HRD is similar to the concept about the rights and duties of human
beings, about which democratic constitutions the world over consider
inalienable and inseparable from human nature, and has similarities to the
United Nations Development Programme’s concept of a nation’s human
development. HRD is therefore a humanistic concept that places a pre-
mium on the dignity and respect of people and is based on a belief in the
limitless potential of human beings. It emphasizes that people should not
be treated as mere cogs in the wheel of production, but with respect as
human beings.
As a humanistic concept HRD proposes that human beings should be
valued as human beings, independent of their contribution to corporate pro-
ductivity or profit. The various underlying attitudes symbolizing respect for
people’s dignity, trust in their basic integrity and belief in their potential,
should lead to the creation of an environment in companies in which indi-
viduals should find fulfilment in work and seek newer horizons for them-
selves and the enterprise (Rohmetra, 1998).
HRD practices in Indian companies attempt to blend Western and
Eastern ideas and systems of people management. This concept of HRD
attempts to be more comprehensive and meaningful than utilitarian concepts
evolved in Anglophone countries. It has come to denote a planned way of
developing and multiplying competencies, and the creation of an organiza-
tional climate that promotes the utilization and development of new compe-
tencies. Culture building is seen as a part of its agenda.
(From T. Jackson, International HRM: A Cross-cultural Approach, London:
Sage, 2002a, Chapter 10, pp. )The different influences and processes discussed above are summarized in
Figure 9.3.
The dynamic created by introducing Western HRM systems is often
unsuited to the social conditions prevailing in emerging countries and the
need to develop huge numbers of people, from basic literacy programmes
through to skilling and upskilling for a modern economy. In this context,
Western HRM systems are driven by global competition and a need
to develop competitive, mean and lean companies, companies driven by a
liberalization process through structural adjustment programmes. Organi-
zations, as a vehicle for providing this development, are not able to do this
through a need to lay off staff and downsize. This creates contradictions and
tensions within HRM systems and between work organizations and civil
society. Again this represents an antithesis between the instrumental
perception of people in organizations, which sees people, in the extreme, as
expendable, and humanistic views that see organizations as vehicles of
human development. Unless people management systems can address these
contradictions and contribute to developing adaptive hybrid forms of organi-
zation and managing, then such tensions and inefficiencies are going to
continue.
HRM in Developing Countries 237