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 An
HR manager should pay attention to the values and cultural aspects
of his organisation. T V Rao writes why HR managers should get themselves
trained for understanding the cultural dimensions of organisational
life
HR managers need to develop the following aspects:
Respect the individual by respecting his time
Our respect for each other is indicated by the
respect we show for each other’s time. The HRD manager has
to learn to respect each individual and the contributions that each
individual can make to the organisation. The following analysis
may indicate the importance of time.
Promote trust by being trustworthy
Ours is a relationship-oriented culture. We like
to please each other and prefer not to offend the other person on
his face. However, we do not hesitate to speak ill of the other
person behind him. It is difficult to be forthright and straightforward.
We are insecure and afraid of hurting the other person in front
of him, but do not hesitate speaking against him to others. We maintain
two faces. I have begun to believe that this has become our culture.
As a result most of us seem to have two faces: what we mean or what
we think privately and what we say publicly is different, similarly
what we promise to do and what we attempt to do are also different.
As we grow, we seem to discover more and more
of these differences and tend to become less trusting of others.
When we do not trust others, we also become less trustworthy. If
others can be so unreliable why not me for a change? Why should
I be the one to sacrifice my own convenience? This attitude sets
in and as you grow older, you tend to learn from the low trustworthiness
of others and become less trustworthy yourself.
To get over this in others countries, people
are substituted by technology and systems. You cannot enter the
railway station unless you have the right kind of ticket. The machine
decides whether you have the right ticket or not.
If we respect each other, the next important
thing we need to do is to create a culture of trust. The only way
we can do this is by becoming more and more trustworthy. We should
not make promises that we are not able to keep and when we make
a promise, we should keep it up at any cost. The HRD manager should
make efforts to create a trustworthy and trusting culture. This
should become an important HRD agenda for organisation. If we have
to change the society, it could begin in an organisation first and
begin in HR departments even earlier.
Continuous introspection
Introspect continuously about yourself and the
roles you are performing and undertake self-renewal exercises at
both individual and group levels.
Our self-perception and perceptions of others
may not be the same. Introspection is a good tool to move our perceptions
closer to those of others. When we introspect we should ask ourselves
the question, “Why have I behaved the way I have behaved?”
Such self-examination is the first step for growth. It leads to
discovery and lays the foundation for the future. Self-examination
could also be a painful process. No change is possible in the directions
suggested above without introspection. It is the introspection which
will put us in touch with our weaknesses and help us improve. It
is introspection that helps us understand others better, as most
others are also like us.
While as individuals we should introspect, as
teams we need to conduct periodic renewal exercises and take the
help of outsiders to facilitate this process. Organisational and
team renewal exercises are building blocks for the sustained development
of organisations and groups.
Learn from an external agent
Learn from your neighbours by using them as sounding
boards for
change and reflection. Such introspection can
be tremendously facilitated if we can take the help of an external
agent. The external agent could be a consultant, a fellow HRD professional,
a line manager or even someone who is not connected with your field.
When the National HRD Network was started, one of the intentions
was to facilitate networking among HRD professionals so that they
can learn from each other. We have not yet been able to fully establish
the culture of HRD managers serving as consultants to each other.
We seem to think, only successful HRD managers
make good consultants. I believe that those who have attempted it,
however unsuccessfully, may make good consultants. They can at least
put us in touch with the realities and complexity of problems involved
in the change.
It is high time that our organisations learned
to provide professional leave for every HRD manager to enable him
work as a consultant for another organisation. If there is fear
of helping a competitor, the HRD manager could be spared for compatible
or sister organisations. It is worthwhile, even if they can be spared
to work with an NGO or an educational institution. It will rejuvenate
the HRD manager and at the same time, may do some good to the client
organisation where the HRD manager spends some time.
Attention to culture and values
An HR manager should pay attention to the values
and cultural aspects of the organisation. If there is one thing
that can be learnt from successful companies and organisations,
it is the attention they pay to the values and culture. HRD managers
should get themselves trained in understanding the cultural dimensions
of organisational life. They should prepare themselves professionally
by going through appropriate professional development programmes.
The doctoral Fellow programme offered by the Academy of HRD and
XLRI as well as the IGNOU programme are some avenues available for
such higher studies. Periodic surveys of organisational culture
and using feedback to initiate change are some of the things that
could be done.
Promote managerial effectiveness
Finally, an important question that HRD managers
should ask themselves, is about their role in their organisation.
In the past, their role focused on maintenance functions. As experience
shows, it is a very narrow way of looking at this important function.
I consider the main role of HRD people is to
create conditions for empowering people in organisations so that
they can make things happen. Such an empowering role requires a
constant examination of the factors that are motivating and facilitate
managerial effectiveness. They should, therefore, keep examining
structures, systems, styles, skills, technology, attitudes, and
personalities, etc, that block effective managerial performance
and plan, and undertake activities that remove such blocks. This
is the single-most important task of the HRD manager. The HRD manager
will be able to change himself into a transformational leader if
he undertakes some of the things I have mentioned here. If these
principles are followed, the HRD manager will not only enjoy his
work and job but also take his organisation forward.
Conclusion
On the basis of this discussion, the current
status of HRD managers in India can be said to be the following:
- A large number of HRD managers are
not professionally qualified to handle HR roles. They lack adequate
professional preparation. Even the institutions that prepare HR
managers are not doing the right things. Thc curricula is not
right and preparation is inadequate.
- HRD managers of today do very little human
resource development and do a lot of personnel administration,
including estate management and welfare activities.
- A large part of their time is spent on recruitment,
performance appraisals, compensation surveys, administration and
management.
- There is only a change in title and there
is no real human resources development taking place.
- There are few HRD managers who have made a
mark and are role models. They seem to exhibit remarkable similarity.
Their stories need to be written and they need to be emulated.
- The characteristics they seem to share include
their role-making behaviour rather than role-taking, their ability
to see the big picture and integrate themselves and their intervention
with the business they serve; their ability to develop others,
their sensitivity to behavioural science, their willingness to
shift roles, their networking competencies, their aptitude to
learn and their cosmopolitan outlook.
Excerpt from ‘Future of HRD’ by
T V Rao. Published by Macmillan India Limited
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