HRD Climate –

Introduction :-
If we need to find a way to develop employees in order to become effective contributors to
the goals of an organization, we need to have a clear view of what an effective contribution
would look like. The use of personal capacities can be very helpful in describing the way in
which an effective employee should operate and behave, but there can be no general
prescription of an effective employee. Effectiveness will differ with organizational context,
and on whose perspective we are adopting. The matter of what, finally, makes an effective
employee is a combination of personality, natural capabilities, developed skills, experience
and learning. The process of enhancing an employee’s present and future effectiveness is
called development.

Meaning of HR+D+Climate

HR means employees in organization, who work to increase the profit for organization.

Development, it is acquisition of capabilities that are needed to do the present job, or the
future expected job.

After analyzing Human Resource and Development we can simply stated that, HRD is the
process of helping people to acquire competencies.

Climate, this is an overall feeling that is conveyed by the physical layout, the way
employees interact and the way members of the organization conduct themselves with
outsiders. (It is provided by an organization.)

“Organizational climate is a set of characteristics of an organization which are referred in

the descriptions employees make of the policies, practices and conditions which exist in the
working environment”.
Abraham

An organization became dynamic and growth oriented if their people are dynamic and pro-
active. Through proper selection of people and by nurturing their dynamism and other
competencies an organization can make their people dynamic and pro-active. To survive it
is very essential for an organization to adopt the change in the environment and also
continuously prepare their employees to meet the challenges; this will have a positive
impact on the organization.
What is needed to Develop Organizational
Climate in Organization

Top to Bottom effort : - Organization is considered to be complete organization after

including top authority to bottom line of workers. And whenever we talk about development
at organizational level effort is needed from top level to bottom level. Top authority should
not have thinking in their mind that their task is to only take decisions but they should also
emphasized on proper implementation of decision by adopting various controlling technique.
Bottom level workers should have loyal mind-set towards their organization. Bottom level
workers have to work with dedication. They should have realisation that organization is their
organization.

Motivator role of Manager and Supervisor : - To prepare Human Resource Development

Climate, Manager and Supervisor’s responsibilities are more or we can say that they are the
key players. Manager and Supervisors have to help the employees to develop the
competencies in the employees. To help the employees at lower level they need to updated
properly and they need to share their expertise and experience with employees.

Faith upon employees : - In the process of developing HRD Climate employer should have
faith on its employees capabilities. Means whatever amount is invested that should be based
on development of employees. Top management should trust the employees that after
making huge effort to develop employees, employees will work for the well being of
organization and for human being also.

Free expression of Feelings : - Whatever Top management feels about employees they have
to express to employees and whatever employees think about top management it must be
express in other words we can say that there should not be anything hidden while
communication process. Clear communication process will help to establish the HRD
Climate.

Feedback : - Feedback should be taken regularly to know the drawbacks in system. This will
help to gain confidence in employees mind. Employee will trust on management and he can
express his opinion freely which is very good for HRD Climate. Feedback will help to remove
the weakness.

Helpful nature of employees : - Whenever we talk about 100% effort then we have to talk
about employees effort too. Nature of employees should be helping for management and for
its colleagues. They should be always read to help to customers too.

Supportive personnel management: - Personnel policies of organization should motivate

employees to contribute more from their part. Top management’s philosophy should be
clear towards Human Resource and its well being to encourage the employees.

Encouraging and risk taking experimentation : - Employees should be motivated by giving

them authority to take decision. This concept is risky but gradually it will bring expertise in
employees to handle similar situation in future. It will help to develop confidence in
employees mind. Organisation can utilize and develop employees more by assigning risky
task.

Discouraging stereotypes and favouritism : - Management need to avoid those practices

which lead to favouritism. Management and Managers need to give equal importance. Those
people who are performing good they need to appreciated and those who are not
performing good they need to be guided. Any kind of partial behaviour should be avoided.

Team Spirit : - There must be feeling of belongingness among the employees, and also
willingness to work as a team.

Components of HRD Climate

The organizational climate consists of:-

Organisational Structure-
An organization’s structure is actually a ‘snapshot’ of a work process, frozen in time so that
it can be viewed. The structure enables the people’s energy to be focused towards process
achievement and goal achievement. Employee must have a clear definition of not only the
work structure but also the role used to organize the work. If the structure and the role is
not clear, people will not know what the work process is, who is responsible for what, whom
to go for help and decision, and who can Assist in solving problems that may arise.

Organisational Culture-
Organisational culture is the pattern of beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and customs that
exists within an organisation. Organizational culture may result in part from senior
management beliefs or from the beliefs of employees.
Organizational culture can be supportive or unsupportive, positive or negative. It can affect
the ability or willingness of employees to adapt or perform well within the organisation.

The most effective work culture is one that supports the organizations HR strategies by
aligning behaviors, processes and methods with the desired results. It is not just achieving
results but the methods through which they are achieved that are critical to long-term
success.

Before any HR strategy is designed there must be a clear understanding of the organisation,
its current values, its structure, its people as well as its goals and vision for the future.

HR Processes-

The HR system of an organisation should be comprehensive enough to take care of

employees from the time they join till the time they leave HR. Their demands must not be
ignored, but a feeling of belongingness be created. Process should be very clear and
impartial, so that employee’s faith in organisation. From recruitment to retirement whole
process should be according to employees expectation and ability of employer.

Importance of looking at the organisation climate are:

Looking at the organizational climate, which means taking a closer look at what is
happening in and around in the HR scenario of the various organization. It is essential to
work on because directly or indirectly this environment affects the organization and the
employee.

Importances are:

• Environmental factors of HR are prime influencing elements of change in HR strategy.

• It gives HR professionals time to anticipate opportunities in HR area and time to plan

optional responses to these opportunities.

• It helps HR professionals to develop an early warning system to prevent threats emerging

out from HR scenario, or to develop strategies, which can turn a threat.

• It forms a basis of aligning the organisation strengths to the changes in the environment.

• It enables the entry of the latest national/international HR developments.

Measuring HRD Climate

Economic condition –
An organisation’s economic condition influences its culture in several ways. The more
prosperous an organisation is the more it can afford to spend on research and the more it
can afford to risk and be adventurous.

Leadership Style : -
An organisation leadership style plays a profound role in determining several aspects of its
culture. An authoritarian style may make the organisation’s culture characterized by high
position structure, low individual autonomy, low reward orientation, low warmth and
support and so on, or it may be opposite, like goal directed leadership.
Managerial assumption about human nature : -
Every act on the part of the management that involves human beings is predicated upon
assumptions, generalizations and hypotheses relating to human behaviour. There are two
theories of behaviour (Theory X and Theory Y).

Managerial values and ethos : -

The feeling of managers about norms and values what is good and what is poor as
management practice. There are few dimensions on which it can be checked. They are –
self-awareness, risk-taking, participation, bureaucracy, equity, employee’s security and
growth.

Organisation size : -
An small organizations there are few levels of management, these are generally more
amenable to democratic and participative functioning than big organisations. More open
communication system in small organisations. Hence these organisations have a different
type of climate than what are in big organizations.
HRD — SOME CONCEPTS
HRD is mainly concerned with developing the skill, knowledge and competencies of
people and it is people-oriented concept. When we call it as a people-oriented
concept the question of people being developed in the larger or national context or
in the smaller organizational context? Is it different at the macro and micro level?
HRD can be applied both for the national level and organizational level.
But many personnel managers and organizations view HRD as synonymous to
training and development. Many organizations in the country renamed their training
departments as HRD departments. Surprisingly some organizations renamed their
personnel department as HRD departments. Some educational, institutions started
awarding degrees and diplomas in HRD even though the concept is not yet crystal
clear.
HRD from organizational point of view is a process in which the employees of an
organization are helped/motivated to acquire and develop technical, managerial and
behavioral knowledge, skills and abilities, and mould the values, beliefs, attitude
necessary to perform present and future roles by realizing highest human potential
with a view to contribute positively to the organizational, group, individual and
social goals.
A comparative analysis of these definitions shows that the third definition seems to
be comprehensive and elaborate as it deals with the developmental aspects of all
the components of human resources. Further, it deals with all types of skills, the
present and future organizational needs and aspect of contribution to not only
organizational also other goals.
The analysis of the third definition further shows that there are three aspects, viz.,
1. Employees of an organization are helped/motivated;
2. Acquire, develop and mould various aspects of human resources; and
3. Contribute to the organizational, group, individual and social goals.
The first aspect deals with helping and motivating factors for HRD.
These factors may be called ‘Enabling factors’ which include: Organization
structure, organizational climate, HRD climate, HRD knowledge and skills to
managers, human resource planning, recruitment and selection. The second aspect
deals with the techniques or methods which are the means to acquire develop and
mould the various human resources.
These techniques include: Performance, appraisal, Potential appraisal, Career
planning and Development, Training, Management development, Organizational
development, Social and Cultural programs, and Workers’ participation in
management and quality circles. The third category includes the outcomes
contribution of the HRD process to the goals of the organization, group, individuals
and the society.
Hrd climate and communication
The communications that arise not out of formal relations between people but out
of informal or social relationship is called the grapevine or informal communication.
The management has no absolute control over this type of communication as they
neither created nor destroyed it. Communication need not flow through authority-
responsibility relationship or channels of organization in informal communications.
In informal communication there is no formal superior subordinate relationship.
The informal communication does both good and bad to the organization.
The advantages of informal communication are:
1. It acts as a driving force to untie the workforce in cases of common matters;
2. It saves time and energy as the information flows at high speed;
3. It has immediate response from the receiver;
4. It provides the scope for creation of new ideas;
5. It satisfies the communication needs of various employees,
6. It provides scope for immediate feedback.
Informal communication suffers from various drawbacks. They are:
a) Informal communication sometimes spreads wrong information and rumours;
b) It distorts information;
c) Grapevine provides only inadequate information;
d) Information provided through grapevine has no formal authority; and
e) It overlooks superiors.
The most effective communication results when managers utilize the informal
organization to supplement the communication channels of the formal organization.
It should be remembered that it is a part of the manager’s job to have a little
control over this informal communication so that he can take the appropriate action
to minimize the adverse effect of this channel.
Organizational climate is very important in the context of communication.
Organizational climate is the summary perception which people have about an
organization. It is thus a global expression of what the organization is:
Organizational climate refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that
distinguishes the organization from other organizations.
The characteristics of organizational climate are:
1. Individual Initiative: The degree of responsibility, freedom and independence
that individuals have.
2. Risk Tolerance: The degree to which employees are encouraged to be
aggressive, innovative and risk-seeking.
3. Direction: The degree to which the organization creates clear objectives and
performance expectations.
4. Integration: The degree to which units within the organization are encouraged to
operate in a coordinated manner.
5. Management Support: The degree to which managers provide clear
communication, assistance and support to their subordinates.
6. Control: The number of rules and regulations and the amount of direct
supervision that is used to oversee and control employee behavior.
7. Identity: The degree to which members identify with the organization as a whole
rather than with their particular workgroup or field of professional expertise.
8. Reward System: The degree to which reward allocations are based on employee
performance.
9. Conflict Tolerance: The degree to which employees are encouraged to air
conflicts and criticisms.
10. Communication Patterns: The degree to which organizational communications
are restricted to the formal hierarchy of authority.
Communicating with the Employees
Both formal as well as informal communication channels are used to communicate
with the employees. In addition to following written communication, oral and
nonverbal communication should be relied upon. In addition to downward
communication to communicate rules, procedures and programs of the organization
to employees, employees should also be encouraged to communicate to their
superiors.
In order to make use of team work, all channels of communication or star
communication pattern should be encouraged. Interpersonal communication should
be encouraged with a view to develop interpersonal relations. Employees should
also be encouraged to develop effective and active listening skills.
ABSTRACT /Purpose: The aim of the study was to measure employees' perception of human
resource development (HRD) practices, to explore whether ISO certification leads to any
improvements in HRD system, and to examine the role of HRD practices on employees' development
climate and quality orientation in the organization. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 239
employees belonging to eight organizations (four of them ISO certified) responded to a questionnaire
which measured the following variables: career system, work planning system, development system,
self renewal system, and HRD system. Findings: Results indicated large inter-organizational
differences in HRD practices. In general, however, employees' ratings were moderate. ISO certified
companies, compared to others, obtained higher means on some HRD variables. Organizations with
better learning, training and development systems, reward and recognition, and information systems
promoted human resource development climate. Quality orientation was predicted by career planning,
performance guidance and development, role efficacy, and reward and recognition systems. Research
limitations/implications: Comparison between ISO and non-ISO certified companies did yield some
significant differences, yet it was difficult to conclude that the differences were due to ISO certification
alone as organizations in the sample were not matched. Practical implications: The findings can be
used by HR practitioners and scholars in building management concerns and advocacy for better HRD
systems and practices. Originality/value: Very little empirical knowledge is available on this subject
from transitional economies like Malaysia. The study makes a modest attempt in that direction.
Influence of HRD climate on the learning orientation of bank
employees.

Article Excerpt
Competent employees are the greatest assets of any organisation. The proficiency of employees plays a vital role in
the context of the diverse challenges faced by the contemporary organisations. Talent management, employee
engagement and employee retention have become the key concerns of HRD professionals. This is of greater
relevance in the banking organisations, being a highly HR intensive sector. In order to maintain and develop their
competencies, the employees should have an open mind for learning and change. This proactive approach can be
generated by providing adequate opportunities as well as motivation for the employees by fostering a supportive and
favourable climate for learning in organisations. This paper is an attempt to analyse the influence of the HRD climate
existing in banks on the learning orientation of the employees.

INTRODUCTION

Contemporary organisations are in a flux. Changes are occurring in almost all the facets of organisational life.
Organisations now are facing greater their challenges to retain their talented and competent personnel with them.
Thus, talent management has become the critical goal of HR professionals. Among many others, improving the
quality of HRD is reported to be one effective alternative to face these challenges. The level of innovation existing in
organisations and opportunities offered by them to apply creative ideas into practice seem to be factors leveraging
the competitive edge. That is, the quality of learning and development climate has become more of a determining
factor to the survival of contemporary organisations.

A productive and supportive environment is essential for effective learning and development in organisations. This
environment requires a culture of collaboration and team spirit, top management's commitment towards HRD
initiatives and the effective implementation of various HRD subsystems. A recent study by Sachdev et.al (2007)
concluded that trust, pride and camaraderie are the primary factors considered in 'Great Places to Work' by Indian
employees. Most of the organisations rated as a great place to work recognize the aspirations of the employees and
focus on their growth and development. This indicates that most of these organisations have got a reasonably good
HRD climate.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Creation of a supportive environment is an effective alternative suggested by Dayal (1993) to foster the growth of
individuals in organisations. Some of the factors identified by him in this regard include personal desire among
individuals to grow, opportunities for interaction, assimilation of experience and capability to assess one's
potentialities. Peter M. Senge (1990) also explained the influence of structure on the behaviour of people. According
to him, people, however different, will produce similar results when placed in the same system. He perceived
structure as a key factor that influences behaviour.

While describing the HRD in Indian organisations, Gupta (2004) concluded that the focus of HRD in Indian
organisations is on the development of the competencies of people. It also emphasises the development of an
organisational climate that would facilitate and sustain the process of employee development and commitment.
Salokhe (2002) has conducted a study of the HRD climate in selected banks in the Kolhapur district of Maharastra. It
revealed the existence of a remarkably good HRD climate in the scheduled, co-operative and public sector banks
there. There was no substantial variation in the perception of HRD climates across the different cadres of employees.
Another study by Mishra and Bhardwaj (2002) reported that the managers in a private organisation perceived the
HRD climate as favourable. The top management's commitment to HRD, integrated HRD system, well defined
personal policies and culture of openness are listed to be the strengths of HRD in that organisation.
Alphonse (2001) analysed the HRD climate in a hospital by assessing the top management's belief in HRD, superior-
subordinate relationship, personnel policies, team-spirit, employee development, training, employee initiatives and
management encouragement. It reported the existence of a reasonably good climate with an average score of 3.46 in
the HRD climate assessment scale. This study used the HRD Climate Scale developed by T.V. Rao.

A study done by Rao in 1999 (Rao et al. 2001) regarding the HRD climate in 41 organisations revealed that the
general climate in the organisations is average. A general indifference on the part of the employees towards their own
development was found to be the reason for this. The lack of support to the employees post training is a major hurdle
in applying what they had learnt. This in turn affects the career development of the employees. It was noted that the
top management in most of the organisations is doing routine things. The other impediments of HRD highlighted in
the study are the lack of opportunities for transfer of training skills and career development. Yet, the same study
suggests that the employees in these organisations were serious about the training, the performance appraisal
system was objective and the management was concerned about human resources.

THE STUDY

Banking, like other services, has become one of the highly competitive sectors in India. The banking organisations,
since the beginning of this decade, have been facing greater challenges in terms of technological revolution, service
diversification and global banking. This has got many repercussions on the HRD practices in this sector. Competency
of the employees has become one of the core concerns to the survival of the banks. It is in this backdrop that the
present author has conducted a study about the HRD climate existing in the banking sector of Kerala and its
influence on the learning orientation of employees working therein. The following research questions were addressed
in the study.

Research Questions

RQI: What is the influence of the HRD climate existing in the banks on the learning orientation of its employees?

RQ2: How do the bank employees with different learning orientation perceive the general climate existing in their
organisations?

RQ3: How does the perception of OCTAPAC factors in the banks vary across different types of learners?

RQ4: What is the perception of the HRD subsystems in the banks among different types of learners?

Hypothesis:

A supportive and favourable HRD climate in banks stimulates the learning orientation of the employees working
therein.

METHODOLOGY

The first stage of the study was descriptive research. A total of 300 respondents were selected by the stratified
random sampling method. Both officers and clerical staff belonging to two public sector and two private sector banks
in Kerala were selected for the study. Equal representation was given to banks belonging to the three regions of the
state like southern, central and northern. A self- completion questionnaire was used for collecting data from the
respondents. The questionnaire was personally administered to all the respondents by the researcher.

At the second stage of the study, a set of in-depth interviews was conducted with selected employees from all the
four banks. It was primarily to discuss the findings generated through the survey method. The interviews also helped
in a more contextual and practical interpretation of the data.

Measurement of Constructs

Learning orientation was measured by applying a standardized instrument developed by Martinez (1997) by using a
seven point Likert scale. The learning orientation construct explains the cognitive, conative, and affective aspects of
learning. It comprises three components, namely, conative and affective learning focus, strategic planning and
learning effort, and learning autonomy of the employees. More specifically, it measures the intentional and emotional
aspects of learning, the amount of learning effort invested by the learners and the degree of autonomy they have
sought in the learning processes. Based on these three factors (total score for all items of these three factors) the
employees in the banks were classified into four types of learners, viz., transforming learners, performing learners,
conforming learners and resistant learners.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Climate is a concept proposed by T.V. Rao (1999) to explain the environment
provided by organisations for the learning and development of its employees. This includes both the policies and the
practices for HRD in an organisation. He developed an instrument to measure the HRD Climate by assessing three
components such as the top management's commitment to HRD (general climate), existence of an OCTAPAC
culture and the functioning of the various HRD subsystems. The OCTAPAC culture indicates the existence of seven
factors namely, Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Pro-activity, Authenticity, and Collaboration in an
organisation. HRD mechanism, the third component of the HRD climate, measures the extent to which the various
subsystems of the HRD mechanism such as training, performance appraisal, potential appraisal, organisation
development, feedback and performance coaching, career planning, rewards, employee welfare, quality of work life
and human resource information systems are implemented seriously (Rao, 1999).

MAJOR FINDINGS

HRD Climate and the Learning Orientation

About 57 per cent of the respondents perceived the learning and development climate existing in banks as moderate.
Nearly 30 per cent considered the HRD climate as good. Only 13 per cent of the respondents perceived that the HRD
climate existing in their organisations as poor (see Table 1). Therefore, the perception of learning and development
by the bank employees seems to be generally at a moderate level.

More than two thirds of the respondents who perceived the HRD climate as poor were found to have lower learning
orientations of resistance or conformance. About 53 per cent of those who perceived it as average were conforming
learners while another 31 per cent were performing learners.

It is clear form the data presented in Table I that a good number of the employees who experienced favourable and
positive HRD climate were in the higher learning orientation group. Also, most of those who perceived the HRD
climate as poor or average belonged to the lower learning orientations. This association between the HRD climate
and the learning orientation is proved to be significant at the 0.01 level by the Chi-square test (Pearson value is
54.177, for 6 df, p value is 0.000). Hence, the hypothesis that supportive HRD climate stimulates learning orientation
is found to be true.

General Climate and the Learning Orientation

Around 53 per cent of the respondents perceived the general climate existing in their organisations as moderate.
More than a quarter of the respondents considered that the top management had got a greater commitment to the
learning and development in banks. About 21 per cent of the respondents considered the general climate existing in
the banks as poor.

Thirty Six per cent of the respondents who experienced the general climate as poor had a performing learning
orientation. Another 30.6 per cent belonged to the conformance learning orientation (see Table 2)

A quarter of the respondents who assessed the general climate as poor had the lowest learning orientation of
resistance. Nearly 53 per cent of the employees who perceived the general climate...