Human Resource Systems

If organization has got systems to punish but not to reward people, the former too become defunct over a period of time because a manager who does not have the power to reward forfeits his right to punish, at least in course of time.

 

Organizations vary in regard to the degree to which they provide careers to their employees, encourage participation, promote from within and orient their systems toward collective, group based performance. Many will have a mixture of the two choices mentioned above. In some cases, the system is a matter of choice and is meant to support a cultural orientation towards a cooperative rather than competitive climate. But most organizations covered by Peter and Waterman (included in Fortune USA 500 companies) seem to stress on “challenging and meaningful work” with stress on participation, upward mobility and group performance. In the Indian context social compatibility becomes a relevant issue.

 

We should also be careful in generalizing and in being prescriptive. For example, the concept of life-long employment and preference to employees’ children in employment which seem to work well in the case of Tata Steel proved to be disastrous in those of some other companies. Hence the need to be wary about the organizational context regarding strategic choices in human resource systems.

Human Resource Information And HRD Goals

All appropriate information about employees should be stored in a central human resources data bank (usually by means of computer). This includes all basic information about each employee, training programmes attended, performance records, potential appraisals, accomplishment, etc. This data is utilized whenever there is a need to identify employees for consideration for special projects, additional training, or higher-level jobs.    

 

The Contribution of Subsystems to HRD Goals

Each of the subsystems or mechanism just defined contributes to the achievement of overall HRD goals.    

 

Performance appraisal focuses primarily on helping the individual to develop his or her present role. Potential appraisal focuses primarily on identifying the employee’s likely future roles within the organization. Training is a means of developing the individual’s personal effectiveness (e.g., through communication-skills laboratories) or developing the individual’s ability to perform his or her present job role or future job roles. Training can also strengthen interpersonal relationships (through training in communications, conflict resolution, problem solving, transactional analysis, etc.) and increase teamwork and collaboration (through management and leadership training, team-building programmes, etc.)  

Feedback and performance coaching helps the development of the individual as well as relationships. Organization development is the mechanism for developing team collaboration and self-renewing skills. Efforts to promote employee welfare and ensure the quality of work life, along with rewards, promote a general climate of development and motivation among employees.