Explain the concept of Human Resource Development.

Explain the concept of Human Resource Development. Discuss the principle in designing HRD system in any organization you may be familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.


Answer. Human Resource Development (HRD) is the integrated use of training, organizational development, and career development efforts to improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.


Human resources are the assets, which do not find a place for mentioning in the balance sheet of company. But it is one of the most important assets as human resources are a resource of production as well as they are utilizing other resources of production like a material, machines, money etc. Any investment made on training and development of people is sure to show the results in the years to come. The results of any HRD plan or scheme appear in long term.


HRD is neither a concept nor a tool, but is an approach using different personnel systems, depending upon the needs and priorities of the organization. The basic assumption is the belief in human potential and its development by providing a suitable and congenial environment.


HRD is a process, not merely a set of mechanisms and techniques. The mechanisms and techniques such as performance appraisal, counselling, training, and organisation development interventions are used to initiate, facilitate, and promote this process in a continuous way. Because the process has no limit, the mechanisms may need to be examined periodically to see whether they are promoting or hindering the process. Organisations can facilitate this process of development by planning for it, by allocating organisational resources for the purpose, and by exemplifying an HRD philosophy that values human beings and promotes their development.



Pareek and Rao (1975) outlined a philosophy for the new HRD system. They outlined principles to be kept in mind in designing the HRD System.
1. Focus on enabling capacity
2. Integrating the development of people with Organization Development
3. Maximizing Individual Autonomy and Growth through increased responsibility
4. Decentralization through Delegation and Shared Responsibility
5. Participation Decision-making
6. Balancing adaptation to and changing organizational culture
7. Balancing differentiation and integration
8. Balancing Specialization and Diffusion of the Function


9. Ensuring Responsibility for the Function
10. Balancing Linkages within and with other functions
11. Building Feedback and Reinforcing Mechanisms
12. Balancing quantification and qualitative decisions
13. Balancing internal and external help
14. Planning evaluation of the function
15. Continuous review and self-renewal


Some Subsystems
Training
This is the most frequently used and focused subsystem of HRD. This has been so significant in the past HRD was equated in some of the companies with Training. Even today it is not uncommon for an organization to redesignate their training centre as HRD centre or the Training department as HRD Department.


Performance Appraisal
In the past this system was an independent system to ensure role clarity, performance planning, job-related competency identification and development, development of critical attributes required by the job as well as those valued by the organization and identification of training needs. In the last few years this system is slowly being replaced by a better term called as Performance Management to include the following:


Performance Planning or Work Planning; Performance Development, Performance Analysis, Performance Review discussion (Coaching Counselling), Performance Appraisal or Monitoring and Performance Rewards and Recognition.


Of these the first four are developmental and the rest are both developmental and monitoring to ensure accountabilities.


Feedback and Counselling System


The assumption here is that every senior should be conducting feedback and counselling sessions with his/her junior periodically to help the development of each other and to develop together. The periodicity is left for the organization and the levels of the persons. It is recommended that at senior levels it should be at least every quarter and even monthly and at junior levels it could be half-yearly. It is a system of communicating expectations, understanding difficulties, empowering,


influencing, communicating, problem solving and mutuality building. To day most organization treat as a part of their performance management system.


Career Development and Career Planning
"Hope and advancement in one's career is one of the main motivating factors at any level of management. Some expectations of possible future opportunities of the individual is necessary to keep the manager's motivation high. Career planning does not mean predicting or envisaging what higher jobs will be available for each person. It essentially means helping the employee to plan his career in terms of his capabilities within the context of organizational needs. Career planning need not imply any specific commitment on the part of the management to promote an employee. It only implies that the individual after becoming aware of some of his capabilities and career opportunities and development opportunities, chooses to develop himself in direction that improves his chances of being able to handle new responsibilities.


Example: HRD FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Health professionals include Doctors, Nurses, other paramedical staff, Support service staff, Administrators at various levels (clinic, hospital, PHC, District, State and national Level etc.). Largely they can be divided into clinical staff or technical staff and non technical staff. The technical staff are medical paramedical and support. The non clinical staff are largely administrators, managers, and policy makers at various levels. In a changing world where knowledge is developing, expectations are going up, clients are becoming more and more intelligent and sophisticated medical technologies are being available it is important to ensure continuous development of various categories of health professionals. It is this continuous learning and development of professionals that ensures increased health services delivery, influences life expectancy and hence results in healthy living. HRD for health professionals would be the continuous and systematic activity that motivates the individuals to acquire latest knowledge and technology in order to provide better services to respective customers or clients. Creating and/or developing competencies of individuals in the area of healthcare management, national and organisational levels, is one such agenda linking HRD with Health professionals.



HRD therefore aims at continuous development of competencies needed to enhance the health status of people among all the health professionals who attend to the various preventive, curative and health building activities. Health here includes all forms of health as defined by WHO or similar agencies i.e. mental and physical


health as well as prevention, and cure, of contagious diseases (curable or non- curable, with or without known cures) or epidemics like plague, bird flu, mad cow etc.


Developing Human Resources in the context of Health Professionals implies competency building. Basic Competencies which are most essential in today's modern world, independent of role/position/post/designation, at the National and Organisational level in common, affecting performance/output and hence influencing health of individuals, would be the following:


1.Communication skills
2.Performance Management, monitoring and Feedback systems
3.Interpersonal skills
4.Basic Educational qualification
5.Quality of service, customer satisfaction


HRD at Individual level for Doctors
A Doctor is in healing profession. There are continuous developments taking place in the world of medicine. There are also new discoveries and new developments in diseases, their antecedents and consequences as well as management of health. This era can be called as knowledge era. Hence it is a inevitable imperative that Doctors and other healing professionals get out of date in their knowledge in short period of time after they graduate from the medical college. Hence they need to constantly update their knowledge and skills by reading and earning. HRD for doctors may be defined as continuous effort made by them to learn on the newer developments relating to their field, besides generating knowledge new skills on the basis of their own observation, analysis, and experience.



Every Doctor should use a variety of sources of learning and on a continuous basis to update his/her knowledge and skills. The sources of learning for Doctors should include:
1.Journals
2.Newspaper
3.Radio, television and other media
4.Internet
5.Patients
6.Medical representatives
7.Fellow Doctors
8.Shot term courses offered by other specialist, hospitals and institutions etc.


9.Visits to other hospitals and clinics
10.Own research and analysis