HRD CULTURE AND CLIMATE

Page 28 of 230 CHAPTER 2 HRD CULTURE AND CLIMATE Manufacturing organizations attach great importance to human resource because human resources are the biggest source of competitive advantage and have the capability of converting all the other resources into products. The effective performance of this human resource depends on the type of HRD climate that prevails in the organization; if it is good then the employee’s performance will be high, but if it is average or poor then the performance will be low. 2.1. INTRODUCTION Any organisation worth the name needs Human Resource Department if it has to be dynamic and result oriented. To be effective every manufacturing organisation needs competent people in all areas to bring about cost reduction, reduction in delays, increased customer satisfaction, better quality, prompts service and improved market image. Human competencies are ever more critical for service organisations like banking, rural development, health, education, etc., where one has to deal constantly with people. In short, all types of organisations, which want to grow, renew, diversify, change, improve or stabilise need HRD. In a developing country like ours, the public sector has become a major instrument of economic and social transformation. Public sector seeks to achieve the commanding heights of our national economy. A major challenge to HRD in public sector is the heterogeneous composition of workforce in so far as their education exposure and work attitudes are concerned. Page 29 of 230 2.2. MEANING OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (HRD) Human resource development is the process of helping people to acquire expertise. In an organizational context, it is the process by which organizations help their employees in a continuous and planned way in order to: ¾ acquire or sharpen the abilities required to perform various functions associated with their present or expected future roles; ¾ develop their general skills as individuals, discover and utilize their inner potential for their own and/or organizational development purposes; ¾ develop an organizational culture in which supervisor-subordinate relationships, teamwork and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well-being, motivation, and pride of employees. (Rao.T.V., 1990) Human resource development process is facilitated by mechanisms (instruments or sub systems) such as performance appraisal, training, organizational development (OD) feedback and counselling, career development, potential development, job rotation and rewards. Employees are helped constantly in order to acquire new skills. This is offered through a process of planning, performance, feedback and training. It also includes, assessment of the developmental needs, periodic reviews of performance, and the creation of development opportunities through training, job rotation, responsibility definition and similar other mechanisms. 2.3. THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (HRD) Human resource development is a people-oriented concept that focuses on developing the skills, knowledge and competencies of people. Human resource development can be applied both at the organizational level and at the national level. Various authors have not yet been fully successful in conceiving the Page 30 of 230 whole concept of human resource development. They have defined the term from their standpoint due to the fact that it is a recent concept and therefore is still in the conceptualizing stage. Lifelong learning has become an important topic under the globalization perspective, the whole world develops into a “learning society” (Gass, 1996). Work organizations are becoming important partners in this learning society, as they provide more and more opportunities for continuous learning for their employees with the objective to optimize organizational learning as a whole (Karen et al., 2001). Despite the growing number of publications on Human Resource Developments (HRDs) role in organizational learning many uncertainties remain. However, many interesting initiatives are being undertaken by HRD practitioners to facilitate employee learning and professional development (Tjepkema, 2000). Many organizations have renamed their training departments to human resource development departments. Surprisingly some organizations renamed their personnel departments to human resource development departments. Some educational institutions started awarding degrees and diplomas in human resource development, with the fact remaining that the concept is not yet crystal clear. It is a concept not so old that sufficient human input could have been possible. The concept of human resource development was introduced by Nadler (1984) in a conference organized by the American society for training and development. Nadler (1984) defines human resource development as "Those learning experiences, which are organized for a specific time and designed to bring about the possibility of behavioural and attitudinal change. General Assembly resolution 44/213 of UN in 1989 states: “HRD is a broad concept--- requiring integrated and concentrated strategies, policies plans and programs to ensure the development of the full potential of human beings-- Page 31 of 230 -so that they may, individually and collectively, be capable of improving their standard of living”. Alvin Toffler, the author of "Future Shock" and "The Third Wave" wrote about the importance of learning in the 21st Century and how the use of learning skills will denote literacy. The definition he used has more meaning than ever in current times and can serve as a gauge for us as individuals and as organizations both in measuring our own concepts regarding HRD skills and in planning learning experiences with others. The term ‘learning experience’ refers to purposeful or intentional learning not incidental learning as cited by John (2005). Organizational view point in that human resource development is a process in which the employees of an organization are motivated to acquire and develop technical, managerial and behavioural knowledge skills and abilities (John 2005). Their values, beliefs and attitudes are reshaped in order to perform present and future roles by releasing the highest human potential with a view to contributing positively to individual’s social goals as well as the organizational goals. A comparative analysis of these definitions seems elaborate and comprehensive as it deals with the developmental aspects of all the components of human resources. Furthermore, it deals with all skill sets, the present and future organizational needs and aspects of contributions at organizational level. Analysis of the definitions further shows that there are three aspects in human resource development: i) Helps and motivates organizational employees ii) Helps acquisition, development and moulding of various aspects of human resources iii) Contributes to the organizational, group, individual and social goals. Page 32 of 230 These three aspects can further be classified into the following factors: 1. Enabling factors a) Organizational structure and climate, b) Human resource development climate, c) Human resource development knowledge and skills of management d) Resource planning, recruitment and selection 2. Techniques or methods, to acquire, develop and mould human resources. a) Performance appraisal and potential appraisal b) Career planning and development, training c) Management development d) Social and cultural programmes e) Workers participation in management f) Quality circles 3. The resultant contribution of the HRD process to the goals of the organization, group, individuals and society. 2.4. DIMENSIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (HRD) Human resource development is considered the key to higher productivity, better relations and greater profitability for any organization. Iqbal (2007) says human productivity is crucial for growth and survival of organizations. Cheney (2002) supported the concept that higher productivity leads to ultimate societal benefits. As far as the dimensions/components/subsystems of human resource development are concerned, mechanisms of human resource development Page 33 of 230 have been designed in different ways, and various thinkers and professionals have offered divergent views. Rao (1988) suggests that human resource development sub-systems comprise performance appraisal, potential appraisal, career planning, training, performance coaching, organization development, employee welfare, rewards, quality of work life and human resource information system. Pareek (1983) refers to performance appraisal, feedback, counselling, potential appraisal, career advancement, career planning and training as dimensions of human resource development. Varadan (1987) traces human resource development mechanism into performance appraisal, role analysis, organization development and quality circles. Though there is diversity among these arguments, one can trace out that on some of the dimensions there is unanimity of opinion among the experts. Iqbal (2007) says that improvement in human productivity is crucial to a country like Pakistan where the rate of investment has already been low and falls in the range of 17 to 18%.Therefore organizations need to develop employees to enhance productivity. 2.5. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COMPONENTS Jayagopal (1988) proposed a comprehensive framework for human resource development program, comprising four major areas with nineteen functions under them and also suggested a dense network of interconnections among these functions. That framework was thrashed and most necessary components are only discussed in detail. 2.5.1. Manpower Planning Manpower planning is the process which assesses and determines that the organization will have an adequate number of qualified persons available at specific times, performing jobs which would fulfil the needs of the organization and Page 34 of 230 which would provide satisfaction for the individuals involved. It is an endeavour to act according to demand and supply. It involves: (1) calculation of net human resource requirements based on present level of human resources (2) an estimation of present and future requirements and supply of human resource based on the objectives and long-term plans of the organization (3) development of the human resource of existing employees and planning an approach to enable the organization to get the rest of human resources from outside the organization (4) initiating steps to change, mould and develop the existing human resource to meet the future human resource requirements 2.5.2. Recruitment, Selection and Placement Generation of applications for specific positions for actual or anticipated vacancies is known as Recruitment. Through ideal recruitment procedure suitable applicants could be identified. Selection is the process of ascertaining the qualifications, experience, skill, knowledge etc of an applicant with a view to appraising his/her suitability to a job. The selected candidate is assigned the most suitable job placement. Right person on the right job produces the best results. 2.5.3 Training and Development The two terms are quite identical to each other, but they are not the same in meaning. Training is a learning process that aims to permanently improve the ability and behaviour of the employees by enabling them to acquire new skills, knowledge and attitude for more efficient performance. This includes: • identification of training needs Page 35 of 230 • developing suitable training programmes • providing requisite job skills and knowledge to employees • evaluating the effectiveness of training programmes Development is the growth or realization of a person’s ability, through conscious or unconscious learning. Development programs usually include phases of planned study and experience, and are usually supported by a coaching or counselling facility. Development occurs when a gain in experience is effectively combined with the conceptual understanding that can illustrate it, giving increased confidence both to act and to perceive how such action relates to its context (Bolton, 1995). 2.5.4 Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal is the process which helps determine the efficiency of a worker in his/her job performance. It provides a mechanism for identification of merits and deficiencies observed in an employee in relation to his/ her job performance. Appraisal is to determine the present state of efficiency of a worker in order to establish the actual need for training. The process of performance appraisal consists of the following: • Setting the standards for performance • Communicating the standard to the employees, measuring the performance, comparing the actual performance with the standard set. 2.5.5 Job Rotation The distribution of responsibilities, it is suggested, will result in specialization. However, to be able to utilize their specialization in the best possible way, work tasks should be rotated among the employees so as to broaden their field of specialization and their knowledge about the organization's operation as a whole. Page 36 of 230 Therefore, once a year the work-tasks should be rotated among the various employees depending upon their qualifications and suitability to perform the new work-task. 2.5.6 Wage and Salary Administration The principal need of all employees is adequate wage and salary, which should be proportionate with his/her duties and responsibilities. Wage and salary administration refers to the establishment and implementation of sound policies and practices of employee compensation. It includes areas such as job evaluation, development and maintenance of wage structure, wage surveys, wage incentives, profit sharing, wage changes and adjustments, supplementary payments, control of compensation costs, etc. Wages and salaries are important in determining the standard of living, per capita income, productivity, moral and economic well being of the workers and employees. 2.5.7 Career Planning and Development The concept of career planning emerged in the USA in the 1970s, and became popular. It encouraged employees to analyze and assess their ambitions and provide them with the information about a company’s career opportunities. It focuses on generating an awareness of strengths and weaknesses among employees and at helping them to match their skills and abilities to the Heads and the demand of the organization. Without development of people in the organization, the organization cannot prosper. The General Electric Company (GEC) in the USA has brought out the ‘Career Dimensions’ work books. Career planning program benefits a company in four different ways; • They maintain a positive relation with employees. Page 37 of 230 • They help to avoid mismatches between what an employee wants and what a company needs and can offer. • They provide a way of identifying opportunities for continuous career growth. • They improve the utilization of professional and managerial staff. 2.5.8. Organization Development Organization Development (OD) is an organization-wide, planned effort emphasizing appropriate intervention in the continuous activities of the organization, which is managed from the top. Robbins (1993) describes OD as, ‘A collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well being’. It consists of the activities related to organizations as social systems which focus on changing the human infrastructure through interventions in the various processes. A strategy is formulated focusing on developing and stimulating the adaptive capacities of organizations so as to allow them to respond to their internal and external environments, in a pro-active manner. Organization development provides a normative framework within which, changes in the climate and culture of the organization harness human potential to achieve organizational objectives. Organization development exercise includes a team building programme, interpersonal sensitivity, role clarity, personal growth, and stress management. 2.5.9. Quality Circle Quality circle is a self-governing group of workers with or without their supervisors. This group voluntarily meets regularly in order to identify, analyze and solve problems related to their work. The circle groups discuss issues and problems relating to their work unit and their own jobs, and can meet both during Page 38 of 230 and after working hours. In addition to the quality circles, there are facilitators, coordinators, and the steering committee that play their respective roles at various stages of functioning of the quality circles. The objectives of the quality circle are: • Enhancement and utilization of human resources effectively • Satisfaction of the worker's psychological needs for motivation • Enhancement of employee’s supervisory skills like leadership, resolution of interpersonal conflicts • Developing skills through participation, creating work interest, inculcating problem-solving techniques etc. 2.5.10. Human Resource Information System A systematic way of gathering and storing information about each individual employee for the benefit of planning, decision-making and supply of returns to external agencies at the organizational level is known as human resource information system. Several records are maintained to meet the needs of manpower planning, recruitment, development, compensation, integration and maintenance and separations not only for internal control, feedback and corrective action, but also to meet the various constitutional obligations. Singh.P.N.(1990), in his “Developing and Managing Human Resources”, says that seven behaviuor based indicators are constituted to form a new Human Resource Information System to indicate the health of the organization. (a) Sycophancy Index: Dissent in present day organization is not only discouraged but also “curbed.” Those who matter do not seem to realize that ‘Yes-men’ contribute little in making an organization great. Therefore, a high level of sycophancy should serve as a warning to the management. Page 39 of 230 (b) Self Development Index: All development is self– development. The strength of an organization partly depends on how serious its employees are about their own development. Factors like how many employees are attending courses, how many books they are reading etc., will be the index. (c) Boredom Index: Any employee either newly recruited or posted to a new assignment goes through the following stages: Anxiety Period, Competence Building Period, Confidence Building Period, and Boredom Period. (d) Leadership Index: Productivity depends to a great extent on the quality of leadership at different hierarchy levels of the organization. Therefore, better the leadership, better the climate. (e) Creativity Index: In a modern and changing environment one has to be creative to cope with competition from outside. (f) Executive Stress Index: Since executives play a crucial role in achievement of goals, stress for a short period may be functional. The executive stress index could be gauged from the number of key executives suffering from high blood pressure etc. Therefore, less the stress, better the achievement. (g) Parochialism Index: Lastly, it is stated that organizations will do very well if this index is lower and vice-versa. This depends on the performance of cosmopolitan team. Last two are not directly affected by technology, and are known as “Technology-independent”. 2.6. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CLIMATE An organisation's success is determined as much by the skill and motivation of its members as by almost any other factor. While this has always been true, recent changes focus attention on ways human resources development activities Page 40 of 230 can be used to ensure that organisations have what it takes to successfully meet the challenges (Desimone, Werner and Harris 2002). The human resource development climate of an organization plays a significant role in ensuring competency, motivation and development of its employees. Human resource development climate can be created using appropriate human resource development systems and leadership styles by top management. Human resource development climate is both a means to an end and an end in itself. 2.6.1. Defining Climate Perception about an organization's goals and about decisions that a manager should take to achieve these goals come not only from formal control systems but also through informal organization. Underpinning this prescription is a belief that organizations have the climate, and both the formal and informal structures combine to create what is called organizational climate. The term climate is used to designate the quality of the internal environment which affects quality of cooperation, development of the individual, extent of member's dedication or commitment to organizational purpose, and the efficiency with which that purpose becomes translated into results. It influences morale and the attitudes of the individual toward his work and his environment. Baumgartel (1971) viewed organizational climate as a product of leadership practices, communication practices and enduring and systematic characteristics of the working relationships among persons and divisions of any particular organization. Hellriegel and Slocum (1974) define organizational climate as a "set of attributes which can be perceived about a particular organization and/or its subsystems, and that may be induced in the way that organization and/ or its subsystems deal with their members and environment". Page 41 of 230 Ashton and Sung (2002) stated that High performance working practices supported the climate of the organization in a way which results in a working environment which not only provides the potential for developing the personality of the worker, but also raises the productivity of the organization. Climate perceptions are psychologically meaningful, that people can agree to characterize a system's practices and procedures. By its practices and procedures a system may create climates. People perceive climates because the perceptions function as frames of reference for the attainment of some congruity between behaviour and the system's practices and procedures. However, if the climate is one which rewards and supports individual differences, people in the same system will not behave similarly. Further, because satisfaction is a personal evaluation of a system's practices and procedures, people in the system tend to agree less on their satisfaction than on their description of the system's climate concluded by Noorjahen (2007). By its very nature, 'climate’ cannot be described concretely. Some alternative characteristics are given below: • Strong and active commitment from senior management • Commitment from employees to the organization’s objectives • The opportunity for managers to apply their own discretion at work • The pursuit of continuous learning throughout the organization Reichers and Schneider (1983) outline a four-fold progress made in climate research. This approach is founded on perception and aids in the understanding of how work contexts affect behaviour and attitudes. It provides an alternative to motivation theories as explanations for almost everything that people face while at work. What motivational persuasion fails to recognize is the key role these perceptions play in operational wing. Page 42 of 230 A second advance in climate research examines multiple levels of analysis. While motivations tend to concentrate on the explanations of phenomena from an individual's perspective, climate research tends to focus on aggregated or group level data to discover relationships between clusters of perceptions and organizationally relevant outcomes. A third advance has been the explanation of the distinction between psychological climates and organizational climate. This distinction, first proposed by James and Jones (1974), and further clarified by Jones and James (1979), has gained general acceptance. The fourth advance follows from the idea that people attach meaning to, or make sense of clusters of, psychologically related events. People in organizations encounter thousands of events, practices and procedures and they perceive these events in related sets. 2.6.2 Definition of HRD Culture and Climate HRD Climate is helpful in the fulfilment of committed goals of an individual, organization and society. It increases the capabilities and efficiency of an individual and is likely to reflect itself in the long run in the well-being of the individual, reputation of the institution and ultimately the well-being of the society. However, the nature of efforts and investments in developing human resources may vary from organization to organization depending on its need, nature of capabilities the organization wants to build up and the size of the organization etc. Payne and Monsfield (1973) viewed HRD climate as a conceptual linkage between organizations and individuals that intervenes between specific situation attributes or events and individual perceptions, attitudes and behaviour. Page 43 of 230 Pritchard and Marasick (1973) define HRD climate as a relatively enduring quality of an organization’s internal environment, distinguishing it from other organizations, which: (a) results from the behaviour and practice of members of the organization especially in top management (b) is perceived by members of the organization (c) serves as a basis for interpreting the situation and (d) acts as a source of pressure for directing activity. The elements of HRD climate can be grouped into three-broad categories; (1) General climate (2) HRD culture and (3) Human Resource Development mechanisms. HRD culture is essential for facilitating HRD climate. The HRD culture deals with the extent to which Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Proactivity, Authenticity, Collaboration and Experimentation (OCTAPACE) are valued and promoted in the organization. 2.7. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CLIMATE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE Human resource development climate is an integral part of organizational climate. It can be defined as perceptions the employee has on the developmental environment of an organization. This developmental climate will have the following characteristics (Rao and Abraham, 1986): (1) a tendency at all levels starting from top management to the lowest level to treat people as the most important resource Page 44 of 230 (2) perception that developing the competencies in the employees is the job of every manager/supervisor (3) faith in the capability of employees to change and acquire new competencies at any stage of life (4) a tendency to be open in communications and discussions rather than being secretive (fairly free expression of feelings) (5) encouraging risk-taking and experimentation (6) making efforts to help employees reorganize their strengths and weaknesses through feedback (7) a general climate of trust (8) a tendency on the part of employees to be generally helpful to each other and collaborate with each other; (team spirit) (9) tendency to discourage stereotypes and favouritism (10) supportive personnel policies (11) supportive human resource development practices including performance appraisal, training, reward management, potential development, job-rotation career planning etc. It is possible to work out the profile of an organization on the basis of these tendencies. Organizations differ in the extent to which they have these tendencies. Some organizations may have most of these tendencies, some others may have only a few of these and very few will have none of these tendencies. Human resource development climate contributes to the organizations wellbeing and selfrenewing capabilities resulting in increasing the enabling capabilities of individuals, team and the entire organization. Page 45 of 230 2.8 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Every organisation has some characteristics which are common with any other organisation. At the same time, each organisation has its unique set of characteristics and properties. This psychological structure of organisation and their sub-units is usually referred to as Organisational Culture. Stephen P. Robbins, (1986) stated that “Organisational Culture is a relatively uniform perception held of the organisation, it has common characteristics, it is descriptive, it can distinguish one organisation from another and it integrates individual, group and organisation system variables”. 2.9. ELEMENTS OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CLIMATE HRD climate is characterized by the tendencies such as treating employees as the most important resources, perceiving that developing employees is the job of every manager, believing in the capability of employees, communicating openly, encouraging risk taking and experimentation, making efforts to help employees recognize their strengths and weaknesses, creating a general climate of trust, collaboration and autonomy, supportive personnel policies, and supportive HRD practices. An optimal level of development climate is essential to facilitate HRD activities (Rao, T.V. and E. Abraham, 1986).The top management subscribing to these values is a starting point. When a critical mass internalized these values, there emerged a conducive climate for HRD. This positive HRD climate renders the existing systems more effective and makes the organisations more receptive to the introduction of relevant additional system (Athreya, M. B, 1988). A healthy HRD climate certainly bolsters the overall internal environment of the organisation, fosters employee commitment, involvement and satisfaction with the job. Page 46 of 230 The elements of HRD climate can be grouped into three broad categories: (1) General climate (2) HRD (OCTAPACE) culture, and (3) Human Resource Development mechanisms. To begin with the general climate items, focus on the importance given to human resources development by the top management and line managers, in general. The OCTAPACE items deal with the extent to which Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Proactivity, Authenticity, Collaboration and Experimentation are valued and promoted in the organization. The items dealing with human resource development mechanisms measure the extent to which human resource development mechanisms are implemented seriously. These three groups were taken with the following assumptions: (1) a supportive climate overall is important for human resource development to be effectively implemented. Such supportive climates consist of not only top management and line management's commitment but also good personnel policies and positive attitudes towards development. (2) an integrated look at human resource development and efforts to use as many human resource development mechanisms as possible will result in the successful implementation of human resource development. These mechanisms include: performance appraisal, potential appraisal, career planning, performance rewards, feedback and counselling training, employee welfare for quality work life, job-rotation, etc. (3) OCTAPACE culture is essential for facilitating human resource development. Page 47 of 230 2.9.1. General Climate The following factors work as an enabling force to enhance of human resource development climate: • Top Management Style and Philosophy • Personnel policies • Positive Attitudes Towards Development • Commitment of Line Managers A) TOP MANAGEMENT STYLE AND PHILOSOPHY A development style, a belief in the capability of people, a participative approach, openness and receptivity to suggestions from subordinates are some of the dimensions that contribute to the creation of a positive HRD climate. B) PERSONNEL POLICIES Personnel policies that show high concern for employees and emphasise equity and objectivity in appraisals, policies that emphasise sufficient resource allocation for welfare and developmental activities, policies that emphasise a collaborative attitude and trust among the people go a long way in creating the HRD climate. C) POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT A helpful and supportive attitude on the part of HRD and personnel people plays a very critical role in generating the HRD climate. If the personal behaviour of any of these agents is not supportive, the HRD climate is likely to be vitiated. Page 48 of 230 D) COMMITMENT OF LINE MANAGERS The commitment of line managers to the development of their subordinates is a very important determiner of HRD climate. If line managers are willing to spend a part of their time for their subordinates, it is likely to have a positive impact. 2.9.2. HRD (OCTAPACE) Culture The HRD (OCTAPACE) Culture deals with the following items: A) OPENNESS Openness can be defined as a spontaneous expression of feelings and thoughts, and the sharing of these without defensiveness. Openness is in both directions, receiving and giving. Both these may relate to ideas (including suggestions), feedback (including criticism), and feelings. For example, openness means receiving without reservation, and taking steps to encourage more feedback and suggestions from customers, colleagues and others. Similarly, it means giving, without hesitation, ideas, information, feedback, feelings, etc. Openness may also mean spatial openness, in terms of accessibility. Installing internal E-mailing may be a step in this direction: everyone having a computer terminal has access to information which he may retrieve at any time. Offices without walls are another symbolic arrangement promoting openness. In some organizations, even the chief executive does not have a separate exclusive cabin; floor space is shared by other colleagues at different levels in the organization. This willingness to share and this openness results in greater clarity of objectives and free interaction among people. As a result of openness, there should be more unbiased performance feedback. Indicators of openness in an organization will be productive meetings and improved implementation of systems and innovations. Page 49 of 230 B) CONFRONTATION Confrontation can be defined as facing rather than shying away from problems. It also implies deeper analysis of interpersonal problems. All this involves taking up challenges. The term confrontation is being used with some reservation and means putting up a front as contrasted with putting ones back to the problem. A better term would be confrontation and exploration (CE).Let us use the term confrontation in this sense of confrontation and exploration, i.e. facing a problem and working jointly with others to find a solution to the problem. The outcome of confrontation will be better role clarity, improved problem solving, and willingness to deal with problems and with 'difficult' employees and customers. There will be willingness of teams to discuss and resolve sensitive issues. The indicators, which are also outcomes, can be improved by periodical discussions with clients, bold action, and not postponing sticky matters. C) TRUST Trust is not used in the moral sense. It is reflected in maintaining the confidentiality of information shared by others, and in not misusing it. It is also reflected in a sense of assurance that others will help, when such help is needed and will honour mutual commitments and obligations. Trust is also reflected in accepting what another person says at face value, and not searching for ulterior motives. Trust is an extremely important ingredient in the institution building process. The outcome of trust includes higher empathy, timely support, reduced stress, reduction and simplification of forms and procedures. Such simplification is an indicator of trust and of reduced paper work, effective delegation and higher productivity. Page 50 of 230 D) AUTHENTICITY Authenticity is the congruence of what one feels, says and does. It is reflected in owning up one's mistakes, and in unreserved sharing of feelings. Authenticity is closer to openness. The outcome of authenticity in an organization is reduced distortion in communication. This can be seen in the correspondence between members in an organization. E) PROACTIVITY Proaction means taking the initiative, preplanning, and taking preventive action, and calculating the payoffs of an alternative course, before taking the action. Proaction can be contrasted with the term react. In the latter, action is in response to an act from some source; while in the former the action is taken independent of the source. For example, if a person shouts back at his friend's accusation he shows reactive behaviour. However, if he does not use this pattern but responds calmly and suggests that they discuss the problem together, he is showing proactive behaviour. Proactivity gives initiative to the person to start a new process or set a new pattern of behaviour. Proactivity involves unusual behaviour. In this sense pro activity means freeing oneself from, and taking action beyond immediate concerns. A person showing proactivity functions at all the three levels of feeling, thinking and action. F) AUTONOMY Autonomy is using and giving freedom to plan and act in one's own sphere. It means respecting and encouraging individual and role autonomy. It develops mutual respect and is likely to result in willingness to take on responsibility, individual initiative, better succession planning. The main indicator of Page 51 of 230 autonomy is effective delegation in organization and reduction in references made to senior people for approval of planned actions. G) COLLABORATION Collaboration is giving help to, and asking for help from, others. It means working together (individuals and groups) to solve problems with team spirit. The outcome of collaboration includes timely help, team work, sharing of experiences, improved communication and improved resource sharing. The indication could be productivity reports, more meetings, and involvement of staff, more joint decisions, better resource utilization and higher quality of meetings. H) EXPERIMENTING Experimenting means, using and encouraging, innovative approaches to solve problems; using feedback for improving, taking a fresh look at hinges and encouraging creativity. We are so caught up with our daily tasks that we often use only traditional, tried and tested ways of dealing with problems. While these methods save time and energy, they also blind us from perceiving the advantage of new ways of solving a problem. The more we work under pressure, the less is our inclination to try a different approach as the risk seems to be too high. And yet, complex problems require new approaches to their solutions. Organizational learning does not imply repetitive action; it implies applying past experience to current problems to go beyond. This can be called creativity. Other terms such as innovations, experiments, new approaches, etc. also convey the same meaning. There are several aspects of creativity in an organization. Creativity is reflected in new suggestions generated by employees, attempts at improving upon previous ways of working, trying out a new idea to which one has been exposed, innovating new methods, and thinking about a problem while ignoring the so called Page 52 of 230 constraints. The last one is also called lateral thinking, i.e. thinking aimed at generating alternatives. There is enough evidence that such thinking contributes towards the development of new products, new methods and new processes. The conventional implication with which the term 'climate' has been used in literature is 'Organizational Climate'. The concept of climate with specific reference to the human resource development context, i.e. human resource development climate has been introduced by Rao (1996). 2.9.3 HRD Mechanisms All the structures, systems and techniques that an organization uses to help its employees acquire and strengthen their capabilities are viewed under HRD mechanisms. These mechanisms or systems or techniques can be used to facilitate favourable HRD climate in the organization in general and managerial and nonmanagerial in particular. The HRD function itself has been initiated in most of organizations in the last few years only. Some of them are yet to make their presence felt. It also reveals that no organization has yet introduced all the HRD mechanisms. Important HRD mechanisms, which constitute the part of the HRD climate and considered for the present study are the following. a) Performance Appraisal b) Career Planning c) Grievance Mechanism d) Feedback and Counselling e) Training and Development f) Employee Welfare for quality work life g) Job Rotation h) Rewards i) Recruitment and Selection Page 53 of 230 A) PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Performance appraisal is a continuous process through which performance of employees is identified, measured and improved. This process includes various practices like recognition of employees’ achievements, providing them regular feedback and offering career development (Aguinis H (2007), Lansbury. R (1988). Wilson.J.P (2005), supported the idea and explored that performance management is neither a technique nor a single step process, it can be considered as a set of processes that includes knowledge of employees about what their managers expect of them, their motivation to perform well, mentoring and evaluation of their performance aimed at identifying areas where the improvements are needed. Performance appraisal may be defined as a structured formal interaction between a subordinate and supervisor, that usually takes the form of a periodic interview (annual or semi-annual), in which the work performance of the subordinate is examined and discussed, with a view to identifying weaknesses and strengths as well as opportunities for improvement and skills development. Performance Appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of employees and to understand the abilities of a person for further growth and development. Performance appraisal has been traditionally treated as a control mechanism to control employees through salary administration, reward administration, promotion and disciplinary action. It is a method of evaluating the behaviour of employees in the work spot, normally both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of job performance. Performance in this context refers to the degree of accomplishment of the tasks that make up an individual's job. Individual’s commitment to the job demands is revealed through performance appraisal. Often the term is confused with effort, which means energy transferred in terms of results. Page 54 of 230 B) CAREER PLANNING Career planning is the discovery and development of talents and planned deployment of these talents. Career can be defined as a sequence of separate but related work activities that provide continuity. It consists of a series of properly sequenced role experiences, which are related to career development. Moreover career development is the process through which the action plans are taking place. In general career planning is a process of development of human resources. The perception of employees regarding career planning contributes to the HRD climate. C) GRIEVANCE MECHANISM Timely disposal of grievances of employees is an important HRD mechanism. Whenever there is a tendency to ignore the grievances of the employees the concerned organisations ceased to be maintaining a healthy developmental atmosphere. The developmental mechanisms of grievance handling require the following: • Conceptual understanding all grievances of work • The sources of grievances • Corporate initiative in installing workable redressal machinery D) FEEDBACK AND COUNSELLING Feedback is the information received back to know about the effectiveness of implication of a matter or communication. Effectiveness of communication can be known from the feedback. Communication efficiency can be improved by the analysis of feedback and corrective actions. Page 55 of 230 Counselling refers the process of advising an employee or listening to the statement of his problems and enabling him to find from his own thinking and talking a solution for it, which is satisfactory to him. It relates to a method of understanding and helping people who are upset emotionally. Thus it can be defined as a discussion of an emotional problem with an employee with the general objective of minimising it. The need for counselling may arise from varied on and off the job conditions such as dissatisfaction, resistance to change, alienation, frustration, conflict and stress. E) TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Training and development programmes are necessary in any organisation for improving the quality of work of employees at all levels, particularly in the world of fast changing technology, changing values and environment. The two terms are quite identical to each other, but they are not the same in meaning. Training is a learning process that aims to permanently improve the ability and behaviour of the employees by enabling them to acquire new skill, knowledge and attitude for more efficient performance. This includes: • identification of training needs • developing suitable training programmes • providing requisite job skills and knowledge to employees • evaluating the effectiveness of training programmes Development is the growth or realization of a person’s ability, through conscious or unconscious learning. Development programs usually include phases of planned study and experience, and are usually supported by a coaching or counselling facility. Development occurs when a gain in experience is effectively Page 56 of 230 combined with the conceptual understanding that can illustrate it, giving increased confidence both to act and to perceive how such action relates to its context (Bolton,M., 1995). F) EMPLOYEE WELFARE FOR QUALITY WORK LIFE Employee welfare measures are relevant both in physical and physiological aspects of the employees. Employee welfare programmes create a sense of belonging and adequacy that benefit, the organization in the long run. The employees are not paid adequately in many organisations. Welfare programmes like education subsidies, health and medical benefits are contributing in such a way that the employees can save a major part of their mental energy and the organisation can make use of it. G) JOB ROTATION Job rotation forms a favourite technique to broaden and understand several business situations. The distribution of responsibilities, it is suggested, will result in specialization. However, to be able to utilize their specialization in the best possible way, the work- tasks should be rotated among the employees so as to broaden their field of specialization as well as their knowledge about the organization's operation as a whole. Therefore, once a year the work-tasks, should be rotated among the various employees depending upon their qualifications and suitability to perform the new work-task. H) REWARDS A reward can be anything that attracts a worker’s attention and stimulates him to work. It is an incentive. According to Burack and Smith, “An incentive scheme is a plan or programmes to motivate individual or group performance”. An incentive programme is most frequently built on monetary reward Page 57 of 230 (incentive pay or a monetary bonus) but may also include a variety of non-monetary rewards or prizes.” I) RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Recruitment is the process of identifying the prospective employees, stimulating and encouraging them to apply for a particular job or jobs in an organisation. It is a positive action as it involves inviting people to apply. The purpose is to have an inventory of eligible persons from amongst whom, proper selection of the most suitable person can be made. Selection is the process of examining the applicants with regard to their suitability for the given job or jobs and choosing the best from the suitable candidates and rejecting the others. Thus this is negative in nature in the sense that rejection of candidates is involved. 2.10. CONCLUSION HRD Culture and Climate are detailed in this chapter. The meaning of human resource development (HRD), the concept of human resource development, dimensions of HRD, HRD components, HRD Climate, comparison of HRD climate and organizational climate, elements of HRD climate, etc. are explained. The various human resource development components are Manpower Planning, Recruitment, Selection and Placement, Training and Development, Performance Appraisal, Job Rotation, Wage and Salary Administration, Career Planning and Development, Organization Development, Quality Circle, and Human Resource Information System. The elements of HRD climate can be grouped into three-broad categories: 1. General climate, Page 58 of 230 2. HRD (OCTAPACE) culture and 3. Human Resource Development mechanisms. The general climate items deal with the importance given to human resource development in general by Top Management Style and Philosophy, Personnel policies, Positive Attitudes of Personnel and Supportive Attitude on the part of Human Resource Development and Personnel policies, and Commitment of Line Managers. The HRD (OCTAPACE) culture items deal with the extent to which Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Proactivity, Authenticity, Collaboration, and Experimentation are valued and promoted in the organisation. Important HRD mechanisms, which constitute the HRD climate, are Performance Appraisal, Career Planning, Grievance Mechanism, Feedback and Counselling, Training and Development, Employee Welfare for quality work life, Job Rotation, Rewards, and Recruitments and Selection. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐