co-workers in the organization is a constructive way

to comprehend the political and interpersonal factors which will affect organizational relations.

• Organizational Theory – Organizational theory portrays how people, teams, and organizational
units behave.

The three outputs from Human Resource Planning are found below:

• Roles and Responsibilities - Clarification of roles and responsibilities gives project team
members an understanding of their own rues and the roles of others in the project. Clarity is
always a key component of project success.

• Project Organization Charts - A project organization chart is a diagram of the reporting

relationships of project team members. Project organization charts should be tailored for their
audience, they can give a generalize overview or highly granular.

• Staffing Management Plan - The Staffing Management Plan is an important output of the Human
Resource Planning process which establishes the timing and methods for meeting project human
resource requirements. The components of the staffing management plan are:

1. Staff Acquisition – Staff Acquisition details how the project will be staffed, where the team will
work, and the level of expertise needed with the staff.

2. Timetable – The timetable illustrates the necessary time frames for project team to be available.
One tool commonly used is a resource histogram.

3. Release Criteria – Release criteria lists the method and timing of releasing team member.

4. Training Needs – Training needs is a plan on how to train the project resources.

5. Recognition and rewards – Recognition and rewards are the criteria for rewarding and promoting
desired team behaviours

6. Compliance – Compliance details the strategies for complying with regulations, contracts, and
other established human resource policies.

7. Safety – Safety procedures are listed to protect the team members.

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Answer 2 (b)