Contribution of NGO work to Human Resources Development
In order to contextually consider the
contribution of NGOs to Human Resources Development we need to
differentiate the ends and means of the NGO. The goal of the NGO
is Human Development. The desirable means it uses to achieve this
is the method of Human Resources Development. The rest of this
paper analyses what have been the business issues which the NGO
has had to figure out in achieving its goals for these are the
very contributions it has made to the development of Human Resources
itself. And we shall then consider how these could be applied
within the larger field of corporate Human Resources Development.
Development and World Views:
If anything has been lost in HRD it
is the ‘D’ aspect of it. In the new economy, particularly,
Management of Human Resources has taken precedence over the Development
of Human Resources. Just-In-time recruitment, appraisals for compensation
& benefits rather than development, lack of career paths are
features of ‘Human Resources Development’ in these
organisations. What with the rush in the west to have a base in
developing countries such as India, one really need not look for
business. One CEO put it this way. “During the IT boom we
did not really have to sell. Business came to us’. Hence
the lesser focus on development of people.
However with changing winds the question
is bound to arise, “Is it all about a mechanistic process
driven by impersonal external forces?”. Established brick
and mortar industries are ample testimony to this. Such a lack
of people-centric development perspective has led to, in Peter
Senge’s words, ‘bureaucratic organisations where the
wonder and joy of living has no place’. NGO’s, by
being development-centric in their work & thought has shown
the corporate world how development of people can make positive
impact in professional and personal lives.
The American Society of Training &
Development defined Human Resources Development in 1996 this way:
Organized learning experiences sponsored
by an employer and designed and/or conducted for the purpose of
improving work performance while emphasizing the betterment of
the human condition through integration of organizational goals
and individual needs.
Facing inability to improve performance
for reasons often mysterious to them, HR Managers end up in an
identity crisis asking themselves the question ‘ Why should
we engage in development?’ or ‘What will sustain the
interest of line staff to develop themselves?’. Human Resources
Development focuses on on-the-job factors whereas a NGO concentrates
on pre and post employability factors. Largely HR activities today
are concerned with micro, individual processes. Can these bridges
be crossed?
The fundamental truth about development
is often forgotten by workers in the immediate concern with the
accumulation of goods and money. The preoccupation with economic
growth and the creation of wealth and material opulence has obscured
the fact that wealth is merely required to serve a greater purpose.
Is a higher quality of life compromised for quantitative factors?.
The NGO pointer here, found in its ideological
underpinnings, is that it is the self-identity that a man has,
which determines his engagement with development. It is here that
the ideology a man holds influences his purpose in life, world-views,
and concept of work, money, time, values and ethics. It is commonly
observed that if a person holds negative or lacks a positive,
progressive identity he is not able to contribute to society.
An organisation develops by converting
capital and infrastructure inputs into tangible products and services,
which are useful for its customers. It does so by maneuvering
through the dynamics of every day business environment. Such conversion
and maneuvering requires ‘well-developed people’.
Good decisions are made by well-developed minds and hence development
is necessary. And development is facilitated by the ideological
factors of the individuals and the collective. It is a continuous
process nevertheless important one as indicated best by the fact
that NGOs themselves are undergoing an evolution of their motivation
to do what they are doing. Often Human Resources Development processes
such as induction do not touch upon fundamental world-views and
philosophy of work consequently leading to frustrating conflicts
later on.
Keeping these in mind let us now derive some salient points about
what HRD is all about and work towardsa model of HRD....next
page
What
are the business themes faced in the NGO work?
Development vs Charity –
the evolving place for beneficiaries in the development process
Motivation for Development in
an NGO
Funding Fundas and
Ideological Agendas
Human Development –
an input/output perspective
Contribution of NGO work to Human
Resources Development
What should be the focus of Human Resources
Development ?
Shifting the paradigm of Human Resources
Development
Company vs. Community
