Chapter – 1

Introduction

1.1 Concept and Meaning

Education is the basic tool for the development of an individual. Every

individual is linked to the society and society is linked with the country.

Therefore the development of manpower resource in the education sector has

key role to play in the development of a nation [18]. Education and training

are the basic and primary systems by which the trained human assets of a

nation are developed and preserved. Higher education, particularly technical

and management education, has a direct link with the growth in the economy

of a country.

The new era of human resource development (HRD) has become very vibrant

and dynamic and is speaking in terms of technological development and

management system, the demand for qualified engineers and managers is

increasing globally. In response to this, the demand for Engineering and

Management institutes is increasing in India. These institutions are coming up

with a challenge to enhancing the learning about the latest technology and new

management techniques by the students, and to create an environment for

preparing graduates with competitive excellence for an ever-changing future.

Hence, a developmental climate, which not only fosters innovation and

creativity, but also promotes a high level of motivation and commitment is

highly desirable in these institutes. Engineering and management institutes

both in government and the private sector are helping society by providing

opportunities to get the technical and professional education by those students

who are willing to become an Engineer or Manager. Presently, more than 3500

engineering and 2500 management colleges (Source: AICTE) are providing

engineering and management education in India, Out of which 213 are

Engineering Institute and 195 are Management institutes (Source: DTE, MP),

is in Madhya Pradesh.

Employees are considered to be the most important and valuable asset to

assure the efficient and effective management of these institutes. Human

resource development, therefore, plays a vital and essential role in the

development and maintenance of employees of educational institutions.

‘Human resource development is a continuous process to ensure the

development of employee’s competencies, dynamism, motivation and

effectiveness in a systematic and planned way. Hence, HRD is concerned with

the development of Human resource and optimum utilization of existing

human capabilities, i.e. intellectual, entrepreneurial and creation of new ones

in an organization’ [18].

‘Human Resource Development (HRD) is an important and very attention

receiving discipline of present time. It is a relatively young academic

discipline, but an old and well-established field of practice [83]. Researchers

have developed new theories and conceptual frameworks that address a broad

range of phenomena of interest to the HRD profession’ [85]. The public as

well as private sector including education, health, family welfare, Police,

defense service industry, etc. have initiated HRD systems and mechanisms for

the development of their employees as well as at organization. The scholars,

professionals and executives have also taken much interest in this regard to

propagate HRD values and its relevance in the organization.

“Management system has accepted the role of human resources as the key

factor for success in a highly competitive environment. It is the human

resource available within the company which identifies the advantage,

develops the necessary skills to refine the advantage and deliver the goods and

services needed to sustain the advantage”[15]. ‘HRD significantly influences

the local and national economy through the development of workforce skills

and intellectual capital’ [42]

Definition of HRD

Harbison and Myers offered the first definition of HRD in 1964. This

definition is very broad in perspective, as it elaborates HRD in relation to

culture, the economy and social and political contexts rather than individuals

and organizations. They defined HRD as:

“HRD is the process of increasing the knowledge, the skills, and the capacities

of all the people, in a society. In economic terms, it could be described as the

accumulation of human capital and its effective investment in the development

of an economy. In political terms, HRD prepares people for adult participation

in the political process, particularly as citizens in a democracy. From the social

and cultural points of view, the development of human resources helps to

people lead fuller and richer lives, less bound to tradition. In short, the

processes of HRD unlock the door to modernization,”[25].

Researchers have tried to define HRD in a global perspective. A few

definitions from an organizational point of view are given here:

“A series of organized activities conducted within a specified time and

designed to produce behavioral change” (by Nadler and Nadler 1970).

HRD as one of the more moral management functions, which is intended to

help people to learn and develop [23].

Management and organizational writers have noted, that the field of HRD has

expanded beyond training and development to include a strong connection to

corporate strategy, individual responsibility for learning, extension into team

learning, incorporation of career development, an emphasis on internal

consultancy, organizational learning and knowledge management and the

nurturing of the intellectual capital of an enterprise [48].

HRD is a process of developing and unleashing expertise for the purpose of

improving individual, team, work processes and organizational system

performance. HRD along with education and training also involves activities

related to empowerment, awareness raising, skill enhancement, team building,

community mobilization and development, organization development,

entrepreneurship development, sensitization and conscientisation, human

resources planning and policies [33].

HRD is the process of human capital formation. The transformation process

consists of acquiring, developing, allocation, conserving, utilizing, evaluating

and rewarding people. This way the importance of Human Resource

Development in cooperatives has been focused.(Patil, Sunil, Subhash, 2010).

HRD in India (Reproduced from the book on the future of HRD by T. V. Rao, MacMillan India

[96]):

HRD has come to a stage where it can be treated as a Profession in India. The

first dedicated department started in India about 25 years ago at L&T, A

Center for HRD was started at XLRI seven years later, A National HRD

Network was formed in the year 1985 and has sustained itself with good work

since then, an Academy of HRD started in 1990, over fifty books have

appeared in the last two decades on HRD, a few institutions have started

Master’s in HRD programs, a Doctoral program is in place, and the body of

knowledge in this field is growing.

In spite these developments, judged against the criteria needed to be called a

profession and as compared to the development of this profession abroad, it

may be concluded that the body of knowledge passed on in schools that

prepare HRD professionals lacks basic understanding of HRD. The basics are

neither taught nor followed by the professionals. There is no code of conduct,

ethics and values and the professional bodies have shied away from

formulating norm, values, certification requirements etc.. There is no licensing

mechanism to practice and mentorship lacking except at an informal level.

Judged against these criteria, it is concluded that HRD has remained at best as

an occupation or a preoccupation of a few it has a long way to go. The next

steps to be taken in India to make HRD a strong Profession are presented [96].

It is more than two decades the term Human Resource development became

popular in the country. It was in 1975 a decision to start a dedicated

Department to promote the Human Resources Development was initiated in

India at Larsen & Toubro Limited. Pareek and Rao (1975) outlined a

philosophy for the new HRD system. They outlined 14 principles to be kept in

mind in designing the HRD System. These principles deal with both the

purpose of HRD systems and the process of their implementation. Some of

these principles include:

a. HRD systems should help the company to increase, enabling

capabilities. The capabilities outlined in their report include:

development of human resources in all aspects, organizational health,

improvements in problem solving capabilities, diagnostic skills,

capabilities to support all the other systems in the company, etc..

b. HRD systems should help individuals to recognize their potential and

help them to contribute their best various organizational roles they are

expected to perform.

c. HRD systems should help maximize individual autonomy through

increased responsibility;

d. HRD systems should facilitate decentralization through delegation and

shared responsibility;

e. HRD systems should facilitate participative decision making

f. HRD systems should attempt to balance the current organizational

culture along with changing the culture, there should be a continuous

review and renewal of the function [54].

Thereafter L&T accepted these recommendations in full and started

implementing. The State Bank of India the single largest Indian Bank and its

associates have decided to use the Integrated HRD systems approach and

decided to create the new HRD department. Since then, by mid-eighties a

large number of organizations in India have established HRD departments. By

mid-eighties HR has become an accepted role and most organizations have

changed their personnel, training and other related functions to HRD. Some

have differentiated Human Resource Development from Human Resources

Department and some did not.

However, HRD has come to mean new expectations, new body of knowledge

and new function. Establishment of the Centre for HRD at XLRI; the

formation of the National HRD Network in 1985; the starting of the Academy

of HRD in 1990; Starting of Diploma Programs in HRD; starting the

Symbiosis Centre for Management and HRD; starting of the Doctoral Program

in HRD jointly by AHRD and XLRI etc. are highlights of HRD in India. All

these have added to the expectations of CEOs, line managers and HR

managers from HR development managers [96].

Human Resource Development (HRD) is a process by which the employees of

an organization are helped in a continuous, planned way, to: 1) Acquire or

sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with

their present or expected future roles, 2) Develop their general cap-abilities as

individuals and discover and exploit their potentials for their own and/or

organizational development purposes, and 3) Develop an organizational

culture in which Supervisor - subordinate relationships, teamwork, and

collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional

well-being, motivation, and pride of employees [62].

HRD Culture

The culture provides the energy needed to function well by ensuring as it were

a proper circulation of the blood through all the organs. The culture also acts

as as oxygen in the case of emergency. The HRD culture is one that results

from the beliefs of the top management initially and subsequently from the

HRD system and practices. It deserves to be studied and assessed

independently for its importance and independent standing. The organizational

culture plays a significant role in making organization get the best out of

themselves Abraham’s (1989) study has established clearly the linkage

between the HRD climate and organizational performance in financial terms.

Even if the climate does not have the direct linkage at a given point of time,

logically it makes sense to have a good HRD climate for the benefit of the

organization [66].

T.V. Rao (1999) [66] further explains human resource development deals with

competence building, culture building and commitment building. Competency

and commitment can be built on a continuous basis in a certain type of culture.

Hence creating a culture becomes important in any organization. A good HRD

culture should have the following characteristics:

a. It should be learning culture.

b. It should facilitate the identification of new competencies of people on

a continuous basis.

c. It should facilitate bringing out the hidden potential and new talent of

people.

d. It should help in developing new competencies.

e. It should have inbuilt motivational value.

f. It should enable people to take initiative and experiment.

g. It should bring joy and satisfaction in work.

h. It should enhance creativity and problem solving capabilities of people.

i. It should create team spirit and morale.

j. It should enhance the action orientation of individuals, dyads and

Team.

Such a culture has been termed as OCTAPACE is an acronym for openness,

collaboration, trust, authenticity, pro action, autonomy, confrontation and

experimentation. He further elaborates characteristics of the above terms in

detail as below:

HRD Climate

Human Resource Development climate is not new to India. It is evident that

India had a system of training and development of the personnel even some

4000 to 5000 years back through various institutions and systems such as

Ashramav, Yavastha, Purusharthas, joint family, etc. These systems slowly

disappeared from India due to foreign invasions and alien rule for several

centuries [8]

An optimal level of development climate is essential for facilitating HRD

activities. This can be characterized by the tendencies such as treating

employees as the most important resources, perceiving that developing

employees is the job of every manager, believing in the capability of

employees, communicating openly, encouraging risk taking and

experimentation, making efforts to help employees recognize their strengths

and weaknesses, creating a general climate of trust, collaboration and

autonomy, supportive personnel policies, and supportive HRD practices. HRD

Climate is an integral part of organizational climate. It is the perception the

employee can have on the development environment of an organization [63].

a. According to T.V. Rao (1999) [66] the developmental climate can be

observed in organization consisting of the following tendencies:

b. A tendency at all levels starting from the top management to the lowest

level to treat the people as the most important resources.

c. A perception, that developing the competencies in the employees is the

job of every manager/ supervisor.

d. Faith in capabilities of employees to change and acquire new

competencies at any stage of life.

e. A tendency to be open communication and discussion rather than being

secretive

f. A tendency to encourage risk taking.

g. A tendency to help employees recognize their strengths and

weaknesses through feedback.

h. A general climate of trust.

i. A tendency on the part of employees to be generally helpful to each

other and collaborate

j. Team spirit

k. A tendency to discourage favoritism and biases

l. Supportive personnel policies

Development oriented appraisal, reward management, potential development,

job rotation and career planning [66]

Patre Smruti, Gupta Rashmi (2011) [99] tried to explain in their study titled

“A Study of the Perceptions of Management Institute Faculty towards HRD

Culture, with Reference to Nagpur City” that's how an organization can

improve the HRD climate prevailing in the organization in following steps:

Developing HRD Climate in an Organization

Top to Bottom Effort

An organization is considered to be a complete organization after including

the top authority to the bottom line of workers. And whenever we talk about

development at the organizational level, effort is needed from the top to

bottom level. The top authority should not think that their task is to only take

decisions, but they should also emphasize on proper implementation of the

decisions by adopting various controlling techniques. Bottom level workers

should have a loyal mindset towards their organization, should work with

dedication, and should develop a sense of belongingness towards the

organization.

Motivator Role of Manager and Supervisor

To prepare a good HRD climate, the managers and the supervisors are the key

players. Managers and supervisors have to develop the competencies of the

employees by updating themselves and sharing their expertise and experience

with the employees.

Faith in Employees

In the process of developing a good HRD climate, the employer should have

faith in employees’ capabilities—amount invested should be based on the

development of employees. Top management should trust that the employees

will work for the well-being of the organization and the society.

Free Expression of Feelings

Clear communication from the top management to the employees and vice

versa should exist in the organization. Clear communication helps to establish

a good HRD climate.

Feedback

Regular feedback is a must to know the drawbacks in the system. This also

helps to gain the confidence of the employees who develop trust in the

management and express their opinion freely. Feedback will remove

weaknesses and establish a good HRD climate.

Helpful Nature of Employees

Whenever we talk about 100% effort, we have to talk about the employees’

effort too. Employees should help the management and their colleagues. They

should always be ready to help the customers too.

Supportive Personnel Management

Personnel policies of the organization should motivate employees to

contribute more on their part. Top management’s philosophy should be clear

towards human resource and its well being to encourage the employees.

Motivating Employees

Employees should be motivated to take decisions. This concept is risky, but

gradually brings expertise in the employees to handle similar situations in

future. It also develops confidence in the employees. The organization can

utilize and develop employees more by assigning risky tasks.

Discouraging Stereotypes and Favoritism

The management needs to avoid those practices which lead to favoritism.

Management and managers need to give equal importance to all. Those who

perform well needed to be appreciated and those who do not perform well

needed to be guided. Any kind of partiality does not aid in the establishment

of good HRD Climate.

Team Spirit

There must be a feeling of belonging ness among the employees, and also

willingness to work as a team.

Components of HRD Climate

The organizational climate consists of the following components:

Organizational Structure

An organization’s structure is actually a ‘snapshot’ of a work process, frozen

in time so that it can be viewed. The structure enables the people’s energy to

be focused towards process and goal achievement. An employee must have a

clear definition of not only the work structure, but also his role in organizing

the work. Ambiguity in the structure and role does not help in establishing a

good HRD climate.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is the pattern of beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and

customs that exist within an organization. Organizational culture may result in

part from senior management's beliefs or from the beliefs of employees.

Organizational culture can be supportive or unsupportive, positive or negative.

It can affect the ability or willingness of employees to adapt or perform well

within the organization.

HR Processes

The HR system of an organization should be comprehensive enough to take

care of employees from the time they join till the time they leave. Their

demands must not be ignored, but a feeling of belonging ness should be

created. The process should be very clear and impartial so that employees

have faith in the organization. From recruitment to retirement, the whole

process should be according to the employees’ expectation and ability of the

employer [99].

An organization that has a better HRD climate and processes is likely to be

more effective that an organization which does not have [64].

According to T.V. Rao (1999) [66] HRD Climate constitutes of General

Climate, HRD Mechanisms and OCTAPAC Culture. General Climate

highlights the extent to which the management of an organization has a sincere

intention, determined will and takes supportive actions for developing its

manpower. HRD Mechanism constitutes subsystems like performance

management, training and development, potential appraisal, career planning

and development, reward management, quality of work life, self-renewal

mechanisms etc. The OCTAPAC (Openness, Confrontation, Trust,

Autonomy, Pro action, Authenticity and Collaboration)culture underlines an

organizational culture, having elements like open and frank communication

system, an environment of trust, opportunities to take decision and be

innovative, a proactive attitude towards development by the employees and

line managers, an authentic approach towards developmental issues, and

positive attitude for settling matters of dispute and grievances forthrightly with

positive interaction. T.V. Rao explained the OCTAPAC attributes for a

developmental HRD climate in detail asunder:

Openness

Employees are free to express their ideas. They are comfortable to talk to any

employees and their employers about their views and problems. Management

adopts open door policy to maintain openness in the environment within. An

organization should evaluate their ideas properly and carefully and be ready to

take risks. Because, as business policy says ‘more, risk more return’ and ’no

risk no return’. The top managers leave their doors open, so that any of their

subordinates also can communicate with them. Managers encourage their

employees to discuss their problems face to face. Openness also implies

spatial openness. It includes accessibility of computers or internet. Offices

without walls also symbol of promoting openness within the organization. If

an organization includes openness in its climate, then the atmosphere of the

organization becomes comfortable and stress free because of that atmosphere

the top management tries to solve the problems immediately. As employees

feel comfortable to discuss their ideas as well as problems with their

employees, so the probability of grievance or dissatisfaction within the

employees becomes very low.

General cause of grievance in the organizations is a communication gap

between employees and employers. Openness results in greater clarity of

objectives and free interaction among employees. The organization includes

openness, but if it is against risk taking, then too one can say climate of that

organization is not so good. Because if employees give idea to generate more

profit and that idea is genuinely strong, but the organization does not want to

take the risk, then those ideas are having no values. If we don’t implement our

planning then what is the need of it. Because of the negligence of their views

and suggestions employees may feel dissatisfaction and this can create

grievance within the employees. So, to make organizational climate more

effective and efficient one should adopt openness within the organization and

the organization must be ready to take risks. Openness in organizational

climate motivates open communication, feedback, and discussion about any

matter of importance to an employee.

Confrontation

Confrontation is about face to face meeting of members where they can

express their ideas without fear. Some organizations boost confrontation so

that new ideas and new concepts can come out that can contribute to

organizational development. Confrontation means problems brought in front

of people rather than avoiding them. Employees face the problem together and

try to find a solution. An organization encourages people to recognize a

problem and bring it to the people concerned to solve it. It is the deeper

analysis of interpersonal problems.

Trust

Trust is a feeling which develops slowly. It is also related to openness. The

openness of an atmosphere can help to build trust in the mind of employees. It

also includes maintaining the confidentiality of information shared by others,

so that nobody can misuse it. Trust within the employees to the management

and management’s trust of employees result, a high level of empathy,

coordination among employees, friendly and disciplined atmosphere and

higher productivity. Trusty atmosphere also reduces stress as well as politics

among employees.

Authenticity

Authenticity is the willingness of a person to acknowledge the feelings and

make coordination between what he says and does. This value is important for

the development of a matured culture within the organization. Authenticity is

closer to openness. The result of authenticity brings openness in the climate of

the organization. If a person is authentic or genuine in his life it becomes very

easy to predict his behavior.

Pro-activity

Employees take active initiative for any change and anticipate future

development. In pro- activity employees take initiative and plan in advance

and take preventive action. Pro-activity also includes positive behavior. For

example, if an employee behaves very badly to another employee or shouts at

him, there could be two approaches of the other person. The first one could be

that the employee may blast on him and the second approach could be that the

person may say calmly that they will discuss on this matter later on with a cool

mind. This is called pro-activity or pro-action. Pro-activity gives initiative to a

person to start a new process or a new pattern of behavior.

Autonomy

Autonomy refers to freedom or independence to use power without any fear. It

means giving freedom to the employee to enjoy the power of a position, but

within certain limits set by the organization. Management respects the

employee’s feelings and encourages them to take the responsibility. Autonomy

increases with the responsibility of a person. The outcome of autonomy is the

development of mutual respect between employees and employers and

confidence among employees. Effective delegation can bring proper autonomy

in the organizational climate.

Collaboration

It depicts that people work together and use one another’s skill to achieve a

common goal. In solving any problem they take help of other people to find

out a better alternative. On the basis of that they plan and prepare strategies

and implement them together. It encourages employees to help others and ask

for help from others. It develops team spirit and manages a friendly and open

climate in the organization. It increases productivity of individual as well as

the organization; motivate joint decision and participative approach, proper

utilization of resources and better quality of products and services.

Research studies have shown that a conducive HRD Climate affects

performance of the organization positively and enhances organizational

commitment as well as job involvement and performance. HRD Climate

affects individual performance in three ways:

a. By defining the stimuli that confront the individual.

b. By placing constraints on the individual ‟s freedom of choice and

c. By providing a source of reward and punishment (B. Patanayak, 1998)

[57].

A congenial HRD Climate helps to boost employee morale and creates

motivated and competent employees who are propelled by Organizational

commitment and sensitivity towards organizational needs. The role of the HR

department becomes pivotal in designing, developing and implementing

effective policies, strategies and procedures of HRD mechanisms which help

in creating positive perceptions in employees, Thereby enhancing

organizational commitment. Studies have positively linked ten dimensions of

HRD climate, Such as participation, succession planning, counseling,

appraisal, training, organizational development, human resource information

system, career planning, reward and welfare, job enrichment towards

enhancing organizational commitment [59]. There is a significant relationship

between Job Satisfaction and HRD Climate and any positive change in HRD

Climate and its components will bring about positive changes in Job

Satisfaction which in turn will impact the Organizational Performance in a

positive manner. The various elements of an HRD Climate if exist to a good

extent in an organization, it would definitely help in augmenting job

satisfaction of employees [76].

Mukesh Parashar, Dr, Nishith Dubey concluded in their study “A study of

HRD climate in the service industry: A critical review” that the role of tertiary

sector is increasing day by day in every country’s economy. Human resource

is playing a very significant role in service sector as they are in direct contact

with the customer. For organizational gain internal customer, that is

employees have to be motivated for which proper HRD climate is extremely

essential. The studies discussed in the research reveal that there is a significant

evidence which claims that HRD climate is better in service industries than

manufacturing industry.

The HRD climate consists of three variables (Fig. 1): General Climate, HRD

Mechanism and OCTAPAC culture and all three have to be taken due care to

generate competent employees ensuring optimization of human resource.

There is a direct relationship between HRD climate and job satisfaction and

job satisfaction is in a direct relationship with organizational performance.

Thus, organizations aspiring for performance should take care of the 3

variables affecting HRD climate [67].

[Fig. 1]

Model of HRD climate variables affecting organizational performance.

1.2 Rationale of the study

In light of industrial and economic growth in India the engineering and

management education have become first priority among the youth of our

country, as it gives faster growth in career and ample opportunity of

employment without investing much of time and money like other sector such

as Medical education, Law etc. To satisfy the demand for engineering and

management education, Indian government has now started permitting private

sectors to run the engineering and management institutions under the

regulations of Regulatory Authorities like AICTE and UGC etc..Although the

Top Management Support for Organizational Behavior Team Spirit Training to Practice

HRD Climate

General Climate HRD Mechanism OCTAPAC Culture Job

Satisfaction

Internal Customers (Employees)

Early Potential of Human Potential

Skill Enhancement Development

Organizational Performance

academic structure and employment eligibility etc. are directly under control

of these bodies still it is becoming difficult day by day to an institute to

immerge as the best engineering or management institute among the existing

and upcoming thousands of engineering and management institutes in the

country.

As the numbers of institutes are increasing, the demand for technical and

management qualified people for quality teaching is also increasing. In the last

few years, it has become extremely difficult to run engineering and

management colleges efficiently due to the competition at all levels. Though

the strength of aspiring students is increasing, because of the phenomenal

growth of engineering and management institutes, the situation is getting

worst. The last two decades had witnessed phenomenal growth in institutes

imparting engineering and management education, primarily due to private

sector participation. The private sector institutes have grown in quantity, but

they have failed in maintaining desired quality education. These private

institutions are still struggling to attract high ranking students. The issues of

academic quality, infrastructure, unable to give ‘industry ready’ students,

placements, etc. are the prime factors which need to be given priority attention

of the stakeholders.

To overcome from this problem every institute is trying best to engage

teachers and staff with it, so that they are supposed to adopt best HR practices

to provide the best organizational environment to retain their Human

Resource. They need to behave more professionally than the earlier

conservative system of the education sector. They should emphasize more on

the way employees interact with each other and the way members of the

organization conduct themselves with outsiders (Climate). Presently, more

than 3500 engineering institutes and around 2500 management institutes

(approved by AICTE; source AICTE) are imparting the engineering and

management education in our country, and they have huge demand of

technically and professionally qualified skilled human resource.

It has become necessary for them to create an organizational climate in such

way that can result a professional behavior within the employee and can help

them to retain with the organization for a long time and deliver their best

students. This research will help in identifying factors and designing suitable

strategies for a good and satisfactory HRD climate in engineering and

management institutes. Human resources are the most vital resources the

organizations and it is important to provide a congenial HRD climate for the

well-being of employees. Not much research work has been done on this topic.

It is an area of growing importance and thus research work is preferred on this

topic.

1.3 Research Methodology

The Study: The study was undertaken to compare the extent to which HRD

climate persists in a selected engineering and management institutes. The

information was collected from total 403 respondents working in 19 institutes

out of which 83 respondents were from 7 management institutes and 320

respondents were from 12 engineering institutes. These institutes are imparting

education in various fields of engineering and management, such as computer

science, information technology, electronics, mechanical, civil engineering,

and various streams of management like marketing, human resource, and

finance etc. are few among many more streams of engineering and

management education related fields . Data collected from Astral Institute of

Technology and Research (AITR), BM College of Technology (BMCT), CH

Institute of Management & Commerce (CHIMC), Chamelidevi Institute of

Management (CITM), Core Business School (CBS), Indore Institute of

Science and Technology (IIST), Jawaharlal Institute of Technology (JIT),

Malwa Institute of Technology (MITI), Medicaps Institute of Technology &

Management (MITM), Malwa Institute of Science & Technology (MIST),

Mahakal Institute of Technology (MIT), Prestige Institute of Engineering and

Science (PIES), Prestige Institute of Management and Research (PIMR),

Prestige Institute of Management Dewas (PIM), Rishiraj Institute of

Technology (RIT), Sapient Institute of Management Studies (SIMS), Shri

Vaishnav Institute of Management (SVIM), Shri Vaishnav Institute of

Technology & Science (SVITS), Vindhya Institute Of Technology (VIT),

Institute of Engineering and Technology, Gazizbad (IET). The information

was collected during, 2012 - 2013. No uniform procedure of sampling could

be followed. The questionnaires were given to all types of employees

randomly, taking into consideration of their availability and their interest to

respond the questionnaire.

Design: The study is descriptive in nature.

Sample Size: Responses collected from 430 employees of engineering and

management institutes through 1000 structured questionnaire developed by T.

V. Rao for HRD Climate survey distributed to various levels and category of

employees. Responses also collected on a web page through a web link

specially developed for this purpose only. Around 27 questionnaires were

rejected due to partially filling or answering found in a particular pattern.

Total 403 responses were taken into consideration for analysis.

Sampling Techniques: Randomization by convenience judgmental sampling.

Methodology and Data Analysis Tools: A structured questionnaire developed

by T. V. Rao (XLRI Jamshedpur) for the HRD Climate survey was used. It is

a standardized and widely used principle instrument for the HRD Climate

survey. The questionnaire consists of 38 questions which help to explore the

HRD climate persistence in any organization. It also segregates the climate in

three categories as General climate, HRD Mechanism and OCTAPAC culture

to understand the environment, policies and intra personal behavior of the

employees within the organization. The study has segregated 38 questions in

three groups of 13, 15 and 10 questions, where, first 13 question grouped to

explore the status of General climate, 14 – 26, 37 and 38 grouped to explore

the HRD mechanism and 27 – 36 grouped to explore the OCTAPAC culture

exist within the organization. The questionnaire was developed using a five

point scale for each question and the respondents were requested to assign

their rating on the scale ranging from strong agreement to strong disagreement

over the issue. Responses were given weightage of marks as 5 – almost always

true, 4 – mostly true, 3 – sometime true, 2 – rarely true, 1 – not at all true. A

score of 3 and around indicating a moderate tendency on the particular

dimension.

In order to make interpretations easy the mean score were converted into a

percentage score using the formula Percentage score = (mean score-1) x 25.

This assumes that a score of 1 represents 0 percent, of 2 represents 25 percent,

of 3 represents 50 percent, of 4 represents 75 percent, and of 5 represents 100

percent. Thus, percentage score indicates the degree to which the particular

dimension exists in the institute out of the total 100. The reliability coefficient

(Cronbach’s Alpha) recalculated and found 0.87 in General Climate, 0.80 in

HRD Mechanism and 0.84 in OCTAPAC culture.

Various statistical tools like Mean Deviation, Standard Deviation, Correlation,

Z-test and Factor Analysis have been used for the analysis of data. The z- test

is based on the assumption of normality i.e. The source of data is considered to

be normally distributed. In some cases the population may not be normally

distributed, yet the test will be applicable on account of the fact that we mostly

deal with sample and sampling distribution closely approach the normal

distribution.

Z-test based on the normal probability distribution and for judging the

significance of several statistical measures, particularly the Mean. The The

relevant test statistics, z, is worked out and compared with its probable value

(to be read from a table showing the area under normal curve) at a specific

level of significance for judging the significance of the measure concerned.

This is a most frequently used test in a research study. This test is used even

when binomial distribution or t-distribution is applicable on the presumption

that such a distribution tend to approximate a normal distribution as ‘n’

becomes larger.

Z-test is generally used for comparing the mean of a sample to some

hypothesized mean for the population in case of a large sample, or when the

population variance is known. Z- test is also used for comparing the sample

proportion to a theoretical value of the population or for judging the difference

in the proportion of two independent sample when ‘n’ happen to be large.

Besides, this test is used for judging the significance of median, mode,

coefficient of correlation and several other measured.

Few examples of various studies conducted to know the status of HRD climate

and perception of various categories of employees about the HRD climate as

persist in engineering and management Institute, University and Industry are

given in a table below to justify the use of instruments (questionnaires),

statistical tools and techniques in the study. Most of the studies, particularly on

HRD climate are included in the literature review have used the same

instruments and statistical tools for analysis of responses.

Sr.

No

.

Author Study Year

Instrument

(Used for

response)

Statistica

l Tools Result

1. Smruti

Patre,

Rashmi

Gupta

A study on the

perception of

Management

institute faculty

towards HRD

culture with

reference to

Nagpur city.

2011 HRD climate

questionnaire

developed by

the center for

HRD at XLRI

was used as the

basis with a few

modifications

Mean,

Standard

Deviation,

Chi-

Square

Test and

Regressio

n analysis

The study

shows that

the HRD

climate in

the

manageme

nt institutes

is average.

2. P. Dubey,

S. K.

Sharma

HRD Climate

Survey in

Private

Engineering

colleges of

Odisha

2012 HRD Climate

survey

questionnaire

developed by

Prof. T. V. Rao

was used as the

principle

instrument for

data collection

(with some

modifications).

This is because

it is a

standardized and

widely used

principle

instrument for

the HRD

Climate survey.

Percentage

, Mean

and

Standard

Deviation

and one

way

ANOVA

The mean

score of

3.599

indicates

the HRD

Climate in

Private

engineering

colleges in

Odisha is

average

and still

needs to be

upgraded

3. Dr. Parvez

Abdulla

Gaurav

Sehgal

Asif A.

Khan

A Pragmatic

Exploration of

HRD Climate

Practices In

State and

Central

Universities

2012 An instrument

developed by

Rao (1989)

comprising of

38 statements is

used.

Statements are

categorized as

General

Climate,

OCTAPACE

Culture and

HRD

Mechanism.

These thirty

eight statements

are categorized

as General

Climate,

OCTAPACE

Culture and

HRD

Mechanism.

Mean,

Standard

Deviation,

Percentage

Z-Test

The HRD

climate in

state

universities

is at an

average

and in

Central

Universitie

s is better

as

compared

to state

universities

1.4 Objective of the study

1. To identifying factor affecting HRD climate in Management and

Engineering colleges.

2. To identify whether there exists a significant difference in perception

of employees about prevailing HRD climate in Management colleges.

3. To identify whether there exists a significant difference in perception

of employees about prevailing HRD climate in engineering colleges.

Sr.

No

.

Author Study Year

Instrument

(Used for

response)

Statistic

al Tools Result

4. S.A.

Mufeed

F.A.

Gurkoo

Enhancing

Educational

Institutions

Effectiveness

Through

HRD

Climate: An

Empirical

Assessment.

2006

The

questionnaire,

as devised by

the Xavier

Labor

Relations

Institute,

Jamshedpur

was picked.

The section

included 38

statements for

assessing HRD

climate at the

university.

Percentag

e, Mean

and

Standard

Deviation

and one

way

ANOVA

Employees in

general

perceived that

the HRD

climate at the

University was

'poor'.

5. Dr. S.

Saraswathi

Human

Resources

Development

Climate: An

Empirical

Study

2010

Recognizing

the importance

of HRD

climate, Center

for HRD,

Xavier Labor

Relations

Institute

(XLRI)

developed 38-

item HRD

climate

questionnaire

to survey the

extent to which

development

climate exists

in

organizations

Mean,

Standard

Deviation,

Percentag

e

Z-Test

The general

climate, HRD

Mechanism

and OCTAPAC

culture is better

in software

organizations

compared to

manufacturing.

From the

comparative

analysis, it is

concluded that

there is a

significant

difference in

the HRD

climate of

software and

manufacturing

organizations.

4. Comparative Study of HRD climate in Management and Engineering

College.

1.5 Hypotheses

1. There is no significant difference in the HRD climate of management

colleges as perceived by teaching and non-teaching employees.

2. There is no significant difference in the HRD climate of management

colleges as perceived by employees in senior-level management and

employees in junior - level management.

3. There is no significant difference in perception of the HRD climate

amongst employees in different age groups of management colleges.

4. There is no significant difference in perception of the HRD climate by

male and female employees of management colleges.

5. There is no significant difference in perception of the HRD climate as

perceived by employees with more experience with the organization

and those with less experience with the organization of Management

collages.

6. There is no significant difference in HRD climate of engineering

colleges as perceived by teaching and non-teaching employees.

7. There is no significant difference in HRD climate of engineering

colleges as perceived by employees in senior-level management and

employees in junior - level management.

8. There is no significant difference in perception of HRD climate

amongst employees in different age groups of engineering colleges.

9. There is no significant difference in perception of HRD climate by

male and female employees of engineering colleges.

10. There is no significant difference in perception of HRD climate as

perceived by employees of engineering colleges with more experience

with the organization and those with less experience with the

organization.

11. There is no significant difference in HRD climate as perceived of

management and engineering colleges.