HUMAN RESOURSE DEVELOPMENT

NOTES

Dr C V Krishna
 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Lecture Notes
Unit 1: Introduction: Understanding the nature and scope of Human Resource
Management- Definition, Functions/objectives, organization of department, Evolution,
Context in HRM Changing role in HRM Meeting present and emerging strategic Human
resource challenges- Human resource management, planning and implementing strategic
HR Policies, selecting HR strategies to increase firm performance.

1.1. What is HRM?

HRM is defined as
“HRM is management function concerned with hiring , motivating and maintaining people in
an organization. It focuses on people in organization”-(Aswathappa, 2008, p.5)

1.2. HRM: Objectives

 To create and utilize an able and motivated workforce to accomplish the basic
organizational goals.
 To establish and maintain sound organizational structure and desirable working
relationships among all the members of the organization.
 To secure the integration of individual or groups within the organization by co-ordination
of the individual and group goals with those of the organization.
 To attain an effective utilization of human resources in the achievement of organizational
goals.
 To strengthen and appreciate the human assets continuously by providing training and
development programs.
1.3. HRM: Nature
According to Invancevich and Glueck, HRM is concerned with the most effective use of
people to achieve organizational and individual goals. It is a way of managing people at
work, so that they give their best to the organization. HRM has the following features:

1. HRM is pervasive in Nature as it is present in all enterprises.

2. It is action oriented rather than record keeping, written procedures and rules as the
problems of employees at work are solved through rational policies.
3. It is individual, group and organizational oriented.
4. It is future – oriented as it plans for planning, development and maintenance of
workforce for business sustainability in future.
 5. It deals with macro and micro level people management.
6. It integrates people at different levels and across the organization.
7. It advises the line and operating managers to do their personnel work more
effectively.
8. It is inter-disciplinary in nature.
9. HRM is a continuous function, therefore, never ends.

1.4. HRM: Scope:

The scope of HRM is extensive and far-reaching. Therefore, it is very difficult to define it
concisely. However, we may classify the same under following heads:

 HRM in Personnel Management: This is typically direct manpower management

that involves manpower planning, hiring (recruitment and selection), training and
development, induction and orientation, transfer, promotion, compensation, layoff
and retrenchment, employee productivity. The overall objective here is to ascertain
 individual growth, development and effectiveness which indirectly contribute to
organizational development.

It also includes performance appraisal, developing new skills, disbursement of

wages, incentives, allowances, traveling policies and procedures and other related
courses of actions.

 HRM in Employee Welfare: This particular aspect of HRM deals with working
conditions and amenities at workplace. This includes a wide array of
responsibilities and services such as safety services, health services, welfare funds,
social security and medical services. It also covers appointment of safety officers,
making the environment worth working, eliminating workplace hazards, support by
top management, job safety, safeguarding machinery, cleanliness, proper ventilation
and lighting, sanitation, medical care, sickness benefits, employment injury
benefits, personal injury benefits, maternity benefits, unemployment benefits and
family benefits.

It also relates to supervision, employee counseling, establishing harmonious

relationships with employees, education and training. Employee welfare is about
determining employees’ real needs and fulfilling them with active participation of
both management and employees. In addition to this, it also takes care of canteen
facilities, crèches, rest and lunch rooms, housing, transport, medical assistance,
education, health and safety, recreation facilities, etc.

 HRM in Industrial Relations: Since it is a highly sensitive area, it needs careful

interactions with labor or employee unions, addressing their grievances and settling
the disputes effectively in order to maintain peace and harmony in the organization.
It is the art and science of understanding the employment (union-management)
relations, joint consultation, disciplinary procedures, solving problems with mutual
efforts, understanding human behavior and maintaining work relations, collective
bargaining and settlement of disputes.

The main aim is to safeguarding the interest of employees by securing the highest
level of understanding to the extent that does not leave a negative impact on
organization. It is about establishing, growing and promoting industrial democracy
to safeguard the interests of both employees and management.
The scope of HRM is extremely wide, thus, can not be written concisely. However, for the
sake of convenience and developing understanding about the subject, we divide it in three
categories mentioned above

1.5. Role and Responsibilities of HR Manager

All major activities in the working life of a worker- from the time of his/ her entry inti an
organization until he/ she leaves- come under the purview of HRM. Specifically the activities
included-
 Human Resource Planning
 Job Analysis And Design
 Recruitment And Selection
 Orientation And Placement
 Training And Development
 Performance Appraisal And Job Evaluation
 Employees And Executive Remuneration
 Motivation And Communication
 Welfare
 Safety And Health
 Industrial Relation and the likes.
1.6. HRM functions and objectives
Primary Objective: To ensure the availability of a competent and willing workforce
to an organization
Other Objectives:
Societal: Seeks to ensure that the organization becomes socially and
ethically responsible to the need and challenges of the society
while minimizing the negative impact of such demands upon the
organization
Organizational HRM is not a stand-alone department. It assists the organization
Objectives: with its primary objectives. Simply stated, the department exists
to serve the rest of the organization.
Personal Objectives: Personal objectives of employees must be met if workers are to
be maintained, retained, and motivated. Otherwise employee
performance and satisfaction may decline and employee may
leave the organization.
Functions
In order to realize the societal, organizational, functional and personal objectives, HRM
performs certain functions.
HRM Objectives and Functions
HRM Objectives Supporting Functions
Societal:  Legal Compliance
 Benefits
 Union-Management Relation
Organizational  1.Human Resource Planning
Objectives:  Employee Relations
 Recruitment
 Selection.
 Training and Development
 Appraisal
 Placement
 Assessment
Personal Objectives:  Training and Development
 Appraisal
 Placement
 Compensation
 Assessment
1.7. Organization of HR Department

Two issues

• HR department placement in overall setup

• Composition of HR department

Structure of HR

• Structure of organization depend on whether organization is small or large

• In small organization there is no need to have separate department to deals with

activities relating to people

• Many small organizations even do not have personnel managers

• Earlier, in personnel department employee with little knowledge and competencies

were placed

• The responsibility was to arrange tours, picnics, and retirement/farewell parties

• Now focus has changed, HR department has key place in overall organizations

• Contrary to small-sized company, In large scale organization there is big department

heading by Manager/Director
1.8: EVOLUTION OF HRM IN INDIA

In fact, the seed of HRM were sown during the industrial revolution 1850s in Western Europe
and USA. The wind gradually reached to India as well in the beginning of twentieth century.
Since then to the present era, the development of HRM may be classified as follows:

Table: Evolution and Development of HRM in India:

HRM has a humble beginning in India in 1920s. By now, this concept has blossomed into a
matured subject and profession. Venkata Ratnam and Srivastava have outlined the evolution
and development of HRM in India as shown in Table 2.1.

HRM in India: An Overview:

Now that we have delineated the evolution of the concept of HRM, we are prepared to outline
an overview of HRM in India. Like UK and USA, the evolution and development of HRM in
India was not voluntary. The aftermath of the First World War rendered the country with
difficult conditions. These manifested in various malpractices in the recruitment of workers
and payment of wages leading to trade unionism in organisations causing colossal loss in
production due to industrial disputes.

Given such scene, government intervened under compulsions to take care of the situation.
The Royal Commission of Labour in India, in 1931, under the chairmanship of J.H. whitley
recommended the abolition of the ‘jobber’ system and the appointment of labour officers in
industrial enterprises to deal with the recruitment of labour and to settle their grievances.

After Independence, the Factories Act, 1948 laid down qualifications and duties of Welfare
Officers and also made it mandatory for companies employing 500 or more workers to
appoint Welfare Officers with requisite qualifications and training.

In course of time, two professional bodies emerged: ‘The Indian Institute of Personnel
Management’ (IIPM), Calcutta, now Kolkata’ and the ‘National Institute of Labour
Management ‘(NILM), Bombay, now Mumbai. These two places were the premier centres of
traditional industry (jute and cotton respectively) in pre-independent India.
During the aftermath of the Second World War and Independence, worker’s needs and
expectations increased. During the 1960s, the personnel functions got expansion beyond
welfare function. Three areas were added to it: Labour Welfare, Industrial Relations and
Personnel Administration. All these three integrated into the emerging Profession called’
personnel management’.

This was followed by the Government’s massive thrust to the development of basic and
heavy industries since the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) and also accelerated growth of
public sector in the country. This, in turn, resulted in professional approach toward
management of organisations.

The professionalism in managing organisations became quite discernible by the 1970s. There
was a clear shift from welfare approach to efficiency one. The two professional bodies, IIPM
and NILM merged in 1980 to form the National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM)
with Kolkata as the headquarters.

Evolving along the years, the approach has shifted to human values and productivity through
people. It is against such a shift in managing people, in the 1990s, a new approach has
emerged, i.e., human resource management (HRM). This approach focuses more on
development aspects of human resource, i.e., human resource development (HRD).

The fact remains that the buzzword in people management in India is HRD and not the HRM
HRD, as is known, as a conscious proactive arrangement by employers that seeks to
capacitate employees to give their maximum to the organisation and to fully use their
potential to develop themselves.

HRD is only one of the functions of HRM. A survey of changed PM titles in India would
reveal that most organisations use HRD -related labels, not HRM-related. Many organisations
have no HRM policies- hard or soft- and uncritically name their personnel department as die
‘HRM Department’.

1.9. Changing Role in HRM Meeting Present and Emerging Strategic Human Resource
Challenges

The Changing Nature of HRM Function

Some critical issues have clearly emerged - planning, acquisition and development of human
resources, responding to the demands of the work place and, above all, evolving a strategy of
dealing with industrial conflict. As a management practice, it covers all the conventional
areas of personnel management and industrial relations, as well as the relatively new areas
such as communication, counseling, training and development, and job enrichment. An
attempt has been made in this paper to point out the experiences on the emerging issues in
managing human resources.
The Changing Nature of HRM Function

Today, competitive advantage is based on the successful application of knowledge. Managing

people, as an HRM function, has broadened, to include managing organizational capabilities,
relationships, learning and knowledge. These functions include four generic areas, i.e.,
(i) Roles,
(ii) Relationships,
(iii) Strategic focus, and
(iv) Learning focus.
These areas are different from each of the economy functions, like traditional, transitional
and knowledge.
Innovate HRM
 Crafting creative business strategies·
 Organizational restructuring
 Creating social networks
 Invoking new challenges
 Shifting approach
 Enabling companies to go global
 Leading to superior performance
 Creating knowledge work force
1.10. HRM Challenges

 Outsourcing HR activities
 BPO and call Centre
 To balance work with life
 To make HR activity ethical
 To manage Diversity
 Attitudes toward unions.
 Globalizations
 Changing demographics of work force
 Changed employees’ expectation.

BPO sectors challenges: Retention of employees

Steps to be taken by the HR manager for retaining the employee
  Proactive
 Motivation
 Reward (monetary & non-monetary)
 Right to speak
 Salary hike and increment
 Accommodation
 Conducive atmosphere of work
Call Centre Challenges: to prevent the young guys and girls from being burnt out.

 How to balance work with life

 Childcare at/ near the work place
 Job sharing
 Care for sick children and employees
 On site summer camp
 Training supervisors to respond to work and family needs of employees.
 Flexible work scheduling
 Sick leave policies
 Variety of errands from dry cleaning, dropping children at school, making
dinnerReservation
Making HR activities Ethical:
(HR manager should be transparent in dealing and set an example for other positively)

 Focus on ethical climate, and transparency in hiring procedure.

Managing Diversity
(Offer competitive advantages. E.g. To promote sale in different market and different
regions)

How to manage diversity effectively:

 Top management commitment to value diversity

 Diversity training programs for diversity awareness and educate employee on cultural
and sex differences and how to respond to these in the work place.
 Support group to provide a nurturing climate for employees, not to be isolated or
alienated
 Accommodate female employees’ needs such as childcare, job sharing to prevent their
turnover.
 Mentoring programs for the HR managers
 Apprenticeship programs to groom the promising prospective employees before they
are actually hired on a permanent basis
 Institute diversity audit to review the effectiveness of an organization diversity
management program
 Proper communication.
 Attitude towards unions
 Unit 2: HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING

Human Resource Planning- Nature and importance of HR planning, Factors affecting HRP, the
planning process, managerial succession planning. Analysis Work and Designing Jobs- Process of
Job Analysis, Methods of collecting job data, Competency based Job Analysis, Job design approach,
contemporary issues in Job Description.

The first operative function of HRM is procurement. It is concerned with procuring and employing
people who possess necessary skill, knowledge and aptitude. The scope of Human Resource
Procurement encompasses Human Resource Planning (HRP), job analysis,recruitment, selection,
placement, induction and internal mobility.

Concept of HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING:

Human resource (HR) planning or manpower planning is the process by which the organization
ensures that it has the right kind of people, at right time, at right place and they are working effectively
and efficiently and help the organization in achieving the overall objective. It is a continuous process.
Of developing and determining objectives, policies that will procure, develop and utilize human
resources to achieve the goal of the organization.
Objectives of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:
 To ensure proper utilization of human resources.
 To check the development of the employees for the achievement of the organization goal.
 To ensure proper human resource policies.
 To provide proper control measures whenever required.
Scope of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:
 To make the list of current manpower.
 To check how much current manpower is being utilized.
 To find out how much manpower is required.
 To make manpower procurement plans.
 To make the training programmes.
Importance of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:
 Human resource planning/ manpower planning is helpful in finding out surplus/ shortage
of manpower.
 It is helpful in employee development.
 It is useful in finding out the deficiencies in existing manpower and providing corrective
training.
 It is helpful in overall planning process of the organization.

Thus, the three key elements of the process after the review of organizational and HR objectives are

 Forecasting the demand for labor,

 Performing a supply analysis, and
 Balancing supply and demand considerations.
 Figure: HRP Process

Review Organization mission

objectives and strategies

Review HR objectives and

strategies

Forecast HR
Assess HR Supply
demand
Make comparison
 Internal source of
How many people will
supply
 External source of be required, when
supply and what type

Develop and implement HR plans

to match people and job opening

Managing manpower surplus and shortage

Manpower Shortage Manpower surplus

 Recruitment and selection  No further recruitment after

 Training and development retirement, death or resignation
 Over time etc  Separation
 Promotion and transfer etc.

HRP Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting

Hire new full-time employees

Offer incentives for postponing retirement
Rehire retired employees on part time basis
If a shortage of Attempt to reduce turnover
employees is Bring in overtime for present staff
Subcontract work to another company
expected …
Hire temporary employee
Re-engineer to reduce needs

Don’t replace employees who leave

Offer incentives for early retirement
If a surplus of Transfer or reassign excess employees
employees is Use slack time for employees training or equipment
expected….. maintenance
Reduce work hours
Lay-off employees

Source: Cynthia D. Fisher,et al., Human Resource Management, Houghton Mifflin, 1997, p. 114
JOB ANALYSIS

Job analysis: Job Analysis is the process of obtaining information about jobs by determining what the
duties, tasks, or activities of jobs are. HR managers use the data to develop job descriptions and job
specifications that are the basis for employee performance appraisal and development. The ultimate
purpose of job analysis is to improve organizational performance and productivity.
Analysis and Essential Job Functions

Statements in the job description of job duties and responsibilities those are critical for success on the
job. A job function is essential if:

 The position exists to perform the function.

 A limited number of employees are available to perform the function.
 The function is specialized, requiring needed expertise or abilities to complete the job.

Figure: Job Analysis Process

JOB DECSRIPTION
Task
Duties
SOURCES OF DATA JOB DATA Responsibilities
Job Analysts
Tasks
Employee
Performance
Supervisors
Standards HR FUNCTIONS
Responsibilities Recruitment
Knowledge Required Selection
Skills required Performance Appraisal
METHODS OF DATA
Experience needed Compensation
COLLECTION
Job Context Management, etc.
Interviews
Duties
Questionnaire JOB SPECIFICATION
Equipment used
Observation Skill required
Records Physical demand
Knowledge required
Abilities

Procedure for Performing Job Analysis

1. Select jobs to study
2. Determine information to collect: Tasks, responsibilities, skill requirements
3. Identify sources of data: Employees, supervisors/managers
4. Methods of data collection: Interviews, questionnaires, observation, diaries and records
5. Evaluate and verify data collection: Other employees, supervisors/managers
6. Write job analysis report
Process of Job Analysis
1. Information gathering
2. Job specific competency determination
3. Developing a job description
4. Developing a job specification
Information can be collected through Interviews, Questionnaires, Observation, Diaries.
Problems with Job Descriptions

1. If poorly written, they provide little guidance to the jobholder.

2. They are not always updated as job duties or specifications change.
3. They may violate the law by containing specifications not related to job success.
4. They can limit the scope of activities of the jobholder, reducing organizational flexibility.

Nature of JOB Basis for

ANALYSIS

What employee does?

Why an employee does? Determining job requirements
How employee does it?

JOB DESCRIPTION
Employee orientation
Summary statement of the Job
Employee instruction
List of essential functions of the
Jobs Disciplinary action

JOB SPECIFICATION
Personnel Qualification required in Recruitment
terms of skills, education and Selection
experience Development

Figure: Determining Job Requirements

Write statements that:

 Are terse, direct, and simply worded; eliminate unnecessary words or phrases.
 Describe duties with a present-tense verb, the implied subject being the employee performing
the job.
 Use “occasionally” to describe duties performed once in a while and “may” for duties performed
only by some workers on the job.
 State the specific performance requirements of a job based on valid job-related criteria.
Workforce analysis is doneto determine the rate of influx and outflow of employee. It is through this
analysis one can calculate the labor turnover rate, absenteeism rate, etc. Qualitative methods go a
long way in analyzing the internal flow created by promotions, transfers etc.
 Exhibit: Job Description and Job Specification
• Job Title
 Provides status to the employee.
 Indicates what the duties of the job entail.
 Indicates the relative level occupied by its holder in the organizational
hierarchy.
• Job Identification Section
 Departmental location of the job
 Person to whom the jobholder reports
 Date the job description was last revised
 Payroll or code number
 Number of employees performing the job
 Number of employees in the department where the job is located
 “Statement of the Job”
• Job Duties, or Essential Functions, Section
 Statements of job duties that:
• Are arranged in order of importance that indicate the weight, or value, of each
duty; weight of a duty is gauged by the percentage of time devoted to it.
• Stress the responsibilities that duties entail and the results to be accomplished.
• Indicate the tools and equipment used by the employee in performing the job.
• Should comply with law by listing only the essential functions of the job to be
performed.
• Job Specifications Section
 Personal qualifications an individual must possess in order to perform the duties
and responsibilities
• The skills required to perform the job:
o Education or experience, specialized training, personal traits or abilities,
interpersonal skills or specific behavioral attributes, and manual
dexterities.
• The physical demands of the job:
o Walking, standing, reaching, lifting, talking, and the condition and
hazards of the physical work environment
Table: Job Description and Job Specification of a manager, Technical, BPO Operation, New
Delhi

Job Description Job Specification

Job Description: Job specification
• Ownership of the technical consulting • 5-7 years of experience with at
operation, providing technical least 2-3 years in BPO
services to clients with regard to • Customer service / Care BPO
connectivity, specific application experience is essential
support, etc. • Experience of handling
• Lead the team (of Asst. Mgrs, Team technical processes in a call
leaders, Quality Coaches, Trainers centre
and technical support associate to • Knowledge of quote / order to
actualize on innovative business delivery cycle
solution in a cost efficient manner. • Excellent analytical,
• Manpower planning, recruiting, management and
scheduling, training and appraising communication skills
ensuring optimum resource • Must be open to work in night
utilization. shift
• Process planning and improvisation
• MIG generation and analysis for
customer and organization analysis
to track performance trends
• Coordinate with other departments in
order to assure the smooth running of
operations