Page 186 - DMGT406_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT

Unit 11: Human Resources and Development

new fields. To this end, employee capabilities must be continually trained, developed and Notes
expanded. The employees must be encouraged to take risks, experiment, innovate and make
things happen in an atmosphere of mutual trust, goodwill and cooperation. "People need
competencies to perform tasks. Higher degree and quality of performance of tasks requires
higher level or degree of skills. Without continuous development of competencies in people, an
organisation is not likely to achieve its goals. Competent and motivated employees are essential
for organisational survival, growth and excellence" (IGNOU, MS 22, p.6).
HRD is needed in an organisation because:
1. HRD improves the capabilities of people. They become innovative and enterprising - ever
eager to take risk and get ahead. It improves the all round growth of an employee.
Feedback and guidance from superiors help employees grow continually and show
superior performance.
2. HRD improves team work. Employees become more open and trust each other. The
organisational climate, too, improves a lot.

3. HRD leads to greater organisational effectiveness. Appropriate employee-centered policies
help the organisation achieve its goals more efficiently.
4. Performance related rewords help employees realise the importance of utilising their
skills fully in the service of organisational goals. The organisation's overall health and
self-renewing capabilities, too, improve quite significantly.

For any dynamic and growth-oriented organisation to survive in a fast-changing environment,
HRD activities play a very crucial role. Recent economic restructuring in India at the macro-
level influenced the need for production restructuring at unit (micro) level and production
restructuring necessitated labour restructuring vis-à-vis restructuring of HRD activities in
organisations. Training, retraining and redeployment have now become buzzwords in corporate
circles as market globalisation (which is an outcome of the economic restructuring programme),
delicensing and free flow of technology (as per New Industrial Policy of July, 1991), and
intensified competition are rendering traditional skills and knowledge redundant. Many
organisations in India are now threatened with manpower obsolescence. To withstand this,
HRD activities have now received prime importance.
Increased morale and motivation of employees no doubt are necessary to achieve productivity and
functional effectiveness. But these alone cannot sustain a dynamic organisation, unless effort and
competencies of human resource are renewed constantly, developing an enabling organisational
culture. An enabling organisation culture is possible when employees of an organisation are found
to use their initiative, take risks, experiment, innovate and make things happen.

Hence, role and significance of HRD in an organisation can be appreciated when we consider the
fast-changing environment coupled with technological change and intensified competition.
This has necessitated the need for renewal of capabilities of people working in the organisation
which are simultaneously reinforced by changes in the organisation by the Organisational
Development (OD) process.
The role and significance of HRD can further be appreciated when we consider different systems
of HRD like performance appraisal, career planning and development, manpower planning,
management succession and development, training (which includes the role of education and
development discussed earlier), Organisational Development (OD), Quality of Work Life (QWL),
etc.

Did u know? Open door policies: Where open door policies exist, employees are free to
walk into any manager's office with their problems and seek solutions to such problems.

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