UNIT 15 ORGANISING FOR HRD

Structure
15.0 Objectives
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Various Forms of HRD Organisation
15.3 HRD Departments and their Tasks
15.4 Competencies Required for HRD Staff
15.5 Developing HRD Facilitation Competencies
15.6 Let Us Sum Up
15.7 Clues to Answers

15.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit you should be able to:
• understand and identify various alternative forms of structuring and organising the HRD
functions,
• state the roles to be played by the HRD staff,
• identify the competency requirements of HRD staff, and
• state the various mechanisms of developing HRD facilitation competencies in HRD staff.

15.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous Units you have learned about HRD and its importance to an organisation. It is a
challenging job to look after the development of the total human resource of any organisation.
Every person may have different expectations from HRD. To manage the HRD programmes
skillfully the management should be aware of the need and correct positioning of HRD in their
organisation. Till now you have read about the working and organising that any HRD division
does. In this Unit you will read about organising and the work that goes for correctly positioning
the HRD in an organisation. Different organisations have different objectives and work pattern,
and accordingly HRD has to be positioned.

15.2 VARIOUS FORMS OF HRD ORGANISATION

HRD roles can be structured in various ways. The form of structuring depends upon the size of
the organisation, history of the organisation, nature of its activities, the structure of the
organisation and the like. The following are some of the forms:
1) HRD Function Through a Separate Department
A group of persons may be assigned HRD roles and created as a separate unit or department. This
department could be a part of the Personnel Department or an independent entity with some
linkages with the personnel department. The size of the HRD department depends on the size of
the organisation as well as its spread of activities including the geographic spread. While there
are no rigid rules or principles it may be useful to have one full-time HRD person to look after
about 500 to 1000 employees (including employees, supervisors, and managerial staff).
Alternately, for every 100-200 managerial staff it is useful to have a HRD staff member. He or

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she may be called a HRD manager or HRD Executive or HRD Officer, etc. The designation may
be in tune with the organisational culture and acceptable designation.
Whether the department should be a part of the personnel department or not depends on the
credibility and status of the personnel department. HRD staff act as change agents. A lot of their
work involves inspiration and persuasion. If the personnel department is perceived as a
“maintenance” department or as an administrative department, that ensures discipline, salary
administration, perks, welfare, etc. keeping HRD department as a part of personnel may create
credibility problems for HRD. However, if personnel department has a high degree of credibility
and is seen also as a development-oriented department, the HRD could be made a part of it. This
decision of placing the HRD department needs to be taken after careful consideration of these
factors.
Irrespective of whether it is a part of personnel or a separate department, it should have strong
linkages with the personnel and should have scope to influence personnel decisions as well as get
an opportunity to understand employee development needs through the personnel management
issues. Such linkages may be provided through various committees and other mechanisms. For
example, there could be a committee on Performance Appraisals to monitor the effective
implementation of performance appraisals with representation from HRD, personnel and other
line managers. Similarly, in reward administration and personnel policy formulation HRD staff
may be involved.
HRD departments should also have linkages with corporate planning, management services,
organisation and planning, industrial engineering, etc. departments/units/groups. HRD staff will
have a lot to learn from these departments and also contribute to their effective functioning.
2) Committee/Task Forces form of Organisation
Another effective way of promoting HRD is through committee/task force and work-groups, in
relatively small organisations or even in medium sized organisations. Even large organisations
could experiment with committee/task force form of organising HRD.
In this form of group of persons form different departments and/or areas/regions/locations is
constituted by the top management to form an HRD Task Force or HRD Committee. The
members of this task force are given HRD facilitation responsibilities in addition to their line or
other responsibilities. They are not only to promote HRD in their own unit/department but also
should formulate policies for the entire company, identify appropriate HRD systems, plan
strategies of implementing, participate in the implementation process and monitor and review
HRD implementation.
Different titles could be used for this group. It could be a “HRD Group” or “HRD Committee” or
“HRD Task Force” or “HRD Implementation work group” or “Working Group on HRD”, etc.
The main difference from this and the HRD department is that HRD is not the main job of the
members of this group while it is the main job of the members or staff of the HRD department.
The members, however, are expected to do this task all through the year and additional facilities
may be given to them to facilitate their HRD work. The task force or the group may have a
chairman or Head who may be given a HRD Officer or a Staff member to assist him/her or assist
the group. The Personnel Manager or the Chief of Training (if there is such provision) or one of
the members of the corporate planning cell may be given the task of the member-secretary of this
task force or group.
The group may keep meeting periodically to perform various HRD functions which a HRD
department would have performed. The group may however assign a large part of the
administrative work to the department or person who works as a Secretary or Chairman of the
task force or the group.

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The composition of group and the credibility of group members are very important for the
effectiveness of the team. The team should be line managers, who are considered effective in
their own jobs. They should have positive attitude to the HRD function and should be trained or
oriented sufficiently in HRD facilitation skills.
The form of organisation for HRD is likely to be effective, if there is committee culture in the
organisation and these committees take their work seriously. This also implies that the group
members are able to set aside a good part of their time for HRD work.
3) HRD Organisation Around the CEO
Another way of organising for HRD is to have the Chief Executive Officer as the HRD facilitator.
This may become inevitable in small scale organisations, voluntary agencies, educational
institutions and other small size organisation. For example, schools and colleges, smaller travel
agencies or hotels, voluntary agencies, government offices, like that of the BDOs office or the
Collector’s office or the Police Station or the Post Office, etc. cannot have separate formal HRD
departments or staff. In such organisations the Chief Executive of the unit should become the
HRD facilitator. It should be an integral part of his or her role. He or she may, if necessary,
appoint from time to time temporary teams or working groups to look at specific tasks or
activities.
In case where CEO himself or herself has to perform this function, the function faces a very high
risk. The risk involved is the non-HRD priorities that keep coming to the CEO as challenge,
problems and crisis situations leaving him or her very little time to do any HRD work. In order to
avoid this danger the CEO can also appoint one of his or her senior staff as a second in command
to look after the HRD activities. The CEO may also develop a check-list of HRD activities and
keep reviewing once in a year how effectively he or she has been performing this function.
4) Organising HRD Through other Departments/Units
In addition to the above three forms of organising HRD could be organised through some of the
existing departments or units. Some of the appropriate departments or units that could be used for
undertaking HRD responsibilities are: Corporate Planning or Strategic Planning Cell (if there is
some such unit), the training department or training centre, the personnel department, the
management service department, the administrative department and the like.
This may be considered as the least preferred or least effective form of organising for HRD. This
is because these departments have established their own identity which may interfere with
effective implementation of HRD. They may not have the same commitment to HRD as the other
three groups are likely to have. However, in some organisations where these groups/departments
are already doing good work this may work as the simplest, and cost-effective form of organising
HRD. If personnel and training departments are given HRD responsibilities, extra care needs to
be taken to ensure that they do not reduce HRD to training and performance appraisals.
If there is an OD (Organisation Development) cell it will be ideal to assign the HRD tasks, if the
organisation decides to use this form of organisation. OD and HRD have very similar concerns
and OD facilitators are normally well equipped to handle HRD activities.

15.3 HRD DEPARTMENTS AND THEIR TASKS

The main objective of the HRD department is to create learning environment and a developing
climate in the organisation. By learning, it is meant, a culture where employees continuously
learn from their own experience and from the various learning opportunities the organisation
provides. The HRD department also should be sensitive to the motivational pattern of employees
and try to develop motivation. The HRD department should create an “enabling” culture where

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the employees are able to make things happen and in the process discover and utilise their
potential. The most important objective of the HRD function is to create learning environment in
the organisation so that each member of the organisation continuously learns and acquires new
competencies (knowledge, attitudes and skills).

In order to achieve HRD objectives, the HRD department should:

a) develop a human resources philosophy for the entire organisation and get the top
management committed to it openly and consistently,
b) keep inspiring the managers to have a constant desire to learn and develop,
c) constantly plan and design new methods and systems of developing and strengthening the
HRD climate,
d) beware of the business/social/other goals of the organisation and direct all their HRD effort to
achieve these goals,
e) monitor effectively the implementation of various HRD sub-systems/mechanisms,
f) conduct human process research, organisational health surveys and renewal exercises
periodically,
g) influence personnel policies by providing, necessary inputs to the Personnel Department/Top
Management.

In order to perform these functions and tasks well, the HRD departments need to be manned by
people with certain types of spirit and competencies. The personnel function also should be
structured appropriately.

15.4 COMPETENCIES REQUIRED FOR HRD STAFF

HRD is a specialised area and to be successful in this field one should have some essential
qualities. The following qualities are important for a HRD Manager to be successful:
1) Person of positive thinking with positive attitudes to people,
2) A high desire to learn,
3) Interested in people,
4) Helpful attitude,
5) Initiative taking or proactivity,
6) Practice and perseverance,
7) Communication skills,
8) Objectivity in approach,
9) Belief in Team Spirit, and
10) Personal example and sense of decline.

Every staff member of the HRD department should be considered as HRD manager. The HRD
Manager is a person on mission. Therefore, he or she should have the qualities of a missionary.
His or Her mission is to create a learning environment/development climate in the organisation.
In the modern organisations, employees tend to get too much concerned about their personal
power, needs, status, rewards, promotions, subjectivity in appraisals, routinisation of work,

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dependence on rules and regulations, immediate goals, doing things without reflection and
iderning, creating crisis situations and getting busy with solving them, fire fighting operations,
exercising authority, controlling subordinates, changing the boss or top management rather than
changing themselves and so on. Introspection or self-examination and an orientation to learn from
one’s own experiences is lacking. All these factors affect the quality of life in organisations.
While the organisational growth, its future, personnel policies, etc. have a good degree of impact
on the employee satisfaction and work motivation, the employee himself or herself, his or her
thoughts, obsessions, biases, aspirations, emotional maturity, reflective nature, etc. matters a lot
in determining his or her satisfaction. A healthy environment in the organisation (characterised by
openness, trust, mutual support and helpfulness, collaborative attitudes, willingness to sacrifice
personal and small group goals for larger interests, autonomy, positive attitude to each other etc.)
combined with a development desire on the part of individuals can go a long way in building
people and organisation. The mission of the HRD manager is to build such a climate in the
organisation and simultaneously to bring change in the thinking of individuals.

15.5 DEVELOPING HRD FACILITATION COMPETENCIES

As the above discussion makes it clear, some special skills are required for facilitating HRD. The
professional knowledge and skills in HRD can be acquired in the following ways:

1) Short-term Training Programmes of HRD and HRD Facilitation Skills

Many institutions, professional bodies and consulting agencies are offering short-term courses on
HRD. The Indian Institute of Management, the Centre for HRD of XLRI, Jamshedpur and a few
Schools of Management offer short duration (one week to one month) programmes on HRD.
These programmes are of different categories. The basic programmes are meant for the beginners
in HRD. Even managers could be sponsored for these programmes. There are advanced and
experienced sharing programmes for HRD staff and HRD task force committee members. These
programmes are not very regular ones and one has to keep looking for these. Among the
professional bodies, the National HRD Network and the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural
Science are the only two bodies that offer exclusive HRD and OD facilitators laboratories. These
programmes are offered normally in summer months. The diploma and certificate courses offered
by NIPM and ISTD provide a wider knowledge base required by HRD specialists. The various
reference books and study material provided in this course of IGNOU itself is a good introduction
to the basics of HRD.

2) Process Competencies
Besides professional knowledge, every HRD staff member or facilitator should have some
process skills. By process skills it is meant an understanding of human processes in organisations.
These processes include inter-personal dynamics, personality and dynamics of individuals,
organisational behaviour processes, organisational health and the like. Such human processes
competencies can be acquired through specialised skill training. Such training is offered at
present in our country only by two professional bodies: The Indian Society for Applied
Behavioural Science (ISABS) and the Indian Society for Individual and Social Development
(ISISD). These are offered in the form of Personal Growth Laboratories, Human Growth
Laboratories, Explorations in Role and Identity, Basic Human Process Growth Laboratories,
Explorations in Institution Building Workshops, etc. These bodies also develop process skills
through their professional development programmes. The NTL Institute of Applied Behavioural
Sciences in USA and the Tavistak Institute in London also offer similar programmes. Besides,
some of the voluntary agencies keep conducting such labs for developing process competencies.

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3) Other Forms of Skill Development

Attending training programmes is a good way to lay foundations for development. The best way
to develop one’s own self is by experimentation on the job and continuous review and reflection.
HRD facilitators can develop themselves by trying out new ideas, networking with fellow
professinals and getting to know their work, visiting other organisations and learning from their
experiences, consulting, being in touch with line managers and Learning from them and so on.
There is a good degree of literature available for an interested HRD facilitator (Rao, 1990) and
these may be used for the development of one’s professional preparation.

You are already aware with the concept of Moments of Truth (MoT) and Service Leaders (TS-3,
Unit-13).

A clear understanding of MoT and motivating the employees through following the methods
adopted by the service leaders will go a long way in HRD in tourism.

Check Your Progress

1) Write a short note on various forms of HRD organisation.

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2) List the competencies required for HRD staff.

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15.6 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit, we have read that HRD is positioned differently in different organisations. The
structuring, form and position of HRD depends upon the size, history, structure, activities, etc. of
the organisation. HRD in an organisation can be – a separate department, promoted through
committees and task forces, organised around the CEO or else it can function through other
department(s). This Unit also explains the various objectives and tasks of the HRD department of
an organisation. Finally, this Unit speaks about the various competencies and skills essential in
HRD staff. And the various HRD programmes that are available to increase the professional
knowledge and skills.

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15.7 CLUES TO ANSWERS

Check Your Progress

1) The form of structuring of HRD in an organisation depends upon the size of the organisation,
history of the organisation, nature of its activities, the structure of the organisation and the
like. The following are some of the forms:
i) HRD function through a separate department.
ii) Committee/Task Forces form of organistiaon.
iii) HRD organisation around the CEO.
iv) Organising HRD through other Departments/Units.
Read Sec.15.2 and answer.

2) The following qualities are important for HRD staff:

i) Person of positive thinking with positive attitude to people.
ii) A high desire to learn.
iii) Interested in people.
Read Sec.15.4 and add to the above answer.

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