REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Ancient India and HRM:

India has absorbed ideas and practices from around the world for many centuries.
Her contributions to science, mathematics, astronomy and political administration
have been widely noted. Ancient Indian wisdom, as enclosed in many sacred texts
from 2000 B.C., provides an integrated tradition that still continues to influence the
Indian mindscape. This stream of Wisdom literature can best be explained
through a philosophical tradition of holistic reasoning called Vedantic philosophy
which synthesizes a common set of ideas and values. The Vedantic Philosophies
underpin the essential unifying forces of many apparent divergences that
characterise India.
A number of prominent management gurus in India argue that modern Indian work
organizations can be transformed without emphasizing the organizational issues of
structure, design or systems through the pebble in the sand effect generated by the
inner transformation of their workforces (Sharma 1996; Chakraborti, 1998).
Furthermore, Chakraborty contends that the objective efficiency orientation of the
Western managerial model needs to be replaced by the subjective effectiveness of
a new model for modern Indian organizations (Chakraborty, 1999).
HR Practice in India:
According to Arthur and Boyles (2007), HR practices refer to how an
organizations HR programs are implemented for and experienced by lower-level
employees and managers. Thus, HR practices capture the potential for variation in
employees perceptions and experiences of an HR program based on the quality of
the HR program implementation. While international human resource management
has been traditionally studied through Western theoretical and empirical lenses
(Bossard & Peterson, 2005; McMahan, Bell, & Virick, 1998), there has been a
growing theoretical and empirical appreciation that certain HR practices are

sometimes context and culture specific (Bowen, Galang, & Pillai, 2002; Budhwar
& Bhatnagar, 2009; Budhwar & Khatri, 2001). This recognition and certain
counterintuitive research findings across culturally diverse countries have led HR
scholars to demonstrate that merely transplanting best HR practices around the
globe may be less than desirable from an organizational competitive advantage
perspective (Bjrkman & Budhwar, 2007;
A study by Wright , P.M. and McMahan, G.C (1992) Approaches of the SHRM,
attempts to link Human Resource activities with competency based performance
measures attempts to link Human Resource activities with business surpluses or
profit These two approaches indicate two factors in an organizational setting. The
first one is the human factor, their performance and competency and the later is the
business surplus. An approach of people concern is based on the belief that human
resources are uniquely important in sustained business success. An organization
gains competitive advantage by using its people effectively, drawing on their
expertise and ingenuity to meet clearly defined objectives. Integration of the
business surplus to the human competency and performance required adequate
strategies. Here the role of strategy comes into picture. The way in which people
are managed, motivated and deployed, and the availability of skills and knowledge
will all shape the business strategy.
The significance of the current study can be well appreciated in context of
growing importance of human resource development practices in information
technology industry in Indias present and future development. The following
section has a brief review of some of the important research studies on human
resource development practices in information technology industry.
T.V. Rao (1984) conducted a survey of human resource development practices
covering 53 different industries in India, which by and large indicates, a positive
trend of using open appraisal system, training function and employee counseling

by the companies. However, no major breakthrough seems to have taken place in

potential appraisal and development practices. Human Resource Development
seems to becoming a significant aspect of work and life in many organizations.
Paul, A.K. and R.N.
Anantharaman (2002) studies the Impact of Human Resource Management
practices on competence of Software professionals in India: An Analytical Study
on 45 different software companies based in Bangalore and Chennai. The study
revealed that there was a positive and moderate correlation between human
resource management practices and competence.
Abraham, V. and R.R. Sharma (2005) in his work New Technology and the
Emerging Labour Market: A Study of Indian IT Industry examined about
education and training, models of rescaling the structure of job hierarchy etc.
Prasad, Asha (2006) studied, Power Sector Reforms in Delhi: Human Resource
Perspective in which an attempt was made to examine the relationship between
privatization of the state owned Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) and adjustment of
human resources required for the process to be done smoothly. Shailendra Singh,
Naresh Kashi and Abijit Bhattacharya (2008), conducted a study on High
performance organizations: Relationship with Human Resource Policies and
Practices. It was hypothesized that human resource policies and practices have a
positive relationship with organizational performance. Ms. Amrita Garg, Ms.
Anishka Sharma and Mr. Manish Ranjan Pandey in their research paper titled
Emerging trends of human resource management (with special focus on
Information Technology Industry) have tried to identify various aspects which
came into existence as a result of technology revolution in the country and make a
comparison between pre and post liberalization HR trends in IT industry.