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It¶ a known fact that the pressure on organisations to excel has resulted in organisational
introspection to identify the keys to excellence and developing human resources is one such key.
So is the case with the Nonprofit Government Organisations (NGOs), where the development of
human resources assumes a prime position.

³India is home to several Non Profit Organisations and in the years to come, this sector is
expected to grow by leaps and bounds. The total number of NGOs in India is around 1.2 million
and is expected to grow further; although 50 per cent of them are still unorganised. The
employment generation so far has been around 20 million, which with the growth of NGOs, is
definitely bound to grow. A number of B-schools has included a mandatory NGO internship in
their curriculum too,´ expresses H N Sahay, director - operations, Smile Foundation.

For any organisation, it is the human resources - the employees, who translate the
organisation¶s vision into a reality. It is therefore imperative for organisations, especially those in
the development sector to understand human resource development and its mechanisms. ³An
NGO is all about HR. It is an organisation for the people and by the people. We are managing
the human resources at two ends and trying to balance out the efforts from the functionary end to
reach them to the beneficiary end. In this role, we are constantly striving to be able to provide a
constant channel to be able to extend our outreach to the maximum people,´ explains Dr
Neelam Gupta, president, Aroh Foundation.

According to Sahay, ³HRD plays a critical role towards creating and sustaining high
performance. The focus of HR¶s endeavours in NGOs must be on effective leadership and an
organisational set-up and process designed to enable people to achieve.´

But what are the challenges HR faces in the NGO industry? ³From an administrative
perspective, the focus is now on a strategic outlook where talented HR professionals look at
improving the work environment and plan out human resource needs. Though it is a reflection of
what is happening in the western context, the Indian workforce and industrial climate are
changing. Some of the challenges are talent acquisition, leadership development and employee
turnover,´ Sahay points out.

According to Gupta, the social sector has not been able to cope with the human resource
demand, which has been generated due to the boom in the sector. ³Most NGOs were unorganised
and manpower was being recruited at lower costs as compared to the corporates. The sector had
been earlier driven by passion and not profession. The current situation now demands, both
professional skills and a passionate attitude. It is hard to find people committed to the social
cause and attrition is becoming high in the current scenario,´ she opines. And therefore, the role
of HR in an NGO has become crucial.

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Today HR is expected to implement and deliver services and practices that support the business
deliveries of the company and simultaneously, help towards meeting the requirements of
employees and stakeholders. In addition to having the acquaintance, skills and abilities, HR
professionals today need to explore the possibility of partnering with senior leadership and
managing their role strategically. As the business continues to grow, HR professionals need to
realign their role so that they contribute to the overall business needs. They need to obtain new
skills and competencies that meet the ever-growing business demands. HR must focus on well-
distributed processes with the help of the entire workforce across all functionalities/verticals as
opposed to the conventional way of focusing only on the talented few. HR must involve
themselves in business issues like customer service, implementation, etc.

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Today, more than 60 per cent of the world¶s largest companies have a senior HR person involved
in the executive committee. HR professionals must make the best of all opportunities that come
their way and work hard towards achieving credibility in terms of seeing how best they can
impact the business practices, performance and success of the company. The business leaders
should also understand the need for having HR on board to drive business success. It¶s necessary
for HR to have the correct view with regards to all business issues besides being equipped with
the ability to deal with HR issues as well. They should be focused on solutions and business
outcomes; they need to ensure that all processes are driven by business metrics and business
intelligence. HR should use the core behavioural science as the foundation for talent practices,
redesign processes so that they are simple to use and provide line managers with solutions they
understand.


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HR is a critical component of the corporate strategy and any new-age company in today¶s
knowledge-intensive corporate scenario is setting itself up for failure if the HR function does not
get a place in the boardroom. A deep understanding of the business with all its pulls and
pressures is a vital requirement. In addition, I expect HR to align with our corporate objective
and play a leadership role towards shaping our future and people agenda. HR managers should
change their mindset - from just being implementers of policies to proactive knowledge-seekers
of business objectives so that they are well-equipped with skills to align human capital with
business needs.
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There is definitely a sense of urgency palpable in the Indian business environment for the HR community
to move from the daily administrative functions of recruitment, training and administration to becoming
a more active, strategic partner to business operations. And today, this isn͛t an unachievable task. A
good understanding of the business drivers and thorough knowledge of the prevailing market conditions
are vital as they are essential for facilitating business growth and profitability.