Feature Article Transition in Human Resources Function in Public Sector Enterprises in India - in the context of economic reforms

Ms Kamakshi Raman* Ms Usha Singh**

Abstract
Human Resource (HR) professionals in Indian Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) have traditionally focussed on administrative tasks, recruitment and employee assessment. Understanding the cultural, social and economic context and the drivers of socio-economic change is critical to understanding the magnitude and impact of the evolution of HR function in Indian PSEs. We present a contextual analysis of the evolutionary changes and the resultant new role of the HR function and the HR professional in large manufacturing PSEs in India. An evolved HR function and HR manager can deliver immense value to the organizational competitiveness of large Indian PSEs in the global marketplace by embracing change and creating a role for itself as the vehicle and agent of organizational change by managing the development of the organization's most important resource - its people. Key Words : Liberalization, HRM, Performance Management.

Background
After independence in 1947, India adopted a planned government intervention strategy to build its predominantly agrarian economy. Faced with pockets of acute poverty, the country's leaders adopted a socialistic economic development policy with exclusive public ownership of key industries including Defence, Railways, Cement, Fertilizers and Iron & Steel. The objectives of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) were to build infrastructure for economic development, create employment opportunities, promote balanced regional development and generate development resources. Investment in PSE infrastructure spurred the growth and prosperity of private sector enterprise. Establishment and
* DGM (Pers), SAIL, New Delhi **Sr Manager (Pers), SAIL, New Delhi

support of engineering and technical educational institutions by the government ensured availability of technically skilled manpower. PSEs played a strategic and commanding role in the nation's economic development. However, initial exuberance over the role of PSEs in creating new areas of industrial and technical competence dissipated over the years. Numerous structural problems including low productivity, poor project management skills, over staffing, lack of technological upgrades, inadequate attention to research and development, low priority to human resources development and above all, a lack of autonomy and political interference, began to manifest in many of these enterprises. By the end

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of June 1991, India's foreign currency reserves had dwindled to US$ 975 million - not enough to pay for two weeks of imports. Part of the nations gold reserves were pledged as collateral to access the international market and avoid a loan of default. Exports shrunk and foreign commercial lenders refused loans to India. Industrial growth was negative at 1.3 percent while inflation soared at above 16 percent. The GDP growth in the Fiscal Year 1992 was less than 1 percent.

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These problems underscored the compelling need for the country to review its inward-looking permitand- licence Raj policy of excessive bureaucratic control. Faced with these critical problems, Government of India embarked on the structural liberalization of the Indian economy, which was a Following liberalization of the Indian economy, PSEs turning point event in the countrys economic underwent fundamental restructuring to bring in development. It was realized that the process of greater flexibility, competitiveness and accountability liberalizing the economy would be akin to un-caging to ensure higher returns and greater transparency a tiger, in the same vein as other successful southfor the public investments in PSEs In the human east Asian economies. The excessive protectionist resources area, these efficiency driven policy instruments of duties and tariff changes included staffing decisions barriers served to keep the tiger safely Unlike the experiences of resulting in the elimination of low confined and prevented other other countries like Great priority jobs and management predators from coming in. With these interventions to change the mindset protections removed, all competitors Britain, which adopted would need to fend for themselves in sweeping privatization, of employees As discussed earlier, the extremely competitive global the public enterprise in given the contextual perceptions of market. The government understood India continues to be an PSEs with respect to their socioeconomic position in the nations the Darwinian principle of survival of important component of mindset, such fundamental and the fittest in a highly competitive, free Indian industry even structural change has great market environment and realized the after liberalization. significance and deep impact upon lack of experience of PSEs in competing many large PSEs human resource in such environments. In an effort to base, and indeed on much of the nations populace. mitigate the negative impact of the sudden economic changes and facilitate the transition to the free market, The following sections present a contextual analysis the Indian government decided to liberalize the of the evolutionary changes in the human resources economy in a phased manner. function and the resultant new role of the human resource manager in large manufacturing PSEs in This liberalization has shaken the fundamental India. The authors believe that understanding the founding principles of PSEs and questioned their cultural, social and economic context and the drivers position in, and relevance to, the Indian economy. of socio-economic change is critical to understanding In the post 1991 liberalization era, PSEs do not enjoy the magnitude and impact of the evolution in Indian any special privileges or benefits from the Indian PSEs. The importance of PSEs to the Indian economy Government. Most have to bear the burden of past and its populace and the relevance of effective human legacies while competing with smaller and more 30

competitive private enterprises. Unlike the experiences of other countries like Great Britain, which adopted sweeping privatization, the public enterprise in India continues to be an important component of Indian industry even after liberalization. At the same time, there is growing consensus that the Government has no business engaging in business and industry should concentrate on social issues like health, education and social security. There is a case for Governments withdrawal from non-core sectors for long term efficient use of capital, and letting these enterprises operate independently in an increasingly competitive and market oriented environment. However, in certain core sectors of the economy, PSEs continue to play an important role for the Indian economy.

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resource management to the success of PSEs, underscore the need for multi-faceted contextual analysis of the issues presented in this paper. We use our analysis to develop and present a vision of the emergent role of HR and the new HR manager in Indian PSEs. We envision these new evolutionary roles of both the HR function and the HR managers are necessary to maintain the competitiveness and relevance of PSEs in the new Indian economy.

Transitory Role Of HR

The new economic policy has pushed the Indian economy into the race for competitiveness in the global marketplace. Many national economies have With economic liberalization, these enterprises created global competitive advantage by making started to benchmark their productivity level and structural adjustments accompanied by right manpower costs with their domestic and global investments on developing their human resources. competitors. This led Indian PSEs to realize that The same strategy has worked at the organizational the advantage of low employment cost in India was level. While the new economic environment has being eroded through the social benefits of excessive significance for all stakeholders, it is especially staffing. The hidden costs of excess, labour, including important to the HR fraternity due the lack of accountability from to its unique situation as the primary excess bureaucracy, overThe HR function has means by which an organization supervision, culture of casualness undergone a paradigmatic harnesses and nurtures its people and low motivation, were also power. The HR function has recognized. These factors drove shift from a primarily undergone a paradigmatic shift from the focus on the lean and nimble administrative function a primarily administrative function organization and the subsequent meant to take care of the meant to take care of the comforts change in HR policy from comforts of employees in of employees in day-to-day working; benevolent and socialist day-to-day working; to its to its current role as a strategic recruitment to efficiency driven current role as a strategic partner in the organizations downsizing. For example, the steel partner in the organizations industry, which was amongst the effectiveness in realizing its strategic effectiveness in realizing its goals. It is necessar y for HR to first sectors to be thrown open to strategic goals. proactively anticipate trends and to market economy and the develop strategic responses to globalization in the country, was manage the challenge of change. labour intensive. The extent of Here we present some of the evolutionary changes change can be appreciated by the extent to which that have defined the transitory role of HR, in various the Public Sector Steel Industry was compelled to HR sub-systems in large manufacturing PSEs of the design innovative measures to drastically downsize. Indian economy. This was one of the largest downsizing interventions in Indias post economic liberalization. From the Manpower and Recruitment employee strength of 192,000 in 1991; to 189,500 System in 1995; to 159,900 in 2000; and 126,900 in 2005, the steel PSE has approximately reduced its staffing Transition from recruitment to downsizing : levels by 50% in the last 25 years. This is an important transition which has taken place

with the onset of globalization in the country and represents a paradigm shift in how human resources are perceived by organizations. In the late 50s and early 60s, as many manufacturing PSEs were being established, they were seen as vehicles to fulfilling the social obligation of generating employment. PSEs were established in areas of low economic development and displaced the local and tribal populace from their homes and agricultural land. Therefore they had a well-publicized commitment to provide employment in lieu of this displacement. At the time, large scale recruitment was the key activity for Labour / Welfare Officers of PSEs.

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Benchmarking productivity with global players towards focus on leaner nimble workforce Erstwhile manpower practices of manpower based on time and motion studies was done away with, due largely to experiential learning that indicated that these studies reduce productivity levels. In addition, changed requirements on the production floor, such as new work methods, faster response time, smaller group sizes, a greater reliance on automation and rejuvenating the structure and operations of departments, added to the challenge of HR managers to position the right number of trained manpower. For example, during the massive modernization of Steel Plants in the mid 80s, the HR challenge was to identify young, educated and employees from the existing work-force who had the right attitude to adopt new technology .The Human Resource Planning for Modernization involved detailed planning to ensure that there were no delays in the new technology being commissioned, while manpower selected internally. Furthermore, the opening of the Indian Economy forced PSEs to benchmark their staffing levels against global competitors. These factors made the manpower norms of yesteryears a thing of the past and resulted in a relatively leaner workforce. Today, almost all PSEs have a well-defined, long-term manpower plan for 5-10 years, which is aligned with their business plans. They aim to reach much lower staffing levels, with detailed succession, retirement, recruiting, and downsizing plan in the coming years.

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Designing and implementing innovative employee separation schemes With the current focus on a lean and nimble organization, the taboo associated with the downsizing is now a thing of the past. Large PSEs worked ingeniously to downsize. For example, faced with a severe cash crisis, the Public Sector Steel Industry opted for Voluntary Separation Schemes based on deferred payments to limit large, immediate cash outflows and create a win-win situation for both the employees and the organization. The scheme received a tremendous response and more than 13,500 employees took voluntary separation in a four month period in 1999. To ensure its success, HR professionals reached out to target employees by counselling them, and even their family members, to help employees decide to accept the golden handshake being offered. In addition, sabbatical schemes were introduced to encourage employees to take up alternative employment or vocations. It is noteworthy that the same organizations that competed to employ more manpower in the past, designed innovative methods to shed excess staff, in spite of labour legislations that strictly denied a hire and fire policy. Ratio of white collared to blue collared Technological advances emphasized the shift to operate more with more skilled and technically qualified, managerial white collared personnel. This weakened the impact of labour unions and gave

Name of PSE Steel Authority of India Limited Bharat Heavy Engineering Limited National Power Grid Corporation Oil and Natural Gas Commission

Industry Steel Heavy Engineering Power Oil

Year of Inception 1955 1964

White collared employees 14329 9984

Blue collared employees 112528 33318

Ratio : White/Blue collared 1 : 7.9 1 : 3.3

1975 1993

9294 38000

14197 15000

1 : 1.53 2 : 5.1

Table 1 : The changing ratio of Skilled, white-collared and unskilled and semi-skilled blue-collared employees since inception in large manufacturing PSEs in India. 32

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management the flexibility to avail of specific outsourcing options as needed in complementary areas such as maintenance, capital repairs and project modernization. Table 1 below shows this shift from unskilled and semi- skilled, blue-collared employees to a more skilled, white-collared workforce. This can be appreciated by the reducing ratio of Blue-collared to White collared employees from their inception in the four key manufacturing PSEs operating in core sectors. Changed profile of the skilled workforce In earlier times, a basic college education was considered adequate for successful careers in areas such as Marketing, HR and Finance. Recently, the scenario has changed with preference for management education. However, the scenario has not changed much in the Technical areas, where management skills are developed with on-the-job training, coupled with exposure to management courses conducted in-house or by management experts off-site. Industrial Relations (IR) Systems Transition from workers/unions appeasement to unionmanagement partnership :

partners-in-progress and involved in the business growth plan. As a result, management is able to implement strategies and initiatives driven by business needs and cost competitiveness, including downsizing and rationalization of employee benefits, reducing and re-evaluating subsidies. Industrial Relations Systems in India have transitioned from a position of union appeasement to one characterised by a union-management partnership. Transition from labour legislation compliance to employee development

As model employers, the Indian PSEs had a history of providing employees with amenities and benefits beyond those required by labour legislation. With economic liberalization and efficiency driven staffing, it dawned upon PSEs to invest more in the educational and skill development of employees to ensure a motivated and vibrant workforce that would go the extra mile to meet organizational objectives. Excessive amenities and benefits are replaced by measures for Unions and workers understood effective employee development the business realities and, today, such as training, re-training, skill development and re-deployment. are partners-in-progress and Transition from communication with unions to direct dialoguing with workmen

IR used to be a dreaded word for organizations in large PSEs. The pre-liberalization era saw increases in the bargaining power of trade unions, due to the fact that the majority of the workforce was illiterate and gullible. Additionally, many key trade union leaders took to mainstream national politics. The union movement was a powerful force to reckon with for human resources and industrial relations. This led to a culture of union appeasement. Industrial peace was brokered by placating influential union leaders and their demands for populist measures to be taken by organizations.

involved in the business growth plan. As a result, management is able to implement strategies and initiatives driven by business needs and cost competitiveness, including downsizing and rationalization of employee benefits, reducing and reevaluating subsidies.

This scenario changed with economic liberalization and the opening up of PSEs. Unions and workers understood the business realities and, today, are 33

During the economic liberalization, Indian PSEs realized that understanding business realities and objectives need not be confined to management or union leaders. Rather, this understanding must be appreciated by the entire employee base. With an increasingly educated and skilled workforce, communication of business requirements and objectives became all the more necessary. The declining image of union leaders and their alienation from the workforce contributed to this need. Efforts were made to install systems characterized by open and large-scale communications, leading to change-ready organizations. Understanding the strength of direct dialogue with the workforce, upper management

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and CEOs of large PSEs invested time and effort in reaching out to the employees. Appropriate use of e- communications technology has made direct interaction with CEOs of large PSEs possible. For example, in the Steel PSE, approximately 75,000 employees, unprecedented number, were included in the communications initiative by top management in 2005 alone. In the Oil Sector PSE, employee portals facilitate a direct dialogue with the Chief Managing Director and the Head of HR. This was literally unheard of in earlier times and has been very popular amongst the workforce. These trust development efforts and the consequent new found faith in management has had significant beneficial impact on industrial relations, human resources, and on entire organizations flexibility and receptiveness to change.

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the systemic improvement put into effect include: mutual establishment of Key Result Areas (KRAs) at the beginning of the year that are directly linked to business results; performance evaluation against these KRAs, thereby substantially reducing subjective evaluation; assessing readiness for future growth through potential assessment, 360 degrees performance evaluation and the Balanced Scorecard approach. Linking rewards to performance

The majority of compensation packages of PSEs employees are linked to hierarchical levels in the organization and do not give significance to performance contributions However, progressive PSEs have attempting to depart from this position by offering greater linkage with individual and teambased performance. The variable pay group and departmental schemes are linked to profitability Performance Management System parameters, techno-economic performance Transition from confidential report employee measures and reaching sales and evaluation system to production targets For instance, in performance appraisal systems: In many PSEs, well defined one Oil PSE, there are over 250 The previous Annual Confidential Career Path Models are made individual best performance Report (ACR) system adopted by awards for Customer Interfaces, available at the entry stage. PSEs was used as a mechanism to with an annual value of These provide for the promote or discipline employees. development of multiple skills approximately US$ 300,000 It contributed ver y little to the Individual and team excellence is and managerial abilities improvement of employee through job rotation and inter- increasingly being recognized by performance. Typically, the ACR PSEs through such attractive disciplinary assignments system had a prevalence of performance-based reward personality-oriented traits like zeal, covering multiple levels in the mechanisms. keenness, loyalty, personality, organization, multiple location patience, sobriety , and sites of operation and Career and Succession resourcefulness, tact, multiple functional operations. Planning System temperament. Work related traits Transition from Seniority-based were either conspicuous by their to merit-based promotion insignificant numbers or by their entire absence. Traditionally, career planning for blue collared There was a considerable element of subjectivity employees in PSEs continues to follow the wellinto the appraisal report in the ACR system. entrenched seniority-based system. However, for Here, the challenge for large PSEs was to design a white collared employees, PSEs have recognized performance appraisal system that would effectively the need to differentiate based on performance to differentiate the performance of employees and serve ensure grooming for future leadership positions. as an instrument of reinforcement, positive and In many PSEs, well defined Career Path Models are negative, and motivate employees to contribute to made available at the entry stage. These provide realization of organizational goals. In this regard, for the development of multiple skills and managerial 34

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abilities through job rotation and inter-disciplinary assignments covering multiple levels in the organization, multiple location and sites of operation and multiple functional operations. This provides transparency and instill a long-term outlook for employees with options for career growth. Measures such as Assessment and Development Centres, Competency Mapping and various Psychometric tools are currently used in varying degrees to facilitate the process of career and succession planning. Role Directories have been developed to clarify the desirable attributes required for future senior roles. As a result of these measures, merit based growth is an accepted norm in PSEs, as against seniority dominating the system earlier.

example, the concept of the master skilled worker with credibility and respect on the shop floor, training his co-workers gained popularity in the Steel Industry. For the white collared employees, a 12-18 month induction training period consisting of both technical and managerial training is common practice Additionally, management programmes are developed delivered in-house or delivered by external management experts Many large PSEs have established Management Institutes with state- ofthe- art technology and full fledged in-house trainers. At different levels in the hierarchy, project and operational issue based training is being provided in India and abroad.

Of late, many PSEs have further departed from HR As A Strategic Business Partner seniority based career planning systems by identifying Strategic alignment of HR with Business objectives: key positions linked to their business plans and With liberalization, HR departments are integrating identified rising executives who could best fit the and in many cases, deriving their operational plans key positions. Though many of these key drivers from strategic business plans. This aligns their focus are relatively lower in the hierarchical to the mission, vision, and business level, they are being given wide global goals of the organization. Almost all exposure and the autonomy to operate. With liberalization, HR leading PSEs have a well defined HR This picking up of the blue-eyed boys departments are Philosophy Statements that form the has posed further challenges to the HR integrating and in many basis for development the core values professionals to carry the rest of good and behavioural norms for employees. cases, deriving their performers in the mainstream, through Workshops and communications with operational plans from much career counselling and morale strategic business plans. large group of employees occur on boosting measures. Continual review a continual basis to reinforce the This aligns their focus to of organization structures are carried understanding and applicability of the out in PSEs to speed-up decision the mission, vision, and HR Philosophy, HR Vision and its making to keep up with the need of business goals of the Mission. the times. organization. Role transformation of HR Training Systems Increasingly, the traditional Transition to training for employee development: For the workforce, training was initially focussed on technical skill development since many PSEs were recruiting unskilled labour .Training was done with the help of in-house training institutes. Over the years, as a more technically qualified and skilled labour force started to join the industry, the emphasis shifted to development and upgrading of required technical and operational skills. Additionally, due to manpower downsizing, multi-skill training and training for re-deployment were emphasized. For 35 administrative and routine tasks that defined the HR function are being automated or performed elsewhere. Developments in information technology have led to the automation of many routine administrative tasks. The increased organizational cost-consciousness has resulted in several HR activities being outsourced. Efforts to increase the accountability of line managers for their performance, has resulted in empowering them to manage all their resources, including human resources. Thus, HR is now focussed on roles that are more strategic

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in nature, such as employee commitment and motivation. HR focus on building organizational culture for enhanced employee commitment and motivation:

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and communicating the business imperatives of the restructuring exercises being undertaken. HR As A Social System

Focus towards Corporate Social Responsibility The significance of establishing the desired (CSR) organization culture is a recognized agent to bring Traditionally, large PSEs functioned as representatives in synergy in the organization. Realizing that of the State in their manufacturing bases and served organizational culture is relatively enduring, HR regional development objectives through measures managers are striving to understand it and develop such as building and maintenance of roads, schools/ specific and appropriate interventions to enhance colleges, hospitals, peripheral development and adult employee commitment, motivation and literacy and education in the nearby villages. performance. Tools such as Employee Satisfaction However, the reasons of carrying out such initiatives Surveys, Culture and Climate study are commonly have undergone a change over the period of time. used by PSEs to understand the organization culture. It has been realized that such initiatives provide These are administered both by in-house HR strategic gains and ensure a continuous social managers and external experts and consultants. For importance for the PSE. They help to build a brand example, organizational culture is being measured name which serves to attract the best talent and on the parameters of OCTAPACE (Openness, helps business. These PSEs have Collaboration, Trust, Authenticity, taken advantage of their legacies Pro-action, Autonomy, Confrontation Many PSEs have allocated of being Temples of Modern India and Experimentation, www parts of their net profits and made further investments in .tcm.com/trdev/udai_pareek.htm). towards CSR efforts and their commitments to Corporate continue to work for social Social Responsibility. Many PSEs Role of HR in divestment, mergers and acquisitions improvements in areas such have allocated parts of their net profits towards CSR efforts and as Disaster Relief The global phenomenon of continue to work for social concentrating on core competency Management, Water improvements in areas such as has been adopted by Indian PSEs Management Projects, Disaster Relief Management, Water through restructuring and providing Drinking Water, Management Projects, providing strengthening of core businesses eradication of diseases like Drinking Water, eradication of functions and competencies, and Tuberculosis, AIDS control. diseases like Tuberculosis, AIDS divestiture of non-core areas. For control. example, the Steel PSE divested its Captive Power Plants as it considered Making Steel its core business. Such strategic moves involved handling employees anxiety, their apprehensions and expectation. This was a significant task in light of the significant impact on the huge workforce with strong union support. Similarly, present attempts to consolidate industry dominance in the Power and Oil Sectors through Mergers and Acquisitions would challenge the HR fraternity to establish the cultural fit and manage the uncertainties in employees minds. HR managers have played significant leadership and coordination roles in facilitating these processes by acting as change agents 36 Transformation of values at work-place As India joins the global economy and sheds many of its former barriers, there is an interesting resurgence of its faith in its own ethos and values. Several HR thinkers and practitioners are finding meaningful application of the traditional Indian values framework in their efforts towards corporate and national renaissance. Based on the foundations of Indian traditions and values, many are advocating the need to significantly transform the values at the workplace, which was certainly not considered business-like in the yester years.

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Transitory Role of the HR Professional

We utilize the above evolutionary contextual analysis of the economic liberalization and the transitory role of HR in PSEs, to present the transitory role of the HR professional in this context. To arrive at the future Role of the HR Profession and HR professional, we trace the evolutionary changes in the profile of the HR manager in the last 50 years or so, driven by the above mentioned changes in the HR function. 1950s And 60s : Welfare Focus The primary role of labour officer in this era was to ensure adequate intake of unskilled and semiskilled workforce and lure them to plants/projects to be set up in green field sites, ensuring their discipline, providing a comfortable work atmosphere. In all, it was a purely administrative function. 70s And Early 80s : Personnel Focus In addition to the welfare focus mentioned above, additional responsibilities in these times included managing the industrial relations front and ensuring a strong collective bargaining position, designing and managing compensation structures, performance appraisals and promotion policies, rewards and incentive systems. 80s : HRD Focus The focus of the HR professional in the 80s shifted to development of the organizations human resources with a focus on designing of training interventions for employee development, designing employee career paths, planning for future successions. 90s Onwards : Strategic Focus In this period, the focus of the HR professional has seen a paradigmatic shift from supporting business strategy to playing an integral role in driving the business strategy .This is accompanied by a move to a more consultative style of operation. In addition, 37

the HR professional plays a primary role in ensuring and building organizational work culture, ensuring ways of increased employee commitment during this period. In addition, HR plays an important role in building strategic and tactical intangible assets for the organization, including its brand name and goodwill through initiatives such as CSR, enhancing employee morale and assessing and improving organizational culture.

Vision and Challenges for the HR Profession and the HR Professinal

In the 15 years since the liberalization of the Indian economy, many PSEs under have acquired the scale of operations and economic means to be significant players in their global markets. The primary role of the human resources function in these PSEs is to prepare the organization and its workforce to continue to face this challenge successfully. In order to survive and prosper in this competition, HR must facilitate the organizations to nurture learning by stimulating creativity and innovation and creating appropriate organizational cultures that foster the empowerment of its people. HR must play a vital organizational role in promoting and deploying flexible, family-friendly workplace practices. Flexible work schedules and time-off, family and personal leave and sabbaticals, job sharing, telecommuting, employee assistance, counselling, child and elder care, financial consulting, are some of the instruments that may gain a greater momentum in Indian PSEs. The challenges facing the HR in the future are : 1. Developing a global mindset inside the HR organization, including a deep understanding of the new global competitive environment and the impact it has on the management of people worldwide; 2. Aligning core human resource processes and activities with the new requirements of global competition while simultaneously responding to local

HR must play a vital organizational role in promoting and deploying flexible, family-friendly workplace practices.

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issues and requirements; and 3. Enhancing global competencies and capabilities within the HR function so it can become a borderless business partner in rapidly exploiting business opportunities worldwide.

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including their cost and benefits, decision making styles, centralized vs. decentralized control, and the organizations culture, values, norms. Systems Driven - She should be able to see systems as facilitators of routine business function and enhancers of organizational effectiveness, while understanding their limitations. Awareness of variety of systems that deal with business functions like TQM, ISO, MIS, SAP, ERP, HRIS, financial information system is not only beneficial, it is required-

While we have earlier mentioned the strategic focus of the HR function in the last 15 years, we need to accept the fact that there is still a large gap amongst PSEs not fulfilling this role of being a business partner. The HR function in PSEs today is going through an internal struggle of learning to do away with the Good Human Being - She should have a positive routine administrative issues that have traditionally view of people and be a value-driven human been its sense of identity and power and recognition being. within organizations. An additional struggle is the challenge of acquiring new competencies to emerge Change Manager - She should have analytical as change agents for the organization while dealing and diagnostic skills and be skilled and trained with issues which are traditionally non HR. Many in managing the dynamics of change and use HR departments of PSEs in the recent past are headed of various managerial inter ventions in by so called non HR executives and this has shaken organizational dynamics. She should display rolethe myth of HR being the job of HR people alone. Many making behaviour, as opposed to roleHR professionals are reluctant to taking, and have the ability to see accept the fact that they need to The HR function in PSEs the big picture and integrate acquire complete business skills, today is going through an themselves and their interventions beyond just excelling in HR with the business they serve. internal struggle of competencies, to devise appropriate learning to do away with HR strategies that are strategically Moving beyond the traditional the routine administrative recruitment and performance aligned with business objectives. The authors believe that to pursue a vision of strategic alignment with business objectives for the HR profession, future HR managers themselves should have the following qualities :

issues that have traditionally been its sense of identity and power and recognition within organizations.

Business Driven - Irrespective of the organization she works for, the HRD Manager should be driven by the business purposes or objectives. Research Driven - Even if she doesnt undertake research herself, she should be willing to base their judgments and strategies on sound scientific enquiry and research findings. Process Sensitive - She should be sensitive to internal processes including work organization, organizational structure, business functions 38

appraisals, she has to realize that real development of the human resources of an organization cannot occur if a large part of her time is spent on routine administrative tasks. As a willing participant, she must embrace change and serve as the vehicle and agent of change in organizational culture, its values and missions to achieve the strategic alignment between the organizations objectives and its most important resource - its people.

Conclusions
HR professionals in Indian PSEs have for decades focussed on creating and administering systems, career development, training, selection and rewards that define the key parameters for assessment of employees based on organizational roles and careers.

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Traditionally, the human resource function added value by creating systems that produced bureaucratically correct behaviour and the predictable and orderly development of people and their careers. Not surprisingly, it gained a reputation as the bastion of the status quo. However, with the passing of the era of the traditional bureaucratic organizations, stability needs to be replaced by accepting and embracing change, innovation and new organizational designs. This represents both a major threat and a major opportunity for the HR function to re-invent itself as a strategic partner in achieving organizational objectives. Without

undermining its difficulty, the HR managers must accept that they have to work towards creating and integrating the role of HRD into the role of every employee, and thereby ultimately move toward selfliquidation of this function at an appropriate time. The HR function can deliver immense value to corporations and to society by helping them navigate the uncharted waters of the new globalization era by embracing change and creating a role for itself as the vehicle and agent of change in the organization by managing the development of the organizations most important resource - its people.

References :
1. Balaji, C., Dutta, R., and Chandrasekhar, S., (Editors), Leading Change Through Human Resources Towards a Globally Competitive India: Papers Presented at the 6th National Conference of the National HRD Network, New Delhi, February 1998 Tata-McGraw Hill Publishing Company, New Delhi, India, 1998 2. Dr. TV Rao, M Si/veira, CM Srivastava, Rajesh Vidyasagar, HRD in the new economic environment Tata- McGraw Hill Publishing Company, New Delhi, India, 3. Irani, J. J., Labouring to exhale, Naval Tata Memorial lecture at the National Institute of Personnel Management, 2001., : http:// www. t at a. c om/ 0_ m ed i a/ f eat u r es/ speakers_forum/200 10928_jjirani (l).htm 4. Kaplan, Robert S.; Norton, David R., The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance Harvard Business Review, Vol. 83 Issue 7, Jul/Aug 2005. 5. Maheshwari B L. Sinha D P. (Editors)., Management of Change Through HRD. New Delhi. Tata McGraw Hill, 1991. 6. Rao, T. V, Human Resources Development: Experiences, Interventions and Strategies, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, 1996 7. Rao, T. V., Human Resources Development as National Policy in India Advances in Developing Human Resources, Aug 2004, Vol. 6 Issue 3, p288, 8. Rao, T. V., and Rao, R., The Power of 360 Degree Feedback: Maximizing Managerial and Leadership Effectiveness, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, 2005 9. Ulrich, D., Losey, M. R., and Lake, G. (Editors), Tomorrows HR Management: 48 Thought Leaders call for change, John Wiley and Sons, 1997 10. Rao, TV, Future of HRD Macmillan India Ltd., 2003.

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