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 HRD Scenerio in Indian organisation

its Problems and Prospects
By S K Dhar

INTRODUCTION

From the early days of HRD Interventions introduced in Larsen &

Tubro in 1975, we have traversed a period of 26 years and during
these period, in Indian Organisations the importance of Human
Resource Development has been comprehensively felt and various
processes and instruments of HRD are being applied in different
Organisations in the manufacturing, financial and Service
sectors. Whether it is a case of SBI, LICI, GIC or Canara Bank,
Indian Bank or it is a case of HMT, TISCO, TELCO, NDDB, Thermax,
Hindustan Motors, the importance of HRD in managing people for
results and bringing effectiveness in the field of `Management'
have been widely appreciated in all the Conferences of National
HRD network.
 
Critical Issues
Critical issues which are identified by the Top Management Team
in different Organisations share the same concern and deal with
identical problems. It is found on a survey of the Indian
Organisations that in the following fields HRD has to be
Strengthened.

  Recruitment and Promotion Policies of different

Organisations are to be reviewed on a

 recurrent and continuous basis. Merit and competence

should be given greater emphasis
 in   promotions.

  Performance Appraisal System in the Organisations is to be

modified so that the right

 persons are rewarded in the right manner and placed in the

right posts.

  Greater emphasis is to be laid on Human Resource

Development and Training.
  Communication system is to be improved.
  Motivation, morale, commitments and sense of belongings
and involvement of employees at

 all levels should be enhanced.

  Greater attention is to be paid regarding development of

 first line supervisors, second

 and third line executives.

  Policies, Rules and Procedures of the Organisation are to

be consolidated and reviewed

 on a consistent and recurrent basis.

Define goals of HRD
In LIC, we have identified the following goals of HRD. To
facilitate in giving sufficient and prompt service to our
customers, LIC reorganised structures and system in the early
1980s. The goals of our personnel Policies in the restructured
set up are identified as follows.

 To ensure that adequate number of persons with sound

insurance background and experience both in generalist and
specialist are available at different operative and
supervisory and managerial levels.
 To evolve the personnel system so that the employees are
provided equitable opportunities to move up in the
Organisation on the basis of their performance and ability.
 The employees repose confidence in the personnel practices
followed by the Corporation. The Policy should not only be
fair and just but also to be perceived as fair and just.
 To ensure that responsibility for results is provided right
from the lower level so that employees can develop a sense
of independence and self confidence.
 That jobs are enlarged and enriched and are performed in a
manner that nurtures team work providing opportunity for
learning new and varied skills thus, making the work more
satisfying and meaningful.
 That those employees who show special aptitude for
different skills are carefully provided appropriate
training experiences.
 Several strategies to achieve the above stated objectives
and goals were developed. Consistent with the Policy of
Consensus, new strategy were circulated and discussed with
groups of employees. It was clear that LIC needed a
comprehensive HRD approach in 1987. The Organisation stated
its beliefs about HRD as under :

*That Human potential interest in every employee is vast;

it can be further enhanced by various Interventions like
Training, Job-rotation, counselling Organisation Action
etc.
* That people are major assets and that an Organisation can
make full utilisation of individual  potential by providing
a developmental environment and opportunities by
encouraging and rewarding innovativeness and creativity.
* That such people, who are unable to contribute to the
 Organisation fully due to reasons beyond their control can
also give their best if they are taken care of and proper
environment and conditions are provided.
* That competency can be developed in people at any point
of time; as model employer it is desirable that we
encourage competency enhancement.
* That HRD provides higher quality of work-life through
opportunities of a meaningful career, job satisfaction and
professional development.
* That HRD philosophy emphasises human well being and
Organisational growth.
* That HRD Policies are relationship centered and the
extent of relationship under HRD is life long and not
merely for 8 hours a day.
* That as a model employer we must provide for employee
growth; if an employee perceives anurturing environment,
automaticaly there would be a positive response to match
individual aspirations with Organisation’s needs.
* That HRD processes have to be planned and continuous in
order to be effective.

Keeping the above HRD beliefs and goals in front of the

organisation our Central Office, HRD Cell, have so far undertaken
the following few steps to bring about change and turn around in
the Organisation.

 
Under the guidance of Prof. Ishwar Dayal, our external consultant
on OD/HRD, LIC introduced the system of Work Plan and Review for
all the Class-I Officers of the Organisation at all levels in all
its offices. Through the instrument of WPR, an attempt was made
to integrate the individual growth and the Organisational growth
through a process of role scanning, job survey, swot analysis and
periodic review of result areas and monitoring of performances as
per work plan drawn up by each individual Officer for a
particular Financial Year. Emphasis was laid on the task of
discussion, review, counselling and mid-course correction in the
activities of the individual officer for realisation of his
performance targets. From 1989 onward through intensive
workshops, interface and comprehensive Programme, these WPR
instrument was internalised with the Organisation. Lot of clarity
was observed in understanding the role and making realistic job
survey by the individual officer. A systematic line of critical
thinking on the concerns of the Department and Organisation
emerged as a result of intensive work planning and reviewing.
 
 Central Office, also guided to re-structure of functioning of
different Departments at the Central Office and Zonal Office
level with the help of Desk System where each Department was
divided into several distinct desks with fixed accountability and
responsibility. The Desk System brought about lot of clarity and
accountability among the Officers of the Organisation at the
Central Office and Zonal office level. Redtapism, delay in
decision-taking, procrastination and other tactics in the
Organisational behaviour of LIC were removed or reduced to a
substantial degree through the Desk control system. The
prescribed role element and the discretionary role element in the
decision maker’s work area become more clear by successful
utilisation of the Desk control mechanism. Overlapping functions
were avoided, duplication was reduced and with the help of
service bureau for data control, data monitoring, data building,
each Desk had to perform a distinct role with support from each
section under the Desk. This has developed a new working culture
in the Organisation in LIC in the early part of the 1990s.
 
From 1993 onward, Central Office evolved a comprehensive
Programme of OD/HRD awareness for all the Branches as a whole
through a medium of well articulated Action Plan. Here, the focus
is on making our Organisation customer friendly and market
friendly. To be brief the interests of LIC Policy Holders have
been kept at the central focus. To develop a prompt, error free
and expeditious service for our ever growing Policy Holder’s
segment in this age of competition has become the main goal
before the Organisation today. If the loayalty of the policy
Holders is eroded and they are not satisfied with our standard
and levels of service, in the event of opening up Life Insurance
Sector to Private. 
Companies in the very near future, it is most likely that some
Policy Holders will switch over their loyalty and patronage from
LIC to other Companies. For any Organisation with a marketing and
servicing goal such a scenario will be the most difficult and
undesirable. Therefore, LIC Central Office has developed
comprehensive OD/HRD Action Plan covering all the Branches and
including all the classes of employees I, II, III and IV attached
to our Branches. They have also made this awareness Programme
mandatory for all the Officers and HGAs of the Divisional Office,
so that, the Divisional Office can give proper support service to
the Branches to make their servicing effecive and fault free. All
the important Divisions have been covered in phase-I & phase-II
in all 7 Zones of LIC. The Action Plans have been prepared by
around 1200 Branches in the entire Country and on the basis of
the Action Plan it has been attempted to develop a new working
culture based on the principle of co-ordination, co-operation and
collaboration among all sections of employees, with the idea that
the Branch Office will function as a fully equipped working team
and their main aim will be to serve the Policy Holders equally,
promptly and accurately. The Branch Management Committee’s role
in understanding the concerned problems and issues of the
Branches have been highlighted and the co-operation from each
level has been sorted out to make the Branches modern performers
in the field of Life Insurance sales and servicing.
The entire
organisation need for
facing the change and
entire HRD thrust
will be determined by
comprehensive modern
and effective system
of training to be
 imparted to our
Assistants, HGAs and
different levels of
Officers in the
Organisation, both in
the marketing side as
well as in the
administrative side.
Another important and significant decision has been taken by LIC
to upgrade our servicing standard by technical up-gradation, by
introducing over a period of time in a phased and progressive
manner the Front-end Application in our Branches, indicating that
the Cash, NB, Sales, PS work will be controlled, monitored and
regulated through Machines. This has been contemplated in order
to reduce response time and also in order to generate speed in
our working of different Desks of our Branches. This has also
been envisaged that through Front-end which will ultimately be
developed to a Local Area Net-working System (LAN) definitely,
our Organisation will be in a position to satisfy the Policy
Holders who are having high levels of expectations and who want
that Organisation should use modern technology to satisfy their
demands and needs. The entire Programme for 2,000 plus Branches
in LIC, will be implemented in a phased manner through a process
of trial and experimentation and reviewing the results achieved
and arranging for mid-course correction and Co-ordination at
different levels.

 
The entire organisation need for facing the change and entire HRD
thrust will be determined by comprehensive modern and effective
system of training to be imparted to our Assistants, HGAs and
different levels of Officers in the Organisation, both in the
marketing side as well as in the administrative side.
This also involves a wide net-working of training for our large
number of Agents on a selective and time budgeted basis. Without
adequate efforts, total sincerity and massive involvement in the
training field, the Organisation can not develop appropriate
strategy to face the changes and challenges of modern competitive
World. Therefore, MDC, ZTC, STC all have to play their
significant role in bringing about a total cultural changes in
the organisation. 180 degree turn in the Organisation is possible
only if the operating Departments, the Supervisors and Executives
of the Organisation supported by the massive co-operation of all
classes of employees and Agents, work in close co-operation with
the training establishments. The different instruments of HRD
have to be integrated through proper implementation of our
objectives for the raising of the standard of output and
productivity of each employee and bringing about a new change in
the organisation so that it can serve its objectives and
successfully implement the goals of the Organisation.
 
HRD can not be conceived in isolation; it is the imperative need
for the individual’s growth, Organisational growth and making the
Organisation prepared to face any new challenges which may emerge
from the external and internal environment. It is also not a
pious philosophy without any pragmatic root, it is a strategy as
we have seen in the case of Steel Authority of India, how they
have brought about a turn around in the Organisation by adopting
HRD strategy. We shall have to distinctly understand the
significance of this strategy. Not only SAIL or Indian Oil
Corporation or in Organisations like HMT and Thermax, HRD has
been assigned a major role in changing the work approach and work
ethics of the employees and Officers but even in a small
Organisation in our Country, the need for Human Resource
Development, the need for training updation and bringing about
innovative strategy have been felt comprehensively.
 
This is a continuous process. We cannot expect magical results.
This is also painstaking and has to pass through lot of
Organisational constraints and difficulties. The internal Policy
of the Government, the internal outlook, the outlook of the
Government towards employees in the PSUS and other Semi
Government concerns, the overall IR climate, the Social,
political, cultural network in the Country, the fulfilment of
legitimate aspirations of employees of different cadres and
different Organisations - all these are variable factors for a
new instrument of Human Resource Development. New interventions,
new innovative practices and lot of creative designs have to be
thought of in making HRD design and HRD strategy successful;
there can not be a set pattern of HRD implementation for all
Organisations. The Organisation’s potential, existing state of
affairs and existing industrial relation climate also have to be
specially considered to bring about effective change in the
Organisation, through HRD Interventions.
 
To sum up, after surveying the HRD climate in different
Organisations, we may feel that there is huge scope in making HRD
really effective, result-oriented and achievement-oriented.
Potentiality of every human individual in the Organisation is
immense and people will have to change their perception about the
job, work systems and work approach on a continuous basis.
Because the market is in the midst of, massive and radical
changes in the present World, the customers’ expectations and
demands are also changing very fast. So, by upgrading our
capability and by utilising optimum level of skill through
training and orientation, we can develop a vibrant and consumer-
friendly Organisation. Problems before HRD practitioners are
many. Social problems, Oranisational problems, psychological
problems relating to mental blocks and prejudices, problems from
the Trade Unions, problems relating to lack of commitment from
the top management and middle level management - these are all
passing phases in the developing scenario of an Organisation. The
constraints before HRD implementation have to be faced in a
radical manner through process of Organisational diagnosis. Once
the problems are sorted out and solved and we can see new
prospects before the Organisation. HRD helps our power of
rational judgement to understand the problems; it also helps to
build up new initiative and vision to solve the problems in the
Organisation concerning people, product, system and technology.
 Therefore, HRD is the most important challenge before all
organisations in the 21st Century.
HRD Scenario in India Top

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