Introduction Over many centuries India has absorbed managerial ideas and practices from around the world.

Early records of trade, from 4500 B.C. to 300 B.C., not only indicate international economic and political links, but also the ideas of social and public administration. The worlds first management book, titled Arlhshastra, written three millennium before Christ, codified many aspects of human resource practices in Ancient India. This treatise presented notions of the financial administration of the state, guiding principles for trade and commerce, as well as the management of people. These ideas were to be embedded in organisational thinking for centuries (Rangarajan 1992, Sihag 2004). Increasing trade, that included engagement with the Romans, led to widespread and systematic governance methods by 250 A.D. During the next 300 years, the first Indian empire, the Gupta Dynasty, encouraged the establishment of rules and regulations for managerial systems, and later from about 1000 A.D. Islam influenced many areas of trade and commerce. A further powerful effect on the managerial history of India was to be provided by the British system of corporate organisation for 200 years. Clearly, the socio cultural roots of Indian heritage are diverse and have been drawn from multiple sources including ideas brought from other parts of the old world. Interestingly, these ideas were essentially secular even when they originated from religious bases. In the contemporary context, the Indian management mindscape continues to be influenced by the residual traces of ancient wisdom as it faces the complexities of global realities. One stream of holistic wisdom, identified as the Vedantic philosophy, pervades managerial behaviour at all levels of work organisations. This philosophical tradition has its roots in sacred texts from 2000 B.C. and it holds that human nature has a capacity for self transformation and attaining spiritual high ground while facing realities of day to day challenges (Lannoy 1971). Such cultural based tradition and heritage can have a substantial impact on current managerial mindsets in terms of family bonding and mutuality of obligations. The caste system, which was recorded in the writings of the Greek Ambassador Megasthenes in the third century B.C., is another significant feature of Indian social heritage that for centuries had impacted organisational architecture and managerial practices, and has now become the focus of critical attention in the social, political and legal agenda of the nation. One of the most significant areas of values and cultural practices has been the caste system. Traditionally, the caste system maintained social or organisational balance. Brahmins (priests and teachers) were at the apex, Kshatriya (rulers and warriors), Vaishya (merchants and managers) and Shwdra (artisans and workers) occupied the lower levels. Those outside the caste hierarchy were called untouchables. Even decades ago, a typical public enterprise department could be dominated by people belonging to a particular caste. Feelings associated with caste affairs influenced managers in areas like recruitment, promotion and work allocation (Venkatranam & Chandra 1996). Indian institutions codified a list of lower castes and tribal communities called scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. A strict quota system called, reservation in achieving affirmative equity of castes, has been the eye of political storm in India in recent years. The central government has decreed 15 per cent of recruitment is to be reserved for scheduled castes, and a further seven and half per cent for scheduled tribes. In addition, a further 27 per cent has been decreed for other backward castes. However, the liberalisation of markets and global linkages have created transformation of attitudes towards human resource (HR) policies and

practices (Khalilzadeh-Shirazi & Zagha 1994, Gopalan & Rivera 1997). Faced with the challenge of responding to the rationale of Western ideas of organisation in the changing social and economic scenario of Indian organisation, practitioners are increasingly taking a broader and reflective perspective of human resource management (HRM) in India. This manuscript has three main parts. In the first part is provided an overview of important historical events and activity that has influenced contemporary managerial tenets, the second part of the manuscript describes the emerging contemporary Indian HRM practices and indicates some interesting challenges. Much of the second part is also summarised on four informative Figures. The concluding section, the third part of the manuscript, succinctly integrates the two preceding parts.

What is Human Resource Management?

Even though Human Resources is a relatively modern management term coined in the 1960s, the importance of Human Resource Management can be traced back to Vedic ages! Yes, in The Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna not only makes Arjuna spiritually enlightened, but also teaches him the art of self management, anger management, stress management, conflict management, transformational leadership, motivation, goal setting and many other aspects which are now essential parts of any HRM curriculum.

In fact, many B-Schools today consider The Bhagavad Gita a guide to developmental strategies that are so essential in modern management. However, unlike the western approach to HRM, which entirely focuses on external world of matter and energy, The Bhagavad Gita explores the inner self.

Michael Armstrong, in A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, describes Human Resource Management as the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. With the growing importance of human capital as a success factor for todays organizations, the role of HR has become more critical for corporate India as it offers a way to vault into the global league.

Human resource management is a process of bringing people and organizations together so that the goals of each other are met. The role of HR manager is shifting from that of a protector and screener to the role of a planner and change agent. Personnel directors are the new corporate heroes. The name of the game today in business is personnel . Nowadays it is not possible to show a good financial or operating report unless your personnel relations are in order.

Over the years, highly skilled and knowledge based jobs are increasing while low skilled jobs are decreasing. This calls for future skill mapping through proper HRM initiatives.

Indian organizations are also witnessing a change in systems, management cultures and philosophy due to the global alignment of Indian organizations. There is a need for multi skill development. Role of HRM is becoming all the more important.

India is now a world player in the international market. We are a country of more than a billion people and a crucial part of any major organizations travel plans. With a GDP growth of over 9%, India is the success story the world over. And the fact that Indian companies are moving into the West means that alls pretty sound in India Inc.

The concerns come with the growth. The major concerns are the people in any growing organization. The labor market is tight. Salaries have been impacted this year, but think of the hikes people had gained in the last two years. And it is in such a scenario, that human resource management is most critical. So critical, that a lack of it can cause serious injury to business. Indian HR management needs to buck up to the rising challenges which employees are facing. An upgrade to global practices might be the first solution.

There are some who feel that Indias greatest boon is its exploding population. That out of more that a billion people, the number of literate and qualified population can only increase. However, only 2 per cent of our population right now can speak English fluently. The education system is woefully short of western standards. What we are competent in, is IT education. Thus, the whole India-is-synonymouswith-IT story. But, ironically, The IIMs and the IITs are producing extremely competent, literate, business and tech savvy individuals - the best of the best. Staring salaries are still top notch. But the average engineering college or management institute is woefully short of quality. Also, a great IT education system is just not enough. The country still needs good automobile engineers, agriculturists and petrochemical engineers, to name a few.

Where does human resource management fit in? The answer is simple:

1. Select the right individuals. The right individual need not come from the same background. The right individual need not come from the right college. Companies need to look out of the box. There is quality available everywhere. Substantial investment in training could be the key. After all, it is well known that workers can be trained to perform better. HR can look within the company as well, to identify someone who fits the job. People who are bored of their present role, perhaps?

2. Keep them happy: India faces one of the highest attrition rates in the world. Attrition is a terrible cost to any company. Employees are as important as the product or service. Employees make the product and offer the service. They need to be kept satisfied. Competitive compensation, innovative incentives and ESOPs are ways to keep employees satisfied. Nothing works better than a workplace where an employee receives recognition, reward and respect.

3. Innovation: Though salaries are the most important factor in choosing a job, they form a very small part of the overall job satisfaction. A workplace can be made ideal, primarily through innovative techniques. More and more Tech Parks are coming up with better ideas and can be used as examples in other locations. Jogging parks, cafeterias, libraries, competitions all small ways to make workplaces fun, to be in. Keen interest needs to be shown towards tracking careers. Internal job movements, training (both external and internal) are proven methods of increasing productivity and ensuring development.

Indian HR needs to go past the recruiting and hiring mode. Innovation needs to be blended in. The economy is sound, the situation, lucrative. Quality, however, is something that everyone, at every level has to strive for.

In this situation simple reflection on the three words human, resource and management can provide a deeper insight. "Human" implies labour, worker,

employee or personnel, which-ever is called at different stages of HRM-development or different stages or situations of organizational settings, of the organization. "Management" (as part of HRM) denotes the strategic planning and management of personnel of an organization. "Resource" indicates that personnel are "valued assets" and, with the emphasis on commitment, adaptability and employees as a source of competitive advantage, the image might equally be presented as "resourceful" humans (Legge, 1989, p 25). Others explained in a different way - why the personnel are treated as resource. First, skills and knowledge represent capital, because they enhance productivity. In other words, people add value to a firm to the extent that they will perform future services (Parnes, 1984).

Second, human resource is the result of a firm's making a deliberate investment either through hiring certain individuals "on the market" or developing them in-house. These investments, via HRM, carry both out-of-pocket and opportunity costs, and are justified only if they produce future returns via increased productivity (Duncan and Hoffman, 1981; Rumberger, 1987; Tsang, 1987).

Third, human resource commands a price on the market because it is valuable to other firms and, perhaps more important, it is transferable (Parnes, 19843. This transferability is a critical difference between human capital and physical capital. Even if employees stay with a firm, their contribution depends on their willingness to perform. Therefore, control costs, or costs of retaining and motivating employees (such as wages), must be considered human resource investments as well (Flamholtz and Lacey, 1981). Obviously, the employees are not valuable in the abstract, but rather as a function of the jobs they perform (Flamholtz, 1979). But as Tyson and Fell (1986) point out, "human resource" may be understood in a completely different sense, as a factor of production, along with land and capital, and an "expense of doing business" rather than "the only resource capable of turning inanimate factors of production into wealth".

Value of Context of HRM in India

The managerial ideologies in Indian dates back at least four centuries. Arthshastra written by the celebrated Indian scholar-practitioner Chanakya had three key areas of exploration, 1) public policy, 2)

administration and utilisation of people, and 3) taxation and accounting principles (Chatterjee 2006). Parallel to such pragmatic formulations, a deep rooted value system, drawn from the early Aryan thinking, called vedanta, deeply influenced the societal and institutional values in India. Overall, Indian collective culture had an interesting individualistic core while the civilisational values of duty to family, group and society was always very important while vedantic ideas nurtured an inner private sphere of individualism. There has been considerable interest in the notion that managerial values are a function of the behaviours of managers. England, Dhingra and Agarwal (1974) were early scholars who contended that managerial values were critical forces that shape organisational architecture. The relevance of managerial values in shaping modern organisational life is reflected in scholarly literature linking them to corporate culture (Deal & Kennedy 1982), organisational commitment and job satisfaction (OReilly, Chatham & Caldwell 1991), as well as institutional governance (Mowday, Porter & Steers 1982). Thus, understanding the source of these values and in particular societal work values (which link the macromicro relationships and in turn organisational practices) had become a popular line of enquiry, and a great deal of evidence has been presented to support the importance of national culture in shaping managerial values. One of the most widely read formulations of this literature is the seminal work of Hofstede (1980) who popularised the notion of clustering culture in generic dimensions such as power distribution, structuring, social orientation, and time horizons. In turn, these dimensions could be employed to explain relevant work attitudes, job incumbent behaviours and the working arrangements within organisational structures. Two of these dimensions were individualism and collectivism. The traditional social ethos from the ancient roots, which was developed over centuries, underwent profound transformation during the British rule. Consequently, in the contemporary context multiple layers of values (core traditional values, individual managerial values, and situational values) have emerged (Chatterjee & Pearson 2000). Though the societal values largely remain very much anchored in the ancient traditions they are increasingly reflecting corporate priorities and values of global linkages. But in the arena of globalisation where priorities of consumerism, technological education, mass media, foreign investment and trade union culture predominate, newer tensions are becoming evident. For instance, contemporary Indian multi national companies and global firms in India have started shifting their emphasis to human resources with their knowledge and experience as the central area of attention in extending new performance boundaries (Khandekar & Sharma 2005). Considerable research evidence attests to this trend with particular relevance to greenfield organisations with little or no historical baggages in their organisational culture (Settt 2004, Roy 2006). Within Indian traditions the choice of individualistic or collectivistic behaviour depends on a number of culturally defined variables. The dynamics of these variables are underpinned through three key elements guiding Indian managerial mindscapes. These three constructs are Desh (the location), Kaal (the timing), and Patra (the specific personalities involved). Sinha and Kunungo (1997) claim that the interaction of these three variables determines the guidelines for decisional cues. This managing or nurturing of the outer layer of collectivism in an inner private sphere of individualism is expressed in Figure 1 which demonstrates the behavioural anchors in Indian organisational life.

Figure 1 Behavioral Anchors in Indian Organisational Life DECISIONAL CUES Desh

(place) Kaal (Timing) (Actors) SPIRITUAL ORIENTATION Sattava guna (Virtue focus) Tamas guna Rajas guna Patra

(Negative focus) (Action focus) INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS Sradha

(Upward respect / Loyalty)

Sneha

(Downward affection) Bandhan (Bonding) Figure 1 also presents another powerful insight of the Indian tradition of the notion of Guna dynamics. According to Sharma (1996), this culture based framework, which has three types of gunas (attraction), is being increasingly used in employee assessment and organisational team building strategies. The contention is that each guna is a separate contribution to the core of human personalities. The Sattava (or truth orientation) is the sentiment of exalted values in people, organisations or society. Alternatively, the Tamasik guna depicts a negative orientation which can be expressed behaviourally as ignorance, greed or corruption. Those individuals with a Rajasik guna are inherently driven by a desire to make a worthwhile contribution to their surroundings. Collectively, these spiritual orientations, which manifest as Sattava, Tamas or Rajas gunas, articulate as positive or negative HRM functions such as leadership, motivation or other institutional behavioural activity. The third row of Figure 1 highlights the linking of HRM trends to socio cultural roots. The culture of Sradha (upward loyalty) and Sneha (mentoring with affection) outline the behavioural anchors derived from the civilisational roots. The acceptance of Sradha by youngers and the display of Sneha by the seniors have been the root of sustainability of all

types of Indian oragnisations. This has a striking similarity to the concepts of oyabun and kobun in the Japanese cultural context.

CONTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES

PM/HRM decisions can be traced to some civilization-philosophies. Certain mechanisms had to be developed to get things done by and through people. The contribution of different philosophies is divided into the following sections:

1. The Egyptian Civilization Philosophy (5000 - 525 BC): One of the best-known accomplishments of the Egyptians is the construction of the pyramids. They developed a well-defined hierarchy with the job descriptions and duties of the managers spelled out. They employed time-saving techniques, such as weight arms, for moving the blocks from one level of the pyramid to the next, showing a basic understanding of the time and motion study (Malhotra, et al., 1996a).

2. The Babylonian Civilization Philosophy: A leader of the Babylonian kingdom, Hammurabi (2123 - 2081 BC), prepared the first great code of law and gave encouragement to learning. As early as 1750 BC, the

code of Hammurabi attempted to encourage safety by providing for punishment of individuals who violated safety provisions in constructing buildings. There are "early illustrations showing workers engaged in the grinding of vermilion (which produces a dangerous dust) wearing a primitive type of breathing apparatus" (Malhotra, et al.,1996b, p 4).

3. The Chinese Civilization Philosophy (c 2000 BC): In ancient China, useful principles of PM were well-known:

(i) LS Hsu has highlighted the ancient/ Chinese parables containing practical suggestions to select honest, capable and unselfish public officers.

(ii) Confucius was well known in China for his useful principles.

(iii) Tao Te Ching, the well-known book of wisdom in China written by Lao Tzo in the fifth century BC explains how ( Tao) things work ( Te) . This book (Ching) deals with the role of a good leader in managing people. Tao is the principle or law of how all things or events happen. A leader who does not

know Tao (i.e. how things happen) is bound to be a confusing personality. Hence, the leader's integrity is based on the knowledge of how things work (Michael,1995).

4. Ancient Indian Philosophy:

(i) Valmiki, in his Ramayana (Sunderkand Sarge 64, Slokas 16 & 17), observed that people who carried out difficult and important tasks must be given due respect, and no compulsion was required for such people to perform well. It was implied that good performers were required to have freedom of action and recognition.

(ii) Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil scholar who lived about 2000 years ago, emphasized the need for careful selection of employees.

(iii) Brihaspati had disapproved, in the selection and recruitment of employees, the appointment of those who were hostile (vive-sino), indolent(alasa), timid (bhiravh), avaricious (lubha), too old (ati-bridha) or too young.

(iv) In the Varnashrams which existed in ancient India during the Vedic and Puranic periods, some sort of division of labour existed (Michael,1995).

(v) Kautilya had observed that there existed a sound base for systematic PM as early as the fourth century BC. He told about job-description, job-qualifications, selection procedure, executive development, incentive system (carrot and stick approach), performance evaluation and so on (Sharma,1977).

Even though Human Resources is a relatively modern management term coined in the 1960s, the importance of Human Resource Management can be traced back to Vedic ages! Yes, in The Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna not only makes Arjuna spiritually enlightened, but also teaches him the art of self management, anger management, stress management, conflict management, transformational leadership, motivation, goal setting and many other aspects which are now essential parts of any HRM curriculum.

In fact, many B-Schools today consider The Bhagavad Gita a guide to developmental strategies that are so essential in modern management. However, unlike the western approach to HRM, which entirely focuses on external world of matter and energy, The Bhagavad Gita explores the inner self.

5. The Hebrew Philosophy (1491 BC): The task of leading the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage was a significant organizational achievement. Moses delegated authority by selecting and training leaders who were responsible for a number of

subordinates. In the Old Testament, Jethro advised his son-in-law Moses, "And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring to thee, but every small matter they shall judge, so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee". Moses did all that he said, and the hard cases they brought to Moses. This follows the widely accepted "exception principle". Moses was also sensitive to the needs of his followers. He listened to the complaints and problems of his people before acting: a participative approach (Malhotra, et al.,1996a, pp 19-20).

6. The Roman Philosophy (250 BC - 300 AD): The Romans, in their organization structure not only made use of job descriptions and the scalar chain of command, but also faced and solved reorganizational problems caused by excessive bureaucracy, problems that currently confront many modern organizations (Malhotra, et al.,1996a).

7. Biblical Philosophy:

(i) Boaz (1312 BC), in the Bible, was gracious,

benevolent, honest and sympathetic to his workers, and the workers reciprocated with sincere hard work, loyalty, affection and godly blessing.

(ii) Solomon, the wisest employer this world has ever seen, considered his people as God-given gifts as early as 1014 BC.

(iii)The Bible asks the employers to be benevolent and to give justice and equality to the workers. "Masters, give unto your workers that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven" (Col. 4:1).

(iv)As far as a steward-manager is concerned, ,he must be able to manage his people without coercive measures or threats, to the maximum extent possible. Paul's observation (2000 years ago) is very relevant, "And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there partiality of persons with him" (Eph. 6:9).

(v) If your worker is deprived of a portion of his legitimate wage, it is an offence equivalent to

robbery. "Thou shall not defraud, neither rob him; the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the next morning" (Lev. 19: 13).

8. Roman Catholic Church Philosophy (42 AD onwards): The Catholic Church is one of the most effective organizations in the history of Western civilization. Its longevity is due in no small measure to its effective administrative practices. For example, over a thousand years ago the Church developed job descriptions for its clergy. By the Middle Ages it was already making use of the "staff principle", in which superiors had to seek the advice of their subordinates before making any major decisions, and the principle of "staff independence", in which a prelate's key advisors were not chosen by or removable by that individual, thereby avoiding the "yes man" pitfall (Malhotra, et al., 1996a).

9. Islamic Philosophy: Allah says, "That day mankind will issue forth in scattered groups to be shown their deeds. And whoso doth good an atom's weight will see it then, and whoso doth ill an atom's

weight will see it then" (99: 6-8). That is, one will get the remuneration according to one's amount of labour invested. By this way Islam considers "labour" from a broader meaning of both materialistic and ethical dimensions. In Fiqah the word Ajir is used in denoting the labour or employee. According to Fiqah, the concept of labour or employee is discussed by analysing it in two groups: (i) Azir-al-mustarak (Class of daily labour who are paid wages on the basis of units produced) and (ii) Azir-al-has (class of labour who are employed and paid wages on time-basis).

The description of the philosophies related to management of human resource demonstrates the fact that several basic elements prevalent at present have their genesis in history. Industrial activities have always formed an important part of the preoccupation of humankind since the dawn of civilization. Beginning with the Renaissance period (14th - 16th centuries) a phenomenal growth was achieved in the arts and sciences. By the time the organized factory system came into being, widely believed to have been started in medieval Italy, the

foundations for the Industrial Revolution were laid firmly. Capital and technology, along with labour, became the vital inputs to industrial activity. Management of personnel assumed an important role with the advent of the human relations school of thought in management by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Indias changing HRM horizon

The outlook to Human Resource Management in India has witnessed sea-change in last two decades. Economic liberalization in 1991 created a hyper-competitive environment. As international firms entered the Indian market bringing with them innovative and fierce competitiveness, Indian companies were forced to adopt and implement innovative changes in their HR practices. Increasing demand for skilled performers forced the companies to shift focus on attracting and retaining high-performing employees in a competitive marketplace.

Globalization and The Changing Face of Human Resource Management

The pressures on traditional IR models are not all due to globalization, as we shall see, but many of the changes taking place can be traced to globalization. it is not always easy to disentangle the causes and effects of globalization. However, it would probably be true to say that globalization is represented by the opening up of markets due, in large measure, to foreign direct investment consequent upon the lowering of investment barriers in practically all countries; by the liberalization of trade, and by the deregulation of financial markets in consequence of which governments increasingly have little control over the flow of capital across borders. All this implies the dominance of the market system, facilitated by the collapse of alternative economic (and in many cases political) systems. There is also a direct link between globalization and information technology (IT). Rapid technological change and reduction in communication costs have facilitated the globalization of production and financial markets. At the same

time globalization stimulates technology through increased competition; it diffuses technology through foreign direct investment. As aptly observed:

"Together, globalization and IT crush time and space." These developments have had further effects such as: democratization and pressures for more labour rights in countries where such rights have been restricted more liberalization and deregulation competition for investment increased economic independence of nations capital, information and technology flows are on the increase internationalization of enterprises and creation of mergers and alliances customer-driven (and not product-driven) global and local markets, but at the same time segmented markets competitiveness increasingly based (not on low wages or natural resources) on knowledge/innovation, skills and productivity. The success of global companies is to a large extent dependent on their ability to organize (within and between organizations) across national boundaries information, money, people and other resources. Employer Responses and Implications for Industrial Relations Among the responses of employers are the following: Moving production overseas to reduce costs and to facilitate sensitivity to local and regional market requirements. Contracting out and out-sourcing. It is an important rationale of out-sourcing that it, on the one hand, enables an enterprise to concentrate on its core competencies, and on the other hand, it makes service work more productive. For example, in the USA, outsourcing of functions in hospitals not directly related to the work of doctors and nurses (care of patients) has substantially increased the productivity of the hospitals, and provided new opportunities for service employees. "Outsourcing is needed not just because of the economics involved. It is required equally because it gives opportunities, income and dignity to service work and service workers." More part-time and temporary work (especially among women, the elderly and students) Introduction of new technology

Pushing for a more deregulated and flexible labour market More emphasis on productivity and quality Greater employee involvement in the design and execution of work Shifting the focus of collective bargaining from the nation/industry level to the enterprise level. Employers are of the view that issues relevant to the employment relationship such as work reorganization, flexible working hours and contractual arrangements, and pay for performance and skills, are increasingly workplace-related, and should therefore be addressed at the enterprise level. In the USA collective bargaining has, with some exceptions, been very much at the enterprise level; in the UK there is a marked shift towards enterprise bargaining; and the trends in Continental Europe are also in that direction. In many Asian countries outside Australia and New Zealand, the relatively little collective bargaining has been mostly at the enterprise level. In New Zealand negotiation has in the 1990s been almost entirely decentralized, and in Australia the trend is in the direction of decentralization. Exceptionally (in the USA) employers have reduced terms of employment through 'concession bargaining' when firms have been in financial difficulties. Downsizing the workforce. One important response has been the introduction of flexibility in the employment relationship to increase the capacity of enterprises to adapt rapidly to market changes. This has involved measures such as flexible working hours part-time work different types of employment contracts to the standard ones familiar to collective IR flexibility in functions, so that employees who are multi-skilled are not confined to the performance of only one task. They can cover up for absenteeism, and make some jobs redundant. flexible pay which involves some component of pay being dependent on performance, whether of the company, a group or the individual. Globalization has, through technology diffusion, substantially increased the introduction of new technology. This, as well as the need for flexible adaptation to market changes, have led to the reorganization of production systems and methods of work, such as the following: Reduction of narrow job classifications and demarcation lines between managers and workers, accompanied by skills enahncement needed to perform jobs with a broader range of tasks. Increasing areas for worker involvement in the conception, execution and control of work.

A greater focus on workplace relations and policies and practices conducive to better motivation and performance such as information-sharing and two-way communication. These responses have increased the necessity for employers to make more investments in skills training, to offer incentives to employees to improve their skills, and for workers to take upon themselves some responsibility for their own development. The competition generated by globalization and rapid technological changes accompanied by shorter product life have, while destroying countless jobs in industrialized countries, created opportunities for multi-skilled and easily trainable workers, and for the most significant group of emerging employees the knowledge worker. Knowledge and skills have become the most important determinants of investment, employment opportunities, productivity and quality and of flexibility.

The impact globalization and information technology have had on each other has made work more mobile, capable of being performed in different parts of the world without the need to actually set up physical facilities in other countries.

Other changes in the nature of work and workers are being brought about partly by globalization, but not entirely because of it. For instance, it is arguable whether globalization is solely responsible for the growing service sector, and it does not account for the rapid influx of women into the workforce. Be that as it may, some of the changes which have a fundamental impact on traditional IR include the following:

the expanding service sector at the expense of the manufacturing sector in industrialized and rapidly industrializing countries more advanced and skilled workforces The rapid influx into the workforce of women who will, in some countries, occupy more than half the emerging jobs an increasing number of people who will not be working in an organization, though they will be working for an organization The decreasing number of people working under 'permanent' contracts of employment, and the proliferation of other types of work arrangements such as part-time and temporary work, home work and contract work. Thus traditional IR has been challenged to accommodate different types of employment contracts, and different types of pay systems to reward performance and skills.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ERA

As the industrial revolution take place simultaneously the factory system came in to being that leads increase in working rules and regulation to large number to employees increase in the hierarchical structure also increased in working hours but decrease in pay bad working condition, social distance between employee and employer has increased, increased bureaucratization all these factor results in increasing monotony boredom job displacement impersonality due to these factor personnel management got higher attention. 1945 1979 STARTED COLLECTIVE BARGAINING POWER AND INDUSTRIAL RELATION HAVE PRIMACY ROLE TO PLAY. As in the Second World War the term employment manager started to take care of women employees the combination of both welfare officers and employment manager leads to personnel management. Though in the war times the productivity increased due to number of employment policies undertaken but the role of personnel management during war time was small that to implement the rules demanded to produce large scale goods but it was not focusing on other aspect of managing human resource that is by motivation, promotion, increasing morale, performance appraisal etc but the role of negotiation of union has gain important role. But there is an increasing in the bargaining between employer and unions during pre world war. During there is an enormous growth in an engineering industry but in 1950,s and 60,s there was an enormous growth in other type of industry which leads to the increasing the role of personnel management at same time large companies wanted to develop their own employment policies which suites to their company which leads to improve emerging new aspect in personnel management. The bargaining power of unions has increases which resulted in unnecessary official and unofficial strikes which were damaging the economy particularly manufacturing industry in UK the strikes were in huge number and it became famous in maintain poor industrial relation and the number of working days lost due to strike which resulted in closer of number of factories. The situation becoming worse and worse it was critical for both employers and unions due to this reason personnel manager was blaming for lacking of negotiation skill to resolve these situation and plan for industrial relationship strategies because of these deficiencies personnel management was not given high priority these leads to management to think something higher profile which have all the skill to negotiate to motivate. In the year mid of 1960s organization started giving much importance to employ the personnel specialist to perform different activities in order to make the employees as a whole package to perform in the organization. the world is becoming global village and labour started moving from one country to another this resulted in managing the workforce diversity this become the challenge for the personnel management to manage these workforce diversity. In the year 1960 Even the domestic rules and regulation was increased towards employability the new legislation was introduced towards employment, training, and redundancy payments, equal pay opportunities, employment protection. The year 1960 was high inflation so there was a regulation on wages paid by the employer personnel manager has to understand this new aspect

of regulation regarding inflation to develop policies to implement new measures which aligned with employees satisfaction level. Improvement in selection training appraisal and new management techniques has been expanded to improve the performance of the employees which demands to improve the profile of personnel management. Personnel management perform different function such as Collective bargaining role Implementation of legislation role Bureaucratic role Social conscience of the business role Growing performance improvement role

Trade Unionism Era

It was inevitable that associations of wage earners would arise to protect themselves against some of the abuses of the Industrial Revolution and to improve their lot in life. Trade or labour unions spread from factory to factory, and shop to shop (French, 1974). Strikes were one consequence. The English Parliament passed a series of laws in 1799 and 1800 -known as the "Combination Laws", that declared trade unions to be illegal (Cohen, 1960). After the Commonwealth vs. Hunt decision, the right to organize and bargain collectively was gradually established (French, 1974). A number of Acts of the

UK and USA during this time brought the union-management relations, individual employee's right and unions' rights and power. to their present position.

Social Reformer Era

About 1799, Robert Owen, a successful entrepreneur and manager of Scotland, fervently preached the gospel that people were creatures of their environment and that their behaviour was a function of their treatment (French,1974). His concern for employees and attempts to relieve human misery resulted in his promotion of shorter working hours, safer working conditions and better housing for the parish apprentices in his employ. Along with humanitarian reforms in the factory, Owen instituted a procedure of visible ratings of the production of each employee as a check on "inferior conduct" (Podmore,1907, pp 90 - 91).

Scientific Management Era

The famous name associated with this movement is that of F W Taylor. Around 1878, Taylor had

developed what he called "the four great principles of management". In general, the scientific management movement emphasized the importance of management planning down to the smallest details in the operations of the factory (French,1974). But his opinions about group effort were quite negative and for this his efforts were strongly resisted by organized labour, and even the Congress of the USA. Among the contemporaries of Taylor who extended his concepts were the Gilbreths and Gantt. F Gilbreth formulated laws of efficient motion (Gilbreth,1911). L Gilbreth is credited with one of the early books relating the principles of scientific management to the field of psychology (Gilbreth,1914). H Gantt's two innovations were "task and bonus" wage system and "Gantt chart" (Business Week, 1964).

Era of Industrial Psychology

Early industrial psychology seemed to focus on improvements in selling techniques, but researchers in industrial psychology were also interested in more effective matching of workers' abilities with job (Gilmer, 1961). In 1913 Hugo Munsterberg's book, Psychology anal Industrial Efficiency, described the

analysis of jobs in terms of their mental and emotional requirements and in terms of the development of testing devices. In commenting on the problem of monotony, he stressed the importance of the individual worker's needs and motivations (Gilmer, 1961). In this era the wellknown developments are: (i) "Test l-A" fdr mental-alertness; (ii) statistical validity in the use of tests; (iii) developments in checking references; (iv) Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests; (v) tests of aptitude, trade, interest and personality; etc.

Era of Human Relations Movement

In 1923 the Western Electric Company started experiments at its Hawthorne Works in Chicago in an attempt to find out what the effects of illumination were on workers and their output. Prof. Mayo and his peers con- ducted the research continuing into the early 1930s. They concluded that productivity was a function of the extent to which the group became a team and cooperated wholeheartedly and spontaneously. (For detailed reports of these experiments, see Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939;

Whitehead, 1938; Pennock, 1930; Johnson, 1975). The human relations movement was mainly concerned with the informal, spontaneous behaviour of work groups and the sentiments, interactions, and attitudes of employees. The scientific management movement was mainly concerned with the organization as a techno-economic system while the human relations movement viewed the organization as a social system (French, 1974: 30-31).

Era of the Behavioural Sciences

The behavioural sciences are essentially the social and biological sciences pertaining to the study of human behaviour. The term was coined about 1949 and grew out of a meeting of scientists who were considering whether a sufficient body of facts exists to justify developing an empirically tenable general theory of behaviour (Miller, 1955). Recent contributions from the behavioural sciences to the study of PM have come mainly from industrial psychology, social psychology, organizational psychology, and sociology and a great deal of relevant research cuts across these disciplines.

Personnel Specialist and Welfare Era

With the increase in the size of an organization, only hire and fire of personnel functions had to be allotted to a full-time "manager". With further increases in the number of employees, a separate personnel executive had to be appointed to determine wage rates, develop job descriptions and job specifications and to look after the benefits and services provided for the employees. Later safety experts, physicians, behaviour researchers, labour relations specialists and others were appointed. For administrative and organizational effectiveness, these different functions were merged into a single position, viz., the "Personnel Manager and Welfare Officer".

After that, organizational planning, manpower planning, manpower selection and other allied problems regarding the management of managers and high talent manpower assumed significance in the organization. High talent personnel emerged as the key human resources (Ordiarne, 1971). The emphasis then shifted to the "management of human resources" (HRM).

EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ABSTRACT In the competitive environment of open economy human resource management with the increased modern trends becoming significant factor for the efficient running of organization Human resource management emerged from personnel management and personnel management emerged from manpower planning. The consideration of changes taking place in managing human resource led to adaptation of strategic HRM the consideration of strategy and HRM system jointly led to the emergence of strategic human resource management SHRM which is crucial for achieving a corporations long term goal. This article attempts to bring the historical evolution of HRM and changing roles of HR professional from time to time in order to considered employees as an important assets which helps in attaining goals of the organization. The article finally draws attention to the fact that SHRM and not PM or HRM are people considered for modern industrialization that is to be used for creating and sustaining competitive advantage for the firm.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, in both the UK and USA, as companies have been confronted by Japanese competition and employment stereotypes, they struggled with recession and searched for excellence, so the vocabulary for managing these "human factors" has tended to change - managing Personnel Management (PM) is giving way to Human

Resource Management (HRM) or better still to Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) (Legge, 1989).

The objectives of this article are to trace the historical evaluation of SHRM and to draw lessons to better understand SHRM and to possibly find out significant pointers to its future course of development. This study is desk-research based on published books, articles and papers.

EVOLUTION OF PM

The word personnel began to appear in its modern connotation around 1909 (Riper, 1958). Henry Metcalf established a "Bureau of Personnel Administration" in 1920, and the first comprehensive textbook in the field, Personnel Administration, by Tead and Metcalf appeared (Spates, 1960). Mass production was not unknown in some fields before the Industrial Revolution in England, but life was essentially primitive (Malhotra, et al.; 199Ca). From the time of the Industrial Revolution, PM was getting its shape.

PM vs. HRM

Armstrong (1987), a British writer, argued that substantively there is little new in HRM: "It could indeed be no more and no less than t another name for PM, but, as usually perceived, at least it has the virtue of emphasizing the need to treat people as a key resource....". A few other authors (e.g. Fowler, 1987) echoed the same thing. But most of the authors had tried to show the differences between these two. Legge (1989) took two approaches in order to identify possible differences between PM and HRM - on the basis of normative models and on the basis of their respective practices. Torrington and Hall (1995) explained the differences by indicating PM as "workforce-centered" and HRM as "resource-centered". Mahoney and Deckop (1986) argued that, in explaining the differences between PM and HRM, overall. HRM involves a wider and broader view in six specific areas. The six areas and the focus in each from the viewpoint of PM and HRM respectively are given below:

(i) Employment planning: From a narrow technical

focus to closer links with business strategy.

(ii) Communication with employees: From a collective, negotiating focus to a general approach to direct communication with employees.

(iii) Employee feelings: From job satisfaction to concern with the total organizational culture.

(iv) Employment terms: From selection, training, compensation policies focused on individuals to a concern with group-working and group effectiveness.

(v) Employment cost-benefits: From a concern with cost-reduction through such strategies as reducing turnover, controlling absenteeism to focus on organizational effectiveness and the "bottom line".

(vi) Employee development: From development of individual skills to longer-term employment capabilities.

In a similar, but slightly different way, Beaumont (1991, p 27) identifies five "major items typically mentioned" in the US literature as part of HRM:

(i) Relatively well-developed internal labour market arrangements; in such areas as promotion, training, and individual career planning.

(ii) Flexible work organization system.

(iii) Contingent compensation practices and/ or skills-or knowledge-based pay structures.

(iv) High levels of individual participation in task-related decisions.

(v) Extensive internal communications arrangements.

Storey (1992) identifies twenty-seven differences between PM and HRM under four headings, namely, beliefs and assumptions, strategic aspects, line management and key levers.

Guest (1987) conceives of HRM not as an alternative to PM but as a particular form of PM, which stresses: the goal of integration, the goal of employee commitment, the goal of flexibility/adaptability. A later paper by the same

author discussed a range of innovative techniques of the sort typically associated with HRM, including such issues as flexible working practices, quality circles, training in participative skills and job enrichment (Guest, 1990). Guest (1987) has drawn a line of difference between PM and HRM, shown in Figure 1.

EMERGENCE OF SHRM

In the USA, where the concept of HRM originated, there is wide-spread belief that HRM is the dependent variable and business strategy is the independent variable in their relationship (see, for example, Galbraith and Nathanson, 1978; Tichy, et al. 1982). Guest, (1993, p 213) distinguishes PM from HRM "by virtue of the way in which the former ignored, but the latter embraces strategy". But the concept of SHRM is facing an identity crisis and it is defined and viewed from many perspectives. Some of the important ones are discussed below.

1. HRM or strategic HRM: Some writers consider HRM

and SHRM identical. For example, in the words of Beer, et al. (1984, p 13), "we view HRM from a strategic perspective".

2. Management level: Anthony (1965) classified management-level into three classes - strategic, managerial, and operational. Tichy, et al. (1981) have shown the HR activities are associated with these three levels. From their discussion it is clear that Tichy, et al. (1981) see SHRM as part of HRM; and its area covers only the "strategic level of management".

3. Functions strategy: In the HRM process there are some functions, for instance, organization, resourcing, pay, etc. Every function of the HRM process has its own strategic elements. For instance, in the resourcing function, there are strategic dimensions like achievement vs. aptitude, selection criteria, method mix of recruitment, technique content of selection techniques, etc. These strategic aspects of the functions, according to some authors like Torrington and Hall (1995), are called SHRM.

4. Blending strategies: Strategies are set to achieve the objectives of the firm; different environments and objectives require different strategies. In order to formulate and implement these strategies, the appropriate type of HRM strategies are required. Some authors, like Miles and Snow (1984), call this blending of business strategies with HRM strategies as SHRM.

From the detailed review of SHRM literature, the following points can be identified:

* There is a semantics problem between HRM and SHRM.

* SHRM is one of the two broad areas of HRM - the other area is the functional HRM.

* There are some strategic aspects in every element of the HRM process and these are known as SHRM.

* If the SHRM process or functional HRM process or any of their element fits/blends with business strategy, SHRM will emerge.

* SHRM is not completely dependent on business

strategy. Without this "HRM business strategy" link, there can be SHRM.

* Though in HRM (both functional and strategic) people are considered "resource", in SHRM they are considered "strategic (human) resource".

* The main objective of SHRM, which naturally comes in the SHRM definition, is creating and sustaining "competitive advantage" for the business.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

With modernization, where is essentially the result of the centuries-old effort at harnessing resources in the service of humankind, the position of human resource is established in management. Human beings are now seen as one of the several resources that go into the transformation from inputs to outputs in the form of goods and services. Thus, the need for managing human resources results in personnel management emerging, and the discipline of personnel management designed as an important functional area

of management takes shape. But the issue of locating human being as a resource, on par with other inputs, is unresolved. It is left to the emergence of human resource management to give human resource its due place as a key input - something more than other resources. Human resource is viewed more as "human" than a "resource". The human being is seen as the fulcrum around which and by whom the resources are managed.

At this stage, the external environment comes into the picture as a vital consideration in internal managerial decision making. Human, resource becomes strategic to organizational interests. The strategic dimension lends a high-level visibility to human resources; that probably explains the emergence of SHRM. Human resource is accepted as a critical component of a business firm's strategy designed to attain competitive advantage.

The editorial in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review poses a question: why has the balance of power shifted so markedly away from the corporation and toward the individual? (HBR, Sept-Oct 1998, p 6). Probably, we are coming back full circle from

where we started. The human being occupies the centre stage so far as managing the organized productive activities is concerned. But this we do with the benefit of the immense reservoir of accumulated knowledge and experience that has been built up. The human being, at an evolved stage, is the arbiter of the corporate destiny. No wonder, we lay an increasing emphasis on time and effort-saving techniques. There is the realization that human beings within organizations need to be empowered to take decisions. The space provided to the human resources within organizations needs to be increased. SHRM is likely to focus on these issues as we go along.

No doubt, the complexity of managing human resources is likely to increase but so will the sophistication of approaches and techniques for managing the human resources. All in all, the review of the historical evolution of SHRM offers interesting insights as well as significant pointers to the shape of things to come.

Contemporary India

In a recent survey of Indian CEOs, it was suggested that Indian managerial leaders were less dependent on their personal charisma, but they emphasised logical and step by step implementation processes. Indian leaders focused on empowerment and accountability in cases of critical turnaround challenges, innovative challenges, innovative technology, product planning and marketing or when other similar challenges were encountered (Spencer, Rajah, Narayan, Mohan & Latiri 2007). These social scientists contend.

Leaders in other countries often tell about why they chose a peculiar person for a certain role per task, detailing the personal characteristics that made that person right for that situation. They may also consider, in detail, how an assignment would help someone grow and develop their abilities. In general, Indian leaders simply did not discuss how they matched particular people to certain roles or tasks, nor did they usually consider in detail how the personal characteristics of individuals might shape or inform the best way to influence that person. (Spencer, et al 2007:90).

Indian HRM in Transition One of the noteworthy features of the Indian workplace is demographic uniqueness. It is estimated that both China and India will have a population of 1.45 billion people by 2030, however, India will have a larger workforce than China. Indeed, it is likely India will have 986 million people of working age in 2030, which well probably be about 300 million more than in 2007. And by 2050, it is expected India will have 230 million more workers than China and about 500 million more than the United States of America (U.S.). It may be noted that half of Indias current population of 1.1 billion people are under of 25 years of age (Chatterjee 2006). While this fact is a demographic dividend for the economy, it is also a danger sign for the countrys ability to create new jobs at an unprecedented rate. As has been pointed out by Meredith (2007). When Indias young demographic bubble begins to reach working age, India will need far more jobs than currently exist to keep living standards from declining. India today doesnt have enough good jobs for its existing workers, much less for millions of new ones. If it cannot better educate its children and create jobs for then once they reach working age, India faces a population time bomb: The nation will grow poorer and not richer, with hundred of millions of people stuck in poverty. (p.133). With the retirement age being 55 to 58 years of age in most public sector organisations, Indian workplaces are dominated by youth. Increasing the retirement age in critical areas like universities, schools, hospitals, research institutions and public service is a topic of considerable current debate and agenda of political parties.

The divergent view, that each society has an unique set of national nuances, which guide particular managerial beliefs and actions, is being challenged in Indian society. An emerging dominant perspective is the influence of globalisation on technological advancements, business management, education and communication infrastructures is leading to a converging effect on managerial mindsets and business behaviours. And when India embraced liberalisation and economic reform in the early 1990s, dramatic changes were set in motion in terms of corporate mindsets and HRM practices as a result of global imperatives and accompanying changes in societal priorities. Indeed, the onset of a burgeoning competitive service sector compelled a demographic shift in worker educational status and heightened the demand for job relevant skills as well as regional diversity. Expectedly, there has been a marked shift towards valuing human resources (HR) in Indian organisations as they become increasingly strategy driven as opposed to the culture of the status quo. Accordingly, competitive advantage in industries like software services, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology (where India is seeking to assert global dominance), the significance of HRs is being emphasised. These relativities were demonstrated in a recent study of three global Indian companies with (235 managers) when evidence was presented that positively linked the HRM practices with organisational performance (Khandekar & Sharma 2005). In spite of this trend of convergence, a deep sense of locality exists creating more robust cross vergence in the conceptual as well as practical domain. Figure 2

Drivers of Contemporary Indian HRM Trends

Figure 2 presents the key drivers for contemporary Indian HRM trends. In Figure 2 there are four external spheres of intervention for HRM professionals and these spheres are integrated in a complex array within organisational settings. The intellectual sphere, which emphasises the mindset transaction in work organisations, has been significantly impacted by the forces of globalisation. Indeed, Chatterjee and Pearson (2000) argued, with supporting empirical evidence from 421 senior level Indian managers, that many of the traditional Indian values (respect for seniority, status and group affiliation) have been complemented by newer areas of attention that are more usually linked to globalisation, such as work quality, customer service and innovation. The most important work related attribute of the study was the opportunity to learn new things at work. Such cross verging trends need to be understood more widely as practitioners face a new reality of human resource development of post industrial economic organisations. The other three spheres, of Figure 2, namely the emotional, the socio cultural and the managerial domains are undergoing, similar profound changes. For instance, the socio cultural sphere confronts the dialects of the national macro level reform agenda as well as the challenge of innovating by addressing the hygiene and motivational features of the work place. Consequently, this sphere, which is underpinned by the anchors of Sradha and Sneha, has the opportunity to leverage work setting creativity in dimensions of autonomy, empowerment, multiskilling and various types of job design. And

the emotional sphere, which focuses on creativity and innovation to encapsulate the notions of workplace commitment and collaboration as well as favourable teamwork, brings desirable behavioural elements of transparency and integrity into organisational procedures and practices. The managerial sphere provides the mechanisms for shifting mindsets, for in Indian organisations HRM is viewed to be closely aligned with managerial technical competency. Thus, understanding of the relativity of HRM to strategic intended organisational performance is less well articulated in Indian firms. The current emphasis of reconfiguring cadres (voluntary and nonvoluntary redundancy schemes), downsizing, delayering and similar arrangements will become less relevant as holistic perspectives gain ground. A hallmark of future Indian workplaces is likely to be a dominant emphasis on managerial training, structural redesign and reframing of institutional architectures to achieve enterprise excellence. Thus, a primary role of Indian managers will be to forge new employment and industrial relationships through purposeful HRM policies and practices.

Technical Services Recruitment and Retention

There has been a dramatic shift in the expectations of employees in the organised and globally linked sectors of the economy. An unprecedented rise in the disposable income coupled with a declining dependency ratio, has led to young professionals becoming extremely mobile. The problem is critically evident in the off shoring industry where the average retention period of an employee is considered to be around six to eight months. And the retention of senior level executives is an additional challenge. The attrition rates are highest in information technology (IT) (30-35%), business process outsourcing (BPO) (35-40%), insurance (35-40%), retail and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) (20-30%), and manufacturing and engineering (10-15%) (Chatterjee 2006). Over the past decade, there has been a sea change in the area of Indian technical services and the associated HRM practices of recruitment and retention. While the higher education system in the country has remained overwhelming poor in infrastructure and weak in becoming revitalised to grapple with the global imperatives, there has been a mushrooming of private educational institutions. The recruitment problem is further deepened by the emergence of a new culture of job hopping amongst employers who can demonstrate their world class competencies. This phenomenon of turnover has seen a chain reaction in entry level salaries, and an increase in graduates has created significant social and economic disruption to the Indian labour market. A likely scenario from this rampant activity is that the Indian HR scene will be negatively impacted in the next decade unless the deregulation and autonomy of the higher education sectors is initiated somewhat immediately. An example of this widening gap between the university system and market need has become a serious impediment in several new industries in India. For an example, it has been reported in the popular press (Time 2007), out of 13 million people who applied to work at IT company Infosys last year, just 2% were qualified indicating a sign of stress in the university system that graduates 2.5 million a year. (p.33).

RISING ROLE OF HRM The role of HRM has gain more important in the year 1980. There was a complete shift from post war collectivism and towards individualism and changes in structure of economy. Some people thought that HRM was evolved to solve union problem as there is an demand to take care of employees of an organization as a whole it performs different function. During 1990,s the success of large Japanese corporation in export market like automobiles and electronic goods took surprise to many western companies but studies says that the success of these Japanese firm is due to effective management of workforce the studies also shows that the workforce of Japanese firm are more productive and efficient than western firm. The key to success of Japanese companies like Toyota Matsushita are the practice adopted for efficient management of workforce as these companies started opening its manufacturing plant in western countries the practice of these companies also started practiced by western companies. The practice include are: Strict and rigorous selection and recruitment High level of training, especially induction training and on the job training Team working Multitasking Better management-worker communications Use of quality circles and an emphasis on right first time quality Encouragement of employee suggestions and innovation Single status symbols such as common canteens and corporate uniforms The reason of above practice is create an organization atmosphere where workers can grow and identify their own success and goal which match with organization.

Management practice Control Commitment Job design

Focused on the individual Focused on the team Performance management Measured standards for minimum performance Higher stretch objectives Management structure Top down and hierarchical. Emphasis on management symbols Flat organisation structure. Minimum status differentials Compensation Individual pay linked to job evaluation Pay linked to skills and mastery Employment Employees viewed as variable cost Assurances that participation will not result in job losses Employee voice Employee input allowed on a narrow agenda. Employee participation enacted on a wide range of issues Labour management relations Adversarial labour relations Mutuality with joint planning and problem solving

Emphasis on employees Human Resource policies, forming the framework for the culture in the business management, create awareness towards the need to achieve the business goals in the best possible and ethical manner. Indian companies have realized that in today's competitive business milieu, the quality of people you employ can make all the difference. In the last few years, the Human Resource has become a key player in strategic planning it has come a long way from traditional HR operations like managing the

recruitment process, handling staff appraisals. That is why Infosys CFO T. V. Moahndas Pai and Marico CFO Milind Sarwatewas were moved to head the human resources (HR) function in their respective companies. Rajiv Dube, CEO and managing director of Rallis, left his position to join as HR chief at automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra.

Progressive HR Policies In 1974, an angry Sudha Murthy had to write a letter to JRD Tata to protest against job discrimination against women in Telco. Today, most Indian companies are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all. The employers are increasingly realizing the value of trained human resource, especially women in India. Some organizations are changing their HR policies to stick with their valuable employees. MNCs like Pepsico are providing flexibility so that female employees at various life stages could benefit from these policies like working from a different city, sabbatical from corporate life, and extended maternity leave.

Entrepreneurship by employees India Inc. is encouraging 'intrapreneurs' or employees who have ideas that could potentially become a venture. Companies like Pepsico, NIIT, and Adobe are actively promoting practice of entrepreneurship by employees within the organization. Human Resource Management has taken a leading role in encouraging CSR activities at all levels. Companies like Wipro inculcate CSR values amongst its workforce right at the beginning during the induction process. Corporate presentations and keeping employees updated through regular newsletters are the instruments used by HR to keep employees energized about the organizations socially responsible initiatives.

Over the last decade, India's vast manpower has played an instrumental role in its economic success story. Indeed, the success of Indian companies is not based on superior access to raw materials or technology or patents, but fundamentally upon human skills. The synergy between the strategic planning and innovative HRM practices will be pivotal as Indian Inc. embarks itself on the global journey

Figure 3 Key HRM Practices in Indian Organisations HRM Practice Observable Features

Job Description Percentage of employees with formally defined work roles is very high in the public sector. Recruitment Strong dependence on formal labour market. Direct recruitment from institutions of higher learning is very common amongst management, engineering and similar professional cadres. Amongst other vehicles, placement agencies, internet and print media are the most popular medium for recruitment. Compensation Strong emphasis on security and lifetime employment in public sector including a range of facilities like, healthcare, housing and schooling for children. Training and Development Poorly institutionalised in Indian organisations. Popularity of training programmes and their effect in skill and value development undeveloped. Performance Appraisal A very low coverage of employees under formal performance appraisal and rewards or organisational goals Promotion and Reward Moderately variable across industries. Seniority systems still dominate the public sector enterprises. Use of merit and performance limited mostly to globally orientated industries. Career Planning Limited in scope. The seniority based escalator system in the public sector provides stability and progression in career. Widespread use of voluntary retirement scheme in public sector by high performing staff. Cross functional career paths uncommon. Gender Equity Driven by proactive court rulings, ILO guidelines and legislature provisions. Lack of strategic and inclusion vision spread. Reservation System The central government has fixed 15 per cent reservations for scheduled castes, 7.5 per cent for scheduled tribes and 27 per cent for backward communities. States vary in their reservation systems.

Figure 4 illustrates some of these initiative by leading companies in India. Figure 4 Examples of Retention Strategies for young Professionals in Indias BPO and Services Sectors Name of the Company Retention Strategy Tata Consulting Services(TCS) A choice of working in over 170 offices across 40 countries in a variety of areas. Paternity leave for adoption of a girl child Discounts on group parties Impact

Significant impact on job hopping achieved ICICI Bank Identification of potential talented staff Alternative stock options Quicker promotion Have been able to achieve higher retention rate WIPRO Wings Within programme where existing employees get a chance to quit their current job role and join a different firm within WIPRO Has led to a higher retention rate INFOSYS Fostering a sense of belongingness, creative artistic and social activities for the employees and their families. Initiating one of the best corporate universities in the world Moderate Retentions rate increase achieved Microsoft-India Excellent sporting and wellness facilities Employees allowed to choose flexible working schedule Moving people across functions and sections in assisting employees find their area of interest Struggling to minimise job hopping Mahindra & Co Culture change valuing innovation and talent over age and experience Institutionalising a practice called reverse mentoring where young people are given opportunities of mentoring their seniors Stabilised job hopping significantly A dramatic shift in recruitment practices has been taking place as globally pretend Indian companies as well as global technical services rivals have made India a battlefield of recruitment for the best workers.

For example, IBMs workforce in India has more than doubled in two years to a cadre of 53,000. This outcome has come with the elimination of 20,000 jobs in high cost markets like the U.S., Europe and Japan. The R&D centre of IBM is staffed by 3,000 world class engineers and is being recognised for its ability to innovate on all areas from simple processes, softwares, semiconductors as well as supercomputers. It is interesting to note that IBM has dominated the recruitment market in technical services in India during 2006. This leading company recruited 10,000 employees out of a total of 25,000 people who were recruited to the technical services industry. The prominence of IBM as an employer of technically qualified personnel has been acknowledged in the popular press (Business Week 2007). In Pune, a rapidly developing IT centre near Mumbai, the company has been dispatching vans with signs saying, IBM is hiring, to the gates of the rivals at lunch time. Their hit rate is pretty good laments a manager at a tech firm that has lost employees to IBM.

HR in Indian Retail

chillibreeze writer Ramadevi Srinivasan

The Indian Retail Industry stood at a value of a whooping US $330 billion in 2007 with the likes of Reliance Retail and Wal-mart joining the conglomerates from inside and outside the country. It is estimated that the retail sector will reach around US $600 billion by the turn of this decade. Significantly retail industry contributes about 10% to the GDP of India, and it is the largest source of employment after agriculture in the country.

Scope for employment opportunities:

It is small wonder then that retail sector has open the floodgates of employment opportunities to the Indian youth. Statistics reveal that the organized retail sector has increasing employee base burgeoning from 5.4 lakh to an awesome 16 lakh over the last couple of years.

About 11.5 lakh jobs in the organized retail sector and 2 million jobs in the unorganized retail sector will be thrown open by 2010 what with the likes of key players in including Pantaloon India, RPG Retail, Lifestyle, Wills lifestyle, Shoppers shop, Trent Ltd, Crosswords Bookstores Ltd., Ebony Retail Ltd. and

Reliance Retail Ltd. And the retail sector has abundant opportunities for part time positions as well due to the long working hours.

Compensation packages:

In general, hefty salary packages with attractive perks and allowances are offered by the employers luring the talent of this country into the retail industry. Surprisingly the average salary of even a fresher could be up to Rs.20,000/- with an assured average salary hike of 16% per annum. In some organizations the growth in salary ranges from Rs.60,000/- to Rs.70,000/- annually.

HR practices in some of the most successful retail verticals in India:

Apparels: Pantaloon India: Here is a retail giant which hires at least 250 MBAs for operations and merchandising profiles. The candidates go through an induction period and a short training thereon. Individuals are allotted projects for the next five months under the supervision of project guides. They are placed in suitable positions thereafter, with progressive authority and responsibility.

Indian software industry: The challenge for HR professionals in software industry is sheer shortage of high intellectual human capital both in numbers and skills. Recruitment of world class workforce and their retention is a serious challenge posed in HR industry. The yawning gap between the demand and supply of professionals has increased the cost of delivering the technology. The incentive compensation is based on performance keeping the long term organizational objectives in mind. Optimized compensation packages are offered as a motivator for retention of manpower.

Food and grocery: It is estimated that the food and grocery market in India is an astounding $236 billion, and it is the sixth largest grocery market in the world today. No doubt that human resources are an important asset in this food and grocery retail industry. Many top companies have made HR a strategic partner in their operations. One famous example is Nestle, the global giant in consumer packaged goods. Nestle has a strong internally developed employee backing which gives a major push to the company's lead position in the retail industry.

Attrition rates and retention of personnel:

There seems to be a high level of attrition in the retail sector which is almost 40% according to a recent study. Front end jobs are facing an attrition rate as high as even 80%.

Under the present circumstances, retention and motivation of personnel has become the major concern of HR. A congenial working atmosphere, support learning and training facilities, a highly competitive pay structure are some of the effective retention practices followed by the retail sector.

While money is the main attraction for freshers and starters, career satisfaction is the main reason with experienced personals. Assigning the "right project to the right person" is the organizational motto these days with companies setting up Manpower Allocation Cells (MAC) to carry out this agenda.

Looking at the current scenario, it could be said that there is an acute shortage of middle level management professionals in the Indian Retail Industry. The current trend is to hire from a smaller organization tempting the incumbent with a better pay package. It is imperative that suitable talent be hired in various areas such as technology, supply chain, logistics, product development and marketing in order to stay abreast of the hectic race for success among MNCs.

The call is for HR practitioners to play a more proactive and prominent role in order to retain the high tech skilled employees who are constantly looking for greater gains and prospects in their work. This is the real HR challenge to retain the "knowledge workers" and "knowledgeable workers" by introducing new processes and procedures and still ride high in implementing organizational effectiveness.

NEW TRENDS in hr

Some of the recent trends that are being observed are as follows:

The recent quality management standards ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 of 2000 focus more on people centric organizations. Organizations now need to prepare themselves in order to address people centered

issues with commitment from the top management, with renewed thrust on HR issues, more particularly on training. Charles Handy also advocated future organizational models like Shamrock, Federal and Triple I. Such organizational models also refocus on people centric issues and call for redefining the future role of HR professionals. To leapfrog ahead of competition in this world of uncertainty, organizations have introduced six- sigma practices. Six- sigma uses rigorous analytical tools with leadership from the top and develops a method for sustainable improvement. These practices improve organizational values and helps in creating defect free product or services at minimum cost. Human resource outsourcing is a new accession that makes a traditional HR department redundant in an organization. Exult, the international pioneer in HR BPO already roped in Bank of America, international players BP Amoco & over the years plan to spread their business to most of the Fortune 500 companies. With the increase of global job mobility, recruiting competent people is also increasingly becoming difficult, especially in India. Therefore by creating an enabling culture, organizations are also required to work out a retention strategy for the existing skilled manpower.

NEW TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL HRM

International HRM places greater emphasis on a number of responsibilities and functions such as relocation, orientation and translation services to help employees adapt to a new and different environment outside their own country.

Selection of employees requires careful evaluation of the personal characteristics of the candidate and his/her spouse. Training and development extends beyond information and orientation training to include sensitivity training and field experiences that will enable the manager to understand cultural differences better. Managers need to be protected from career development risks, re-entry problems and culture shock. To balance the pros and cons of home country and host country evaluations, performance evaluations should combine the two sources of appraisal information.

Compensation systems should support the overall strategic intent of the organization but should be customized for local conditions. In many European countries - Germany for one, law establishes representation. Organizations typically negotiate the agreement with the unions at a national level. In Europe it is more likely for salaried employees and managers to be unionized. HR Managers should do the following things to ensure success-

Use workforce skills and abilities in order to exploit environmental opportunities and neutralize threats. Employ innovative reward plans that recognize employee contributions and grant enhancements. Indulge in continuous quality improvement through TQM and HR contributions like training, development, counseling, etc Utilize people with distinctive capabilities to create unsurpassed competence in an area, e.g. Xerox in photocopiers, 3M in adhesives, Telco in trucks etc. Decentralize operations and rely on self-managed teams to deliver goods in difficult times e.g. Motorola is famous for short product development cycles. It has quickly commercialized ideas from its research labs. Lay off workers in a smooth way explaining facts to unions, workers and other affected groups e.g. IBM , Kodak, Xerox, etc. HR Managers today are focusing attention on the following-

a) Policies- HR policies based on trust, openness, equity and consensus.

b) Motivation- Create conditions in which people are willing to work with zeal, initiative and enthusiasm; make people feel like winners.

c) Relations- Fair treatment of people and prompt redress of grievances would pave the way for healthy work-place relations.

d) Change agent- Prepare workers to accept technological changes by clarifying doubts.

e) Quality Consciousness- Commitment to quality in all aspects of personnel administration will ensure success.

Due to the new trends in HR, in a nutshell the HR manager should treat people as resources, reward them equitably, and integrate their aspirations with corporate goals through suitable HR policies.

HRM Challenges One of the challenges HR managers face is issues of upgradation of the skill set through training and development in the face of high attrition. Indian companies are recognizing their responsibilities to enhance the employees opportunity to develop skills and abilities for full performance within the position and for career advancement.

IR Challenge The Indian IR system has two main features. First, is the absence of the provision to recognise a union as a representative or agent for collective bargaining. Second, is the total dominance of government in regulating the industrial relations (IR) domain. Though it is relatively easy for members of a work organisation to be registered as a union under the law, it does not lead to the legal recognition by the employer in dispute resolution or bargaining process. This contention was made by Kuruvilla (1996) over a decade ago.

lack of job oppurtunities

The most alarming issue in the HR and IR context is the lack of job opportunities outside urban areas where more than 70 per cent of the population lives. As has been pointed out by Meredith (2007). While Indian university graduates line up for jobs that can propel them into newly vibrant middle class, per Indias rural and urban poor, change has been interminably delayed. Expectations, like incomes, are rising across India, and not just for those working in call centres. Even as the New India cohort thrives, much of the rest of India is making much slower gains or even being left behind, creating social and political tensions that cloud Indias impressive strides forward. The lowest paid workers in the off shoring industry those working in the call centres earn median wages of $275 a month. But most Indians still earn less than $60 a month or just $2 a day. (p.125).

staff turnover challenge One of the most concerning issues for HR managers in India is the high staff turnover. In industries like call centres, staff attrition is the single biggest issue. The industry has grown from zero employment to an employer of quarter of a million young English speaking, well educated and ambitious people. The point is well made by Slater (2007), who wrote. Attrition is highest in traditional customer service jobs, where young people find themselves having to spend all night on the phone, often with irate callers. In other areas such as claims processing or accounting, the turnover rate is much lower. More worrying for many companies is the merry go round in supervising and management jobs, as new centers are only too willing to pay higher salaries to hijack experienced staff. (p.34). The issue of retention is much more critical in the high value adding BPO sector such as R&D activities. This $40 billion industry has one of the highest attrition rates of around 20 to 25 per cent. The service laden BPO and Hord industry have the highest attrition rates. Many companies are developing innovative incentive packages in countering this job hopping phenomenon.

vision/future

Human Resource Management in India: Where From and Where To? Samir R. Chatterjee Abstract India is being widely recognised as one of the most exciting emerging economics in the world. Besides becoming a global hub of outsourcing, Indian firms are spreading their wings globally through mergers

and acquisitions. During the first four months of 1997, Indian companies have bought 34 foreign companies for about U.S. $11 billion dollars. This impressive development has been due to a growth in inputs (capital and labour) as well as factor productivity. By the year 2020, India is expected to add about 250 million to its labour pool at the rate of about 18 million a year, which is more than the entire labour force of Germany. This so called demographic dividend has drawn a new interest in the Human Resource concepts and practices in India. This paper traces notable evidence of economic organisations and managerial ideas from ancient Indian sources with enduring traditions and considers them in the context of contemporary challenges.

Where does HR in India go from here?

India has witnessed a revolution in the field of Human Resource; it has gone from being just a support function to being a strategic partner in the growth of businesses. It has transformed itself being merely Personnel Management maintain records and ensure statutory compliances, while doing the bare minimum to keep employee satisfaction on an even keel to being an integrated part of the corporate machinery.

The HR function of 21st century India has made a transition from being behind-the scenes support appendage to becoming the critical differentiator in business. Rapid globalization has made companies realize people are the key to growth, the only strategic resource that any enterprise truly needs. This has led to companies routinely using their innovative HR practices as their USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to keep up with the times in the wake of a rapidly changing labor landscape. Companies now recognize that a Highly engaged employee the key to success, across business sectors.

An analysis of the main HR problems in India could be done based on the certain challenges that mould the contours of the various sub-functions of HR. The attract, motivate and retain mantra that the HR function seeks to deliver for the organization are based on these HR sub-functions.

Employee Sourcing: It is the basis on which the Human resource survives. A large part of the mind space of HR head honchos is committed head hunting. With the opening up of an economy which is not only expanding at a frenetic pace, but also maturing in terms of width and depth of options available to professionals, the war for talent has reached a crescendo. Talent acquisition is now akin to a battle where recruitment professionals are now virtual sales persons selling an alluring employee experience to prospective candidates. In sectors like IT and BPOs, as well as financial services, high attrition levels have become mandatory.

Quality of manpower is another issue needs paying attention to, in India. While millions of graduates and post-graduates pass out of Indian universities each year, the actual number of employable talent is severely limited. Employers have to adopt innovative modes of recruitment to ensure that it can separate the wheat from the chaff.

Employee Motivation: In a market which job-hopping has become the name of the game, keeping the workforce motivated is one of the key challenges of HR. Motivation no longer comes from just a lucrative pay package. Nowadays companies have to walk that extra mile to make the employee feel special to ensure that he doesnt walk out and into the arms of competition. Talent segmentation and segregation with performance appraisal and rewards is essential to a good team of workers. In essence, as industries evolve, employers have to ensure that apart from the basics of roti, kapda and makaan, employees also expect job satisfaction, learning and development facilities.

Employee Engagement and Talent Retention: Winning the hearts and minds of talent is of prime importance in the current context. Employees are no longer committed to their companies. Their dedication is towards their own professional growth and careers. Employee engagement means that HR has its eyes and ears close to the ground realities that an employee faces in the job. Issues like work-life balance, fun at work are considered part of the employee experience. And the day and age of cut-throat competition and lack of talent its HR prime function to ensure that it is clued in to the needs of employees. Employee Satisfaction Surveys cannot just remain an exercise and results cannot simply be ignored. Specific ATRs (Action Taken Reports) have to be presented and acted upon as proof of developmental intentions of HR. Addressing grievances is another area that has to be robust so that issues do no escalate. Nip the problem in the bud and ensure productive workplace.

Attraction, motivation and retention define the essence of HR deliverables. As the economy booms and industries mature age old personnel management fundamentals do not remain applicable. Creativity and innovation by HR function can make a big difference in how an employee can actually be attracted, motivated and retained.

Conclusion

The World Competitiveness Report rated Indias human resource capabilities as being comparatively weaker than most Asian nations. The recognition of world class human resource capability as being

pivotal to global success has changed Indian HRM cultures in recent years. While the historical and traditional roots remain deeply embedded in the subjective world of managers, emphasis on objective global concepts and practices are becoming more common. Three very different perspectives in HRM are evident. Firstly, Indian firms with a global outlook; secondly, global firms seeking to adapt to the Indian context; and thirdly, the HRM practice in public sectors undertakings (PSVS). As the Indian economy becomes more globally linked, all three perspectives will move increasingly towards a cross verging strengthening. Interestingly, within the national context, India itself is not a homogenous entity. Regional variations in terms of industry size, provincial business culture, and political issues play very relevant roles. The nature of hierarchy, status, authority, responsibility and similar other concepts vary widely across the nations synerging system maintenance. Indeed, organisational performance and personal success are critical in the new era.