HRD

What is HRD? Explain its scope/functions.

Explain the importance of training and

development. Explain the methods of training and development.

HRD
According to Prof. T.V. Rao, HRD is a process by which

the employees of an organisation are helped in a continuous and planned way to : (1) Acquire or sharpen capabilities. (2) Develop the capabilities and exploit the potential, for individual and organisational development purposes. (3) Develop an organisational culture in which the various constituents (superior-subordinate) contribute to the professional well being of employees.

Scope of HRD/HRD Instruments

Scope of HRD/HRD Instruments

(1) Performance Appraisal :

The purpose of performance appraisal is to provide accurate picture of past and future projections. Nowa-days organisations follow 360o Appraisal System, in order to evaluate the performance of an employee in a more objective manner
(2)

Potential Appraisal : It aims at identifying the potential for career advancement. The term performance and potential appraisal are not synonymous. Performance appraisal evaluates an employee's current performance level, whereas potential appraisal aims at identifying employee's potential to handle more responsibilities/challenging assignments.

 (3) Career Planning : Career planning is a process of integrating

employees needs and aspirations with organisational needs. Career aspirations of employees are fulfilled by integrating the individual goals with organisational goals
(4) Training and Employee Development

These programmes are conducted at frequent

intervals in order to equip the employees with skills required to handle various assignments. Employees are trained through on-the-job and off-the-job training programmes.
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 (5) Organisation Development (OD) : In order to survive in a competitive environment,

organisations should equip the employees to meet future challenges. It is necessary to constantly upgrade the skills and abilities of employees in order to enable them to meet the various challenges and threats, posed by the external environment.
(6) Rewards :
People perform a number of activities in an

organisation to satisfy their needs. They choose to behave in a particular manner in order to maximise their rewards.
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 (7) Employee Welfare and Quality of Work Life

(QWL) : The term employee welfare refers to various services, facilities and benefits offered to the employees. The purpose is to improve the living standard of workers and thereby improve their quality of work life. The type of benefits offered to an employee has been changing in the light of changing job market trends, employee expectations, demands of the union and and legislative requirements. (8) Human Resource Information : The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a process by which the organisation collects, maintains and records information about people and jobs. This 7 data is stored in a data bank and it covers data on

TRAINING
The term training refers to imparting and

developing skills for a particular purpose. It attempts to improve the performance of an employee and prepare him for an intended job. Often the terms Training, Education and Development are used interchangeably, however they differ from each other.

 Training and (1)

Application oriented (2) On the job learning experience (3) Specific task (4) Narrow perspective

Education : Theoretical orientation Classroom Learning General concept Broad perspective

Training and (1)

For non-managers (2) Technical skills knowledge (3) Specific job related (4) Imparted in Short-term
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Development : For managers Theoretical or conceptual General Information Organised in the Long-term

 Definitions :

(1) According to Edwin Flippo,

"Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for doing a particular job".

(2) According to Dale S. Beach,

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"Training is the organised procedure by which people learn knowledge or skill for a definite purpose".

Importance of Training
(1) Improvement in performance : Training improves

the skill of an employee, which in turn improves employee's performance both in qualitative and quantitative terms. (2) Improvement in Quality : In a training programme, improved ways of doing things are taught. This enables the employees to contribute to the success of the organisation. Uniformity in work performance helps in improving the quality of work or service. (3) High morale : Training not only improves skills of an employee, it also brings about a positive change in employee's attitude. Better performance, avenues for 11 promotion leads to high morale among employees.

 (4) Less supervision : A trained

employee efficiently perform the work assigned to him. Therefore, his work requires less supervision and control. (5) Increase in organisational stability and flexibility : In the event of loss of key personnel, stability can be maintained by creating a reservoir of trained. Any short-run variation in volume of work requires personnel with multiple skills. Thus, we can say that trained personnel
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 (6) Prevention of obsolescence :

Training fosters initiative and creativity among employees and this in turn helps to prevent manpower obsolescence. (7) Personal growth : A training programme enables an individual to grow and expand his horizon. (8) Favourable organisational climate : A sound training programme results in creation of a favourable organisational climate, as the incidence of labour turnover, absenteeism and labour unrest is
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DEVELOPMENT

It is a process of enhancing the skills already possessed by the

employees of an organisation. The various methods of managerial development can be broadly divided into two namely: (1) On-the-Job (2) Off-the-Job (1) On-the-Job Development Methods : In this case the training programmes are conducted within the organisation. The emphasis here is on learning by doing. The various methods of on-the-Job training are as follows :

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 (a)

Coaching and counselling : In this method the superior acts as a mentor. Here the role of a mentor is to provide direction, advice, criticise and provide suggestions for improving the performance of the employee/trainee. Counselling refers to discussions in areas such as fear, anxiety, career aspirations etc. On the other hand coaching refers to providing guidance to the employee on all job related areas.
(b) Job rotation : It is also an important method

of enhancing the skill of a manager. When a manager is assigned duties across various departments of the organisation it results in acquisition of diversified skills and knowledge. 15 Thus by giving an opportunity to a manager to

 (c) Understudy assignment : In this method

few trainees are selected to handle a senior manager's responsibilities when the post falls vacant. In this method the trainee learns different aspects of handling a higher post. The main advantage of this method is, the understudy is trained in not only handling the day to day operations but also in long-term strategic issues of the organisation. (d) Junior Board : This method is similar to understudy, however here the number of understudy varies from organisation to organisation depending upon the number of 16 departments.

 The main advantage of this method is

every department is represented i.e. the most capable employee of every department is selected for acting as an understudy. This results in selection of the most appropriate manager when the senior manager's post falls vacant.
(e) Planned progression : In this method

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an employee is promoted to a higher post to handle more responsibilities. Here the employee not only learns but is also suitably compensated for handling more

Off-the-Job Development Method

The aim of this method is to take the employee away from the workplace and provide training. It is based on the assumption that employees learn better when they are relaxed and free from the work related problems. The various off-theJob development methods are as follows
(a) Simulation exercises : This method is

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widely used for managerial development and it includes programmes such as Roleplays, In-basket exercise, Case study and business games.

 (i) Role-plays : In this method trainees enact

roles to solve problems that are similar to real life situations. This method enables the participant to gain a better understanding of people and business situations. Some of the commonly enacted scenes are grievance redressal, management-union negotiations, mock interview session etc.

(ii) In-basket exercises : This training

programme is aimed at improving the analytical skill of a trainee. During this session the participant is required to sort out the mail in the order of priority. Before the session begins the trainee is given an overview of organisation mission and the organisation chart. 19 He is given documents similar to those found in

 (iii) Case study : The HR department prepares case

studies based on the actual experiences of the organisation. The trainees are required to analyze and discuss the case, identify the apparent or hidden problems and suggest probable solutions from which the most viable one could be eventually selected.
(iv) Business games : In this method the

participants are divided into groups. They play the roles of competing firms in a simulated environment. The participants are required to discuss the strategies to either launch a new product or beat a competitor's product in the market. This method improves interaction and co-operation among the participants, and tries to improve their strategic thinking, leadership skills and their ability to work 20 under stress.

 (b) Sensitivity training : This method

aims at sensitising a manager about his weakenesses. This method is useful only if the participants are willing to improve their behaviour. This method also aims at developing among the group members, an understanding of themselves and of their relationship with others. The members are encouraged to introspect their own behaviour and performance and at the same time they
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