HR profession is very challenging in Bangladesh INTRODUCTION 1.1 Human resources constitute the most important component of modern organizations.

The accomplishment of organizational missions and objectives depends, to a large extent, on having right persons in right positions as well as the commitment and contributions of those involved. This is why human resource management has acquired a growing significance in current organization theory and practice. 1.2 The matter has gained even more prominence in the recent conceptualization of human resource management, better known as Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). It emphasizes, among other things, the following: (i) that it is human capability and commitment which distinguish successful organizations from others; (ii) that managing human resources is a matter of truly strategic importance; (iii) that human resource management is an activity which is to be owned by all managers; and (iv) that the key levers must be internally integrated with each other and externally integrated with the organizational strategies. Thus the current notion of human resource management goes beyond simple emphasis of the role of human factor and advocates for integrating personnel functions with general strategic framework of the enterprise. Since human resource management is seen as a strategic factor strongly influencing the success of the enterprise, SHRM model prescribes a highly flexible, decentralized and adaptive approach. The challenges emanating from socio-economic, demographic, political and technological transformations inevitably require such an approach that can adjust speedily to unstable and unpredictable environment. The imperatives of the changing environment and the firms' drive for obtaining "competitive advantage" and the growing advocacy at academic circles have lately paved the way for a significant shift in terms of policy and practice of human resource management, especially in the developed countries. As a result, personnel function in these countries is no longer treated as one of operational tasks like procurement, production, and marketing; rather, it has come to be regarded as an integral part of the management philosophy. 1.3 Despite the prevalence of a broad consensus on the strategic importance of human resource factor, the paradigm shift is yet to take place in both private and public sector of the developing countries like Bangladesh. This may be accepted if not expected in the public sector as they operate within political, legal, and budgetary constraints and are usually susceptible to continuing pressures from various quarters. Also the inflexibilities of law and bureaucratic processes mean that there is little or no managerial discretion in the deployment of resources. But such practices are not affordable by a business entity. Free

trade and globalization are putting most firms in fiercely competitive markets where success depends on the quality of HR management. 1.4 In this assignment, a given hypothesis that HR profession is challenging in Bangladesh shall be addressed. In that we shall focus on identifying the concept of HR in a present day perspective, the trend of HR practice in Bangladesh, the challenges faced by HR professionals in Bangladesh. And finally we shall make some recommendations for the improvement of HRM approach keeping in view the future world scenario. AIM 1.5 The aim of this paper is to analyze HR profession and study its challenges in the context of Bangladesh.

PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH ON THE TOPIC 2.1 Quite a good number of professional researches have been carried out related to the future of HR profession across the globe. Few of the researches are discussed below: The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the worlds largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 165,000 individual members, the Society serves the needs of HR professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive set of resources available. SHRM conducted The Future of the HR Profession study to document perspectives on the changing nature of the human resource profession. This report represents perspectives from management consultants that work with HR professionals in multiple industries, both US based and international. Research conducted on Strategic Human Resource Management by Matthew J. Monnot , Stephen M. Colarelli of Michigan University and Monica HemingwayDepartment of Personnel Research Associates, Inc. To appear in: Greenhaus, J. H. & Callanan, G. (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. The research titled State Capacity in Promoting Trade and Investment: The Case of Bangladesh Prepared by: Abul Barkat, Ph.D. Mozammel Hoque, MBA, Zahid Hassan Chowdhury, MA, MPA of Human Development Research Centre (HDRC) Prepared for: Socio-Economic
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Policy & Development Management Branch,Department of Economics and Social Affairs, UNDESA also discusses important Human Resource issues related to Bangladesh. Research paper titled Combating Contemporary Management Challenges: The Human Resource Perspective by Dr. Md. Fashiul Alam professor of the Department of Management, University of Chittagong Problems faced in HRM in Bangladesh, an article by Hussain Amir Ali published in new age web addition of May 2005. This paper is an extract of his presentation in the seminer on Career Path and Emerging Trend of HRM organized by Bangladesh Society for Human Resource Managemeny ( BSHRM)on 1st May 2005 at IBD auditorium. METHODOLOGY 3.1 To examine the hypothesis HR profession is very challenging in Bangladesh the following methodologies have been applied: Reviewing the relevant documents including class handouts and note (secondary data). Data gathering and data editing. Tabulation. Compilation and analysis. Data interpretation. Report generation. DATA FINDING, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Prelude 4.1 The contemporary business world, especially since the last quarter of twentieth century, has witnessed a dramatic change and shift in respect of form and size of enterprises, management strategy and policy, organizational structure, decision making process, information system, employer-employee relations, work style, work place condition etc. This trend, though varied in degree, is almost common in all societies i.e. developed or developing and also in all types of organization viz. government or non-government, multinational or domestic, welfare or development, production or service etc. Besides, the dominance of uni-polar world economic order has made the task of managing organizational activities very tough and challenging. Some other distinct factors responsible for such a volatile environment are: sophisticated technological inventions; dominance of a number of international agencies like World Bank,
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IMF, WTO, ADB; creation of various regional groups and trade blocks viz. EU, NATO, ASEAN, SAARC, NAFTA, OIC etc.; emergence of some hundreds of giant MNCs (approximate number 250-300); rapid changes in the life style, taste and habit of people, occurrence of unpredictable hazards like 9/11 twin-tower debacle, war in Afghanistan and Iraq, on-going flow of inter and intra-regional migration of workforce, changing condition of global job market etc. Under such a complex world situation, quick adaptation and survival, rapid growth and prosperity of any type of organization can't be an easy task. Practically, the very existence of firms is at stake, and, by and large, entrepreneurs and managers have to run and manage their affairs in a condition of high risk and uncertainty. As a matter of fact, the field of business has become an arena of great threat and problem prone. In order to cope with this sort of environment for greater competitive advantages and also to overcome the hurdles of severe competition, planned attempts could be made in order to improve and develop the quality of human resource and to set-up strong linkage between strategic business needs and strategic human resource management practices. It is well recognized that the contribution of human factor, inter alia, is quite high toward the success of organization. Hence, special attention and care are needed for securing and maintaining a group of skilled, satisfied and contended human force.

Concepts of HR 4.2 Management in all types of organization i.e. production or service oriented, has to deal with a variety of resources. Of all the resources, the human assets are probably the most critical and difficult to manage. The effective use of all other resources directly depends on efficient utilization of human resources. Perhaps, that is why, Resins Linker has rightly observed, "All the activities of any enterprise are initiated and determined by the persons who make up that institution. Plants, offices, computers, automated equipment, and all else that a modern firm uses are unproductive without human effort and direction. Human beings design or order the equipment; they decide where and how to use computers; they modernize the technology employed: they secure the capital needed and decide on the accounting and physical procedures to be used. Every aspect of a firm's activities is determined by the competence, motivation and general effectiveness of its human organization".

Figure: HRM Environment 4.3 The human resources, however, are difficult to manage. It is because human behavior is highly unpredictable. It differs not only from individual to individual but often on the part of the same individual at different points of time. In spite of biological and cultural similarities, human beings not only differ in their appearance but also in their capabilities based on their respective background, values, training and experience; in their personality characteristics as reflected in their sensitivities, intelligence, initiative, interest, commitment and motivation, and in their susceptibility to peer and group pressures, which account for difference in their attitude, behavior and performance. Emotions, however, play more important part in affecting attitude, behavior and /or performance of the same person from one point of time to another.

Figure: External and Internal Factors Affecting HR 4.4 Thus, the success of any venture today depends on due recognition of human potential, capabilities and aspiration, and proper utilization of human traits and emotions..With recognition of significance of human resources in effective performance of any enterprise, and with the changing industrial landscape accepting workers as equal partners, what we need are an introspection of our own attitude and behavior, a review of our strategy towards human resources, and adoption of a pragmatic approach towards these. The optimization of human resources calls for a conducive managerial climate based on human relations. Recognizing human dignity, competence and potential on the one hand, and accepting compatibility of individual and group goals to the organizational objectives, on the other, human relations facilitate integration of people into a
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work situation and motivates them to work together productively, co-operatively and with economic, psychological and social satisfaction by taking care of their needs, emotions and aspirations. Emphasizing the role of a conductive managerial climate McGregor writes: Management must seek to create conditions (and organizational environment) such that members of the organization at all levels can best achieve their own goals by directing their efforts towards the goals of the organization. The Future Trend of HR Profession 4.5 The impact of technology on HRs work cannot be under estimated. The three most important catalysts for change include 1) employee self-service through web-based portals, 2) increasingly sophisticated call centers and 3) aggressive new entrants into the outsourcing market. Technology not only frees HR from administration; it also provides the vehicle to leverage information about the workforce. Equipped with hard data, HR can know more, do more and be better business advisors. 4.6 The need for effective talent management has enormous implications for HR professionals. Broadly defined, talent management is a companys ability to attract, retain and motivate employees. While talent management has always been part of HRs mission, a combination of demographic and market forces will bring new urgency to cultivating a workforce that offers true competitive advantage. 4.7 The relationship between employees (their capability, commitment and satisfaction with the employer) and a companys ability to gain market share has been an intriguing management topic for at least two decades. While several highly successful companies correlate their success directly to investment in employees, few organizations focus on the drivers affecting employee performance. Some employers now believe that amore powerful link exists between their employees and their brand identity than was ever possible to achieve through an advertising campaignthus creating new relevance for HRs role in these organizations. 4.8 There are outsourcing alternatives for every product and service now delivered by HR, including the option to outsource the entire function. HR must rigorously determine where it can add differentiated value by keeping a product or service in-house and where outsourcing offers a stronger product, delivered more efficiently. Yet, outsourcing decisions must be part of a companys overall people strategy. The delivery of HR services is one of the fundamental ways a company connects with employees. Companies need to be deliberate about reinforcing bonds with employees and not relinquish any important opportunities to vendors.

4.9 Some of the most elusive work for HR has been finding areas to quantify its value and contribution in financial terms. In the absence of such measures, cost-cutting becomes the metric most typically applied to HR. Developing the measurements to quantify results in terms of impact to the bottom line is the only way for HR to shift the cost-cutting paradigm. When seen largely as a necessary administrative expense, HR will not get the investment dollars necessary to enhance the caliber of its people, technology or programs. 4.10 The top HR slot is no longer reserved for the career HR professional. Increasingly, business experience, coupled with highly developed consulting skills, is the requisite background for senior HR roles. While there will always be a need for seasoned technical experts, in-house business partner roles require real business understanding and the ability to formulate and deploy HR strategies aligned with business objectives. Critical roles also exist for senior level finance and technology professionals within HR. Marketing professionals can play a valuable role on the HR team, applying marketing strategies to better understand and address the needs of employees. 4.11 Where will the next generation of HR professionals come from? Most of todays professionals came up through the ranks of in-house HR departments, where training is largely on-the-job. This environment has provided the opportunity for professionals to specialize in specific HR disciplines or achieve a level of mastery across disciplines. This career path is likely to disappear. As inhouse HR departments outsource more to specialty firms, the entry point for HR careers will be with vendors or consulting firms, creating more specialists than generalists, in the future. 4.12 are: Among the key environmental factors identified as impacting HRs work DemographicsAn aging population, coupled with a shortage of qualified talent, particularly in hi-tech and the sciences. TechnologyThe workforce will grow increasingly less traditional and distributed on a national and global basis. Connecting employees to the goals of the company is incrementally more difficult in this environment. EconomicsThe relentless pressure for profitability will propel organizational change through continued mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances. GlobalizationThe growth of the world economy will create new competitors, new labor markets and require more sophisticated skills in managing and operating global businesses. HR makes its strongest organizational contribution in the following ways:

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As Strategic Partners, HR professionals are integrated within lines of business, working with executive teams to create people strategies that deliver tangible results. Optimizing Total Rewards is a way for HR to work with senior management to find the right combination of pay, benefits, environment and learning opportunities to engage employees and reinforce company culture. Achieving Flawless Execution in Employee Transactions is a primary role for HR. Outsourced administration or noHR is accountable for the quality of service, accuracy and speed of employee-related processing and transactions. Developing Metrics, to quantify in dollar terms the value HR initiatives bring to the bottom line, is the best way to ensure future investment in the HR function.

HR challenges for Bangladesh 4.14 Bangladesh is a country with enormous population. The country experienced a dynamic growth over the past six years. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth steadily climbed to over 6% a year in the preceding 5 years, up from 4.8% in the 1990s, and 3.5% in the 1980s, and poverty incidence continued to decline. GDP growth is estimated at 6% in fiscal year (FY) 2008 with fiscal and current account imbalances contained at manageable levels, a remarkable performance considering the impact of the twin floods and a devastating cyclone in 2007 and heightened external shocks. With the current growth trends, the country has the potential to reach the threshold of a middle income country by the year 2020. With higher GDP growth rates of 8-9% a year, Bangladesh can even become a middle income county earlier than 2020. 4.15 The people of Bangladesh are dynamic, resilient and hard working. Even with heightened external shocks and critical governance and capacity constraints in its political and public administration system, the country has sustained macroeconomic stability. Before the phase-out the MFA, some predicted that the country's garments industry would collapse. But that did not happen; the garments industry continues to show strong growth, outperforming many others. Notwithstanding the infrastructure and human resources constraints that foreign investors face in countries with low levels of economic development, Bangladesh offers opportunities for foreign investors in important sectors, including power, steel, fertilizer, hotel, tourism, and petrochemicals. These opportunities are reflected in the inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI), which increased from virtually zero in the early 1980s to $760 million in FY2007. Access to a growing market with a population of over 140 million, low-cost production facilities, particularly, low-cost labor and natural resources have made Bangladesh
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significantly more attractive to international investors. In the power sector, for instance, generation by Independent power producers (IPPs) have risen from nil in 1997 to 32% in 2007, currently providing 1,190 megawatts of the country's power generation. 4.16 Over these years, the country has obtained impressive gains in key social and human indicators, including improved life expectancy, better access to education and health facilities, gender parity in both primary and secondary schools, and advancement and empowerment of women. The country's strong commitment to girls' education has led to amazing gender parity in primary and secondary education and the country is on the right course to meet the key MDG targets by 2015. The country has also made good progress in reducing maternal mortality rates and increase in female life expectancy. Though often paid a very low wage, the contributions of the two million female workers to the garments industry have been incredible, which accounts for 70% of country's exports and the highest export earner for the country. 4.17 The garments industry has revolutionized the mobility of women, broken the social taboo and brought about a positive change in the attitude about womens working in the factories, outside home. The role of NGOs and increased access to microfinance for poor women has also made significant impact on women's advancement and empowerment in the vast countryside. The enhanced social mobility of women has not only improved their purchasing power, but also given them more respect in the family, access to better health services and reduction in fertility. The government has also announced the National Women Development Policy 2008 for promoting social, political and economic empowerment of women, which will undoubtedly help mobilize half of the country's population into the development process benefiting the nation in economic and social progress. 4.18 Challenges faced by Bangladesh are multi dimensional. Bangladesh, indeed, politically as well as on the economic front, is at a critical juncture and facing a difficult and challenging time ahead. However, with the emergence of a visionary and capable political leadership, backed by oversight from the ever conscious civil society and private sector, and the citizenry, Bangladesh will be able to translate these challenges into opportunities for the country. Food security and inflation are pressing concerns. In the macroeconomic front, rapidly growing inflation is the biggest problem at the moment, which has been pushed by higher import bills on food grains and fuels due to inconceivable price hike of these commodities in the international market. The unusual rise of food prices in the recent time, which has been a world phenomenon, has really hard hit the poorest and the marginalized groups. This price hike was caused by domestic production shortfall following successive natural disasters and also by international higher prices. The food price rise has severe human dimension and has seriously eroded the purchasing capacity of people living below the poverty line and government employees, industrial
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workers, and others with fixed incomes. Addressing the hardship of poor people affected by higher food prices remains a challenge. Failure to contain higher food prices could seriously undermine macroeconomic and political stability. Government responses including raising food-grain imports, building its own stock through imports and domestic procurement, and widening social safety net programs are commendable. But over the medium to longer term, improving productivity by disseminating modern production technologies, developing rural infrastructure including reliable and expanded irrigation systems, bringing ecologically disadvantaged areas under cultivation, providing extension services, improving marketing, producing quality seeds through public-private partnerships, and ensuring rural financial services are essential. 4.19 Economic growth needs to be more inclusive. Challenges of Bangladesh's development agenda are immense. However, in the quest for quick economic growth and development, the country must seek inclusive economic growth and put in more resources for reduction of poverty of millions of people who live under desperate poverty. This would need to create and expand access to opportunities and more investment in health, education and safety net programs for the poorest. Alongside, the country needs big investment in infrastructures- energy, power generation, roads, railway and ports to attract further investment and ensure industrial development and employment creation through private sector participation. The country also needs to expand and improve the education and health services and to protect the environmental degradation. 4.20 Bangladesh's aspiration to become a middle income country by 2020 must be led by the private sector. A robust private sector is the key to attracting investment, entrepreneurship and technological innovation needed for quick economic growth. It is obvious that without private sector investment, jobs and economic opportunities for the thousands of people cannot be ensured. The government, therefore, needs to continuously invest in infrastructures and social development, and to further liberalize the policies and regulations and remove obstacles to inclusive growth and private sector driven development efforts. 4.21 Bangladesh can gain a lot from regional and sub-regional integration and cooperation. Economic and social cooperation through forums like SAARC and BIMSTEC can indeed help the country not only to accelerate its economic development through promoting regional trade and investment, but would also protect the people from cross-border environmental and health risks. In this context, upgrading and opening the Chittagong Port for the use of astern Indian states and other landlocked neighboring countries and developing it as a regional hub, could be a major driver for economic development of the country. 4.22 The bureaucracy needs transformation. The caretaker government has implemented many landmark governance reforms. Unfortunately, one major
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reform that has remained untouched is the sluggish and complex bureaucratic structure of the Government. In my view, this is the mother of all other reforms. The pyramid bureaucratic structure and its archaic systems and procedures, inherited from the colonial days, are characterized by inefficiency, centralization, lack of delegation and job description; too many tiers in the decision making process; archaic filing and noting system and lack of e-governance; and poor pay structure are out of place in the modern states. That is why it is incapable of implementing government's own development projects, let alone promoting business and investment. We need to highlight this to the government for transforming this bureaucracy. Without its reforms, implementation target of development projects will always fall short and the vision of transforming Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2020may remain as an illusion. 4.23 We live in a world that is transforming fast, and the stock and quality of human resources has become a key to accelerating growth and reducing poverty. Bangladesh has made considerable progress in establishing a comprehensive education system, particularly in providing access to primary education. The quality of education, however, needs improvement at all levels. Even though there are pockets of excellence, the overall quality of higher education remains a concern due to a lack of funds, shortage of qualified teachers, weak management and supervision, and in certain cases, politicization of campuses. In many universities, access to ICT, science laboratories, and other educational facilities is limited. 4.24 Education that is provided is not strongly linked to market demands. There is also inadequate focus on science and technology or on areas that produce marketable skills. Over 80% of young graduates enroll in general studies; only 20% study science, technology, and applied subjects. Any nation that does not possess the ability and the technology to gain and process vast amounts of information quickly will lag behind in development. Much instructional time is lost due to demonstrations and strikes, particularly at public universities. As a result, degrees are not awarded in time, which adversely affects the academic and career pursuits of the students. It is a genuine concern that campus violence has now extended to some private universities. Bangladesh can easily double or even triple the foreign exchange remittance from expatriate workers, which was more than $7 billion this year, by investing and focusing a little more on technical and science education, human resource development and language training. The country needs more skilled technicians, data entry clerks, professional managers, accountants, computer programmers, IT consultants, bio-technicians, architects, designers and corporate lawyers than generalist graduates in literature and social sciences. In a world where knowledge is not only power, but also for sale, and where almost every large company that relies upon remote transactions is starting to hire more cost-effective labor overseas, the stock and quality of human resources has become a key for less developed countries like
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Bangladesh to participate in the global growth process, and to reduce poverty and attaining a better quality of life. 4.25 Environment and climate change pose a serious development challenge. Last but not the least, the climate change also poses a major development challenge for Bangladesh. Bangladesh's vulnerability to natural disasters also poses a risk. The recent severe flooding and cyclone are premonitions of future possible catastrophe. According to the United Nations Human Development Report 2007/2008, one meter rise in sea level would inundate 18% of land area in Bangladesh, directly threatening 11% of the population. Rising sea levels and exposure to climate disasters could result over 70 million people being permanently or temporarily displaced. These impacts are envisaged to raise the country's vulnerability to natural disasters, thus stresses the need for improved disaster preparedness, and risk mitigation and adaptation measures. Development partners need to strongly support the country to undertake a holistic approach to mitigate the effects of climate change and to adapt with the impacts of environmental degradation, and natural disasters. Present Trend of HRM in Bangladesh 4.26 Since independence, there has been a drastic change both in the number and profile of employees in Bangladesh, particularly in the organized sector, especially in their consciousness, commitment, thinking, outlook, needs, demands etc. It has been greatly facilitated and expedited by significant structural changes in the employment market and cost of living, on the one hand, and very rapid technological and global changes on the other. The working people, by and large, are in no mood to be exploited and neglected by any quarters, be it employers or managers or politicians or even trade union leaders. The growing consciousness and aspirations of working people are well reflected in their rising educational and skill levels and increasing social mobility-horizontal or vertical. Some important issues are cited below which affect and influence the operation of human resource management: Political Climate Inside and Outside the Organization Forms of Ownership and Employers' Attitude Level of Skills, Values and Attitudes of Employees Organizational and National Policies and Legal Issues Relating to Human Resource Globalization 4.27 By and large, in our country, unstable political climate, surplus labor market condition, squeezing trend of job market, hostile attitude and comprador outlook of employers, poor job commitment and low level skill of rank and file workers, interfering and traditional outlook of government, outdated technology, etc. badly hinder the standard of management in general and HRM in particular. At the state level, the human factor is yet to be recognized as resource or asset. Till now, we have not been able to re-title or change the name of Ministry from
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the Ministry of Labor and Employment to the Ministry of Human Resource Development although such instances are not at all uncommon even in some of the SAARC countries. 4.28 Top management in Bangladeshi Companies expect more from their senior and middle management people than they can provide; The Human Resources senior manager and top assistants have to take responsibilities which must be performed before, during and after strategic planning which were not practiced before in the traditional style of management. The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. 4.29 With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organizations must become more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. And within this change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organization's big picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of today's HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and succession planners to help motivate organization's members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations, especially in the management of workplace diversity. 4.30 An analysis of HR aspect of Bangladesh in particular brings out following facts: The concept of HR is new to the Bangladeshi companies therefore it is not well understood by the management and the employees at large. The need for the HR department is not well realized because of the traditional way of management which was highly focused among departments and thus could be looked after by the department managers eliminating the need of an HR manger and HR executives. Workforce diversity leading to the staffing of employees from different backgrounds resulting to a variety of negative thoughts which mostly are a result of the backwardness of the country and its economy which is a major problem identified in the country causing the lack of professional drive in the Human Resource requirement of any organization.

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Even best in class HR departments may find their activities falling out of alignment with corporate goals because of the lack of mind-set of the top management and their failure to understand the need of the department. The lessons given to the professionals in their courses cannot always be related to the local organizations and therefore it is difficult for the professionals to think strategically and take necessary steps in times of crisis. The Government of Bangladesh has no ministry for HR. Most organisations do not have HR departments and thus HR practice is far behind in Bangladesh. If the government establishes a ministry for HR, then it will encourage others to follow the trend and give attention to the HR department in an organisation. Lack of market driven HR education in many universities conflicts with real life situation. Employers dont find any real life experience in the students. Also, educational institutions teaching HR mostly base their curriculum around industrial management as it mostly focuses around labour laws. . There is a lack of proper empowerment of HR persons in an organisation. Mostly it is seen that the HR department is carrying out orders of the management and there is no self involvement by these executives in any decision making One of the unfortunate trends in the present market is that HR contributions in an organisation go unrecognised. No good work done by the HR people is appreciated. In most organisations, a HR person is not seen as a strategic business partner. Professionals in this line do not want to take risks. HR people lack knowledge of company business. They should always know about the company they work for and the industry as a whole as well. Most HR executives in a company are unable to make partnership with the line managers. Thus there is an absence of participatory approach. The management in not open for change particularly involving HR matters. The HR people are not involved with the professional body of the company and thus they miss the opportunity to share knowledge with each other.

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Most of the HR professionals are not able to show the benefits or the bottom line results being achieved by practising modern HR concepts. Most of the HR persons are not enough employee oriented. In most cases, they try to satisfy the management. Most HR people lack clear understanding of the labour laws and the existing laws of the land. Legal matters involving HR thus become a difficult issue to deal with. HR does not take any actions against employers / managers who are not gender sensitive. It is often seen that the capacity of a female employee is undermined. The management has a tendency to discriminate HR professionals in terms of salary and position. There is a lack of initiative in terms of personal and professional development from the HR professionals part. They should regularly update their knowledge to be able to survive in this fast track line. Organisations consider investing money in staff training and development as a waste of money. This is partly because the HR professionals are not able to show the benefits or the bottom line results of these trainings. Most of the HR heads are in subordinate positions.

HR people are afraid of performing the role of a change agent in an organisation for the betterment. HR professionals are not enough assertive in real life situations.

Future Trend of HRM in Bangladesh Workplace Flexibility 4.31 The future working environment would be of collaborative cultures. People of different nationalities will be working together. Employees will be employed on a contract basis that would suit both employers and employees. The use of company intranet will be a major tool. Knowledge transfer capability among the employees will increase. Employees will have more choice about their work arrangements. Organisations will focus more on performance and result rather than educational background or seniority. Work will be less structured. Legislation will lead to greater portability of benefits. There will be free lance teams of generic problem solvers in the organisation.
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Global Business 4.32 HR will be a creator of overall values and direction. Usage of internet in the global market place will become more important. HR professionals will have advanced business acumen. HR professionals will need to know about other businesses as well e.g. news of the market and knowledge about the competitors. HR professionals will need to be knowledgeable of other cultures. Mega businesses will grow and HR professionals will require finesse. There will be an explosive growth of companies doing business across borders. HR professionals will need to acquire multiple language ability. There will be development of international workforce. Proper ability of an employee can land him to a job anywhere in the world. HR professionals will need to provide performance improvement consulting service. Work and Society 4.33 There will be a work to live mentality rather than a live to work. There will be an increase in workplace flexibility. People will be opting out of traditional careers. Families will return to the centre of the society (esp. for the Western culture). People will struggle with need for work and life balance. People will take initiatives to integrate work with quality of life. Involvement with community will be a part of an organisations business vision. Company will take care of more social needs. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary 5.1 Humane resources managements is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. Strategic Human Resource Management ( SHRM) supports the organizations strategic plan that define the overall mission & objectives of the organization, determining the most effective utilization of its resources and crafting and executing the strategy in ways that produce the intended results. SHRM addresses a wide variety of people issues relevant to business strategy. SHRM process is led & coordinated by top management. 5.2 Today HR professionals are involved in a host of activities not only within companies HR department but also along with other departments of the organization. They perform exclusive HR functions like: Administering compensation and benefits issues. Management of HRIS, facilitating disciplinary
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issues, pre-employment testing, HR Client satisfaction survey, HR files management etc. Besides, they also carry out various functions with other departments within the organization. Some of the examples of such function are: Job Analysis & Job Description, Recruitment and selection, Orientation, Induction, performance management, training and development and career management, Designing compensation and benefit systems, Employees health, safety and environment, labour relations, gender relations etc. 5.3 HR professionals are also the key players in some HR departmental roles within the company. These are: policy formulation, revision, implementation and monitoring, HR planning in line with business strategy, critical policy issues, employee turnover. Succession planning creative reward systems, work flow process analysis/ mapping etc. In general, HR professionals remain as counselors to all levels from employees to top management and provide advice and service as required. They also perform some control functions like: collection & analysis of hiring, selection, placement & promotion, analysis of performance appraisal records, analysis of statistics on absenteeism, grievances and accidents. 5.4 In order to undertake such a versatile responsibilities an HR professional need be very efficient in communication. He has to communicate both upwards and down wards. And HR departments are more of a combination of professional and managerial staff. Responsibilities for HR functions, today, do not only reside with HR. All managers at all levels share in the responsibility. 5.5 Strategic HR activities address a board range of issues relevant to the successful formulation and implementation of company plans. The management of people has seen three distinct approaches since the turn of the last century: scientific management, human relations and the HR approach. The trend has been toward the HR approach, whereby two complementary goals are sought: increased organizational effectiveness and the satisfaction of individual employee needs. HR policies and programmes strive to achieve both goals. A number of critical issues face HR managers and administrators in the world today. Improving worker productivity through HR programmes, policies and techniques remains a challenge increasing the quality of working life (QWL) is a goal of many organizations, and programmes such as the redesign of jobs have been implemented to enhance QWL. Hiring and motivating todays changing workforce is a major HR challenge. Innovative HR programmes must meet the needs of a diverse labour force while enabling the company to compete successfully in a global economy. 5.6 Although the HR programmes of different organizations will vary, the HR departments of most organizations have these common responsibilities: job design and analysis; recruitment and selection; induction and internal staffing; appraisal, training and development; compensation; and labour relations. HR managers and administrators play a number of roles in achieving effective HR
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management. These include creating HR policies, offering advice to line managers, providing services (e.g, recruiting training, and research), and controlling activities to ensure that employment legislation and HR policies are being followed. Also, it is usually HR,s responsibility to design and maintain effective communication flows. Jobs in the HR department include clerical (support), professional and managerial positions. Free trade and globalization are putting most firms in fiercely competitive markets where success depends on the quality of HR management. Work itself will be redefined in the future; more high order thinking, constant learning and flexibility. 5.7 The approach of the millennium has brought about new challenges for human resources departments and practitioners around the world. These new challenges raise questions about the nature HR practices and the role of HR professionals, and imply new approaches for the HR function in product and service delivery. Few of the challenges that HR shall be facing in the days to come are: Globalization. HR management needs to create models and processes for attaining global agility, effectiveness, and competitiveness. HR professionals must master global operating skills and the HR function must build global capabilities for the organization such as the ability to move talent, ideas, and information around the world. Managing the Value Chain for Business Competitiveness. HR needs to refocus practices more on the value chain and less on activities within the company. This is important because by shifting the focus from company to value chain, all HR activities become defined according to customer criteria. Profitability Through Cost and Growth. Revenue growth is a key component of the profitability equation. The main paths to growth include through leveraging customers, leveraging core competencies and mergers, acquisitions or joint ventures. Each of these has HR implications and requires co-operation between management and HR professionals to design and deliver new organizational practices. Capability Focus. Managers and HR professionals should constantly seek the capabilities necessary for success. Whilst general management must identify and foster what capabilities they need to increase organizational competitiveness, HR professionals must frame what they do in terms of these capabilities at an organizational level. Organizational Change. HR professionals need to help to help their organizations to change, define an organizational change model, disseminate that model throughout the organization and sponsor its ongoing application.

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Technology. Managers and HR professionals need to be able to redefine work to maximize the value of technology in the organization. This means making technology a viable and productive part of the work setting, and requires that HR professionals keep ahead on the information curve. Attracting and Retaining Intellectual Capital. Business organizations of the future will compete aggressively for the best people, and the successful organizations will be the ones that are able to attract good people, use them effectively, develop them and retain their skills within the organization. Transforming the Organization. Over the past decade, organizations have gone through one change initiative after another including downsizing, consolidations and restructurings. Unlike many of these turnaround efforts, transformation goes to the heart of the organization changing the fundamental image of the business, as seen by customers and employers, HR has to play a leading role in organizational transformation. Mergers, acquisitions and restructuring. These will continue as long as companies strive for increased economies of scale, grater productivity and market share. The changes we have been reviewing are largely driven by one or more of these activities. The potential employee problems associated with combining differing work cultures, restructuring hurdles can offset the intended benefits of the changes. If well managed however, the results can be very rewarding. Related to, but separate from the challenges posed by mergers, acquisitions and restructuring, are those that are simply required to keep businesses afloat. It may involve and occasional restructuring, but may take the form of shifting the work ethic into a higher gear. Feeling uncomfortable about how things are running, if they are running in place, is dangerous. Sexual harassment. Any form of harassment in the work-place is disruptive and potentially damaging to those involved, including the company. The increasing challenge is the every-evolving definition of harassment, as interpreted by the courts, legislation and society as a whole. Ongoing legal compliance. 'Laws and other government regulatory requirements tend to be very dynamic, subject to constant change. HR professionals need to be in touch with the latest court interpretations of the laws affecting the company. Benefit plan designs. The days of putting a benefit plan in place and leaving it undisturbed for a number of years are quickly vanishing. Today's marketplace for talent, coupled with changing lifestyles, requires more frequent customization in order to remain a competitive tool for attracting and retaining employees.

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Creative compensation schemes. Not unlike benefit plans, there is a growing need to find more creative ways to motivate and reward employees, at all levels. The demographics of your particular work force are critical factors to be considered when attempting to redesign incentives, pay structures, etc. Partnering with the business. HR professionals need to be well aware of the companys mission, vision, goals and objectives. They must also know the weaknesses and strengths of the company. The HR plan should always support the strategic business plan. To outsource or not. The focus of all departments within an organization should be the optimization of resources toward the core business objectives. Companies do not exist, for example, to support the HR department. They exist to produce, sell and/or market products and services. In future outsourcing may remain as a constant challenge that HR professionals need to address. Increasing services while lowering costs would be the main factors influencing any outsourcing decision.

5.8 The HR profession is challenging in the context of Bangladesh for numerous reasons. The main challenges may be summarized as following: Prejudice. The top management of many of the companies, in most cases do not understand the theories and practices of modern SHRM concepts. HR professionals are still involved only in hiring and firing duties. Companies are still run by the age old authoritarian practices where no collective decision making is practiced. Globalization. The world today has become a global village. It would be very difficult for companies to recruit and retain competent employees in the competitive world market. Our fragile economy shall also contribute in the drainage of qualified and skilled workforce. Social, Political and Economic Instability. The social, political and economic instability shall also make negative impact on the HRM environment. Unless situation improves, labour unrest as shown in the RMG sector in recent past and other sabotage activities may increases posing additional challenge to HR professionals. Legislations. As the government is weak, the legislation is often manipulated and changed by vested influential quarters. Keeping someone up to date on the legislative changes would be a real challenge. Weak economy would force the government to impose additional taxes often to the utmost dissatisfaction of the business community.
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Morale and Productivity. Productivity depends entirely on the performance of human resources. Human beings are not machines, they are driven by emotions. Maintenance of morale of the employees shall remain a challenge for the HR professionals. An effective performance management system may assist in maintaining morale. Technology. Introduction of technology shall also remain as a challenge for HR profession with regard to recruiting trained employees to manage the technology. The challenge shall also persist in orienting existing worforce to the technology as they are introduced to the company. Change Management. It is expected Bangladesh shall go through a lot of changes in social, political, economical and demographic landscape in near future. It will be a real challenge for the HR professionals to cope with those challenges and revise the companys HR plan in accordance with the business plan derive from the corporate plan.

Conclusions 5.9 HR profession in Bangladesh is very challenging. The most challenging aspect is human beings natural spontaneous resistance to change and critical difficulties of change management. The HR professionals need to have strong determination to assist management in managing these changes. At the same time, they must possess sound knowledge of all the HR functions, understand people and have the capability to drive people's potential. 5.10 HR professionals should actively contribute to organizational effectiveness to help managers achieve the objectives of the organization. HR department has to perform certain functions in line with organizational needs and goals. HR operations to be ethically and socially responsive to the needs of the society. Moreover,HR has to assist in achieving staff's personal and professional objectives. 5.11 In General, HR professionals have to make optimum utilization of human resources. With the increase in competition, and within this change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organizations big picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of todays HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and succession planners to help motivate organizations members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and

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fight for values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations, especially in the management of workplace diversity. 5.12 The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of the changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change directions, and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional must learn how to manage effectively through planning, organizing, leading and controlling the human resource and be knowledgeable of emerging trends in training and employee development. Following is a chart summarizing the role of HR managers in the organization linked to the different factores of an organization which contributes to the challenges of the HR professionals.

YESTERDAY Success factors Business judgment, Intuition Paternalistic

TODAY Information Strategic Plan Mission Professional

TOMORROW

Flexibility Agility Speed Organizational Style Empowered Learning Vibrant Employees Hungry, Naked & Thinking and Fully evolved, considered as Defenseless Rational completely satisfied, creatures Beings mature human beings Motivational Driving people Driving people People drive Methods through basic through social themselves needs & intellectual needs Role of HR Provide people Motivate by As a Change Agent with food, clothing providing As a Innovator and shelter. effective & fair As a Strategic Partner appraisals and compensation systems Fig: Past, present and the future role of HR in an organization. Recommendations 5.13 HR professionals should constantly drive to increase awareness about the necessity of practicing future oriented SHRM theories and practices to achieve vision, mission and objective of business organizations. Institutions like BSHRM may take pioneer role in this regard.

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5.14 HR strategy should be integrated with broader organizational objectives and ensures that the rest of the organization accepts the strategy. The strategy should ensure: Right people, with right mix of skills, with right attitude and behavior and developed in the right way are at the right place. 5.15 Organizations should have a transparent and efficient recruitment policy basing on the approved HR plan. 5.16 Organizations should develop a performance management system that would maintain morale of employees and in turn shall contribute to higher productivity. And Reward system should be linked with performance management system to motivate and retain the best talents. 5.17 It must be kept in mind that a mere change in organizational climate/philosophy is not enough to yield the desired results. Planned efforts should be made to develop human relations skills in managers at all levels helping them to adopt a more balanced approach towards human resources. 5.18 Besides, they should be encouraged to practice these skills capitalizing on human dignity, capability and potential through healthy inter-personal relations formal and informal; positive rewards-extrinsic and intrinsic, and greater people's involvement in terms of exercise of discretion, decision making and use of ingenuity. 6. Case Study: Organizationational Re-structuring at Rahim Afroze Bangladesh through HR Change Management and Strategic HR Planning. 6.0 HISTORY The Rahimafrooz journey dates back to the early fifties when Late Mr. A C Abdur Rahim founded a small trading company and paved the way for making of one of todays leading Bangladeshi business conglomerates. Over the decades, Rahimafrooz has grown in size, scale, and diversity. The Group today has seven Operating Companies (SBUs), three other business ventures, and a non-profit social enterprise. As of 2007, the Group currently employs more than two thousand people directly and a further twenty thousand indirectly as suppliers contractors, dealers and retailers

6.1 The major milestones in Rahimafrooz history can be summarised as below: Incorporated in 1954 by Mr. A.C. Abdur Rahim
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Distributorship of Lucas Battery in 1959 Exclusive distributorship of Dunlop tyre in 1978 Acquisition of Bangladesh operations of Lucas UK in 1980 First producer of industrial battery in 1985 Pioneering Solar Power in collaboration with BP in 1985 First ever battery export to Singapore Launched Rahimafrooz Instant Power System Acquisition of Yuasa Batteries (Bangladesh) Ltd. Attained ISO 9002 certification for RBL operations First India office opened in Ahmedabad Awarded Bangladesh Enterprise of the Year in in in in in in 1992 1993 1994 1997 2000 2001

Attained ISO 14001:1996 for RBL operations Launched Agora the first ever retail chain in 2001 Launched Rahimafrooz Energy Service in 2002 promoting distributed power. Established Rahimafrooz CNG ltd. in 2003 Awarded National Export Trophy in 2003 Metronet Bangladesh, a fibre optic based digital solution provider for data communication, launched in joint venture with Flora Telecom in 2004 Received McGraw-Hill Platt Global Energy Award for Renewable in 2004 Received the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2006 The Group celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 15, 2004 with a renewed, enhanced commitment to being successful while upholding its core values. Established Rahimafrooz Globatt Limited and Rahimafrooz Accumulator limited in 2009. Energy

6.2 HR TRANSFORMATION AT RAHIM AFROZE As evident from milestone, the company had a steady and strong position in the 80s. Untill then, the company was practicing traditional Management Practices with family ownership and organizational structure was hierarchical. Employees were hired without proper HR planning and mostly on personal references. No strategic business planning existed. The steady revenue from business, being the only company to produce battery in local market, brought RELAXED work environment, with no target based, high performance work culture. Performance
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Management personal judgment based and reward management was across the company uniform, no differentiation. Recruitments were on ADHOC, without any HR planning. Training & Developments were not based on TNAs and job requirements. Organization structure became bulky, with no hr audits to identify workforce efficiency. In the 1990s, competition in the local market become tough, mostly because of imported batteries by trading agents. The pricing competition for the first time forced the company to face negative sales growth and huge business uncertainty. At this point, In 1996-97, Management of Rahim Afrooz , hired an external consulting firm to indentify the organizational problems and action plan to reengineer and re-structure the whole company. The consulting firm, after spending months with different units of the company pointed out the major TOP 5 problems as per follows: a) Organization is over staffed with in-efficient/obsolete skilled people, whose service quality is not matched with future business growth of the company. b) Key Positions of the organization structures are hold by Management Staff (mostly relatives of owners and old employees who joined and got promotions due to personal relationship with employer), who are not qualified for the positions to strategically lead company to future growth. c) Absence of Strategic Business Planning and execution at all level of the organization to fight with intense cost competition. d) No succession planning to ensure sustainability of organizational growth. The recommendations were to first hire an external COO and also an BEST IN THE CLASS HR Professional from a renowned Multinational Company, to replace the family based Management Team and old PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT. The Change Process A renowned leader was recruited through head hunting, followed by a highly qualified HR professional from British American Tobacco ( who just came from a overseas assignment). Together they formed a winning combination and started their immediate plan of action as per follows: 1. Existing personnel department, was replaced with HR professionals, who had first hand hr experience to work the best multinationals in the country with strong drive to achieve results

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2. The new HR department under leadership of the HR Director and CEO, conducted a company wide HR audit and matched people VS. Position competency mapping. 3. The old hierarchical structure was replaced with a business focused flat ( 3 level structure , junior, mid level, senior management) structures. 4. Based on HR audits, incompetent personnel were let go ( at that time, this was a headline in the news and was critised). 5. New organization structure, with market competitive salary structure was designed to attract the right talents from the market. 6. Target oriented performance management system with linking reward 7. Finally, a state of art recruitment drive to a) fill up the best talent for KEY POSITIONS to rest (TOP Down). Results: As of today in 2010, Rahim Afrooz made a TURN AROUND with successful HR action plan to a successful group of companies with double digit sales growth year to year for past 10 years. Shunning the family owned management structure, it became a MNC culture, process driven company run by best talents available in the country. It is also considered as employer of choice in Bangladesh. The road to this success was not easy for HR Department of Rahim Afrooze as they faced criticism, resistance to change due to their DOWNSIZING of staff and restructuring efforts. This case proves, that HR Management system is challenging in Bangladesh and with right support from Management Team, HR can achieve miracle in a company in this country. References: 1. 2. Handouts, class notes and lectures. The Future of the HR Profession by SHRM.

3. Matthew J. Monnot , Stephen M. Colarelli of Michigan University and Monica Hemingway , Strategic Human Resource Management. 4. Abul Barkat, Ph.D. Mozammel Hoque, MBA, Zahid Hassan Chowdhury, MA, MPA State Capacity in Promoting Trade and Investment: The Case of Bangladesh, February 2004.
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5. Dr. Md. Fashiul Alam Combating Contemporary Challenges: The Human Resource Perspective

Management

6. Hussain Amir Ali , Problems faced in HRM in Bangladesh, new age web addition ,May 2005.

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