4. They should continuously enhance their HR competencies to keep pace
with the changing environment.
5. Their agenda and roles should be redefined to include involvement in business
plans, organizational structures and all implementation activities. For
example, success of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in HR will depend
greatly on how well the change is orchestrated in terms of employee
involvement and how well it is integrated into various HR processes and
planning of HRD for ERP (Thite, Kavanagh & Johnson, 2012).
6. There should be enough number of competent and committed HR professionals
available in the country. For example, the number of HR professionals
who made it to become CEOs in the last 25 years in India is less than a
dozen.
7. Administrative functions should be differentiated from HRD.
Empirical Studies on HRD in India
HRD Audit of 12 Leading Organizations
In order to examine the structure of HRD function and implementation of various
HRD subsystems, 12 of 50 organizations who participated in HRD audit conducted
by the author were chosen (see Rao, 2003, Chapter 2). The twelve organizations
cover a range of industry segments, including financial services, consumer
products, electronics, cement, tyres and automobiles.
The HRD audit methodology involves an evaluation of the HRD structure,
systems, processes, competencies and culture by a team of experts. The methodology
used for HRD includes: (i) questionnaire study of HRD systems and processes;
(ii) individual and group interviews with HRD staff, top management, line
managers and other stakeholders to ascertain their perceptions of the HR systems
and processes and outline the gaps; (iii) study of various documents relating to
HRD systems; (iv) observation of the work culture, training in operation, etc.; and
(v) analysis of secondary data. The detailed methodology used in HRD audit is
described in detail by Rao (1999). The observations reported in this study were
drawn from the author’s experiences of visiting and interacting with the organizations
for the purpose of HRD Audit.
This study concluded that the HRD function is not well structured as envisaged
in mid 1970s. The function seems to be a lot more convenience driven rather than
systems driven. It does not have all the ideal systems as envisaged in the 1970s.
The systems are not well integrated. The integration mechanisms are stronger
but the specialization does not get the attention it deserves. The structures and
competencies are not fully in tune with the integrated HRD systems model proposed
by Pareek and Rao. The HRD subsystems, however, have evolved and
matured to a substantial degree, specially the performance management system
and training and development system. OD, feedback and counselling are in the