flowchart TB G[HRD Goals<br/>Competence + Commitment + Culture] G --> M[HRD Mechanisms / Subsystems] M --> A[Performance & Potential Appraisal] M --> CP[Career Planning & Development] M --> TD[Training & Development] M --> CC[Counselling, Mentoring, Coaching] M --> RR[Rewards & Recognition] M --> QC[Quality Circles & Job Rotation] M --> OD[OD Interventions] M --> HR[HRIS] M --> O[HRD Outcomes<br/>OCTAPACE climate · improved performance · engagement] O -. Feedback .-> G style G fill:#E3F2FD,stroke:#1565C0 style M fill:#FFF3E0,stroke:#E65100 style O fill:#E8F5E9,stroke:#2E7D32
11 Human Resource Development: Concepts and Mechanisms
11.1 What is Human Resource Development?
Human Resource Development (HRD) is the deliberate, organised set of learning experiences provided by an employer to develop the abilities of its workforce, both for current performance and for future roles. The term was coined by Leonard Nadler at a 1969 conference of the American Society for Training and Development, where he argued that training alone — short-term, skill-focused — could not capture the broader work of preparing people for organisational futures (nadler1989?).
In India, the formal practice of HRD begins with the Larsen & Toubro experiment of 1974–75, where Udai Pareek and T.V. Rao were invited as consultants. Their work is the founding text of Indian HRD.
TipThree Influential Definitions of HRD
| Author | Working definition | What it foregrounds |
|---|---|---|
| Leonard Nadler | “Organised learning experiences provided by employers within a specified period of time to bring about the possibility of performance improvement and / or personal growth” | Time-bound, organised, employer-provided |
| T.V. Rao | “A continuous process to ensure the development of employee competencies, dynamism, motivation and effectiveness in a systematic and planned way” | Continuous; competency + motivation + culture |
| Pareek & Rao | “A process of helping people to acquire competencies needed for their present and future roles, develop a sense of belonging, and contribute to organisational excellence” | Competencies + commitment + culture (pareek1984?) |
The three definitions agree on three things — HRD is organised, continuous and forward-looking. The Rao formulation goes furthest: HRD is not just about competencies, it is about building a culture in which people can give of their best.
11.2 HRD vs HRM
HRD is often described as a sub-set of HRM — the developmental wing of the people function. The distinction is one of focus rather than of separateness.
TipHRD vs HRM
| Dimension | HRM | HRD |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | The full life-cycle of the employee — acquire, use, maintain, separate | The developmental and learning portion |
| Time horizon | Short and long term combined | Long term, future-oriented |
| Aim | Match people to jobs; deliver business results today | Build capability, motivation and culture for tomorrow |
| Tools | Recruitment, compensation, IR, separation | Training, appraisal, career, mentoring, OD |
| View of people | Resources to be deployed | Resources to be grown |
| Function-vs-philosophy | Mostly a function | A function, a process and a philosophy |
A useful slogan: HRM uses people; HRD grows people. Modern firms expect their HR systems to do both at once.
11.3 Goals and Objectives of HRD
Pareek and Rao’s classical framing identifies three nested goals.
TipThe Three Goals of HRD (Pareek & Rao)
| Goal | What it covers | Working test |
|---|---|---|
| Develop competencies | Knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed for current and future roles | Are individuals more capable than a year ago? |
| Build commitment and motivation | A sense of belonging, ownership, identification with the firm’s purpose | Are people willing to put in discretionary effort? |
| Create a development culture | An organisational climate of openness, trust, autonomy, collaboration, experimentation | Do new ideas, candid feedback and learning move freely? |
The three goals reinforce each other. Competence without commitment produces capable mercenaries; commitment without competence produces enthusiastic underperformance; both without a development culture stagnate within months.
11.3.1 Objectives of HRD
- Develop the capabilities of every employee, in line with current and emerging organisational needs.
- Develop teams and inter-team collaboration.
- Build a learning organisation in which experience is captured and shared.
- Improve the quality of work life of every employee.
- Generate the systematic information that line managers need to develop people.
- Align individual aspirations with organisational goals.
11.4 The HRD Framework — Pareek and Rao’s Model
Pareek and Rao’s HRD framework, refined through the 1980s, is the structure most Indian textbooks follow. It treats HRD as a system with three parts.
TipPareek & Rao’s HRD System
| Element | What it covers |
|---|---|
| HRD goals | Competence + commitment + culture (the three above) |
| HRD subsystems / mechanisms | The instruments through which goals are pursued |
| HRD outcomes / process variables | Climate dimensions — OCTAPACE — and resulting behaviours |
The bridge between goals and outcomes is the mechanisms — sometimes called subsystems or instruments. The next section is a guide to them.
11.5 HRD Mechanisms (Subsystems)
A mechanism is a deliberate organisational practice that produces development. Pareek and Rao identified an integrated set of mechanisms, each reinforcing the others. The classical Indian list runs to about a dozen; modern texts add a few more.
TipTwelve HRD Mechanisms
| # | Mechanism | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Performance appraisal | Honest assessment of current performance against goals |
| 2 | Potential appraisal | Assessment of capability for future, larger roles |
| 3 | Career planning and development | Map of where each employee can go and how |
| 4 | Training and development | Closing the gap between current ability and job demand |
| 5 | Employee counselling | Helping employees through performance, career and personal issues |
| 6 | Mentoring | Long-term developmental relationship with a senior figure |
| 7 | Coaching | Behavioural feedback on real work |
| 8 | Rewards and recognition | Reinforcing the behaviours and outcomes the firm wants |
| 9 | Quality circles | Small groups solving work-place problems |
| 10 | Job rotation and enrichment | Exposure to varied work; deeper responsibility |
| 11 | Organisation development (OD) interventions | Whole-system change in structure, processes, culture |
| 12 | Human resource information system (HRIS) | The data backbone for the others |
11.5.1 Performance Appraisal as a Developmental Tool
In an HRD-oriented firm, performance appraisal is primarily developmental — feedback, counselling and growth — and only secondarily administrative — pay and promotion. The split between the judge and coach roles of the appraiser is a well-known source of system stress; modern firms separate the two conversations or sequence them carefully.
11.5.2 Potential Appraisal
Potential appraisal asks a different question from performance: not what has this person done, but what can this person do in a larger or different role? Standard inputs are tests, simulations, assessment centres, multi-rater feedback and managerial judgement.
11.5.3 Counselling, Mentoring, Coaching
The three interventions sit on a continuum (chapter 9 covered them in compensation-and-career context).
TipThree Developmental Conversations
| Mode | Time horizon | Focus | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counselling | Short, episodic | Restoring functioning when something is wrong | Helper → helped |
| Coaching | Medium, structured | Improving specific behaviour or performance | Coach → coachee |
| Mentoring | Long, voluntary | Whole career and broad development | Senior → junior |
11.5.4 Quality Circles
Quality circles are small voluntary groups of employees from the same work area who meet regularly to identify, analyse and solve work-related problems. The technique originated with Kaoru Ishikawa in Japan in the 1960s and travelled widely as part of the TQM movement. Indian PSUs and large manufacturing firms (BHEL, NTPC, L&T, Tata Steel) have long-standing QC programmes.
11.5.5 Organisation Development (OD)
OD is the planned, organisation-wide effort, managed from the top, to increase organisational effectiveness through behavioural-science interventions in the firm’s processes. Classical OD interventions include team-building, survey feedback, sensitivity training, role analysis, process consultation and large-system change. OD is treated more fully in chapter 23.
11.6 The HRD Process
The HRD process is the cycle through which mechanisms are designed, delivered and evaluated.
TipSix Stages of the HRD Process
| # | Stage | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diagnose HRD needs | Performance gaps, skill gaps, climate diagnosis |
| 2 | Set HRD goals and priorities | What HRD will deliver, by when |
| 3 | Design HRD mechanisms | Which subsystems, how they will work, who is responsible |
| 4 | Implement | Run the appraisals, training, mentoring, OD interventions |
| 5 | Evaluate | Did capability rise? Did engagement rise? Did the climate improve? |
| 6 | Institutionalise | Make HRD part of how the firm works, not a one-off campaign |
11.7 Roles of the HRD Manager
Pat McLagan’s Models for HRD Practice identified eleven roles in HRD work; a simplified version is widely used in textbooks.
TipSix Common Roles of the HRD Manager
| Role | What the HRD manager does |
|---|---|
| Learning specialist | Designs and delivers training and development |
| Performance consultant | Diagnoses performance problems beyond skill gaps |
| Career counsellor | Helps employees plan and grow |
| OD consultant | Diagnoses and intervenes at the system level |
| Change agent | Leads behaviour and culture change |
| HRD researcher / strategist | Aligns HRD with strategy; measures impact |
11.8 HRD Climate
A climate is the perceived workplace atmosphere that supports — or hinders — development. T.V. Rao and E. Abraham’s 1986 instrument distilled the climate into eight dimensions, captured by the acronym OCTAPACE. The full treatment of OCTAPACE belongs to the next chapter; the headline is that without a supportive climate, even well-designed mechanisms fail to deliver.
11.9 Practice Questions
Eight questions to test the chapter. Each card hides the answer — click Show answer to reveal it.
Q1
The term Human Resource Development (HRD)
The term Human Resource Development (HRD) was coined by:
AHenri Fayol
BLeonard Nadler
CPeter Drucker
DEdwin Flippo
Show answer
Correct answer
B. Nadler used the phrase at a 1969 American Society for Training and Development conference.
Q2
Match the contributor with the contribution
Match the contributor with the contribution:
| Contributor | Contribution | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Leonard Nadler | (a) | OCTAPACE climate instrument |
| (ii) | T.V. Rao & E. Abraham | (b) | Coined the term HRD |
| (iii) | Pareek & Rao | (c) | HRD framework — goals, mechanisms, outcomes |
| (iv) | L&T | (d) | First Indian HRD experiment |
A(i)-(b), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(c), (iv)-(d)
B(i)-(a), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(c), (iv)-(d)
C(i)-(c), (ii)-(d), (iii)-(b), (iv)-(a)
D(i)-(d), (ii)-(c), (iii)-(a), (iv)-(b)
Show answer
Correct answer
A. (i)-(b), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(c), (iv)-(d)
Q3
Which of the following is not
Which of the following is not among the three classical goals of HRD identified by Pareek and Rao?
ADevelop competencies
BBuild commitment
CBuild a development culture
DMaximise short-term profit
Show answer
Correct answer
D. The three goals are competence, commitment and culture.
Q4
Potential appraisal is best described as
Potential appraisal is best described as:
AThe same as performance appraisal
BAssessment of an employee's capability for future, larger roles
CThe annual financial review of the HR department
DA grievance-handling process
Show answer
Correct answer
B. Performance appraisal looks back at what was done; potential appraisal looks forward at what can be done.
Q5
A small voluntary group of employees
A small voluntary group of employees from the same work area who meet regularly to identify and solve work problems is a:
AQuality circle
BSensitivity group
CStrike committee
DJoint management council
Show answer
Correct answer
A. Quality circles, originated by Kaoru Ishikawa in Japan.
Q6
Arrange the HRD process stages in
Arrange the HRD process stages in order:
(i) Implement
(ii) Diagnose HRD needs
(iii) Evaluate
(iv) Set HRD goals
(v) Design mechanisms
A(ii), (iv), (v), (i), (iii)
B(iv), (ii), (i), (v), (iii)
C(ii), (i), (iv), (iii), (v)
D(v), (iv), (iii), (ii), (i)
Show answer
Correct answer
A. Diagnose → Goals → Design → Implement → Evaluate.
Q7
The first formal HRD experiment in
The first formal HRD experiment in India is generally credited to:
AState Bank of India
BLarsen & Toubro
CTata Iron and Steel Company
DHindustan Lever
Show answer
Correct answer
B. The L&T initiative of 1974–75, with Pareek and Rao as consultants.
Q8
Which of the following is not
Which of the following is not an HRD mechanism in the standard Indian list?
APerformance appraisal
BMentoring
CQuality circles
DStatutory wage payment
Show answer
Correct answer
D. Wage payment is an HRM compliance task, not an HRD mechanism.
ImportantQuick recall
- HRD = organised, continuous learning experiences for current and future roles. Term coined by Nadler (1969); first Indian effort at L&T (1974–75) with Pareek and Rao.
- HRD vs HRM: same family, but HRD is the developmental, long-term, growth-oriented wing.
- Three goals (Pareek & Rao): Competence — Commitment — Culture.
- Twelve HRD mechanisms: Performance appraisal, Potential appraisal, Career planning, Training, Counselling, Mentoring, Coaching, Rewards, Quality circles, Job rotation, OD interventions, HRIS.
- Three developmental conversations: Counselling (short, fix), Coaching (medium, behaviour), Mentoring (long, career).
- HRD process: Diagnose → Set goals → Design → Implement → Evaluate → Institutionalise.
- HRD manager’s roles: learning specialist, performance consultant, career counsellor, OD consultant, change agent, strategist.
- Climate diagnosis tool: OCTAPACE (Rao & Abraham, 1986) — covered in detail in the next chapter.