Does employee characteristics impact HRD climate? A study in banking sector.
Mittal, Shweta
Introduction
In this ever increasing competitive environment where human
resource is a means of creating a sustainable competitive edge, most of
the organizations are investing in HRD such that the growth of employees
should be intertwined with the progress of organization. The term HRD
was coined by Nadler where he described HRD as organized learning
experiences provided by employers that take place within a specified
period of time, and that aim to bring about the possibility of
performance improvement and/or personal growth. Rao (1985) elaborately
define HRD as "a process by which the employees of an organization
are helped, in a continuous, planned way to: acquire or sharpen
capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their
present or expected future roles; develop their general capabilities as
individuals and discover and exploit their own inner potential for their
own and/or organizational development purposes; develop an
organizational culture in which the supervisor-subordinate
relationships, teamwork, and collaboration among sub-units are strong
and contribute to the professional well being, motivation and pride of
employees. "Human Resource Development (HRD) was also defined as
"a set of systematic and planned activities designed by an
organization to provide its members with the opportunities to learn
necessary skills to meet current and future job demands' (Werner
& DeSimone, 2006:5).
In organizations today lack of competent workforce is also an
ever-increasing challenge, which requires new ways to manage competence
and employability of the personnel. So, HRD focus on honing and adding
the skills required in the course of time. HRD should keep a balance in
number of relevant considerations to get an outcome. They should focus
and provide support to the strategic direction of the organization and
achievement of the goals too. Then HRD subsystems should be designed by
taking into consideration existing knowledge and providing support to
acquire new knowledge. To make the knowledge or learning embedded in the
organization HRD subsystems like performance appraisal, recognition and
reward are considered to be effective methods. The main focus of the HRD
is to enhance the work related skills, knowledge, capabilities of
employees and employees working as individuals and teams to work more
effectively. Prahalad & Hamel (1990), Pfeffer (1994) and Ghoshal et
al. (1998) say that the organizational internal capabilities can be a
source of competitive advantage. Such a thought was different from the
idea that competitive advantage can be achieved by external environment
analysis for justified financial, technological and product market
related decisions. HRD is needed for the aspired future status expressed
in corporate and business strategies, thus making capabilities driven
HRD approach proactive in nature (Subert et al., 1995). Organizations
become dynamic and growth oriented if their people are dynamic and
pro-active. Every organization can do a lot to make their people become
dynamic and proactive through proper selection of such people.
Organization cannot survive beyond a point unless they remain
continuously alert to the changing environment and continuously prepare
their employees to meet the challenges. HRD is an essential process for
organizational survival and growth. An optimal level of
"Developmental Climate' is essential for facilitating HRD.
The study by Pooja Purang (1996) found that the perception towards
HRD climate is better in private organizations and multinational
organizations than in public sector undertakings. Salokhe (2002) has
conducted a study of the HRD climate in selected banks in Kolhapur
district of Maharastra. It revealed that there exists a remarkably good
HRD climate in the scheduled, co-operative and public sector banks.
There was no substantial variation in the perception of HRD climates
across the different cadres of employees. Another study by Mishra and
Bhardwaj (2002) reported that the managers in a private organization
perceived the HRD climate as favorable. Rodrigues' (2004) study in
the engineering institutes in India found that the HRD climate is highly
satisfactory. Srimannarayana (2007) found that a moderate HRD climate
was prevailing in Dubai organisations. Prakash R. Pillai in 2008
reported that the level of the learning orientation of the employees
working in the banks is highly influenced by the HRD climate fostered by
their organizations. Srimannarayana (2008) found that moderate HRD
climate was prevailing in the organizations in India. The HRD climate in
the management institutes is average and the perception of the employees
differs on the basis of gender and experience on HRD Climate (Smruti
Patre & Rashmi Gupta, 2011). Santosh K. Mohanty & K. M. Sahoo in
2012 found that an average HRD climate has been prevalent in the IT
industry.
HRD Climate
A major challenge for any organization in this era of international
competition seems to be 'survival and sustainability' amidst
cut throat competition. It is increasingly argued that the
organizations, best able to meet the challenges will be those that can
acquire and utilize valuable, scarce and inimitable resource (Barney,
1995). Human resources can fall into this category, particularly, if
they are effectively deployed through appropriate human resource
practices & management of organizational culture (Barney and Wright,
1998). Human resource being one of the important factors of production,
HRD is needed to develop competencies of individual employees through
its various interventions. In order to be developed, the individual
should perceive that there is a climate favorable for their development.
This responsibility lies with the HRD department which has to provide a
proper climate in the organization conducive for employee development,
termed as the climate. Organizational climate has been defined in
numerous ways. According to Schneider (1990) it is the individual
perceptions about salient characteristics of the organizational context.
Tagiuri and Litwin (1968:25) define it as "the relatively enduring
quality of the total environment that: (a) is experienced by the
occupants, (b) influences their behavior, and (c) can be described in
terms of the values of a particular set of characteristics (or
attributes) of the environment." Organizational Climate comprises
characteristics which distinguish one organization from another, it
persists over time and influences the behavior of the people. HRDC is a
component of Organizational Climate. Many researchers have stressed the
relevance of climate. According to Pattanayak (1998) HRD climate affects
performance in three ways: first by defining the stimuli that confronts
the individual, placing constraints on the individual's freedom and
providing source of reward and punishment. Gonzalez (1999) states that
companies must realize that the "health of the organizational
climate will determine their ability to sustain high performance".
Rao and Abraham (1986) listed important characteristics for the
developmental climate as: a tendency at all levels starting from top
management to the lowest level to treat the people as the most important
resource; a perception that developing the competencies in the employees
is the job of every manager/supervisor; faith in the capability of
employees to change and acquire new competencies at any stage of life; a
tendency to be open in communications and discussions rather than being
secretive (fairly free expression of feelings); encouraging risk-taking
and experimentation; making efforts to help employees recognize their
strengths and weaknesses through feedback; a general climate of trust ;
a tendency on the part of employees to be generally helpful to each
other and collaborate with each other; team spirit ; tendency to
discourage stereotypes and favoritism; supportive personnel policies;
supportive HRD practices including performance appraisal, training,
reward management, potential development, job-rotation, career planning,
etc. Organizations differ in the extent of having these tendencies. In
this competitive environment where the initial stress is to harness the
potential of employees, making them innovative, creative, and proactive.
This can only be achieved if they have an enabling culture in their
organizations.
Research Questions
This study aims to answer the following questions according to the
perceptions of employees in the banking sector according to their
characteristics:
Q1: Does the perception of top management support for HRD in
banking vary according to the age, experience and income?
Q2: Does the perception of HRD subsystems vary according to the
age, experience and income in the banking sector?
Q3: How is the banking sector faring in terms of OCTAPACE Culture
with respect to age, experience and income?
Q4: What is the perception of bank employees towards HRD Climate?
Research Methods
In answering our research questions the primary data was taken from
the full time employees of public and private banks. The 40 item HRD
Climate questionnaire developed by T.V. Rao and Abraham was filled by
the respondents. The questionnaire comprises 40 items where in 38th and
40th items were included at the researcher's end. Both the items
are assessing experimentation in the banks. The 40 item questionnaire
has been grouped under three parts: General Climate, OCTAPACE and HRD
Mechanism. The General Climate refers to the support provided by the top
management towards the development of employees and it is assessed by 12
items. The OCTAPACE culture measures the existence of eight factors such
as Openness, Collaboration, Trust, Autonomy, Proactivity, Authenticity
and Experimentation and it is done by 14 items. The HRD Mechanism refers
to the HR subsystem such as performance appraisal, potential appraisal,
career planning, performance rewards, feedback and counseling, training,
employee welfare for quality work life and job rotation and it is
measured by 13 items. To measure the variables of HRD Climate
respondents were requested to indicate their perception on a Likert
scale which is divided into five intervals where 5 indicates almost
always true and 1 indicates not at all true. A total of 180 employees
were taken from the public and private banks which is suitable for the
data analysis.
To find the perception of General Climate, OCTAPACE and HRD
Mechanisms according to their age, income and experience in the Banking
sector Anova is used. The reliability test was run on SPSS 16.0.
Cronbach's Alpha came 0.840
General Climate: Support of the Top Management.
In finding the top management's support to HRD Climate, 12
items were identified from the HRD Climate questionnaire and the
perception of the respondents was scored according to their age,
experience and income. The Anova was applied to the data to find out the
perception whether the responses differ according to the age, experience
and qualification towards General Climate in banking sector.
According to Table 1, the p-value is less than .10 which indicates
that the employees have a different perception towards the general
climate with respect to age and experience. Employees in the age group
of 25- 35 years should be given sufficient time and resources by their
line managers to develop them and gain competence. Employees having the
experience of 0-10 yrs and 10-20 years want the top management show more
concern for their development and consider employees as an important
resource. Top management should make supportive policies in developing
employees in this experience bracket and make them learn new
competencies which will be helpful in the growth of employees as well as
organization. The General Climate in banking sector does not vary
according to income of the employees. It means that respondent from all
income groups have the same perception of the general climate. All
respondents perceive that top management has a positive attitude towards
their development and seniors believe that it is their important job to
invest time and resources to develop employees and help them to attain
competence.
OCATAPACE Culture
OCTAPACE (Openness, confrontation, trust, autonomy, pro-activity,
authenticity, collaboration and experimentation) culture is essential
for facilitating HRD. Openness exists when employees share their ideas,
feelings, thoughts and information without any hesitation. By
confrontation problems and issues are brought out into the open to solve
them jointly rather than escaping from it. Trust is giving assurance
that the information shared will not be misused and confidentialility of
information will be maintained. Autonomy is giving freedom to let people
work independently with responsibility. Proactivity is encouraging
employees to take initiative, plan the things and weigh the alternative
options and take the best course of action. Authenticity is doing what
person feels and say. Collaboration is to accept interdependencies, to
be helpful to each other, and work as teams. Experimentation means
looking at the things from the fresh perspective and creative in solving
the problem (Rao & Abraham, 1986).
Respondents from different age group have different perception for
OCTAPACE. The respondent in the age group of 41-45 want more policies
towards OCTAPACE. It means that employees in this age group want to feel
free to discuss their ideas, activities & feelings. They want to
bring out problems and issues into the open with a view to solving them
rather than hiding them. They want to take people at their face value
and believe what they say. They want more freedom to work independently
and take initiative to experiment new ideas.
Respondents who have an experience of 11-15 years in their career
want more openness, collaboration, trust, autonomy, proactiveness,
authenticity, confrontation and experimentation. They want to be open
about their ideas, work in team and want to take people on their face
value. They want to work before the problem arises and want freedom with
responsibility. They want to do what they say and confront the problems
rather than hide them. Such factors should be taken in to account while
making the performance appraisal forms for such employees.
Respondents who have an income of Rs. 20000/- and above want more
openness, collaboration, trust, autonomy, proactiveness, authenticity,
confrontation and experimentation. The respondents with an income of Rs.
20000/- and above want to be more open with their ideas, to confront the
problem in open to solve it and trust the people at their face value.
They want freedom with responsibility to accomplish their work. They
want more encouragement in taking initiative and risks.
HRD Mechanism
This section examines the implementation of HRD sub-systems such as
training, performance appraisal and feedback, potential appraisal,
career planning, rewards and employee welfare based on 14 items. The
perception of the employees towards the HRD mechanism was assessed with
respect to their age, experience and income. The Anova was applied to
find whether the perception of employees differ according to age,
experience and income towards HRD mechanism in banking sector.
Table 3 shows that employees of different age groups have the
different perception about the HRD mechanism. Employees in the age group
of 25-35 years want a mechanism where good work is rewarded and
promotions are based on merit. The superiors should appreciate the good
work of juniors and take special effort to find their strengths and
weakness.
HRD mechanism vary according to the experience of the employees as
the p-value is .005 is less than .10. It means that employees from
different experience groups have different perceptions about HRD
mechanisms. Positive attitude towards HRD mechanism is highest in the
experience bracket of 26 and above. The respondents in the experience
group of 11-15 yrs want performance appraisal where objective assessment
of employees is preferred. They want promotion to be given on the basis
of the work done rather than favoritism. Training should be given based
on training needs assessment and what has been learnt should be given an
opportunity to practice. Career opportunities should be pointed out by
the seniors. Job rotation should be done to ensure their development.
HRD mechanisms do not vary according to the income of employees.
The respondents believe that banks have mechanisms to reward good work
and appraisal is based on objective assessment. Promotions are based on
the suitability of the candidate. Feedback is given to the employees and
they take it seriously and work on their weakness.
Respondents of different age and experience groups have different
perceptions about the overall HRD climate. The respondents in the age
group of 25-35 and 41-45 want more stress on overall HRD Climate. Those
having experience of 11-15 years want supportive climate consisting of
not only top management and line management commitment but also good
personnel policies and positive attitude towards development. They want
performance appraisal, potential appraisal, career planning, performance
rewards feedback, counseling, training, employee welfare and job
rotation to be given more preference in the organization. They want
openness, confrontation, trust, autonomy, proactivity, authenticity
& collaboration to be more institutionalized in the organization.
Employees with different incomes have the same perception towards HRD
Climate.
Conclusion
The main objective of this study was to find the perception of
employees towards GC, OCTAPACE, HRD Mechanisms and overall HRD Climate
according to the age, income and experience in the banking sector. The
employees with different age and experience have different perceptions
of the General Climate. Employees in the age group of 25-35 years should
be given sufficient time and resources by their line managers to develop
them and gain competence. Employees with the experience of 0-10 yrs and
10-20 years want top management to show more concern for their
development. Employees from different age groups, experience and income
have different perceptions of OCTAPACE. The respondents in the age group
of 41-45 want more policies towards OCTAPACE. Employees who have an
experience of 11-15 years and income of Rs. 20,000/- in their career
want more openness, collaboration, trust, autonomy, proactiveness,
authenticity, confrontation and experimentation. Employees of all age
groups and experience have different perceptions about the HRD
Mechanism. Employees in the age group of 25-35 years want a mechanism
where good work is rewarded and promotions are based on merit.
The respondents in the experience group of 11-15 yrs want
performance appraisal where objective assessment of employees are
preferred and promotion to be given on the basis of their work done
rather than favoritism. Respondents of different age groups and
experience have different perceptions about the overall HRD climate.
Respondents in the age group of 25-35 and 41-45 want more stress on
overall HRD Climate. Those having an experience of 11-15 years want
supportive climate not only consisting of top management and line
management commitment but also good personnel policies and positive
attitude towards development.
Shweta Mittal is from Institute of Management & Research,
Ghaziabad. E-mail:
[email protected]
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Table 1 General Climate of Banking Sector
S. no Hypothesis F-value P-value
1 Mean scores of General Climate in 2.496 .061
Banking sector do not vary according
to age of employees.
2. Mean scores of General Climate in 2.225 .068
Banking sector do not vary according
to experience of employees.
Table 2 OCTAPACE Culture in Banking Sector.
S. no Hypothesis F-value P-value
1. Mean scores of OCTAPACE in Banks 5.535 .001
do not vary according to age of
employees.
2. Mean scores of OCTAPACE in Banks 2.145 .077
do not vary according to
experience of employees.
3. Mean scores of OCTAPACE in Banks 2.951 .055
do not vary according to income
of employees.
Table 3 HRD Mechanism: Implementation of HRD Sub-Systems in Banks.
S. no Hypothesis F-value P-value
1. Mean scores of HRD Mechanism in Banks 2.331 0.076
do not vary according to age of
employees.
2. Mean scores of HRD Mechanism in Banks 3.887 .005
do not vary according to experience
of employees.
3. Mean scores of HRD Mechanism in Banks 1.502 .226
do not vary according to income of
employees.
Table 4 Overall HRD Climate in Banking Sector
S. no Hypothesis F-value P-value
1. Mean scores of overall HRD climate 4.161 .007
in Banks do not vary according to
age of employees.
2. Mean scores of overall HRD climate 3.622 .007
in Banks do not vary according to
experience of employees.
3. Mean scores of overall HRD climate 1.894 .153
in Banks do not vary according to
experience of employees.
