Human Resource

Human Resource
Unit-4
HRD Applications
A) Coaching
Coaching means to improve performance often short term in a specific skills area. The goals are
basically set by the coach; let it be intermediate goals or sub-goals to achieve. Direct feedback
is present in coaching.
Objectives of Coaching
 Helping him to realize his potential as a manager.
 Helping him to understand himself – his strengths and his weaknesses.
 Providing him an opportunity to acquire more insight into his behavior, and analyze the
dynamics of such behavior.
 Helping him to have better understanding of the environment.
 Increasing his personal and inter-personal effectiveness through effective feedback.
 Encouraging him to set goals for further improvement.
 Encouraging him to generate alternatives for dealing with his problems and
 Prepare an action plan.
 Helping him to review in a non-threatening way his progress in achieving various objectives.
 Providing empathetic atmosphere for sharing and discussing his tensions, conflicts, concerns
and problems.
Process of Coaching
Process of Coaching has the following steps:
 Setting developmental goals that are reasonable, attainable, and derived from a careful
analysis of the areas where an employee needs to improve. These goals should take into

account both short-term and long-term career objectives.
 Identifying resources and strategies that will help the employees achieve developmental
goals.
 Implementing strategies that will allow the employee to achieve the developmental goals.
 Collecting and evaluating data to assess the extent to which each of the developmental goals
has been achieved.
 Providing feedback to the employee and then revising developmental goals as needed.
B) Mentoring
Mentoring is a “process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities
they need to develop them and become more effective”. It is a tool that organizations use to
nurture and develop their employees to full potential. Mentoring practices are being
implemented into a vast array of business situations including managers in quest to perk up
the performance of employees, senior level successful executives attempting to mentor
promising stars, or even team leaders seeking to develop a high performing work teams.
Functions of mentoring are as below:
(i) Lobbying to get the protégé challenging and visible assignments,
(ii) Coaching the protégé to develop skills,
(iii) Sponsoring the protégé by nominating him/her for potential promotions,
(iv) Counseling the protégé to help bolster self-confidence,

(v) Providing friendship and acceptance, and
(vi) Acting as a role model.
{Meaning of protégé - French word means “to protect”. A young person who is helped
or trained for their career or personal development by an older, more experienced
person, usually somebody who is powerful and famous.}
Importance of Mentoring?
1. Development of Long-Term Relationship:
The process involves one-to-one coaching. It means the manager does not coach or train
large group of employees simultaneously. Instead, he selects one / few employees from his
team & train him / them to take up higher roles & responsibilities in future. Such direct
contact helps in developing long term professional relationship between the manager and
the employee.
2. Development Technique:
It is a process of developing skill and abilities of an employee through coaching, guiding
and counselling. It also helps to identify strengths & weaknesses of employee and provide
guidance on how to improve strengths, overcome weaknesses. Such development of skills
& competencies benefits the employees as well as the organization.
3. Provision of Coaching:
The mentor act as a coach to the trainee. He assigns complex tasks / jobs to the trainee and
reviews his work. The mentor then gives his valuable feedback on how trainee can improve
further. Such coaching prepares employees to assume higher job responsibilities in future.

4. Develops Confidence:
The process develops self-esteem and confidence of the trainee. It trains and equips an
employee to take up a higher job role in an efficient manner whenever the need arises.
When higher job role is actually assigned in future, trainee is able to execute the job with
confidence as he has faced similar tasks or work situations during the training period.
5. Succession Planning:
Mentoring is mostly adopted to train junior employees for the managerial role. It ensures
that there is an effective team of managers available to take up key job positions whenever
the need arises (because of death / retirement / resignation of senior managers).
6. Retention of Employees:
The process also helps the organization in retention of competent employees by giving
them opportunity to further develop their abilities. It also gives them chance to assume
higher job roles in future.
7. Career Advancement:
Mentoring also aids junior employees in their career advancement by preparing them for
higher job roles. The process trains & equips them to assume higher responsibilities in
future. It also boosts their confidence & makes them capable of handling more challenging
situations. All these ultimately help the junior employees in their career advancement.
C) Career management
Career management is a process that enables the employees to better understand their career
skills, develop and give direction to it and to use those skills and interests most effectively both
within and outside the organisation. Specific career management activities provide realistic
career oriented appraisals, posting open jobs and offering formal career development activities.

Career development involves the lifelong series of activities that contribute to a person’s career
exploration, establishment, growth, success, and fulfillment. Career planning is the deliberate
process by which an individual becomes aware of his or her personal skills, interests,
motivations, knowledge and other such characteristics. He also seeks and acquires information
about the opportunities and choices, identifies career-related goals and establishes action plans
to attain specific goals. Career management and career planning activities are complementary
and can reinforce each other.
Objectives of Career Management
Career management programmes encompass a large number of these human resource
management practices with the following objectives:
1. Assisting employees to improve their performance: Career management programmes strive
to involve employees in setting their own goals and recognizing their strengths and weaknesses.
It assists employees with the identification and facilitation of training needs and opportunities.
This is mainly achieved by building a process of feedback and discussion into the performance
management systems of institutions.
2. Clarifying available career options: Through career management programmes employees are
informed of career options available within the institution. It assists employees with the
identification of skills and other qualities required for current and future jobs. Most career
management programmes seek to focus employees career plans upon the institution, thereby
enhancing their commitment to the institution. In doing this, career paths are developed that
indicate mobility in different directions in the institution for employees.
3. Aligning the aspiration of employees with organizational objectives: Many organizations
attempt to assist employees in their career planning through career management programmes.
Career management programmes furthermore seek to improve the matching of jobs with the

right employees. An assessment of the skills and competencies of employees could assist in
accommodating them in positions that suit them better. Through the application of practices
such as transfers and rotation, an institution’s operational effectiveness can be improved. Career
management programmes can also result in a reduction in the need to recruit externally as
employees with the required capabilities are revealed through their career planning
activities.
Purely from the employer’s perspective the purpose of its career management programme
should be to ensure the availability of competent and skilled employees within its organization.
Benefits of Career Management
 Staffing inventories: Effective career management ensure a continuous supply of professional,
technical and managerial talent for the fulfillment of organisational goal.
 Staffing from within: Most organisations like to promote employees from within for available
positions because of the many potential advantages. In order to recruit from within, it requires a
strong career management programme that ensures effective performance of employees in their
new jobs.
 Solving staffing problems: Effective career management may serve as a remedy for certain
staffing problems. Rate of employee turnover can be slashed because of the feeling that there is
existence of opportunity within the organisation. It may be easier to go for new recruitment as
the company develops its employees and provides better career opportunities.
 Satisfying employee needs: The current generation of employees are very different from those
of past generation in terms of their set of needs. Again higher levels of education have raised
their career expectations and many of the employees hold their employers directly responsible
in providing better opportunities for realization of their career expectations.

 Enhanced motivation: Since, progression along the career path is directly related to job
performance, an employee is likely to be motivated and perform at peak levels to accomplish
career goals.
 Employment equity: Effective career management demand fair and equitable recruitment,
selection and placement and try to eliminate discriminatory practices concerning promotions
and career mobility. Such type of affirmative programmes contains formal provisions that
become helpful for enhancement of the career mobility of women and other minorities groups
emphasizing employment equity.
Elements of Career Management
The three elements common to most career management programmes are the following:
1. Career Planning: Career planning is a deliberate process of becoming aware of
opportunities, constraints, choices and consequences identifying career related goals and
programming work, education and related development experiences to provide the direction,
timing and sequence of steps to attain a specific career goal. Career planning is also a process
undertaken by employees and their supervisors. The employee is responsible for self-
assessment, identifying career interests and development needs. As part of the process of self-
assessment the employee analyze his or her skills and experience as well as his or her strengths
and weaknesses. Career planning is also more effective if done jointly by the individual and the
organization. The organization has a stake in successful career planning as it needs a steady
supply of adequately trained people to do jobs at every level of the organization.
2. Career Pathing: Based on the career expectations identified in the process of career planning,
possible career paths are mapped out for employees. Career paths set out a sequence of posts to
which employees can be promoted, transferred and rotated. It should however be noted that

each employee could have a multitude of career pathing options. career paths should be
established by an organization’s career development system. The existence of such career paths
communicates to employees specific step-by-step objectives and identifies possible role models
in the organization. In setting career paths, employees and their supervisors must be realistic in
terms of their potential and the time frames in which the career goals captured in the career
paths can be achieved.
3. Career Development: Career development refers to a planned effort to link the individual’s
career needs with the organization’s workforce requirements. It could furthermore be seen as
a process for helping individuals plan their careers in concert with an organization’s business
requirements and strategic direction. It is also important to note that, along the concept of
alignment between the individual and the organization, career development is an ongoing
process. One of the organization’s roles is to provide training and development opportunities to
meet the requirements for movement along the career path.
D) Career Development
Career development in HRD, means how a company, its persons can help a person
(employee / worker) in developing and improving the career of the person who is working
under the organization/ company.
Career development is the series of activities in an on-going/lifelong process of developing
one’s career which includes defining new goals regularly and acquiring skills to achieve them.
Career development usually refers to managing one’s career in an intra-organizational or inter-
organizational scenario. It involves training on new skills, moving to higher job responsibilities,
making a career change within the same organization, moving to a different organization or
starting one’s own business.

Career development is directly linked to the goals and objectives set by an individual. It starts
with self-actualization and self-assessment of one’s interests and capabilities. The interests are
then matched with the available options.
The individual needs to train himself to acquire the skills needed for the option or career path
chosen by him. Finally, after acquiring the desired competency, he has to perform to achieve
the goals and targets set by him.
Career development is directly linked to an individual’s growth and satisfaction and hence
should be managed by the individual and not left to the employer. Career development helps an
individual grow not only professionally but also personally. Learning new skills like leadership,
time management, good governance, communication management, team management etc. also
help an employee develop and shape their career.
5 Steps of Career Development
There are various steps or stages in a person's overall career development:
1. Self Assessment
The first step in career development is the self assessment which means that the individual has
to assess oneself on the kind of career and growth one wants and what kind of skills and
interests are there.
2. Career Awareness
This stage is when an individual explores various career paths which align with the self
assessment done in the first step.

Career awareness can be how a person can explore various domains and types of jobs/work
available
3. Goal Setting
This is the most important step in
career development because this
is where one defines clear short
term and long term goals to meet
the career one aspires. Both short
term and long term goals need to
be defined to begin with.
Short team goals would be more actionable but long term goals can be changed or tweaked as
per the growth.
4. Skill Training
Once the career and goals are set, one needs to acquire the right skills to achieve the growth.
Skill training can be done through self training or joining a structured training program online
or offline.
Once the right skills are acquired, one can start the final stage.
5. Performing
With all the right knowledge and skills, the important part is to perform the tasks and jobs in the
career successfully to grow in the career path.
The 5 steps are part of an ongoing process. Many times in a career, the person would need to
revisit the cycle to get the right career growth.

Importance of Career Development
Every employee working in an organization is looking for a career development which moves
in the right direction. Career path taken by an employee determines the growth. Career should
be planned in a way that it moves forward.
Career development provides the framework with skills, goals, awareness, assessment and
performance which helps an individual to move in the right direction and achieve the goals one
has in one's career. Careful career planning is always useful for individuals to succeed
professionally and also helps to boost employee motivation in the organization.
Career Development Strategies
The development of an individual's career is driven by several factors. Strategies to improve
someone's career can be driven either by the company through organization development or by
the individual himself or herself. Some strategies of career development are as following.
1. By Companies
Training and development by companies can help in employees learn new skills. Companies
help in providing leadership development, management development etc. This is all done
through employee training sessions or developmental counseling. Employee development in the
long run helps in career development.
2. By Employees
Individuals can themselves boost their own career. This is done through constant evaluation of
their skills using techniques like continuing professional development.
Continuous and repetitive efforts can help in the career development for an employee.
E) Employee Counselling

Employee Counselling takes place in the context of a helping relationship in which both
the counsellor and the employee work together to resolve a problem, change behavior or
foster personal growth and awareness. The counselling relationship is confidential and not
reciprocal. The focus of a counsellor is to offer support and encouragement to the
employee.
Employee Counselling is based on the premise that employee performance can be
enhanced if the employee is properly counselled by skilled
managers. Employee Counselling is defined as working to help poor or underperforming
employees improve and therefore it is vital to have an effective and well-documented
counselling for two important reasons – firstly to improve performance and secondly to
serve as support and possible evidence for subsequent termination if the employee fails to
improve.
Characteristics of Employee Counselling :-
(a) Service offered to employees.
(b) Service is conducted in organization.
(c) Focus is on problems faced by employees.
(d) Objective of counselling is problem solution.

(e) Employee counselling serves all concerned.
(f) Employee counselling is a continuous process.
(g) Role of counsellor is important in counselling.
(h) Half knowledge is a dangerous thing, is completed through counselling.
Importance of employee counseling:-
1. It provides employees with an atmosphere where they can share and discuss their
tensions, conflicts, concerns, and problems with their supervisors.
2. It is a process of helping employees to realise their full potential by making them
understand their strengths and weaknesses.
3. Counselling provides employees with the reassurance and courage to face the problems
confidently.
4. Releasing emotional tension is an important function of counselling. Release of tension
may not solve the entire problem but it removes mental blocks to the solution.
5. Counselling sessions also help employees to get an opportunity to understand the
business environment and set realistic goals for further improvements.
6. It even gives the employer an opportunity to understand the employee’s perspective and
set mutually agreeable goals for future.

7. It can even help the management decide about the need for training and development
programs to sharpen the employees skills and increase their level of confidence on the job.
8. A good counselling session generally helps in winning the trust and faith of the
employees.
9. It provides more autonomy to employees and positively reinforces their desirable
behaviour and tries to create conditions in which the employee is able to learn from his
mistakes.
Types of employee counseling:-
Type # 1. Performance Counselling:
If the performance of an employee starts declining at the workplace, the need for
performance counselling arises. The counsellor should try to identify the underlying causes
behind the employee’s poor performance. The reasons could be office stress, unachievable
deadlines, problems in interpersonal relations with other employees, etc. After recognizing
the problem, the counsellor can advise about how to deal with it.
Type # 2. Disciplinary Counselling:
This type of counselling takes place when an employee’s behaviour falls short of the
standards expected. An employee may suddenly start picking up fights, become irritable,
be absent from work for long, etc. The counsellor should interview the employee and
confront him about his behavioural problems.
He should try to analyze all the reasons that could be causing the behavioural lapses. An
employee may be frustrated because of personal problems; high absenteeism may be due to

bullying by co-workers in the office. The counsellor may give tips on how to face the
situation and improve his behaviour.
Type # 3. Personal Counselling:
Workplace problems are not the only problems that employees face; personal and family
problems also affect their performance. Families and friends are integral parts of any
human being’s life; tension in a worker’s personal life affects his work performance
adversely.
Personal problems could include sickness of a family member, marital conflicts,
dysfunctional family life, problem with children, family feuds, etc. The counsellor should
lend a sympathetic ear to the employee’s personal problems and support them in resolving
them so that the employee is able to concentrate on his job wholeheartedly.
Type # 4. Stress Management in Workplace:
Working in the modern job environment is very stressful with so many deadlines to meet
and targets to achieve. Employees may become anxious and tense due to their high
pressure workload. This not only affects their productivity on the job, but also their mental
health.
F) Competency Mapping:
What is Competency Mapping
It is about identifying ideal behaviors and personal skills which distinguish
exceptional and stupendous performance from the average. This aids in setting standards
of
behavior and thereby performance for the average work forces to follow. Competency maps
provide employers with concrete and objective information usable in all employment

decisions. . As a matter of fact competency is a behavioral and demonstrative ability that
is
informed to some degree by a conceptual perception.
What is Competency Mapping
It is about identifying ideal behaviors and personal skills which distinguish
exceptional and stupendous performance from the average. This aids in setting standards
of
behavior and thereby performance for the average work forces to follow. Competency maps
provide employers with concrete and objective information usable in all employment
decisions. . As a matter of fact competency is a behavioral and demonstrative ability that
is
informed to some degree by a conceptual perception.
Competency Mapping is processes of identifying key competencies for an organization
and/or a job and incorporating those competencies throughout the various processes (i.e.,
job evaluation, training, recruitment) of the organization. It generally examines two areas –
emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ), and strengths of the individual in areas
like team structure, leadership, and decision-making.
Need/ Importance of Competency Mapping:-
1. The cost of manpower is becoming increasingly high.
2. Realization of the truth that people can transform an organization.
3. Getting more from the people rather than getting more people.

4. Increased customer focus; identifying and fulfilling implied customer needs and
expectations.
5. Recognizing the fact that the right kind of human resources can monitor and manage the
technology, finance, market, customers, customer relationship, processes, procedures, and
the system effectively.
6. Importance of role performer vis-a-vis time management.
Objectives of Competency Mapping: -
1. Identifying the key success factors
2. Pinpointing triggers for each role
3. Laying direction for superior performance
4. Setting defined expectations from employees
5. Serving means for communicating performance expectations
6. Ensuring that the employees obtain greater transparency about their roles
7. Providing opportunities for development
8. Creating a more empowered workforce
9. Employing the workforce effectively

Important Approaches to Competency Mapping
There are 6 approaches to competence analysis:
1. Expert Opinion
2. Structured Interviews
3. Workshops
4. Critical Incident Techniques
5. Repertory Grid Analysis
6. Job Competency Assessment
Approach # 1. Expert Opinion:
This method involves an expert member of the HR dept. possibly discussing with the other
experts and referring to the published list to draw up “What counts”. The major drawback
of this method is that it lacks detailed analysis and the line managers have not been
involved at any step so it may be unacceptable.
Approach # 2. Structured Interviews:

Here we require the list of competences prepared by experts and the job-holders. The key
result areas of a particular are identified to analyse the behavioural characteristics, which
distinguish performers at different levels of competence.
The positive and negative indicators required for achieving high levels of performance can
be analysed as:
i. Personal drive (achievement motivation)
ii. Analytical power
iii. Creative thinking
iv. Team Management
v. Interpersonal skills
vi. Communication skills
This approach relies too much on the experts.
Approach # 3. Workshops:
A team of experts (knowledge and experience holders), managers, job-holders along with a
facilitator (not from personnel department) or a consultant work together in a workshop.
The activities of workshop initiate with defining job related competence area. Then the
members of the group develop examples of effective and less effective behaviour recorded
on flipcharts. The facilitators’ job is to help the group to analyse its findings and assist
generally to set competency dimensions which can be identified by behaviour.

Approach # 4. Critical Incident Technique:
This is a means of eliciting data about effective or less effective behaviour related to actual
events- critical incidents.
The technique is used with groups of job holders, their managers and expert in following
ways:
i. Explain what the technique is and what are its uses. This helps to gather the real
information regarding the behaviours constituting good or poor performance
ii. Listing the key areas of responsibilities for a particular job.
iii. Each area of job can be discussed and relating to critical incidents
iv. Collect information about the critical incidents under the following headings-
a. What were the circumstances?
b. What did an individual do?
c. What was the outcome of the efforts of the individual?
v. Same process is repeated for each area of responsibility and various critical incidents are
recorded.
vi. On referring to the flipchart, analysing the critical incidents, the recorded behaviour is
marked on a scale from one to five.

vii. These ratings are discussed and re-discussed for reducing errors.
viii. Final analysis-It lists the desired competence, performance indicators for each
principal accountability or main task.
Approach # 5. Repertory Grid:
Repertory grid can be used to identify the dimensions that distinguish good from poor
standards of performance. This technique is based on Kelly’s personal construct theory.
Personal constructs are the ways in which we view the world. They are personal because
they are highly individual and they influence the way we behave or view other people’s
behaviour. The aspects of the job to which these ‘constructs’ or judgements apply are
called ‘elements’.
A group of people concentrate on certain elements (work or task of job holder) and
develop constructs for them. This helps to define the qualities which indicate the essential
requirements for successful performance.
The procedure being followed by an ‘analyst’ is called ‘triadic’ method of elicitation and
involves following steps:
a. Identify the elements of the job to be analysed.
b. List the tasks on cards.

c. Draw three cards randomly from the pack of cards and ask the group members to select
the odd one out from the point of view of the qualities and characteristics needed to
perform it.
d. Try to obtain more specific definitions of these qualities in the form of expected
behaviour.
e. Again draw three cards from the pack and repeat step c&d. Repeat the process unless all
the cards have been analysed.
f. List all the constructs and ask the group members to rate each task on every quality
using a six or seven point scale.
g. Collect and analyse the scores in order to assess their relative importance.
The repertory-grid analysis helps people to articulate their views by reference to specific
examples. It is easier to identify behavioural competences required in a job by limiting the
area through the triadic technique. This method of analysis is quite detailed and time-
consuming.
Approach # 6. Job Competency Assessment:
The job competency assessment method as described by Spencer & Spencer (1993) and
offered by Hay/McBer, is based on David Mc Clelland’s research on what competency
under six clusters-
i. Achievement Cluster
ii. Helping/Service

iii. Influence
iv. Managerial
v. Cognitive
vi. Personal Effectiveness
The competency assessment method is used to model the competencies for a generic role
i.e. for a position which is similar to many job holders and basic accountabilities are same.
The method begins with assembling a panel of expert managers to express their vision of
the job, its duties, responsibilities, difficult job components, likely future changes to the
role and the criteria against which the job-holders performance is measured. The members
do nominate some members to be outstanding or satisfactory.
The next step is to conduct ‘behavioural event interview’ with nominated job-holders to
focus upon the distinction between a person’s concept and what a person actually does.
This employs a structured probe strategy rather than a standard set of questions. This
investigative interview helps to gather most accurate performance data.
G) High Performance Work System (HPWS)
High performance work system (HPWS) is a specific combination of HR practices, work
structures and processes that enhances employee skill, knowledge, commitment,
involvement and adaptability. The key concept in HPWS is the system.

HPWS is composed of many interrelated sub-systems that complement one another to attain
the goals of an organization, big or small. All the features of HPWS are important
individually. But as a system to be effective all these features must be integrated. A careful
planning is essential to ensure that all the features fit together and linked with the overall
strategic goals of the organization. Internal and external linkages should fit HPWS together.
A HPWS is all about determining what jobs a company needs to be done, designing the
jobs, identifying and attracting the type of employee needed to fill the job, and then
evaluating employees’ performance and compensating them appropriately so that they stay
with the company.
Features
Feature # 1. Work Design:
High Performance Work Systems generally start with a new work design.
i. Total Quality Management (TQM) and reengineering are important components in new
work designs.
ii. In HPWS, instead of separating jobs into separate units, the focus is on the key business
processes that drive customer value and creating teams that are responsible for the
processes.
iii. Employees are given liberty to alter their work schedule.
iv. Advanced communication systems are employed in effective HPWS.

In HPWSs, the various components of HRM stress certain important activities.
a. Work Flow:
i. Self-managed teams
ii. Empowerment
b. Staffing:
i. Selective recruiting
ii. Team decision making
c. Training:
i. Broad skills
ii. Cross-training
iii. Problem solving
iv. Team training
d. Compensation:
i. Incentives
ii. Gain sharing

iii. Profit sharing
iv. Skill-based pay
e. Leadership:
i. A few layers
ii. Coaches/Facilitators
f. Technologies:
i. HRIS
ii. Communications
By redesigning the work flow around key business processes, companies are able to
establish a work environment that can facilitate teamwork, utilize the skills/knowledge
effectively, empower employees and provide meaningful work.
Feature # 2. HR Practices:
Work design, quality management or reengineering alone or in combination cannot bring
in any desired change unless they are supported by adequate HRM elements. An
environment of high performance and satisfaction is possible only when work resigns are
combined with relevant HR practices to encourage skill development and employee
involvement.
Staffing Practices:

i. HPWSs generally start with highly directive recruitment and selection practices.
ii. Recruitment is broad as well as intensive to get the best pool of candidates to choose
from.
iii. Organizations compensate the expenses and time invested in selection by selecting the
skilled individuals Capable of learning continuously and working cooperatively.
iv. Human Resource Information System is extensively used to compile an inventory of
talents to enable the HR managers select the people with specific skills needed.
Training and Development:
i. Training focuses on ensuring that employees have the needed skills to take higher
responsibility.
ii. Beyond individual training, a training certification process is established to make sure
that intact teams progress through a series of maturity phases.
iii. Teams are required to certify their abilities to function effectively. Teams are certified
only after effective demonstration of knowledge and skills in areas such as customer
expectations, business conditions and safety.
iv. Skills must be continually updated.
v. Certified teams are required to review their competencies periodically.

Compensation:
i. In HPWS, there are alternative compensation systems.
ii. To link pay and performance, employee incentives are included.
iii. There are incentives for goal achievement and even training.
iv. Incentive schemes such as gain sharing, profit-sharing and employee stock ownership
schemes are common in HPWSs.
v. Scanlon plan, Rucker plan and Improshare are used in HPWSs to elicit employee
suggestions and reward them for contribution to productivity.
vi. In some companies there are skill-based pay plans. Paying employees based on the
number of different skills they possess, it is possible to create both a broader skill base
among employees and a more flexible pool of people to rotate among interrelated jobs.
vii. In some HPWSs, employees can use the funds available on capital improvements.
viii. The open pay plan in HPWS in which everyone knows what others get is another
feature of compensation systems used to create an egalitarian environment that encourages
employee involvement and commitment.
Feature # 3. Leadership Role:
Leadership issues assume importance in every level in the HPWS. To support the HPWS
environment, to bring changes in the culture and to modify business process, the role of
leadership plays an important role.

i. Many companies have found that the success of any HPWS depends on first changing
the roles of managers and team leaders.
ii. Fewer layers of management and focus on team-based work culture bring in substantial
improvement in productivity.
iii. In HPWS, managers and supervisors are seen as coaches, facilitators and integrators of
team efforts.
iv. There is no place for autocratic leadership style in a HPWS. Managers always share
responsibility for decision making with employees.
v. In HPWS, the term manager is replaced by the term team leader.
vi. In many cases leadership is shared among the team members.
vii. Some companies rotate team leaders at various stages in team development.
viii. HPWS allows individuals to assume functional leadership roles when their particular
expertise is needed most.
Feature # 4. Information Technology:
i. Communication and information technologies are important components of HPWS.
Technologies of various kinds help creating a system for communicating and sharing
information which is vital to any business.
ii. IT in service sector is used to help employees monitor its service, communicate with
customers and identify and solve problems quickly.

iii. Computerized system helps budget and track the employee time spent on different
projects. Information needs to be about business plans/goals, unit and corporate operating
results, hidden problems/ opportunities and competitive threats.
iv. HPWS cannot succeed without timely and accurate communications.
v. Information technologies need not always be very high-tech as the best communication
occurs face to face.
High Performance Work System – Internal and External Linkages
All the features of HPWS are important individually. But as a system to be effective all
these features must be integrated. A careful planning is essential to ensure that all the
features fit together and linked with the overall strategic goals of the organization. Internal
and external linkages should fit HPWS together.
Internal Fit:
It is a situation in which all the internal elements of the work system complement and
reinforce each other.
Example:
A good selection system will be fruitful only when it is used in conjunction with training
and development activities. Similarly, a new compensation will be effective only when it
complements the goals laid in performance planning.

i. As changes in one component affect all other components there must be relevant changes
in all the sub-systems.
ii. Because the various features of HPWS are interdependent, any improvement in a single
feature will not have any effect on performance fit if it is implemented in isolation.
iii. Horizontal fit is to make certain that all the HR practices, work design, leadership and
IT complement each other.
iv. The synergy obtained through overlapping work and HR practices is the essence of
HPWS.
External Fit:
It is the situation in which the work system supports the organization’s goals and
strategies. External fit starts with an analysis of competitive challenges, organizational
values and concerns of employees and results in strategy statements.
i. Some companies use planning processes which begin with statements of corporate values
and priorities.
ii. Values and priorities are the basis for establishing medium-term goals for the
organizations.
iii. Each business unit decides annual objectives based on the goals and the process goes
down to every level of management.

iv. Finally each employee will have a clear view on the values and goals of the
organization so that the employees can see how individual efforts make the difference.
v. Individual efforts to achieve vertical fit help focus the design of HPWS on strategies.
vi. Objectives such as cost reduction, quality improvement, customer service etc., directly
influence what is expected of employees and the skills required achieving them.
vii. Terms such as involvement, flexibility, efficiency, problem solving, teamwork etc., are
seriously translated directly from the strategic requirements of HPWS as HPWS is
designed to link employee initiatives to the organization’s strategy.
High Performance Work System – Implementing
It has been reported that formulating a plan of change is much easier than implementing
the same. Surveys showed that many issues arise during implementation. Before
attempting any change it is imperative that change is linked to company’s business
strategy.
i. Change is owned by senior and line managers
ii. There is sufficient resources and support for the change efforts
iii. There is early and wider communication
iv. The teams are formed in a systematic context

v. There are established methods available to measure results of change, and
vi. There is continuity in leadership.
H) The Balanced Scorecard
In our humble opinion, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is one of the best types of performance
management systems available, and for good reason: 88% of BSC users say the framework is
extremely or very useful in helping them achieve their goals. What makes the BSC unique is
that it combines four different business perspectives—financial, customer, internal processes,
and people—to help companies understand and achieve their organizational objectives.
Its main components:
 Objectives—high-level organizational goals that state what your organization is trying to
accomplish strategically, broken down according to the four perspectives
 Measures—key performance indicators (KPIs) that help you understand if you’re
accomplishing your objectives strategically.
 Initiatives—key action programs developed to achieve your objectives sometimes referred to as
projects.
Some key points about the BSC are:
 It facilitates alignment across divisions and departments because you can link departmental
objectives to the overall organizational objectives. You can also see how measures and projects
are connected to organization-level measures.
 It requires a structured reporting process. Creating a BSC is predicated on reviewing your
strategy on a regular basis—and you can only do this if your strategy is organized.

I) Appreciative inquiry (AI)
Appreciative inquiry (AI) is an organizational and change model that encourages change while
using the strengths that exist within a company. AI encourages management and employees to
perform collective actions that promote teamwork and may lead to stronger and more effective
business practices. Members of management often collaborate with other staff members to
follow the appreciative inquiry model, which may allow them to boost overall efficiency and
achieve goals.
Components of appreciative inquiry
1. Discovery
The first component is discovery, which involves identifying an organization's strengths.
This may include its best practices, achievements and high-performing departments or
employees. To determine these different elements, try speaking with colleagues or staff
members to determine which areas within the workplace they think are most successful.
You may also review sales numbers or performance measurements to identify outstanding
areas. For example, if your workplace brings in many new customers each month through
advertisements, then the marketing department may be using successful promotional
practices.
2. Dream
After identifying the positive aspects of your workplace, you can take part in the dream
component, which involves envisioning the future that your company may want. Your
dream may involve specific goals, like a sales number that you want to achieve or a certain

amount of profit that your workplace wants to earn. It usually involves dreams that align
with a company's core mission or values. For example, if a workplace's values involve
teamwork and collaboration, then management may set goals that create a more team-
oriented work environment.
3. Design
The third component is the design process, which is when you can design a plan for your
workplace to achieve the goals set during the dream stage. It involves employing strategies
that use employee's strengths and align with the skills that staff can use to create an
exceptional workplace. It often involves identifying specific departments or employees who
have the strengths needed to make these changes. For example, management may identify
several employees that have exceptional customer service skills who may help create a
customer-driven environment.
When creating a plan, be sure to review your list from stage one to see what positive parts
of your workplace's practices you want to keep. This may help you identify which
processes may require areas of improvement. Staff may create actionable steps to improve
their overall processes and create a strength-oriented environment, or they may change their
workplace's values to help better align with their new direction.
4. Destiny
Also known as deploy, this is the stage where employees can begin using the organizational
model within their practices. This stage may vary depending on a workplace's strategies.
For example, some workplaces may change their processes within one department, or they

may work on organizational change throughout the entire company. After putting the
strategies into action, staff can make changes as necessary to help them reach goals.
Importance of appreciative inquiry
 Discovering new opportunities: You may use AI to discover new strength-based
opportunities that may allow your workplace to operate more efficiently. This may
include creating new strategies that optimize skills and collaboration, or it can include
a new vision or mission that a company may adopt that better aligns with its strengths.
 Achieving goals: Appreciate inquiry may help your workplace achieve long-term goals
by following the four components. This may help you create actionable steps to
improve your workplace's operations.
 Identifying existing strengths: By using AI, you may recognize strengths within your
workplace that you weren't aware of previously.
 Promoting innovation: Since AI encourages companies to strengthen the practices and
processes they have currently, workplaces may promote innovation and advancement
to enhance their techniques, rather than adopting new techniques.
Intergrating HRD with technology
 Technology
Technology is used in nearly all organisations these days including schools, companies and
universities as examples. What people may not know is what it actually means. Technology is a
branch of knowledge that can deal with the creation and the use of technical means and their
interrelation with life, the environment and society. Technology draws upon subjects such as
industrial arts, applied science, engineering and there are many more. Technology can be seen
as a process or an invention of something. (Technology, N.D)

 Progressive Technology
Technology is always progressing and this is very good for companies who need or even sell
technology. If we look at how a few years back within companies the secretary would need to
file documents manually and this could take a long time, also apart from the time issue there
were more serious problems like documents going missing or being damaged. This is where
technology began to progress because there was a new technology progressing and this was the
database and this could hold all the documents you needed safely onto the computer and that
way it would be a lot faster and more secure for the secretary to file the documents. This is just
one example there are many more ways in which technology has helped to progress companies.
The example given here is just to show that technology is progressing and it will keep
progressing much further in the future years to come.
 Human Resource Development
Human Resource Development is all about learning, training, developing and education the
employees in the workplace. There is a difference between these four concepts but there all
correlated. If for example we looked at learning; this can be learnt anywhere and you can be
learning yourself the new skills, but on the other hand if you looked at education you are being
taught something but in a formal way but the two are linked because from both of these you are
learning new skills and then you can go on to training and developing them skills.
HRD was not always known as this, there was a shift from welfare officers to HRD.
HRD was initially set up for training and development and this was to help the employers in
crafts such as electricians, or engineers as an example and from this they would be learning
from their masters and will be developing their skills to be able to perform in the workplace.
HRD created an integration of people management and development and this could become
CIPD which stands for the chartered institute of personnel and development.

HRD likes to be strategic and is more for the organization than the employees; it is also a long
term method to help to build the company. HRD does like to implement change into their
methods and this is why e-learning will be very convenient to help within organizations
because it is constantly changing and this change would help employees improve on their
learning and training and will be able to implement new skills within the workplace.
 E-learning
E-learning used to be known as computer-based learning, this is basically what it still is, it is a
way of learning but on a computer or even these days there is even m-learning which is through
the mobile. We need e-learning in everyday life to be able to adapt the required skills in
education, employment, even at home. It can be defined as any learning activity supported by
information and communication technologies which is known as ICTs. There are arguments out
there concerning the labels, an example of this is whether ICT-based learning is the same as e-
learning, we can gather information from the world wide web channel and this would be our
online materials, but we can also get materials from this intranet would could be confused as
being from the world wide web but instead this material is delivered through an internal
network of personal computers. E-learning is in fact taken to mean any form of electronic
technology which can support learning this can be opposed to the chalk and blackboard
technology which used to be the main form of learning.
Purpose of e-learning?
The purpose of e-learning is to advance and develop people skills. This is why it is so important
to HRD because the aim of HRD is to learn, train, develop and educate people; this is exactly
what e-learning does for people. Without e-learning I think people would be under developed
with skills and this may not help them progress into a work place. E-learning can help to
increase teacher effectiveness and will also improve the learning of the subject matter. With

HRD I think trying to teach people new subjects can be quite tedious and this could be off
putting for them involved and this can decrease their knowledge levels and even cause them to
lose a job because they haven’t got the right skills needed for the job, this is where e-learning
comes in with HRD because it makes the learning more relevant for them involved and helps
them to become more interactive. E-learning now changes the way that people were taught new
subjects because before people were being taught on they will write out the subject and they
will go away and learn basis, but now computers are involved and people can teach themselves
and this is the whole purpose of e-learning and it helps HRD to perform better.
Different forms of e-learning
Traditional e-learning :- Here, the content of this is more fixed and it rarely changes, it is also
generic and has a long shelf life. However it does need a large budget in order for it to be put
into action.
Rapid e-learning: - Here, the content is rapidly changing and is updated quite frequently; also
it may not be generic or have a short shelf life. The budget for this way of learning is limited or
non-existent. The information is very hot topic and is just in time.
Different types of e-learning:
As well as different forms of e-learning there are also a number of different types. I think
depending on the workplace and the HRD set up within the workplace it does not matter what
types of e-learning you use, it will be the type of e-learning which is best suited for the
organization. Below I will just list a couple of examples of e-learning:
 You tube
 Face book

 Google search
 Wikipedia
 Power Point
 Microsoft Office
 Firefox etc.

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