Scope of Human Resource Management… Significance of Human Resource Management › Mega RRHH
Administration of Human Resources in Organizations
Administration of Human Resources:
- Scope of Human Resource Management
- Significance of Human Resource Management
- Human Resource Management Functions
- Human Resource Management Model
- HRM Vs Personnel Management
- Human Resource Development
- Human Capital Management
- Talent Management
- Knowledge Management
- HR Manager- Key responsibilities and qualities
- HRM Environment in India
- Changing role of HRM
- e-HRM
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Scope of Human Resource Management
The scope of Human Resource Management refers to all the activities that come under the banner of Human Resource Management. These activities are as follows.• Human resources planning :- Human resource planning or Human Resource Planning refers to a process by which the company to identify the number of jobs vacant, whether the company has excess staff or shortage of staff and to deal with this excess or shortage.
• Job analysis design :- Another important area of Human Resource Management is job analysis. Job analysis gives a detailed explanation about each and every job in the company.
• Recruitment and selection :- Based on information collected from job analysis the company prepares advertisements and publishes them in the newspapers. This is recruitment. A number of applications are received after the advertisement is published, interviews are conducted and the right employee is selected thus recruitment and selection are yet another important area of Human Resource Management.
• Orientation and induction :- Once the employees have been selected an induction or orientation program is conducted. This is another important area of Human Resource Management. The employees are informed about the background of the company, explain about the organizational culture and values and work ethics and introduce to the other employees.
• Training and development :- Every employee goes under training program which helps him to put up a better performance on the job. Training program is also conducted for existing staff that have a lot of experience. This is called refresher training. Training and development is one area where the company spends a huge amount.
• Performance appraisal :- Once the employee has put in around 1 year of service, performance appraisal is conducted that is the Human Resource department checks the performance of the employee. Based on these appraisal future promotions, incentives, increments in salary are decided.
• Compensation planning and remuneration :- There are various rules regarding compensation and other benefits. It is the job of the Human Resource department to look into remuneration and compensation planning.
• Motivation, welfare, health and safety :- Motivation becomes important to sustain the number of employees in the company. It is the job of the Human Resource department to look into the different methods of motivation. Apart from this certain health and safety regulations have to be followed for the benefits of the employees. This is also handled by the HR department.
• Industrial relations :- Another important area of Human Resource Management is maintaining co-ordinal relations with the union members. This will help the organization to prevent strikes lockouts and ensure smooth working in the company.
The Human Resource Officer is responsible for providing support in the various human resource functions, which include recruitment, staffing, training and development, performance monitoring and employee counseling.
SCOPE
(The way that the position contributes to and impacts on the organization) The Human Resource Officer provides advice and assistance to supervisors and staff. This may include information on training needs and opportunities, job descriptions, performance reviews and personnel policies.The position coordinates the staff recruitment process .The Human Resource Officer provides advice and support to supervisors and staff selection committees and ensures that they have accurate and timely information in order to make effective decisions.
Failure to provide adequate advice or assistance may result in lost opportunities for staff development, poor staff morale, financial loss to staffs for residents and a loss of credibility.
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Significance of Human Resource Management
Advantages/benefits/Significance/importance/need of HRM
"I emphasize this - no matter how good or successful you are or how clever or crafty, your business and its future are in the hands of the people you hire".--- Akio Morita (Late) (Businessman and co-founder of Sony Corporation. Japan )
Ref: The Book : MADE IN JAPAN. Page.No.145
Human Resource Management becomes significant for business organization due to the following reasons.
• Objective :- Human Resource Management helps a company to achieve its objective from time to time by creating a positive attitude among workers. Reducing wastage and making maximum use of resources etc.
• Facilitates professional growth :- Due to proper Human Resource policies employees are trained well and this makes them ready for future promotions. Their talent can be utilized not only in the company in which they are currently working but also in other companies which the employees may join in the future.
• Better relations between union and management :- Healthy Human Resource Management practices can help the organization to maintain co-ordinal relationship with the unions. Union members start realizing that the company is also interested in the workers and will not go against them therefore chances of going on strike are greatly reduced.
• Helps an individual to work in a team/group :- Effective Human Resource practices teach individuals team work and adjustment. The individuals are now very comfortable while working in team thus team work improves.
• Identifies person for the future :- Since employees are constantly trained, they are ready to meet the job requirements. The company is also able to identify potential employees who can be promoted in the future for the top level jobs. Thus one of the advantages of HRM is preparing people for the future.
• Allocating the jobs to the right person :- If proper recruitment and selection methods are followed, the company will be able to select the right people for the right job. When this happens the number of people leaving the job will reduce as the will be satisfied with their job leading to decrease in labour turnover.
Facts
48% of employers struggle to find the right candidates: Manpower Survey
June, 2012: Nearly half of India's employers are struggling to fill critical positions because of a severe talent crunch, according to a study on talent shortage by staffing firm Manpower Group.
Although the situation has improved over last year, 48% of employers in the country are facing hiring challenges current year as against the global average of 34%, the study said. Talent is particularly scarce in information technology, marketing, public relations and communications, and engineering, it said. While it was difficult to hunt for R&D, sales manager and IT staff last year, this year the positions are for IT staff, marketing/public relations/communication staff and engineers. Personal assistants, call centre operators, researchers are also hard to find this year.
Lack of available candidates, technical competencies amongst those present,refusal to move to another location, poor image of the occupation, weak soft skills and demand for a higher salary have been key reasons in Asia Pacific for the posts to remain vacant.
• Improves the economy :- Effective Human Resource practices lead to higher profits and better performance by companies due to this the company achieves a chance to enter into new business and start new ventured thus industrial development increases and the economy improves.
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[ 3 ]
Human Resource Management Functions
The role of human resource management is to plan, develop, and administer policies and programmes designed to make expeditious use of an organisation’s human resources. It is that part of management which is concerned with the people at work and with their relationship within an enterprise.Its objectives are:
1. Effective utilisation of human resources;
2. Desirable working relationships among all members of the organisation; and
3. Maximum individual development.
The major functional areas in human resource management are:
1. Planning,
2. Staffing,
3. Employee development, and
4. Employee maintenance.
These four areas and their related functions share the common objective of an adequate number of competent employees with the skills, abilities, knowledge, and experience needed for further organisational goals. Although each human resource function can be assigned to one of the four areas of personnel responsibility, some functions serve a variety of purposes. For example, performance appraisal measures serve to stimulate and guide employee development as well as salary administration purposes. The compensation function facilitates retention of employees and also serves to attract potential employees to the organisation. A brief description of usual human resource functions are given below:
Human Resource Planning: In the human resource planning function, the number and type of employees needed to accomplish organisational
goals are determined. Research is an important part of this function because planning requires the collection and analysis of information in order to forecast human resources supplies and to predict future human resources needs. The basic human resource planning strategy is staffing and employee development.
Job Analysis: Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and specifying the human requirements, such as skills, and experience needed to perform it. The end product of the job analysis process is the job description. A job description spells out work duties and activities of employees. Job descriptions are a vital source of information to employees, managers, and personnel people because job content has a great influence on personnel programmes and practices.
Staffing: Staffing emphasises the recruitment and selection of the human resources for an organisation. Human resources planning and recruiting precede the actual selection of people for positions in an organisation. Recruiting is the personnel function that attracts qualified applicants to fill job vacancies. In the selection function, the most qualified applicants are selected for hiring from among those attracted to the organisation by the recruiting function. On selection, human resource functionaries are involved in developing and administering methods that enable managers to decide which applicants to select and which to reject for the given jobs.
Orientation: Orientation is the first step toward helping a new employee adjust himself to the new job and the employer. It is a method to acquaint new employees with particular aspects of their new job, including pay and benefit programmes, working hours, and company rules and expectations.
Training and Development: The training and development function gives employees the skills and knowledge to perform their jobs effectively. In addition to providing training for new or inexperienced employees, organisations often provide training programmes for experienced employees whose jobs are undergoing change. Large organisations often have development programmes which prepare employees for higher level responsibilities within the organisation. Training and development programmes provide useful means of assuring that employees are capable of performing their jobs at acceptable levels.
Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal function monitors employee performance to ensure that it is at acceptable levels. Human resource professionals are usually responsible for developing and administering performance appraisal systems, although the actual appraisal of employee performance is the responsibility of supervisors and managers. Besides providing a basis for pay, promotion, and disciplinary action, performance appraisal information is essential for employee development since knowledge of results (feedback) is necessary to motivate and guide performance improvements.
Career Planning: Career planning has developed partly as a result of the desire of many employees to grow in their jobs and to advance in their career. Career planning activities include assessing an individual employee’s potential for growth and advancement in the organisation.
Compensation: Human resource personnel provide a rational method for determining how much employees should be paid for performing certain jobs. Pay is obviously related to the maintenance of human resources. Since compensation is a major cost to many organisations, it is a major consideration in human resource planning. Compensation affects staffing in that people are generally attracted to organisations offering a higher level of pay in exchange for the work performed. It is related to employee development in that it provides an important incentive in motivating employees to higher levels of job performance and to higher paying jobs in the organisation.
Benefits: Benefits are another form of compensation to employees other than direct pay for work performed. As such, the human resource function of administering employee benefits shares many characteristics of the compensation function. Benefits include both the legally required items and those offered at employer’s discretion. The cost of benefits has risen to such a point that they have become a major consideration in human resources planning. However, benefits are primarily related to the maintenance area, since they provide for many basic employee needs.
Labour Relations: The term “labour relations” refers to interaction with employees who are represented by a trade union. Unions are organisation of employees who join together to obtain more voice in decisions affecting wages, benefits, working conditions, and other aspects of employment. With regard to labour relations, the personnel responsibility primarily involves negotiating with the unions regarding wages, service conditions, and resolving disputes and grievances.
Record-keeping: The oldest and most basic personnel function is employee record-keeping. This function involves recording, maintaining, and retrieving employee related information for a variety of purposes. Records which must be maintained include application forms, health and medical records, employment history (jobs held, promotions, transfers, lay-offs), seniority lists, earnings and hours of work, absences, turnover, tardiness, and other employee data. Complete and up-to-date employee records are essential for most personnel functions. More than ever employees today have a great interest in their personnel records. They want to know what is in them, why certain statements have been made, and why records may or may not have been updated.
Personnel records provide the following:
1. A store of up-to-date and accurate information about the company’s employees.
2. A guide to the action to be taken regarding an employee, particularly by comparing him with other employees.
3. A guide when recruiting a new employee, e.g. by showing the rates of pay received by comparable employees.
4. A historical record of previous action taken regarding employees.
5. The raw material for statistics which check and guide personnel policies.
6. The means to comply with certain statutory requirements.
Personnel Research: All personnel people engage in some form of research activities. In a good research approach, the object is to get facts and information about personnel specifics in order to develop and maintain a programme that works. It is impossible to run a personnel programme without some pre-planning and post-reviewing. For that matter, any survey is, in a sense, research. There is a wide scope for research in the areas of recruitment, employee turnover, terminations, training, and so on. Through a well-designed attitude survey, employee opinions can be gathered on wages, promotions, welfare services, working conditions, job security, leadership, industrial relations, and the like. Inspite of its importance, however, in most companies, research is the most neglected area because personnel people are too busy putting out fires. Research is not done to put out fires but to prevent them.
Research is not the sole responsibility of any one particular group or department in an organisation. The initial responsibility is that of the human resource department, which however should be assisted by line supervisors and executives at all levels of management. The assistance that can be rendered by trade unions and other organisations should not be ignored, but should be properly made use of.
Apart from the above, the HR function involves managing change, technology, innovation, and diversity. It is no longer confined to the culture or ethos of any single organisation; its keynote is a cross-fertilisation of ideas from different organisations. Periodic social audits of HR functions are considered essential.
HR professionals have an all-encompassing role. They are required to have a thorough knowledge of the organisation and its intricacies and complexities. The ultimate goal of every HR person should be to develop a linkage between the employee and the organisation because the employee’s commitment to the organisation is crucial. The first and foremost role of HR functionary is to impart continuous education to employees about the changes and challenges facing the country in general, and their organisation in particular. The employees should know about their balance sheet, sales progress, diversification plans, restructuring plans, sharp price movements, turnover and all such details. The HR professionals should impart education to all employees through small booklets, video films, and lectures.
The primary responsibilities of a human resource manager are:
1. To develop a thorough knowledge of corporate culture, plans and policies.
2. To act as an internal change agent and consultant.
3. To initiate change and act as an expert and facilitator.
4. To actively involve himself in company’s strategy formulation.
5. To keep communication lines open between the HRD function and individuals and groups both within and outside the organisation.
6. To identify and evolve HRD strategies in consonance with overall business strategy.
7. To facilitate the development of various organisational teams and their working relationship with other teams and individuals.
8. To try and relate people and work so that the organisation objectives are achieved effectively and efficiently.
9. To diagnose problems and to determine appropriate solution particularly in the human resources areas.
10. To provide co-ordination and support services for the delivery of HRD programmes and services.
11. To evaluate the impact of an HRD intervention or to conduct research so as to identify, develop or test how HRD in general has improved individual or organisational performance.
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Human Resource Management Model
The Human Resource Management model contains all Human Resource activities. When these activities are discharged effectively, they will result in a competent and willing workforce who will help realize organizational goals. There is another variable in the model – environment. It may be stated that the Human Resource function does not operate in vacuum. It is influenced by several internal and external forces like economic, technological, political, legal, organizational, and professional conditions.Human Resource Management: is a management function that helps the managers to recruit, select, train, and develop members for an organization.
Human Resource Planning: Human Resource Planningis understood as the process of forecasting an organizations future demand for, and supply of, the right type of people in the right number.
Job Analysis: Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and job specification.
Recruitment: Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.
Selection: is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify (and hire) those with greater likelihood of success in a job.
Placement: is understood as the allocation of people to jobs. It is the assignment or reassignment of an employee to a new or different job.
Training and development: it is an attempt to improve current or future employee performance by increasing an employee’s ability to perform through learning, usually by changing the employee’s attitude or increasing his or her skills and knowledge. The need for training and development is determined by employee’s performance deficiency, computed as follows: Training and development need = Standard performance – Actual performance
Remuneration: is the compensation an employee receives in return for his or her contribution to the organization.
Motivation: is a process that starts with a psychological or physiological deficiency or need that activates behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal or an incentive.
Participative management: Workers participation may broadly be taken to cover all terms of association of workers and their representatives with the decision making process, ranging from exchange of information, consultations, decisions and negotiations to more institutionalized forms such as the presence of workers members on management or supervisory boards or even management by workers themselves as practiced in Yugoslavia. (ILO)
Communication: may be understood as the process of exchanging information, and understanding among people.
Safety and health: Safety means freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. In order to ensure the continuing good health of their employees, the HRM focuses on the need for healthy workers and health services.
Welfare: as defined by ILO at its Asian Regional Conference, defined labour welfare as a term which is understood to include such services, facilities, and amenities as may be established in or in the vicinity of undertakings to enable the person employed in them to perform their work in healthy, congenial surroundings and to provide them with amenities conducive to good health and high morale.
Promotions: means an improvement in pay, prestige, position and responsibilities of an employee within his or her organization.
Transfer: Transfer involves a change in the job (accompanied by a change in the place of the job) of an employee without a change in the responsibilities or remuneration. Separations: Lay-offs, resignations and dismissals separate employees from the employers.
Industrial relations: Industrial relations is concerned with the systems, rules and procedures used by unions and employers to determine the reward for effort and other conditions of employment, to protect the interests of the employed and their employers, and to regulate the ways in which employers treat their employees.
Trade Unions: Trade unions are are voluntary organizations of workers or employers formed to promote and protect their interests through collective action.
Disputes and their settlement: Industrial disputes mean any dispute or difference between employers and employers, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or terms of employment or with the conditions of labour of any person.
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[ 5 ]
HRM Vs Personnel Management
Robert Owen is regarded as the father of personnel management-Human resource management Vs Personnel management
Human resource management has changed a lot for the past 100 years. Arena of human resource management has been widening with the increase of importance of employees who are core for running any business. Indeed HRM was evolved from personnel administration or personnel management, which deal with the staff or workers who were not looked as most valuable assets and investment for an organisation . Personnel management was mainly concerned with the administrative tasks that did with organising an organisation, such as record keeping and dealing with employee wages, salaries and benefits. The personnel officer, in charge of personnel management used to look after labour relations such as problems with trade unions or difficulties between employers (those who employ workers) and their employees. Besides the said functions of personal officer, the major role was to ensure the factory or organisation was in compliance with all the labour laws applicable to them. No doubt today's HR managers are also following the footsteps of the then personal officers but the approach towards the employees has changed. Today human resource have become foremost criteria and fundamental resource for setting up any business. Unlike in the personal management, today HR managers are focusing on the training and development of the employee so as to develop the skills and knowledge to match with organisation's needs. Personnel management used to emphasis on seniority of worker and working hours in order to decide remuneration but whereas in today's context, talent and skills are given equal importance with seniority for deciding the value of the job.Definition
Personnel Management - Personnel Management is basically an administrative record-keeping function, at the operational level. Personnel Management attempts to maintain fair terms and conditions of employment, while at the same time, efficiently managing personnel activities for individual departments etc. It is assumed that the outcomes from providing justice and achieving efficiency in the management of personnel activities will result ultimately in achieving organizational success.It is undisputed fact that personal management is the foundation for the evolution of human resource management. Many theories related to human resource management which are being learnt and applied in today's management were formulated during or before the era of personal management.You can see some of the theories on human resource are listed below.
There is no need to explain that the labour laws were enacted few decades ago. Just by seeing the year of the Act enacted, one can understand when it came into force and how the legislators had understanding about the production of interest employees and how to safeguard them against exploitation by the employers and also how to provide quality of work life, safe working conditions, basic wages and compensation in case of death of employee in the course of employment. as said above it used to be the duty of the personal officer to ensure that the establishment was moving in accordance with the labour laws. for you here is a list of major Labour laws.
Facts
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the world's largest HR department. OPM provides HR services for the federal governments workforce of nearly 2.8 million workers. It's staff carry out the tasks to recruit, interview, and promote employees; oversee merit pay, benefits and retirement programs; and ensure that all employees and applicants are treated fairly and according to the law.
To set the COLA (cost-of-living allowances) rates, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) surveys the prices of over 300 items, including goods and services, housing, transportation, and miscellaneous expenses. OPM conducts these surveys in each of the COLA areas and in the Washington, DC, area.
Human resource management is concerned with the development and implementation of people strategies, which are integrated with corporate strategies, and ensures that the culture, values and structure of the organization, and the quality, motivation and commitment of its members contribute fully to the achievement of its goals.
HRM is concerned with carrying out the SAME functional activities traditionally performed by the personnel function, such as HR planning, job analysis, recruitment and selection, employee relations, performance management, employee appraisals, compensation management, training and development etc. But, the HRM approach performs these functions in a qualitatively DISTINCT way, when compared with Personnel Management.
Major differences between Personnel Management and HRM
HRM has a long history of growing from a simple welfare and maintenance function to that of a board level activity of the companies. In recent years, the focus on people management from human capital/intellectual capital perspective is also shaping firmly. However, the hard fact is that this growth can be generally witnessed in management literature and rarely in practice. Peripheral observation of people management in organization can mislead the observers since, hardly there could be any organization that is yet to rename its old fashioned title of industrial relations/personnel/welfare/administration department into HRM department. But, in practice, these organizations continue to handle the people management activities the way they had been handling earlier. The reasons for this could be many and varied. Among them, the potential reason is lack of clear understanding about the differences between personnel/IR and HRM. Professor John Storey brilliantly portrayed these differences in 27 areas of people management in 1992 in his book titled Developments in the Management of Human Resources. These differences are illustrated in Table
Dimensions Personnel and IR HRM
Beliefs and assumptions
1. Contract Careful delineation of written contracts Aim to go beyond contract
2. Rules Importance of devising clear rules/mutually 'Can-do' outlook; Impatience with 'rule'
3. Guide to management action Procedures Business-need'
4. Behaviour referent Norms/custom and practice Values/mission
5. Managerial task vis-a-vis labour Monitoring Nurturing
6. Nature of relations Pluralist Unitarist
7. Conflict Institutionalized De-emphasized
Strategic aspects
8. Key relations Labour management Customer
9. Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated
10. Corporate plan Marginal Central
11. Speed of decision Slow Fast
Line management
12. Management role Transactional Transformational leadership
13. Key managers Personnel/ IR specialists General/business/line managers
14. Communication Indirect Direct
15. Standardization High (e.g. 'parity' an issue) Low (e.g. 'parity' not seen as relevant)
16. Prized management skills Negotiation Facilitation
Key levers
17. Selection Separate, marginal task Integrated, key task
18. Pay Job evaluation (fixed grades) Performance-related
19. Conditions Separately negotiated Harmonization
20. Labour-management Collective bargaining contracts Towards individual contracts
21. Thrust of relations with stewards Regularized through facilities and training Marginalized (with exception of some bargaining for change models)
22. Job categories and grades Many Few
23. Communication Restricted flow Increased flow
24. Job design Division of labour Teamwork
25. Conflict handling Reach temporary truces Manage climate and culture
26. Training and development Controlled access to courses Learning companies
27. Foci of attention for interventions Personnel procedures Wide ranging cultural, structural and personnel strategies
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Human Resource Development
Human Resource Development is the part of human resource management that specifically deals with training and development of the employees in the organization.Human resource development includes training a person after he or she is first hired, providing opportunities to learn new skills, distributing resources that are beneficial for the employee's tasks, and any other developmental activities.
INTRODUCTION
Development of human resources is essential for any organisation that would like to be dynamic and growth-oriented. Unlike other resources, human resources have rather unlimited potential capabilities. The potential can be used only by creating a climate that can continuously identify, bring to surface, nurture and use the capabilities of people. Human Resrouce Development (HRD) system aims at creating such a climate. A number of HRD techniques have been developed in recent years to perform the above task based on certain principles. This unit provides an understanding of the concept of HRD system, related mechanisms and the changing boundaries of HRD.HRD concept was first introduced by Leonard Nadler in 1969 in a conference in US. “He defined HRD as those learning experience which are organized, for a specific time, and designed to bring about the possibility of behavioral change”.
Human Resource Development (HRD) is the framework for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. Human Resource Development includes such opportunities as employee training, employee career development, performance management and development, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, key employee identification, tuition assistance, and organization development.
The focus of all aspects of Human Resource Development is on developing the most superior workforce so that the organization and individual employees can accomplish their work goals in service to customers.
Human Resource Development can be formal such as in classroom training, a college course, or an organizational planned change effort. Or, Human Resource Development can be informal as in employee coaching by a manager. Healthy organizations believe in Human Resource
Development and cover all of these bases.
Definitions of HRD
HRD (Human Resources Development) has been defined by various scholars in various ways. Some of the important definitions of HRD (Human Resources Development) are as follows:• According to Leonard Nadler, "Human resource development is a series of organised activities, conducted within a specialised time and designed to produce behavioural changes."
• In the words of Prof. T.V. Rao, "HRD is a process by which the employees of an organisation are helped in a continuous and planned way to (i) acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their present or expected future roles; (ii) develop their journal capabilities as individual and discover and exploit their own inner potential for their own and /or organisational development purposes; (iii) develop an organisational culture in which superior-subordinate relationship, team work and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well being, motivation and pride of employees." .
• According to M.M. Khan, "Human resource development is the across of increasing knowledge, capabilities and positive work attitudes of all people working at all levels in a business undertaking."
THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Human resource development in the organisation context is a process by which the employees of an organisation are helped, in a continuous and planned way to:1. Acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their present or expected future roles;
2. Develop their general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their own inner potentials for their own and/or organisational development purposes; and
3. Develop an organisational culture in which supervisor-subordinate relationships, teamwork and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well being, motivation and pride of employees.
This definition of HRD is limited to the organisational context. In the context of a state or nation it would differ.
HRD is a process, not merely a set of mechanisms and techniques. The mechanisms and techniques such as performance appraisal, counselling, training, and organization 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.
Difference between HRD and HRM
Both are very important concepts of management specifically related with human resources of organisation. Human resource management and human resource development can be differentiated on the following grounds:• The human resource management is mainly maintenance oriented whereas human resource development is development oriented.
• rganisation structure in case of human resources management is independent whereas human resource development creates a structure, which is inter-dependent and inter-related.
• Human resource management mainly aims to improve the efficiency of the employees whereas aims at the development of the employees as well as organisation as a whole.
• Responsibility of human resource development is given to the personnel/human resource management department and specifically to personnel manager whereas responsibility of HRD is given to all managers at various levels of the organisation.
• HRM motivates the employees by giving them monetary incentives or rewards whereas human resource development stresses on motivating people by satisfying higher-order needs.
THE NEED FOR HRD
HRD is needed by any organisation that wants to be dynamic and growth-oriented or to succeed in a fast-changing environment. Organisations can become dynamic and grow only through the efforts and competencies of their human resources. Personnel policies can keep the morale and motivation of employees high, but these efforts are not enough to make the organisation dynamic and take it in new directions. Employee capabilities must continuously be acquired, sharpened, and used. For this purpose, an “enabling” organisational culture is essential. When employees use their initiative, take risks, experiment, innovate, and make things happen, the organisation may be said to have an “enabling” culture.Even an organisation that has reached its limit of growth, needs to adapt to the changing environment. No organisation is immune to the need for processes that help to acquire and increase its capabilities for stability and renewal.
HRD FUNCTIONS
The core of the concept of HRS is that of development of human beings, or HRD. The concept of development should cover not only the individual but also other units in the organisation. In addition to developing the individual, attention needs to be given to the development of stronger dyads, i.e., two-person groups of the employee and his boss. Such dyads are the basic units of working in the organisation. Besides several groups like committees, task groups, etc. also require attention. Development of such groups should be from the point of view of increasing collaboration amongst people working in the organisation, thus making for an effective decision-making. Finally, the entire department and the entire organisation also should be covered by development. Their development would involve developing a climate conducive for their effectiveness, developing self-renewing mechanisms in the organisations so that they are able to adjust and pro-act, and developing relevant processes which contribute to their effectiveness.Hence, the goals of the HRD systems are to develop:
1. The capabilities of each employee as an individual.
2. The capabilities of each individual in relation to his or her present role.
3. The capabilities of each employee in relation to his or her expected future role(s).
4. The dyadic relationship between each employee and his or her supervisor.
5. The team spirit and functioning in every organisational unit (department, group, etc.).
6. Collaboration among different units of the organisation.
7. The organisation’s overall health and self-renewing capabilities which, in turn, increase the enabling capabilities of individuals, dyads, teams, and the entire organisation.
Features of Human Resource development
The essential features of human resource development can be listed as follows:• Human resource development is a process in which employees of the organisations are recognized as its human resource. It believes that human resource is most valuable asset of the organisation.
• It stresses on development of human resources of the organisation. It helps the employees of the organisation to develop their general capabilities in relation to their present jobs and expected future role.
• It emphasise on the development and best utilization of the capabilities of individuals in the interest of the employees and organisation.
• It helps is establishing/developing better inter-personal relations. It stresses on developing relationship based on help, trust and confidence.
• It promotes team spirit among employees.
• It tries to develop competencies at the organisation level. It stresses on providing healthy climate for development in the organisation.
• HRD is a system. It has several sub-systems. All these sub-systems are inter-related and interwoven. It stresses on collaboration among all the sub-systems.
• It aims to develop an organisational culture in which there is good senior-subordinate relations, motivation, quality and sense of belonging.
• It tries to develop competence at individual, inter-personal, group and organisational level to meet organisational goal.
• It is an inter-disciplinary concept. It is based on the concepts, ideas and principles of sociology, psychology, economics etc.
• It form on employee welfare and quality of work life. It tries to examine/identify employee needs and meeting them to the best possible extent.
• It is a continuous and systematic learning process. Development is a life long process, which never ends.
Benefits of Human Resource Development
Human resource development now a days is considered as the key to higher productivity, better relations and greater profitability for any organisation. Appropriate HRD provides unlimited benefits to the concerned organisation. Some of the important benefits are being given here:• HRD (Human Resource Development) makes people more competent. HRD develops new skill, knowledge and attitude of the people in the concern organisations.
• With appropriate HRD programme, people become more committed to their jobs. People are assessed on the basis of their performance by having a acceptable performance appraisal system.
• An environment of trust and respect can be created with the help of human resource development.
• Acceptability toward change can be created with the help of HRD. Employees found themselves better equipped with problem-solving capabilities.
• It improves the all round growth of the employees. HRD also improves team spirit in the organisation. They become more open in their behaviour. Thus, new values can be generated.
• It also helps to create the efficiency culture In the organisation. It leads to greater organisational effectiveness. Resources are properly utilised and goals are achieved in a better way.
• It improves the participation of worker in the organisation. This improve the role of worker and workers feel a sense of pride and achievement while performing their jobs.
• It also helps to collect useful and objective data on employees programmes and policies which further facilitate better human resource planning.
• Hence, it can be concluded that HRD provides a lot of benefits in every organisation. So, the importance of concept of HRD should be recognised and given a place of eminence, to face the present and future challenges in the organisation.
Colour coding HRD, Samsung style
It could well be a resort. It is, though in a different sort of way. The complex, located on rolling hills an hour's drive from Seoul, is Samsung's Human Resources Development (HRD) Centre, the place where the South Korean giant forges the mind and heart of its employees to its philosophy.Samsung takes its people seriously. It is constantly preparing them, at every level, for the rapidly changing world market that throws up ever-changing challenges. Employees of all the 70-plus companies of the group at one time or the other come here to be inspired and to learn to think out of the box..
Indeed, so serious is Samsung about its people thinking differently and spontaneously that it has designed the campus unlike any other. While many training/excellence centres recreate the college campus, Samsung has ideated differently, colour-coding its values and integrating them all over the campus so that these values get hard-wired among the trainees. If for people, it is Purple, it is Blue for Excellence, Red for Change, Green for Integrity and Orange for Co-prosperity.
But the predominant theme in the campus is Green, emphasising the company's commitment to integrity. As Mr Ja Hwan Song, Vice-President, Globalisation Team, HRD Centre, recently told a group journalists from India, the people philosophy is quite simply giving them a wealth of opportunities to reach their full potential. Realising that change is a constant and the innovation is critical to keep pace, the HRD Centre tries to equip its people to think differently.
Believing that a business cannot be successful unless it creates prosperity and opportunity for others, he says Samsung cares as much for its staff as for societies it operates in by being socially and environmentally responsible.
The training centre prepares new comers to Samsung for the journey with the organisation, promotes to take up the new responsibilities, senior executives to exchange ideas, and the top echelons to think far into the future. This is done chiefly through three key initiatives:
Shared Value Programme: The attempt is to give new comers the basics of doing good business. History, tradition, values form the basis of the programme with sessions on teamwork and creativity.
Business Leader Programme: A five-month initiative to develop the leaders of the next generation.
The participants are those with global competitiveness and all-round management skills. Global business management, leadership, and problem solving are the focus.
Global Expert Programme: A larger programme with varying periods, here the effort is to develop global spearheads with an emphasis on the local customs, cultures and practices besides foreign language, all designed to ready the managers for international assignments.
The HRD Centre also promotes Knowledge Management and Innovation in Practice with its cutting-edge education infrastructure, promoting values, and continuous assessment. The centre actively promotes field learning so that people can develop themselves wherever they are.
The campus is inspirational, and it has borrowed from the works of famous artists to design the spaces so that the trainees are positively influenced by the energies of these greats. So if the fifth flow has 3D in 2D format you are but reminded of cubist Pablo Ruiz Picasso. TV screen on the second floor corridor's ceiling could but be inspired by Nam June Paik, the Korean American artist, who has worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist and also credited with early use of the term ‘super highway' in application to telecommunications.
The sixth floor is inspired by the Russian-born French Expressionist painter Wassily Kandinsky, and the fourth has a Belgian artist Rene Magritte's surreal touch to it. But the piece de resistance is the third floor, whose corridor are lined with small and large images of Marilyn Monroe, unmistakably by pop-art icon Andy Warhol. The idea for front courtyard has been borrowed from Vatican's St Peter's Square.
If there all the paths led Christians to their temporal centre, here the pathways draw ‘Samsung's People' from across the 150 nations it's present in to its learning headquarters.
It is not all work and no play at the HRD Centre. The training sessions, according to Mr Ja Hwan Song, are fun-filled including pop performances as interludes to the think sessions. The two/three kitchens bring to the table a variety of fare from across the world.
Samsung taking its human resource so seriously is reflected in its attrition rate of five to six per cent among its worldwide staff roll of over two lakh.
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Human Capital Management
Any company that wants to achieve great success needs to pay close attention to human capital management. The employees of a company are the biggest asset it has and by keeping that asset strong, the company has the best chance of success. A company that pays little attention to its employees will end up with a team of employees who are unmotivated and unproductive. Human capital management can be the difference between a company with a winning team of employees all pulling together toward a shared goal, and a demoralized group who are providing little overall value.It is important that each and every member of the team is considered as an individual, each with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Human capital management assumes that any lack of knowledge amongst the employees of a company is purely down to lack of training or teaching, rather than looking upon it as a fault of an individual or a team.
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Human capital management provides a strategic approach to managing staff at a company. It differs from traditional HR practices as it is concerned less with administrative tasks and procedures and focuses more on getting the most out of staff for a happy and productive team. Companies who currently do not have any type of human capital management program in place should think carefully about implementing one. The employees benefit greatly from human capital management which in turn means the company benefits greatly too.
The approach to managing and organizing employees through a human capital management program is done in a number of ways. In essence, the approach should provide a fully inclusive strategy from even before a new employee is hired right through to their exit. Another important part of human capital management is succession planning and talent management. Being able to identify key members of staff as possible future
managers can make the decision making process for current senior management more straight forward, and allow for greater ease with forward planning.
Human Capital Management Defined
Human capital management (HCM) is concerned with obtaining, analysing and reporting on data that informs the direction of value-adding people management, strategic investment and operational decisions at corporate level and at the level of front line management. The defining characteristic of HCM is this use of metrics to guide an approach to managing people that regards them as assets and emphasizes that competitive advantage is achieved by strategic investments in those assets through employee engagement and retention, talent management and learning and development programmes.The Accounting for People Task Force Report (2003) stated that HCM involves the systematic analysis, measurement and evaluation of how people policies and practices create value. The report defined HCM as 'an approach to people manage-ment that treats it as a high level strategic issue rather than an operational matter "to be left to the HR people" '. The Task Force expressed the view that HCM 'has been under-exploited as a way of gaining competitive edge'. As John Sunderland, Task Force member and Executive Chairman of Cadbury Schweppes pic commented: 'An organization's success is the product of its people's competence. That link between people and performance should be made visible and available to all stake¬holders.'
Nalbantian el al (2004) emphasize the measurement aspect of HCM. They define human capital as, 'The stock of accumulated knowledge, skills, experience, creativity and other relevant workforce attributes' and suggest that human capital management involves 'putting into place the metrics to measure the value of these attributes and using that knowledge to effectively manage the organization'. HCM is defined by Kearns (2005b) as The total development of human potential expressed as organiza¬tional value.' He believes that 'HCM is about creating value through people' and that it is 'a people development philosophy, but the only development that means anything is that which is translated into value'.
Human Capital and HR
Human capital is not solely the people in organizations— it is what those people bring and contribute to organizational success. Human capital is the collective value of the capabilities, knowledge, skills, life experiences, and motivation of an organizational workforce.Sometimes human capital is called intellectual capital to reflect the think¬ing, knowledge, creativity, and decision making that people in organizations contribute. For example, firms with high intellectual capital may have technical and research employees who create new biomedical devices, formulate prod¬ucts that can be patented, or develop new software for specialized uses. All these organizational contributions illustrate the potential value of human capi¬tal. A few years ago, a Nobel prize-winning economist, Gary Becker, expanded the view of human capital by emphasizing that countries managing human capital better arc more likely to have better economic results.'
The importance of human capital in organizations can be seen in various ways. One is sheer costs. In some industries, such as the restaurant industry, employee-related expenditures may exceed 60% of total operating costs. With such significant levels comes an increasing need to measure the value of human capital and how it is changing through HR metrics.
Human Capital Management And Human Resource Management
In the opinion of Mayo (2001) the essential difference between HCM and HRM is that the former treats people as assets while the latter treats them as costs. Kearns (2005b) believes that in HCM 'people are value adders, not overheads' while in HRM 'people are (treated as) a significant cost and should be managed accordingly'. According to Kearns, in HRM 'the HR team is seen as a support service to the line' - HR is based around the function and the HR team performs 'a distinct and separate role from other functions'. Conversely, 'HCM is clearly seen and respected as an equal business partner at senior levels' and is 'holistic, organization-wide and systems-based' as well as being strategic and concerned with adding value.The claim that in HRM employees are treated as costs is not supported by the descriptions of the concept of HRM produced by American writers such as Beer et at (1984). In one of the seminal texts on human resource management, they emphasized the need for: 'a longer-term perspective in managing people and consideration of people as potential assets rather than merely a variable cost'. Fombrun et al (1984), in the other seminal text, quite explicitly presented workers as a key resource that managers use to achieve competitive advantage for their companies. Grant (1991) lists the main characteristics of human resources in his general classification of a firm's potential resources as follows:
• The training and expertise of employees determines the skills available to the firm.
• The adaptability of employees determines the strategic flexibility of the firm.
• The commitment and loyalty of employees determine the firm's ability to main¬tain competitive advantage.
Cappelli and Singh (1992) propose that competitive advantage arises from firm-specific, valuable resources that are difficult to imitate, and stress 'the role of human resource policies in the creation of valuable, firm-specific skills'. Other writers confirmed this view.
The HRM argument is that people... are not to be seen as a cost, but as an asset in which to invest, so adding to their inherent value. (Torrington, 1989, emphasis in the original)
Of course, all these commentators are writing about HRM as a belief system, not about how it works in practice. The almost universal replacement of the term 'personnel management' with HR or HRM does not mean that everyone with the job title of HR director or manager is basing their approach on the HRM philosophy. Guest commented in 1991 that HRM was 'all hype and hope'.
A survey conducted by Caldwell (2004) provided some support to this view by establishing that the five most important HR policy areas identified by respondents were also the five in which the least progress had been made. For example, while 89 per cent of respondents said the most important HR policy was 'managing people as assets which are fundamental to the competitive advantage of the organization', only 37 per cent stated that they had made any progress in implementing it.
However, research conducted by Hoque and Moon (2001) found that there were significant differences between the activities of those described as HR specialists and those described as personnel specialists. For example, workplace-level strategic plans are more likely to emphasize employee development in workplaces with an HR specialist rather than a personnel specialist, and HR specialists are more likely to be involved in the development of strategic plans than are personnel specialists.
Both HRM in its proper sense and HCM as defined above treat people as assets. Although, as William Scott-Jackson, Director of the Centre for Applied HR Research at Oxford Brookes University argues (Oracle, 2005), Tou can't simply treat people as assets, because that depersonalizes them and leads to the danger that they are viewed in purely financial terms, which does little for all-important engagement.'
However, there is more to both HRM and HCM than simply treating people as assets. Each of them also focuses on the importance of adopting an integrated and strategic approach to managing people, which is the concern of all the stakeholders in an organization, not just the people management function. So how does the concept of HCM reinforce or add to the concept of HRM? The answers to that question are that HCM:
• draws attention to the importance of what Kearns (2005b) calls 'management through measurement', the aim being to establish a clear line of sight between HR interventions and organizational success;
• strengthens the HRM belief that people are assets rather than costs;
• focuses attention on the need to base HRM strategies and processes on the requirement to create value through people and thus further the achievement of organizational goals;
• reinforces the need to be strategic;
• emphasizes the role of HR specialists as business partners;
• provides guidance on what to measure and how to measure;
• underlines the importance of using the measurements to prove that superior people management is delivering superior results and to indicate the direction in which HR strategy needs to go.
The concept of HCM complements and strengthens the concept of HRM. It does not replace it. Both HCM and HRM can be regarded as vital components in the process of people management.
The choices they make include how much discretionary behaviour they are prepared to exercise in carrying out their role (discretionary behaviour refers to the discretion people at work can exercise about the way they do their job and the amount of effort, care, innovation and productive behaviour they display). They can also choose whether or not to remain with the organization.
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[ 8 ]
Talent Management
All firms will be more particular about recruiting the right talent and employees who can make meaningful contributions to the firm.Talent management refers to the skills of attracting highly skilled workers, of integrating new workers, and developing and retaining current workers to meet current and future business objectives. Talent management in this context doesn't refer to the management of entertainers. Companies engaging in a talent management strategy shift the responsibility of employees from the human resources department to all managers throughout the organization . The process of attracting and retaining profitable employees, as it is increasingly more competitive between firms and of strategic importance, has come to be known as "the war for talent." Talent management is also known as HCM (Human Capital Management).In the ancient times Kings like Akbar used to keep Nine Genius with him. They were Super Stars of that time. The most famous among them were Birbal the Genius and Tansen the Music Maestro. Similar cases are there in all the pre-historic ages. In the Ramayan era King Dasharath had Top Talent with him in the form of Vasistha and Vishwamitra. In the Mahabharata era King Dhrutarashtra had Bhishmacharya, Dronacharya, Kripacharya, Karna, and other such stalwarts. In the Puranas you will observe that King of Gods Lord Indra had assigned the tasks to his 330 million god army. Everyone was talented rather expert in his field of excellence. There are many such cases found in ancient China, Greece, Roman Empire, Egypt, Hebrews, Phoenicians, Hittites, Norman, Celts, Vikings, Anglo-Saxon, Mongols, Japanese, Celts, Kush, and in many such known or unknown ancient civilizations like Vedic, Lothal, Maya, Mesopotamia, and Aztec. So, Talent Management is not new but it has taken a new dimension in the Global Village Era.
Meaning of Talent
• Ability, aptitude, bent, capacity, endowment, faculty, flair, forte, genius, gift, knack.
• Unusual natural ability to do something well that can be developed by training.
• Person or people with an exceptional ability.
Talent management is concerned with coordinating and managing the different talents people have to offer within an organisation. This is done by studying and evaluating each individual on their skills, talent, personality and character, in relation to filling a particular vacancy within the company. Everyone has different skills to offer and the hard part for a company is identifying those that fit in with the existing company culture - effective HR procedures will be able to identify these individuals and appoint them appropriately.
Talent in an employee can involve all kinds of elements, from their educational qualifications and skills, previous experience, known strengths and additional training they have undertaken, to their abilities, potential and motive, qualities and personality. Most companies practise TM in some way, this could be anything from the recruitment and selection of individuals, to their placement within the company, training and development courses, to performance management and various schemes that reward high-fliers and achievers. How involved a company is in talent management generally depends on the size of the business and their commitment to employees and their future.
Talent Management will not be successful if there isn't a system in place clearly identifying performance results. If a member of staff is deemed average then they should be rewarded to reflect this, whilst the high achievers in the company should receive higher rewards otherwise they will become demotivated.
Ten million manufacturing jobs vacant due to skill shortage: Study
April, 2012.INDIA:An estimated ten million manufacturing jobs worldwide cannot be filled due to shortage of talent, says a recent study conducted by the World Economic Forum and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. The study notes that the future of manufacturing is turning into a competition for talent.It says the shortage is pervasive despite the high unemployment rate in many economies where companies are struggling to fill manufacturing jobs, such as highly trained workers and engineers.
A global survey results reveals that the talent shortage is endemic across the world - but most acute in Japan (85 per cent of employers), Brazil (68 per cent), India (61 per cent), Turkey (58 per cent) and Hong Kong (58 per cent).
Meanwhile, employers in Ireland (three per cent), Spain (three per cent), South Africa (six per cent), the Netherlands (nine per cent) and Czech Republic (nine per cent) are the least likely to face shortages.
-- economictimes.com
48% of employers struggle to find the right candidates: Manpower Survey
Nearly half of India's employers are struggling to fill critical positions because of a severe talent crunch, according to a study on talent shortage by staffing firm Manpower Group.
Although the situation has improved over last year, 48% of employers in the country are facing hiring challenges current year as against the global average of 34%, the study said. Talent is particularly scarce in information technology, marketing, public relations and communications, and engineering, it said. While it was difficult to hunt for R&D, sales manager and IT staff last year, this year the positions are for IT staff, marketing/public relations/communication staff and engineers. Personal assistants, call centre operators, researchers are also hard to find this year.
Lack of available candidates, technical competencies amongst those present,refusal to move to another location, poor image of the occupation, weak soft skills and demand for a higher salary have been key reasons in Asia Pacific for the posts to remain vacant.
The study covered 1,500 employers in India, who were part of the 8,786 employers polled in the Asia Pacific region and 40,000 globally. Employers in Asia Pacific cited shortage of candidates, lack of technical skill, candidates' refusal to relocate, poor image of the occupation, weak soft skills and demand for higher remuneration as reasons for trouble in filling jobs.
Talent Management - Effective Measures to Hire and Retain Talent
Besides the usual duties of an HR department, one more has been added to the list - Talent Management. Talent Management is about identifying a person's natural skills, talent, personality and traits, while offering him or her job. Each person has a certain tale nt suited to a specific job profile. For example, in my case, the talent of being able to write well has got me into the field of content writing. It is the HR who hires and identifies the talent of new hires and places them in the right job in their organization.It is not as simple as it sounds. An employee stuck in the wrong job would result in new hires, re-training and other activities. Talent management is important for an organization as globalization and competition have increased the need to retain good performers in their field of operation.
Despite its importance, talent management has two challenges to face. The first is about finding new talent to fit in to the required job description. The second lies in retaining existing employees. People change jobs for reasons such as unhealthy working atmosphe re, better opportunities, good compensation package, gap between the organizational goals, personal goals and bad manage ment.
It is vital for the HR department to hire the right employee for a proper role in the organization or else increased attrition will contribute to the loss of business. Some effective measures for HR to hire and retain talent are:
• Hire right people: Hiring the right people for the right job is beneficial to the organization as well as new hires.
• Keep up the promises: When a company commits to one candidate, it has to live up to their promise and vice versa.
• Good working environment: A healthy work environment is the key to the growth of any business.
• Recognition of Merit: Timely motivation, rewards and appreciation will keep the employees' spirit alive and encourage them to perform better.
• Provide Learning Opportunities: Regular learning opportunities, on and off the job training sessions, management development programs and distance learning programs should be conducted for employees.
• Time to de-stress: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Similarly, an increase in work responsibilities and pressure can lower one's productivity. Regular entertainment programs, fun activities, etc, will leave employees refreshed and increased energy.
Today's competitive world demands that organizations retain existing talent in every form, making it imperative for the Human Resource department to nurture talent management effectively. It is beneficial to the organization as well as the employees.
Functions of Talent Management
In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, various functions that an organization should institute (through HRM and other departments) are given below:• Talent need analysis
• Locating the talent resources/sourcesAttracting talents towards the organization
• Recruiting/appointing the talents (in house or outsourced)
• Managing competitive salaries/professional fees
• Training and development of talent pool
• Performance evaluation of talent
• Career and growth planning
• Retention management
Therefore, Definition of Talent Management
Talent management or human capital management is a set of business practices that manage the planning, acquisition, development, retention and growth of talent in order to achieve business goals with optimized overall performance.There are a few companies which have incorporated the 3G of talent management, like Infosys, which was one of the first to step out and provide some best-in-class benchmark for other companies to follow.
Advantages of Effective Talent Management
• Competency gap between required competencies by the organization and available competencies reduces significantly.• Organization's effectiveness and efficiency can improve continuously.
• Helps in achieving the business goals with superior performance.
• Improves organization's overall culture and work climate.
• People are more satisfied.
• Retention of talent improves. People turnover goes down.
• Better overall growth of people associated with the organization.
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[ 9 ]
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management is the systematic approach to getting an organization to make the best possible use of its intellectual capital in order to sustain competitive advantage. Knowledge management is an enterprise discipline that promotes collaborative processes for the creation, capture, organization, access and use of information assets, including the uncaptured knowledge of people.Introduction
Knowledge is defined in many ways. The following are definitions of knowledge."Acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as form study or investigation."
There is another definition "Capturing, organizing, and storing knowledge and experiences of individual workers and groups within an organization and making this information available to others in the organization." (Knowledge Management online definition, 2006)
KM efforts typically focus on organisational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, and continuous improvement of the organisation. KM efforts overlap with Organisational Learning, and may be distinguished from by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. KM efforts can help individuals and groups to share valuable organisational insights, to reduce redundant work, to avoid reinventing the wheel per se, to reduce training time for new employees, to retain intellectual capital as employees turnover in an organisation, and to adapt to changing environments and markets .
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (An Effective tool for creating a Learning organization)
Prologue
When we stop Learning, We stop Growing.
This is a "Statement of Reference" in today's environment. This is applicable to corporate giants too." Learning is not by choice but by Rule". These were BUZZ words of many CEOs who had made a turnaround in their organizations. Jack Welch of GE, Michael Dell of dell Computers,
Billgates of Microsoft had made this a strategy in their organizations. The importance of knowledge networking, (as digital nervous system for the company) became very successful in their organisations because of their strong adherence to this practice.
• "Learn from own employees
• Learn from Customers
• Learn from competitors
• Learn from Bitter enemies too!
How to create a learning organization by effectively managing knowledge?
Four steps to achieve this.
1. Effective Documentation(processing and storing data)
2. Establishing connectivity through LAN/WAN/INTERNET
3. Dissemination (proper sharing of information among employees)
4. feedback and and continual improvement.
To achieve this what should be done?
Creating Knowledge Managers: Like Billgates who motivated the employees to become knowledge workers, organization can also go for establishing a group called "Knowledge Management Group" Which can play a key role in managing the knowledge in the organization .The World Seems to be Shrinking like an atom and these knowledge Managers will become very important like electrons revolving around the organization.Knowledge is a vital part of human resources in an organization. It assumes that human capital in an organization is an element of intellectual capital. Knowledge Management is defined as 'any process or practice of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge, wherever it resides, to enhance learning and performance in organizations'.
Knowledge Management focuses on the organization-specific body of knowledge and skills that result from the organizational learning processes and is concerned with both flow of knowledge and the making of profits. 'Knowledge Flow' represents the ways in which knowledge is transferred from people to people, or from people to a knowledge database. Knowledge Management is intended to capture an organization's collective expertise and distribute it to "wherever it can achieve the biggest payoff".
Knowledge Management is about storing and sharing the accumulated collective understanding and expertise within an organization regarding its processes, techniques and operations. Because it treats knowledge as a key resource Knowledge Management is a key component of intellectual capital, which allows HR practitioners to influence the area of people management.
One of the major requirements for Knowledge Management is to integrate the link between people management practices and organizational performance in professionally-run organizations. The organization has to monitor how HR contributes to the creation of tangible value in the form of knowledge-based outputs. For instance, in professional service organizations, the knowledge held by their staff is the key to the development of intellectual capital. Such organizations "sell their people because of the value they add to their clients".
Though the concept of Knowledge Management is of recent origin, interest in it has grown rapidly with the development of information technology (IT). Accordingly, a Knowledge Management system will require carefully prepared, structured management information systems (MIS) in which information is recorded, stored and made available to those who need it.
The essence of Knowledge Management then, is the need to have designated 'knowledge developers' to design the computer software to control the knowledge database, and the 'learning options' that will guide users in finding, at any given time, information that will serve their personal development and work needs.
A sophisticated Knowledge Management system aims not just at information-sharing, but also in meshing the assumptions and beliefs of the learner. Tacit Knowledge-expertise that is stored in people's heads-can be clarified and shared with others, eventually becoming 'newly created knowledge', which is understood and accepted throughout the organization.
Depending upon a person's position within the organization, and his/her viewpoint, encouraging a team approach to sharing knowledge and skills may benefit all employees, or may even prove to be a strategy by which the senior management can extract individuals' key knowledge in order to take advantage of the 'knowledge creation pool' existing within the organization. However, in an organization which is aggressively competitive and rewards individual achievement rather than teamwork, employees may be reluctant to share their ideas for a new service with their manager, simply to avoid the manager receiving a performance bonus for someone else's idea(s).
Therefore, an organizational climate of trust and mutual respect would seem to be essential in developing effective Knowledge Management Systems.
Finally, knowledge creation in an organization assumes that employees, especially at the middle and senior levels, actually know more than what they are perceived to know, even though they may not provide solutions to all of the organization's ills. Hence, the imperative for organizations will be to create an organizational climate wherein tacit knowledge can replace existing/traditional systems of knowledge-sharing; such a climate necessitates systematic training interventions appearing alongside the routine scheme of things. This will offer exciting new horizons for HR practitioners and managers at all levels, ultimately contributing to enhanced employee performance and organizational well-being and effectiveness.
Personal knowledge management (PKM) refers to a collection of processes that an individual needs to carry out in order to gather, classify, store, search, and retrieve knowledge in his/her daily activities. One of its focus is about how individual workers apply knowledge processes to support their day-to-day work activities
Personal knowledge management (PKM) integrates personal information management (PIM), focused on individual skills, with knowledge management (KM). Many people undertaking this task have taken an organizational perspective. From this perspective, understanding of the field has developed in light of expanding knowledge about human cognitive capabilities and the permeability of organizational boundaries. The other approach for PKM is metacognitive - it Focus on Individual Knowledge Worker
PKM is focused on personal productivity improvement for knowledge workers in their working environments. While the focus is the individual, the goal of PKM is to enable individuals to operate better both within the formal structure of organizations and in looser work groupings. This is as different from KM as traditionally viewed, which appears to be focused on enabling the corporation to be more effective by "recording" and making available what its workers know.
A core focus of PKM is 'personal inquiry', a quest to find, connect, learn, and explore.
PKM is a response to the idea that knowledge workers increasingly need to be responsible for their own growth and learning. They need processes and tools by which they can evaluate what they know in a given situation and then seek out ways to fill the gaps in their knowledge. This frequently involves the use of technology, though one can be good at PKM without using specialised tools.
Most organizations are nowadays realizing that knowledge management (KM) is one of the key success factors in today's economy, and all are moving toward the knowledge-based economy. All the KM view practitioners are aware that their success depends on the way they use their knowledge in order to get competitive advantage and create new knowledge. Various organizations strive for continuous innovation and for that KM plays a key role in
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[ 10 ]
HR Manager- Key responsibilities and qualities
The Human Resource Manager is a mid-level position responsible for overseeing human resources activities and policies according to executive level direction. They supervise human resources staff as well as control compensation and benefits, employee relations, staffing, training, safety, labor relations, and employment records.The Human Resource Director is a top-level manager responsible for the administration of all human resource activities and policies. The director oversees compensation, benefits, staffing, affirmative action, employee relations, health and safety, and training and development functions. They also supervise professional human resources staff.
The Human Resource Employment Manager directs the organization's recruitment, screening, interviewing, selection, and placement activities. They manage employment functions and staff members. In addition, they extend job offers and establish starting salaries, arrange advertising or employment agency services, and produce affirmative action or college recruiting programs.
The position of human resources manager ranks as the fourth best job in America, according to a recent list compiled by Money Magazine and Salary.com. The job rankings are based on salary and job prospects, as well as stress level, flexibility in work environment, creativity, and ease of entry and advancement in the field.
The criteria for hiring senior human resources executives include strong business acumen, proficiency in a variety of HR software applications and a track record of success, according to a recent CareerJournal.com article. The ability to measure and demonstrate returns on HR investments is key as well as experience with new services and technologies.
The Human Resource Labor Relations Manager directs the organization's labor relations agreement in accordance with executive level instruction and endorsement. They supervise labor relations support staff and serve as the management representative in labor negotiation, bargaining, or interpretive meetings.
The HR Training and Development Manager is responsible for the organization's staff training requirements, programs, and career development needs. They supervise training staff, plan and administer training seminars, and manage conflict resolution, team building, and employee skill evaluations.
The HR Generalist directs implementation of human resources policies, programs, and procedures. They advise management and employees on issues or problems relating to human resources. The HR Generalist is usually a senior position and works in all areas of human resources.
The historical rule of thumb for HR staffing requirements is one full-time professional HR person should be hired for every 100 employees. The actual ratio for a business can vary depending upon factors such as the degree of HR centralization, the geographic distribution of the employees served, the sophistication level of the employees, and the relative complexity of the organization.
Key responsibilities of Human Resource Manager.
Human Resource Manager is one of the most important key to open a lock hanging on the door of success in an organisation. If an Human Resource Manager is efficient enough to handle and to take out best from his team members any oragnisation and can achieve more from his target goals. Human Resource manager plays an very important role in hierarchy, and also in between the higher management and low level employees. Stated below are major responsibilities of Human Resource Manager:-Responsibilities:
To maintain and develop Human Resource policies, ensuring compliance and to contribute the development of corporate Human Resource policies.• To develop the Human Resource team, to ensure the provision of a professional Human Resource service to the organization. Manage a team of staff. Responsible for mentoring, guiding and developing them as a second line to the current position.
• To ensure timely recruitment of required level / quality of Management staff, other business lines staff, including non-billable staff with appropriate global approvals, in order to meet business needs, focusing on Employee Retention and key Employee Identification initiatives.
• Provide active support in the selection of Recruitment agencies which meet the corporate standard. Ensure Corporate Branding in recruitment webs and advertisements.
• Develop, refine and fine-tune effective methods or tools for selection / or provide
• external consultants to ensure the right people with the desired level of competence are brought into the organization or are promoted.
• Prepare information and input for the salary budgets. Ensure compliance to the approved salary budget; give focus on pay for performance and salary benchmarks where available. Ensure adherence to corporate guideline on salary adjustments and promotions. Coordinate increments and promotions of all staff.
• To develop the HR business plan.
• Ensure appropriate communication at all staff levels. To maintain and develop leading edge HR systems and processes to address the effective management of people in relation to the following in order to maintain competitive advantage for:
o Performance Management.
o Staff Induction.
o Reward and Recognition.
o Staff Retention.
o Management Development / Career Development.
o Succession Planning.
o Competency Building / Mapping.
o Compensation / Benefit programs.
• To facilitate / support the development of the Team members
• To facilitate development of staff with special focus on Line Management.
• To recommend and ensure implementation of Strategic directions for people development within the organization.
• Ensure a motivational climate in the organization, including adequate opportunities for career growth and development.
• Administer all employee benefit programs with conjunction with the Finance and Administration department.
• Provide counsel and assistance to employees at all levels in accordance with the company's policies and procedures as well as relevant legislation.
• Co-ordinate the design, implementation and administration of human resource policies and activities to ensure the availability and effective utilization of human resources for meeting the company's objectives.
• Counseling and Guidance cell - provide support to Managers in case of disciplinary issues.
• above points are amongst the most important responsibilities which has to be taken care by an Human Resource manager. He cannot take any above stated responsibility for granted.
The Human Resources manager originates and leads Human Resources practices and objectives that will provide an employee-oriented; high performance culture (work environment that you supply for employees) that emphasizes empowerment, quality, productivity, and standards; goal attainment, and the recruitment and ongoing development of a superior workforce. The Human Resources manager is responsible for the development of processes and metrics that support the achievement of the organization's business goals.
The Human Resources manager coordinates the implementation of people-related services, policies, and programs through Human Resources staff; reports to the CEO; and assists and advises company managers about Human Resources issues.
The Human Resource Clerk provides clerical support to the human resources department. They Maintain files and records, process employment applications, gather and distribute employee information. Additionally, they update personnel records and assist employees with forms and procedures.
Facts
HR directors in the U.S. earn the highest salaries in the world, according to a recent study by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Mercer studied HR executive compensation levels in fourteen countries. HR executives in the U.S. had the highest base pay followed by Germany and the U.K. India registered the lowest base pay.
Primary Objectives of the Human Resources Manager:
• Health and safety of the workforce.• Development of a superior workforce.
• Development of the Human Resources department.
• Development of an employee-oriented company culture that emphasizes quality, continuous improvement, key employee retention and development, and high performance.
• Personal ongoing development.
Qualities of Human Resource manager
1. Creativity Creativity is what separates competence from excellence. Creativity is the spark that propels projects forward and that captures peoples' attention. Creativity is the ingredient that pulls the different pieces together into a cohesive whole, adding zest and appeal in the process.2. Structure The context and structure we work within always have a set of parameters, limitations and guidelines. A stellar manager knows how to work within the structure and not let the structure impinge upon the process or the project. Know the structure intimately, so as to guide others to effectively work within the given parameters. Do this to expand beyond the boundaries.
3. Intuition Intuition is the capacity of knowing without the use of rational processes; it's the cornerstone of emotional intelligence. People with keen insight are often able to sense what others are feeling and thinking; consequently, they're able to respond perfectly to another through their deeper understanding. The stronger one's intuition, the stronger manager one will be.
4. Knowledge A thorough knowledge base is essential. The knowledge base must be so ingrained and integrated into their being that they become *transparent, * focusing on the employee and what s/he needs to learn, versus focusing on the knowledge base. The excellent manager lives from a knowledge base, without having to draw attention to it.
5. Commitment A manager is committed to the success of the project and of all team members. She/he holds the vision for the collective team and moves the team closer to the end result. It's the manager's commitment that pulls the team forward during trying times.
6. Being Human Employees value leaders who are human and who do not hide behind their authority. The best leaders are those who aren't afraid to be themselves. Managers who respect and connect with others on a human level inspire great loyalty.
7. Versatility Flexibility and versatility are valuable qualities in a manager. Beneath the flexibility and versatility is an ability to be both non-reactive and not attached to how things have to be. Versatility implies an openness ¬ this openness allows the leader to quickly *change on a dime* when necessary. Flexibility and versatility are the pathways to speedy responsiveness.
8. Discipline/Focus Discipline is the ability to choose and live from what one pays attention to. Discipline as self-mastery can be exhilarating! Role model the ability to live from your intention consistently and you'll role model an important leadership quality.
Facts
India ink: Tattoos in office
Shikha Mishra, 31, a human resource executive with a mobile phone company, has a phoenix inked on her right shoulder. It was after eight years of working that Mishra decided to get inked. While at work, the HR executive, who probably hands out dress codes to people on not to wear visible body art, decided to get her shoulder tattooed as it stays covered while at work. "It's a visibility issue. No one cares what you have on your body as long as it stays hidden," she says. Plus you look "professional".
Like most of the corporate dress codes - ties, formal pants, jackets - no tattoos at workplace is an unspoken rule. In other words, tattoos are not an issue in a corporate environment, provided they remain unseen. By and large, the consensus is tattoos and workplace don't mix. Maybe because they started as the bastion of the marginalised: gypsies, freak shows, criminals and the non-conformists. It's being the official expression of rebels and hippies that corporate world doesn't look kindly towards it.
The Unwritten Code
A study by job website CareerBuilders found that tattoos are looked as a sign of immaturity, bad judgement and bad taste by managers. Over 42% of managers polled said their opinion of someone would be lowered by that person's visible body art. Three out of four respondents believe that visible tattoos are unprofessional.Globally, companies prefer written down codes dictating what is acceptable. Starbucks requires employees to cover all tattoos and remove certain piercings. Walt Disney World doesn't allow its employees to use bandages to cover their tattoos, but they can use opaque makeup. Wal-Mart specifies tattoos 'that are offensive or distractive are to be covered by clothing or other means.'
HR lags behind in addressing employee concerns: TimesJobs
There is nothing worse than having unhappy employees for any organisation. While there are many factors that can trigger employee dissatisfaction - a disconnect with HR is a critical one that must be addressed urgently.Addressing people-related concerns as a key area where HR lags behind, considerably reveals a new study. The study by TimesJobs state that immediate attention is required in that area along with the improved time management in acting on employee concerns. The study states that while organisational structures and employee attitudes have undergone a paradigm shift, the HR function has been slow to adapt to this change.
"Most HR functions are still structured for an industrial economy rather than a people economy. For most businesses the biggest value lies in the people of the organisation rather than machines or patents. To deal with this new generation of employees, HR leaders need to make concerted efforts to improve their employee engagements, HRM practices, policies and procedures in order to bridge the perceptual gap revealed in this study." says Nilanjan Roy, head of strategy, Times Business Solutions.
Inaccessible HR
The majority of employees say they do not have good access to HR for advice and assistance. 60% employees say they face problems in finding and obtaining access to right person in HR department to get their problems addressed. In addition, 15% a further say that their problems are never resolved. In most cases, when there is a resolution, 45% employees state that it takes their HR over a month, 30% state it takes at least a week and only 10% state that it takes 2-3 days.HR plagued by poor response time
The majority of employees (55%) blame the poor turn-around-time of HR on insufficient skills in the department. Employees say getting HR information is more difficult because of lack of sufficient skills of the HR staff. Another 45% blame it on the lack of enough HR staff and resources in the department. About 65% employees feel that their HR function can do better as they don't make sincere attempts to resolve their issues.Poor People Orientation
While 65% employees rated their HR as 'Good' to 'Excellent' in handling process related issues - another problem is revealed in the poor handling of people-related matters by HR. Nearly 60% employees say their HR department fares poorly in acting on and managing people-related issues reported to them. However, while timeliness and approachability are the biggest concerns and aspects where employees think the HR department needs immediate attention. Nearly 30% employees rate the interactions with their HR department as good, 52% rate it as satisfactory and only 18% rate it as poor. HR is also highly rated in the area of recruitment and placement with 90% giving a good or excellent rating in sourcing, screening, recruiting candidates, induction of staff and payroll management.The quality of HR services in their organisation is rated as poor by 55% employees, since 60% employees are not promptly informed about important changes in HR rules or policies, 70% are not satisfied with the rewards and recognition policy of their HR. Only 30% employees says they get the training necessary to do their job effectively and 40% would like to recommend their company to others basis the current HR policies while 60% will not recommend it.
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HRM Environment in India
India is being widely recognised as one of the most exciting emerging economics in the world. Besides becoming a global hub of outsourcing, Indian firms are spreading their wings globally through mergers and acquisitions. During the first four months of 1997, Indian companies have bought 34 foreign companies for about U.S. $11 billion dollars. This impressive development has been due to a growth in inputs (capital and labour) as well as factor productivity. By the year 2020, India is expected to add about 250 million to its labour pool at the rate of about 18 million a year, which is more than the entire labour force of Germany. This so called 'demographic dividend' has drawn a new interest in the Human Resource concepts and practices in India. This paper traces notable evidence of economic organisations and managerial ideas from ancient Indian sources with enduring traditions and considers them in the context of contemporary challenges.INTRODUCTION
Over many centuries India has absorbed managerial ideas and practices from around the world. Early records of trade, from 4500 B.C. to 300 B.C., not only indicate international economic and political links, but also the ideas of social and public administration. The world's first management book, titled 'Arlhashastra', written three millennium before Christ, codified many aspects of human resource practices in Ancient India. This treatise presented notions of the financial administration of the state, guiding principles for trade and commerce, as well as the management of people. These ideas were to be embedded in organisational thinking for centuries (Rangarajan 1992, Sihag 2004). Increasing trade, that included engagement with the Romans, led to widespread and systematic governance methods by 250 A.D. During the next 300 years, the first Indian empire, the Gupta Dynasty, encouraged the establishment of rules and regulations for managerial systems, and later from about 1000 A.D. Islam influenced many areas of trade and commerce. A further powerful effect on the managerial history of India was to be provided by the Britishsystem of corporate organisation for 200 years. Clearly, the socio cultural roots of Indian heritage are diverse and have been drawn from multiple sources including ideas brought from other parts of the old world. Interestingly, these ideas were essentially secular even when they originated from religious bases.
In the contemporary context, the Indian management mindscape continues to be influenced by the residual traces of ancient wisdom as it faces the complexities of global realities. One stream of holistic wisdom, identified as the Vedantic philosophy, pervades managerial behaviour at all levels of work organisations. This philosophical tradition has its roots in sacred texts from 2000 B.C. and it holds that human nature has a capacity for self transformation and attaining spiritual high ground while facing realities of day to day challenges (Lannoy 1971). Such cultural based tradition and heritage can have a substantial impact on current managerial mindsets in terms of family bonding and mutuality of obligations. The caste system, which was recorded in the writings of the Greek Ambassador Megasthenes in the third century B.C., is another significant feature of Indian social heritage that for centuries had impacted organisational architecture and managerial practices, and has now become the focus of critical attention in the social, political and legal agenda of the nation.
HR industry grows at 21% over 4 years: Executive Recruiters Association and E&Y report
The human resource industry in India has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 21% over the past four years and is pegged to be around Rs 22,800 crore, according to a report by Executive Recruiters Association and Ernst & Young. As the industry gets more organised, new players, emerging sectors and multinationals are dropping anchor, and a changing mindset in traditional companies makes space for HR firms rather than referrals for hiring, it adds.
The 'Human Resource Industry Solutions Report 2012' indicates a maturing industry which is moving from being fragmented to getting more organised. The industry has players that are segregated into recruitment , temporary staffing and executive search. HR consultants' image has moved many notches up from being a vendor to that of a partner who plays a key role in the company's growth trajectory , says the report.
While the permanent recruitment in India is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore, the search industry is pegged to have a market size of Rs 600 crore to Rs 700 crore. The search sector gets its boost from foreign players entering Indian markets and expanding into different geographies and industries. Companies that deal with the automobile, luxury , agricultural and food business that have entered India in the past few years have used search firms to expand further.
The Economic Times, News Paper, 24 Jan, 2012,
One of the most significant areas of values and cultural practices has been the caste system. Traditionally, the caste system maintained social or organisational balance. Brahmins (priests and teachers) were at the apex, Kshatriya (rulers and warriors), Vaishya (merchants and managers) and Shwdra (artisans and workers) occupied the lower levels. Those outside the caste hierarchy were called 'untouchables'. Even decades ago, a typical public enterprise department could be dominated by people belonging to a particular caste. Feelings associated with caste affairs influenced managers in areas like recruitment, promotion and work allocation (Venkatranam & Chandra 1996). Indian institutions codified a list of lower castes and tribal communities called 'scheduled castes and scheduled tribes'. A strict quota system called, 'reservation' in achieving affirmative equity of castes, has been the eye of political storm in India in recent years. The central government has decreed 15 per cent of recruitment is to be reserved for scheduled castes, and a further seven and half per cent for scheduled tribes. In addition, a further 27 per cent has been decreed for other backward castes. However, the liberalisation of markets and global linkages have created transformation of attitudes towards human resource (HR) policies and practices (Khalilzadeh-Shirazi & Zagha 1994, Gopalan & Rivera 1997). Faced with the challenge of responding to the rationale of Western ideas of organisation in the changing social and economic scenario of Indian organisation, practitioners are increasingly taking a broader and reflective perspective of human resource management (HRM) in India. This manuscript has three main parts. In the first part is provided an overview of important historical events and activity that has influenced contemporary managerial tenets, the second part of the manuscript describes the emerging contemporary Indian HRM practices and indicates some interesting challenges. Much of the second part is also summarised on four informative Figures. The concluding section, the third part of the manuscript, succinctly integrates the two preceding parts.
The managerial ideologies in Indian dates back at least four centuries. Arthashastra written by the celebrated Indian scholar-practitioner Chanakya had three key areas of exploration, 1) public policy, 2) administration and utilisation of people, and 3) taxation and accounting principles (Chatterjee 2006). Parallel to such pragmatic formulations, a deep rooted value system, drawn from the early Aryan thinking, called vedanta, deeply influenced the societal and institutional values in India. Overall, Indian collective culture had an interesting individualistic core while the civilisational values of duty to family, group and society was always very important while vedantic ideas nurtured an inner private sphere of individualism.
CONTEMPORARY INDIA
FactsMUMBAI: Women breaking the glass ceiling in financial services, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) and media sectors are a common sight today. But the picture is fast evolving in traditionally male-dominated industries too. The Indian alcohol industry is for the first time seeing women manage the show in some companies, an unthinkable idea five or 10 years ago.
The world's largest drinks company, Diageo, has uncorked a bouquet of women to run its Indian operations following a quiet organizational rejig in recent days. Twelve of the top 30 managers are women. Four women directors, including a deputy managing director, spearhead Diageo's ambitions in the local alcoholic beverages sector.
The Economic Times, News Paper. Feb,,21,2012
India among top 10 in number of immigrants in the world
Mar, 2012, NEW DELHI: The number of foreign immigrants living in India is steadily declining, but India continues to be among the 10 countries with the highest in-migration in the world. At the same time, India sends the fourth largest number of emigrants to other countries.
In 2010, there were 5.4 million foreign-born people living in India, according to new estimates released by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. These numbers make India home to the ninth largest number of foreign-born people in the world.
But this number has been in decline since post-Partition migration and an influx of refugees from Bangladesh following the 1971 war.
There were 7.5 million foreign-born persons living in India in 1990. By 2000, this number was down to 6.4 million on account of the death of these older immigrants and refugees.
Indian HRM in Transition
One of the noteworthy features of the Indian workplace is demographic uniqueness. It is estimated that both China and India will have a population of 1.45 billion people by 2030, however, India will have a larger workforce than China. Indeed, it is likely India will have 986 million people of working age in 2030, which well probably be about 300 million more than in 2007. And by 2050, it is expected India will have 230 million more workers than China and about 500 million more than the United States of America (U.S.). It may be noted that half of India's current population of 1.1 billion people are under of 25 years of age (Chatterjee 2006). While this fact is a demographic dividend for the economy, it is also a danger sign for the country's ability to create new jobs at an unprecedented rate. As has been pointed out by Meredith (2007).
When India's young demographic bubble begins to reach working age, India will need far more jobs than currently exist to keep living standards from declining. India today doesn't have enough good jobs for its existing workers, much less for millions of new ones. If it cannot better educate its children and create jobs for then once they reach working age, India faces a population time bomb: The nation will grow poorer and not richer, with hundred of millions of people stuck in poverty. (p.133).
With the retirement age being 55 to 58 years of age in most public sector organisations, Indian workplaces are dominated by youth. Increasing the retirement age in critical areas like universities, schools, hospitals, research institutions and public service is a topic of considerable current debate and agenda of political parties.
The divergent view, that each society has an unique set of national nuances, which guide particular managerial beliefs and actions, is being challenged in Indian society. An emerging dominant perspective is the influence of globalisation on technological advancements, business management, education and communication infrastructures is leading to a converging effect on managerial mindsets and business behaviours. And when India embraced liberalisation and economic reform in the early 1990s, dramatic changes were set in motion in terms of corporate mindsets and HRM practices as a result of global imperatives and accompanying changes in societal priorities.
Indeed, the onset of a burgeoning competitive service sector compelled a demographic shift in worker educational status and heightened the demand for job relevant skills as well as regional diversity. Expectedly, there has been a marked shift towards valuing human resources (HR) in Indian organisations as they become increasingly strategy driven as opposed to the culture of the status quo. Accordingly, competitive advantage in industries like software services, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology (where India is seeking to assert global dominance), the significance of HRs is being emphasised. These relativities were demonstrated in a recent study of three global Indian companies with (235 managers) when evidence was presented that positively linked the HRM practices with organisational performance (Khandekar & Sharma 2005). In spite of this trend of convergence, a deep sense of locality exists creating more robust 'cross vergence' in the conceptual as well as practical domain.
IR Challenge
The Indian IR system has two main features. First, is the absence of the provision to recognise a union as a representative or agent for collective bargaining. Second, is the total dominance of government in regulating the industrial relations (IR) domain. Though it is relatively easy for members of a work organisation to be registered as a union under the law, it does not lead to the legal recognition by the employer in dispute resolution or bargaining process. This contention was made by Kuruvilla (1996) over a decade ago.
Indian industrial relations have evolved from political roots and labour market demands. An unique feature of Indian IR has been the dominance of political parties sponsoring unions. Union membership has been the most popular breeding ground for politicians, and political leaders have enjoyed the use of union platforms. Such politicisation has generated conflicts and rivalry creating mayhem and the hurting of labour interest. Nevertheless, in spite of wage determination by central government boards, and ad hoc industrial awards, enterprise level bargaining has yielded positive outcomes. Interestingly, during the 1970s in a period of the highest number of strikes, the registered number of unions grew fivefold. But a decade later profound economic and political reform movement saw a new direction in the trade union movement. A section of scholarly trade union leaders began to incorporate new global thinking in the union outlook.
Since the 1980s, the Indian industrial relations culture has been considerably impacted by the intensification of globalised markets. During this time and beyond, there has been a clear departure from traditional personnel management. The shift has not only been in the general tone, but in the substantive visions. Adjustment to the global imperatives of an emerging service sector, sunrise industries, and demographic shifts in competencies has given rise to new thinking. In spite of most of the Indian labour laws being entrenched in a world view that is very different to the current realities, and the obvious urgency for them to be updated to incorporate more flexible, competitive work systems, the built in rigidities are still proving a formidable obstacle.
The most alarming issue in the HR and IR context is the lack of job opportunities outside urban areas where more than 70 per cent of the population lives. As has been pointed out by Meredith (2007).
India Inc may give up to 20% pay hike to staff in 2012: Aon Hewitt
Employees in India seem to have a reason to cheer despite the prevailing economic uncertainties, as they could get pay hikes of as much as 20 per cent this year, as per two different salary surveys released today.
As per the annual India Salary Increase Survey by global HR consultancy major Aon Hewitt, the employees at companies in India this year would get an average pay hike of 11.9 per cent -- the highest in the Asia-Pacific region.
Another survey by job portal Naukri.com pegged the salary increases for this year even higher at up to 20 per cent.
Technical Services Recruitment and Retention
There has been a dramatic shift in the expectations of employees in the organised and globally linked sectors of the economy. An unprecedented rise in the disposable income coupled with a declining dependency ratio, has led to young professionals becoming extremely mobile. The problem is critically evident in the off shoring industry where the average retention period of an employee is considered to be around six to eight months. And the retention of senior level executives is an additional challenge. The attrition rates are highest in information technology (IT) (30-35%), business process outsourcing (BPO) (35-40%), insurance (35-40%), retail and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) (20-30%), and manufacturing and engineering (10-15%) (Chatterjee 2006).
Coming fiscal job offers in Indian software industry already top 100,000
The Indian software industry continues to add jobs at a fast clip despite the threat of a slowdown. The industry is estimated to close fiscal 2012 with an addition of around 230,000 jobs.
For the coming fiscal, the industry has already made about 100,000 jobs offers on campus, Nasscom chairman Rajendra Pawar said. But revenues are growing faster than people added, indicating that the shift towards non-linearity in revenues is beginning to happen. For FY12, IT industry revenues are set to grow at 16% but the number of people added is likely to grow only by 10%, says the industry body.
Over the last many years, the Indian software companies have also added over 25,000 jobs in the US for local citizens. "The kind of numbers Indian companies are adding is unprecedented. They will have to hire from every part of the world," said Nasscom vice-chairman and TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran.
About 5-6% of the workforce employed by Indian companies are locals. Chandrasekaran said the right way to look at these figures would be absolute numbers and not percentages because Indian talent was being hired by all companies, and even by industries outside of technology.
Over the last 20 years, the Indian IT industry has grown from $ 100 million to $ 100 billion, recording a phenomenal growth. Allocation for IT in India by central and state governments stands at whopping $ 10 billion but so far only $1 billon-$ 1.5 billion has been spent, said Pawar. Nasscom has also submitted a list of recommended procurement processes to the government, so the government projects don't become unviable.
One of the most concerning issues for HR managers in India is the high staff turnover. In industries like call centres, staff attrition is the single biggest issue. The industry has grown from zero employment to an employer of quarter of a million young English speaking, well educated and ambitious people. The point is well made by Slater (2007), who wrote.
The issue of retention is much more critical in the high value adding BPO sector such as R&D activities. This $40 billion industry has one of the highest attrition rates of around 20 to 25 per cent. The service laden BPO and Hord industry have the highest attrition rates. Many companies are developing innovative incentive packages in countering this job hopping phenomenon. Figure 4 illustrates some of these initiative by leading companies in India.
A dramatic shift in recruitment practices has been taking place as globally pretend Indian companies as well as global technical services rivals have made India a battlefield of recruitment for the best workers. For example, IBM's workforce in India has more than doubled in two years to a cadre of 53,000. This outcome has come with the elimination of 20,000 jobs in high cost markets like the U.S., Europe and Japan. The R&D centre of IBM is staffed by 3,000 world class engineers and is being recognised for its ability to innovate on all areas from simple processes, softwares, semiconductors as well as supercomputers. It is interesting to note that IBM has dominated the recruitment market in technical services in India during 2006. This leading company recruited 10,000 employees out of a total of 25,000 people who were recruited to the technical services industry. The prominence of IBM as an employer of technically qualified personnel has been acknowledged in the popular press (Business Week 2007).
Microsoft, Amazon among top recruiters in IIM-C laterals
Feb, 2012,NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) has received a total of 116 job offers from 54 companies during the lateral placement process at the campus, a placement coordinator from IIM-C, who did not wish to be named, told ET.
This includes five international offers from IT services giant Infosys. The institute has received about 100 pre-placement offers (PPOs) so far, taking the total number of students placed to 210 plus.
The lateral placements, which began on in the second week of January, concluded a couple of days ago at the campus. It saw participation from companies across sectors such as Information Technology, Private Equity, consulting and infrastructure, to name a few.
Software and Internet technologies company Microsoft has made the largest number of offers to candidates at IIM-C. The company has recruited nine people, across three different profiles- Microsoft IT, India Development Centre ( IDC) and Microsoft Finance.
Internet companies like Snapdeal.com, Zynga, Flipkart.com and Amazon have also recruited candidates in large numbers, the placement coordinator said. The institute, however, did not reveal specific number of candidates hired by these companies.
Amazon offered 10 profiles at IIM-C, which includes job profiles such as business development manager and operations manager. However, not all profiles were taken and the final number of candidates hired was less than 10.
Google, too, has hired across different profiles like industry manager, account manager and account strategist from IIM-C this year. The international positions offered by Infosys are for its client-servicing group. All these candidates will be based in the US or London. Other recruiters include GE Capital and Baring Private Equity.
Record hiring by BCG and McKinsey shift focus from finance sector to consulting cos at B-schools
Feb, 2012,AHMEDABAD: More freshly-minted MBAs from top B-schools are likely to make their way into consulting this placement season. Record hiring by The Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Co at B-school campuses this year and fewer offers from the traditional top recruiters, investment banks, have shifted the focus from the high-paying finance sector to the all-weather consulting companies.
BCG kicked off the IIM placement season by hiring 17 at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad , six more than the previous year. month of January, McKinsey picked 17 grads from the Indian School of Business, stepping up its 2012 hiring by 50% at the institute.
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Changing role of HRM
Human Resources Management seeks to understand and then support how people do their jobs. Just as important, however, is the understanding of the environment in which that work is done; and how it contributes to the over all success of the organization - i.e. organizational effectiveness. The two are certainly inter-related and inter-dependent.The Four Roles of HR To truly understand the field of Human Resources Management, one must consider and accept the four basic roles of the HR function, no matter how it's defined. Some of these are already understood and others less so. These are:
1. Compliance and enforcement
2. Management advocacy
3. Strategic partner
4. Employee advocacy
The first two we've got down pat. We've just begun making inroads on the third and still can't seem to get a handle on the fourth.
The Enforcer: Most HR practitioners will agree that the role as the employer's compliance officer is well established. But, it's increasingly difficult to keep track of changes in state, federal and local laws and regulations. These must then be translated into effective policies and practices. A greater emphasis is also placed today on taking preventative measures to forestall, or at least mitigate, the effects of employee complaints of harassment, wrongful discharge, or discrimination. Though generally perceived of as a reactive function, HR professionals will have to increasingly rely on proactive solutions.
Management Representative: This is the other traditional HRM role. As part of the management staff, the HR department is the point of interface between management policies and its employees. It's charged with communicating and interpreting management dicta. These responsibilities are also considered an extension of the compliance and enforcement roles. What is not communicated, can seldom be enforced.
The "open-book management" movement furthers a trend toward greater employee empowerment and is based on a greater sharing of information; much of which is coordinated through human resource procedures.
Strategic Partner: HR has begun stepping from its historical reactive function - like the guy who follows a parade of elephants with a shovel on his shoulder. A complaint is filed, react to it. Jobs open up, fill 'em. Absenteeism's on the rise, step up the discipline. The movement to include human resources management in the strategic decision-making process is a relatively new phenomenon. Only a relatively small number of organizations have yet to grant this recognition. This new role does bring with it additional burdens and responsibilities; to be aware of changes in the external environment that will impact the organization; offer appropriate strategies and procedures to anticipate change; and provide regular feed back that helps steer strategic planning. A whole new set of skills and perspectives will be required of HR practitioners.
Employee Advocate: This is not so much a new role as much as it's practically nonexistent. It's actually frowned upon in many organizations and is the most difficult of the four to realize. After all, it does seem to be a direct contradiction to serving as an advocate for management. It's an uncomfortable conflict that many practitioners either choose, or are encouraged, to avoid. Still, it's a role that must be accepted since it directly impacts the other three. Employee advocacy fosters trust and credibility in the relationship. If employees need someone to speak for them, and if it's not Human Resources, then who? You guess! Like the overlapping of HRM and OD, the four basic roles for Human Resources management are interrelated and mutually supportive. Success rests in fully accepting all four and striking the proper balance among them. Most HR functions already have the basics of the first two. The organization must shift its culture to accept the third. Both management and the HR professionals must recognize the need for the fourth. But none can be fully actualized absent the other three.
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e-HRM
e-HRM is the use of web-based technologies to provide HRM services within employing organizations. It embraces e-recruitment and e-learning, the first fields of human resource management to make extensive use of web-based technology. From this base e-HRM has expanded to embrace the delivery of virtually all HR policies. Within a system of e-HRM, it is possible for line managers to use desktop computers to arrange and conduct appraisals, plan training and development, evaluate labour costs, and examine indicators for turnover and absenteeism. Employees can also use a system of e-HRM to plan their personal development, apply for promotion and new jobs, and access a range of information on HR policy. Systems of e-HRM are increasingly supported by dedicated software produced by private suppliers.E-HRM is the (planning, implementation and) application of information technology for both networking and supporting at least two individual or collective actors in their shared performing of HR activities.
E-HRM is not the same as HRIS (Human resource information system) which refers to ICT systems used within HR departments. Nor is it the same as V-HRM or Virtual HRM - which is defined by Lepak and Snell as "...a network-based structure built on partnerships and typically mediated by information technologies to help the organization acquire, develop, and deploy intellectual capital."
E-HRM is in essence the devolution of HR functions to management and employees. They access these functions typically via intranet or other web-technology channels. The empowerment of managers and employees to perform certain chosen HR functions relieves the HR department of these tasks, allowing HR staff to focus less on the operational and more on the strategic elements of HR, and allowing organisations to lower HR department staffing levels as the administrative burden is lightened. It is anticipated that, as E-HRM develops and becomes more entrenched in business culture, these changes will become more apparent, but they have yet to be manifested to a significant degree. A 2007 CIPD survey states that "The initial research indicates that much-commented-on development such as shared services, outsourcing and e-HR have had relatively little impact on costs or staff numbers".
Types
There are three tiers of E-HRM. These are described respectively as Operational, Relational and Transformational. Operational E-HRM is concerned with administrative functions - payroll and employee personal data for example. Relational E-HRM is concerned with supporting business processes by means of training, recruitment, performance management and so forth. Transformational E-HRM is concerned with strategic HR activities such as knowledge management, strategic re-orientation. An organisation may choose to puruse E-HRM policies from any number of these tiers to achieve their HR goals.Goals
E-HRM is seen as offering the potential to improve services to HR department clients (both employees and management), improve efficiency and cost effectiveness within the HR department, and allow HR to become a strategic partner in achieving organisational goals.The recruiting aspect there are number of websites for recruiting of employees in companies some of the popular and important web sites in INDIA are listed below they are
• www.naukri.com
• jobsahead.com
• monsterindia.com
• careerindia.com
• placementindia.com
• jobsearch.rediff.com
• bestjobsindia.in
• jobzing.com
• Careerjet.co.in
• www.gigajob.com
SAP…WHAT IS IT ANYWAY?
SAP HR is a global human resource management system solution, covers
1. HR
2. PAYROLL
3. TIME MANAGER
4. TRANSACTIONS CAPABILITIES
5. HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
SAP, started in 1972 by five former IBM employees in Mannheim, Germany, states that it is the world's largest inter-enterprise software company and the world's fourth-largest independent software supplier, overall.
The original name for SAP was German: Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte, German for "Systems Applications and Products." The original SAP idea was to provide customers with the ability to interact with a common corporate database for a comprehensive range of applications. Gradually, the applications have been assembled and today many corporations, including IBM and Microsoft , are using SAP products to run their own businesses.
SAP applications, built around their latest R/3 system, provide the capability to manage financial, asset, and cost accounting, production operations and materials, personnel, plants, and archived documents. The R/3 system runs on a number of platforms including Windows 2000 and uses the client/server model. The latest version of R/3 includes a comprehensive Internet-enabled package.
SAP has recently recast its product offerings under a comprehensive Web interface, called mySAP.com, and added new e-business applications, including customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM).
As of January 2007, SAP, a publicly traded company, had over 38,4000 employees in over 50 countries, and more than 36,200 customers around the world. SAP is turning its attention to small- and-medium sized businesses (SMB). A recent R/3 version was provided for IBM's AS/400 platform.
The SAP HR module enables customers to effectively manage information about the people in their organization, and to integrate that information with ''other SAP modules'' and external systems. From the Organization Management perspective, companies can
• model a business hierarchy,
• the relationships of employees to various business units
• the reporting structure among employees.
• helps employers to track employee master data,
• work schedules,
• salary and benefits information.
• functionality focuses on employees' skills, qualifications and career plans
• process attendance and absences, gross salary and tax calculations, and payments to employees and third-party vendors.
Consistent with the overall integration of SAP R/3, the HR module shares information with other modules, such as Financial Accounting (FI), Controlling (CO), Production Planning and Business Workflow. The Payroll processes use Accounts Payable functions to print checks, manage payment and bank information, and process payments to tax authorities and other third-party vendors. Payroll results are also posted to General Ledger accounts for use in periodic income and expense reporting. For management accounting, information regarding employment costs can be transferred to Cost Centers with in the CO module. Employees can be assigned to Work Centers, which are used in conjunction with Production Planning. Assigned positions and reporting relationships from PD are used in Business Workflow to route purchase requisitions and other documents for approval. HR works with external systems either through certified interfaces with SAP partner products, or custom developed interfaces to customer defined systems.
Organizational Management Module Overview
• Forms the basis for the entire personnel planning and development application• Facilitates analysis of the organizational structure
• Allows planning to develop actual and proposed personnel scenarios
Personnel Administration Module Overview
• Establishes organizational hierarchies• Used to perform essential personnel administration tasks such as:
• hiring employees
• performing organizational reassignments
• termination from the University
• salary adjustments
• Data stored in such a way that you can easily access and maintain at any time
Recruitment Module Overview
• Functions you need for working through the entire recruitment process• Contains an entire range of powerful, flexible functions that you can use to implement an effective – and largely automated – recruitment strategy such as:
• Issuance of recruitment requests
• Selection process of applicant
• Applicant pool administration
• Notification to applicants
Benefits Module Overview
• Comprehensive method of administering employee benefits such as:• Health (medical and dental)
• Insurance (Life)
• Savings (Retirement)
• Spending Accounts (Medical and Dependent Care)
• Encompasses the key concepts and processes you need to manage extensive and highly individual benefits packages for your employees
• Open Enrollment
• Employee Life-cycle Events (e.g. Marriage, Child, and Separation)
Compensation Management Module Overview
• Toolset for strategic remuneration planning• Empowers managers to offer competitive and motivating remuneration
• Fixed pay
• Variable pay
• Merit increases
• Promotion
• Includes Personnel Cost Planning
• Allows experimenting with future projected costs
Training & Events Management Module Overview
• Enables you to plan and manage business events• Training
• Conferences
• Interfaces with other R/3 components
• Basis for extending and updating employee’s skills and knowledge
• Flexible Reporting
• Appraisal functions
• Provide important decision support feedback to ensure the business events offered are both high quality and effective
Personnel Development Module Overview
• Helps compare current or future work requirements with employees’ qualifications, preferences and aspirations• Can contain general measures to impart qualifications so that employees retain or further their professional skills and keep track with technological developments
• Converts training proposals directly into bookings for employees with qualification deficits or needs
Time Management Module Overview
• Enables flexible representation of all personnel procedures involved in recording and evaluating employee time data• Infrastructure for time data recording
• Work schedules
• Record of planned attendance and absences
• Recording of attendance and absence
• Annual and Sick Leave accrual
• Time evaluation
• Ability to transfer absence and attendance data to other SAP applications
Payroll Accounting Module Overview
• Ability to process payroll for employees using data from SAP Personnel Administration, Benefits, and Time Management• Payroll run (regular and off-cycle)
• Payroll corrections
• Payments
• Remuneration Statements
• Posting to Financial Accounting
• Third Party Remittance
• Offers a number of standard payroll reports
• Tax Reporter component allows you to generate all required state and federal tax forms
E-HRM Goals
E-HRM is seen as offering the potential to improve services to HR department clients (both employees and management), improve efficiency and cost effectiveness within the HR department, and allow HR to become a strategic partner in achieving organisational goals.Facts
NEW DELHI: India has the world's youngest internet population with 75 per cent of all users under the age of 35 years, said research firm comScore Friday. The findings were announced by comScore's co-founder and executive chairman Gian M. Fulgoni at the second edition of digital marketing event 'ad:tech' being organised here.
In comparison to India, the world's average of under 35-year users stood at 52 per cent and 55 per cent in Asia Pacific region. "Further, a third of India's total online population is between 15 to 24 years," said Fulgoni.
Indian users spent a total of 34.47 billion minutes online last year, which translated to over half a billion hours, he added.
60% employers to monitor their employees' Facebook pages by 2015: Gartner
Many employers already monitor their workers' Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages - but the practice is set to increase, a new report has revealed.
A new report by data analysts Gartner has claimed that by the year 2015, 60 per cent of employers will monitor social media pages of their employees. The 'Big Brother' monitoring will be driven by security worries about employees leaking information or talking negatively about their workplace.
Electronic technology in employee overtime management
overtime payment is one of the overheads under the compensation management by the human resource Department. According to labour laws of different countries like in United States, Fair labour standards act and in India, factories act 1948, overtime should be paid double the wage than the normal working hours.
Introduction of the electronic technology in the human resource functional task will result in better controlling and cost saving. Biometrics is the latest electronic technology design for accurate attendance maintenance for human beings with zero errors or frauds. Biometrics scans finger of human and stores permanently as his identity and proof that he is present. Many companies are entrusting attendance management to biometrics that gives accurate attendance dates with in and exit time of employee. The time employee remained in office on work can be monitored exactly and hence paid appropriate remuneration to his total working hours. Biometrics are playing very crucial role in the employee work time management that is linked with compensation management and and also in cost-saving by measuring employee work time contributed to organisation.
Biometric system leads to reduction in sum paid as overtime
INDIA, March, 2012: The amount paid on an average per month as overtime allowance to the employees of Finance Ministry has come down by around one fourth after installation of biometric attendance system, the Ministry has said in response to an RTI query.
The Ministry used to pay an average overtime allowance of Rs 2,26,978 each month, which after installation of biometric attendance system has reduced to Rs 62,600 approximately, the RTI (The Right to Information Act 2005 ) reply.
Biometric attendance system was installed in the Ministry to ensure that the employees and officials come to their office on time and do not leave early.
The application to seek the information on overtime allowance paid by the Ministry was filed by RTI activist Gopal Prasad.
He had also sought information on the modernisation plans undertaken by the Ministry at its offices here.
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Source: Human resource management (web). www.whatishumanresource.com (english)