DISSERTATION PROPOSAL

M.A (Human Resource Management) SEM B 2008/09

Student Name/ ID:

Date Submitted:
28 Jan 2010

Contact Number:
General Area of Interest:
International Human Resource Management

Working’ Dissertation Title:

Evolution of Human Resource Management: (A Case Study on India).

Introduction
The Human Resource Management activity has become more challenging due to the increased
pressures on the firms in order to have a competitive edge .Globalization is the major source
for these increased complexities .Human resource management has become a strategic
concept these days . All these changes in the field of HRM have resulted in the increased
expectations for the HR Practitioners and Professionals. The role of HR Managers has been
redefined due to the increased interdependency between the strategy of Human Resource
Management and the organizations performance.

There is a shift from the traditional Human Resource Management (Personnel management) to
the International Human Resource Management. This deals with the management of
employees across different nations and cultures .This leads to the comparative Human resource
management which deals with the differences in their management of the employees. This kind
of comparative study can be the only way in order to understand the concept of Human
resource Management practices by examining the assumptions of it. The major difference can
be seen mainly in the integration of HRM and corporate strategy, the transfer of HR practices
to the line managers and also other modern human resource practices which is focused on
involving people rather than controlling them.”

The focus is on the development of the business strategies to achieve longer term goals, and the
part played by the human resource strategies in general and reward strategies in particular, in
supporting their achievement are now well recognized” Armstrong and Brown(2001) cited by
Pilbeam and Corbridge(2006). This new approach of HRM aims at qualitative and flexible
work environment .It also enhanced the policies of Selection process which resulted in low
employee turnover

However the concept of HRM has many contradictions regarding its ability to shift completely
from the Personnel management .This cannot be explained easily because it has many
complications both in theory and in practice .The term in itself is very ambiguous as the
difference between Personnel management and HRM is a minute one. The problems are
identified regarding the integration of Human Resource Management policies with the business
objectives, the possibility of having the same set of HRM policies even if the firm is operating
in a diversified business environment and also related to the choice of the HRM practices
according to the business strategy are feasible or not? Like wise there are many critics
regarding the nature of Human Resource Management practices Legge (1989) cited by
Beardwell et al., (2004).

In addition to that Work Place Employee Relations Survey (WERS) 1998 which took an active
part in addressing the HRM related issues. As a result it has been realized that the sources like
advancement in the technology and other resources like capital can make a difference in the
past but now in the present scenario all these resources are given less importance. So, “The
extent to which an organization can mobilize its internal human resources may hold the key to
achievable advantage in the future“(Prahalad and Hamel, 1990).Thus there are many
perspectives related to the HRM with respect to the personnel management and the industrial
relations. However, this remained impractical due to the organizational constraints and there
are many queries related to the commitment of the employee to the organization.

The debate in human resource management is dealt with the issues related to their approach of
management, the role of the HR managers in this period of rapid change in the HR policies and
also related to the long term developments in the future. The best human resource practices
can have a positive result by developing the competencies of employees and by redefining the
job descriptions in order to get the contribution to the fullest extent from the employees .Most
importantly there is a focus on the psychological contract and also contradictions about the
best fit and best practice approaches (Torrington et al., 2005:15).

Evolution of HRM in India:

The development of Human Resource management is comparatively of recent origin. The
shifts to a planned economic society, technological improvements, and increased influence of
mechanization have changed the organizational structure and the industrial relations to a large
extent. In addition to that “the growing complexity, size of the organization, the development
of employee associations, the new findings in behavioral science and the changing political,
economic and social climate, together with the changing patterns of industrial relations” all
these factors have posed new challenges to the personnel management in India(Mamoria,
1985:113).

Though its origin is in 1920s in its modern sense it had developed only since 1990s. During
this period of time Ministry of Human Resource Development was set up in the Union Cabinet.
As a result most of the organizations began to change their personnel department as
departments of HRM. The approach is shifted to the modern methods in practicing HRM like
Role analysis, MBO based performance appraisals, Career planning and Development, Safety
and Quality of work life, Human resource development.

The advents of Globalization and economic Liberalization have enhanced the importance of
HRM in India. Since the end of 90s the prominence HRD, cultural diversity and team
management, quality management in HRM has been continuing. Further, its importance of
integrating with the strategic management has been realized and it is being considered as the
core of core competencies. This resulted in the shift of the common human resource objectives
integrated with the strategy which increased the responsibilities of the HRM related to the
effective people management strategies.
On the other hand there is a major influence of national institutions and legislations on the
Human Resource Management in India. As a result HRM is playing a vital role in bringing
change in the organizations mostly related to the pay system and career management .This
change is in both the public and private sectors but, it is more evident in the privately owned
enterprises because, there is more “emphasis on internal work culture, controlling, future
orientation in planning, participation in decision making, effective motivation techniques and
the obligation towards others in the work context “Mathur et al.,(1996) cited by Budhwar and
Debrah(2006:78).

Rationale
As the importance of HRM is increasing especially in the developing countries there is a need
to understand and evaluate the complexities involved in managing the Human Resources which
has been changing overtime. Most importantly the evolution of Human Resource Management
from the personnel management is a contradictory one. The developments are related to the
contribution of HRM to an organizations performance. Due to these developments “The nature
of Human Resources (HR) has changed from being reactive, prescriptive, and administrative to
being proactive, descriptive and executive” Boxall (1994) cited by Budhwar and Debrah
(2006).

Looking at the Cultural impact on the Human Resource Management is also a quite important
element as its degree of impact is very high in India. Especially “The way people respond to
the authority , the way they relate to their peers, the impact of gender and the importance of
face to face contact, to mention just a few items ,vary considerably from country to
country”(Stahl and Bjorkman, 2006:75).

Over the years there is a much discussion regarding the evolution of HRM from the Personnel
management, and many contradictions related to the integrated Human Resource Management,
transfer of HRM practices to the line managers and it is perceived that HRM can be a
significant source of the competitive advantage for the firms taking the lead (Brewster et al,
1997).On the other hand the impact of Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) and Globalization has
been creating rapid changes in the Human Resource practices in the developing countries like
India .

Though there is a difference between the comparative and International Human Resource
Management the increasing strategic impact have enhanced the importance of researching the
practices of HRM and comparing them across the nations. As a result, “There has been a
degree of Convergence in thinking between the comparative and international HRM fields”
(Budhwar and Sparrow, 2002:63).

Finally there is a need to examine the factors which determine the cross national Human
Resource Management like National cultures, Institutional factors, Industrial factors and the
business Environmental factors (Budhwar and Debrah, 2001:80).

Hypothesis & Objectives

This research will be carried out in India in order to understand the approach to the Human
Resource Management. However the practices of HRM are different across the nations
examining the improvements could be quite crucial and this can be helpful in order to
understand the applicability of the Universalist model in the developing countries like India.
“On the other hand the concept of HRM is vulnerable to the local influences and therefore
Contextual paradigm is most relevant”. Organizations in India are not so autonomous; there are
number of legal, institutional constraints and also the corporate governance issues. So, the
research could be contextual rather than a universal one.

The research will look briefly into how HRM has been evolved from the Personnel
management in India. It also determines the changing policies of recruitment &selection,
Training and development, organizational behavior, appraisals, career progression and
compensation schemes towards high performance work systems (Stahl and Bjorkman,
2006:78).

Most importantly there is a need to identify the resemblances between the modern practices of
Human Resource Management with the normative models of the personnel management.
According to Sisson the rhetoric of the Human Resource Management has been masking the
realities of HRM .For example the rhetoric considering the employment is down-sizing /right
sizing but, the reality behind this is identified as the redundancy. Like wise, the rhetoric is
team-working and reality is to reduce the individual discretion (Legge, 1995:314).However,
not just Sisson have seen the contradictions regarding the real meaning of HRM

The research will be carried out based on the perceptions of the HR practitioners in Indian
MNCs. It will also look into whether HRM correlates to business performance and how critical
is it to businesses and also the assumptions that are changing the perceptions of the managers
about the HR practices in India. The final recommendation of this research will be for
businesses to redefine its Human Resource Management approach which is to be integrated as
part of the organization as a value added function , to achieve long-term success.

Objective 1
To provide an overview of HR practices in India (How Human Resource Management is being
perceived by Indian HR managers)

Objective 2
To explore the level of understanding of Human Resource practices by means of interviewing
senior HR practitioners.

Objective 3
To identify whether good Human Resource practices correlates to a business’ performance
Objective 4
To develop recommendations based on the findings on how redefined Human Resource
practices could contribute in order to achieve better business performance.

Methodology:

To achieve Objective 1, an extensive research based on secondary data will be carried out.
Secondary data will be accessed both via online and physical materials which will consist of
documents such as reports, publications, articles, company profile or any form of information
that will be relevant to evolution of Human Resource Management in India .

To achieve Objective 2, interviews will be conducted with few senior HR practitioners in

Indian MNCs. The interviews will be aimed at the HR practitioners to capture their perceptions
on the HRM.

To achieve Objective 3, an analysis will be carried out based on the findings of the research
and it will be then compared and discussed with reference to the literature review. The
literature review leads to the hypothesis that HRM does correlates to organizations
performance and based on the finding among MNCs with strong & weak HRM practices
would give an insight whether or not HRM has any significance to business performance.

To achieve Objective 4, results from the research carried out and findings from literature
reviews will be analyzed to formulate a set of recommendations for Indian MNCs to redefine
their HRM approach to achieve better business performance.

As my approach of study is an Inductive one, the focus is much on collecting the evidence
rather than guessing and predicting based on the literature. This kind of research could be
difficult to establish through quantitative models. Hence it is based on interviewing the HR
practitioners, this kind of methodology is compatible with by research topic, aims and
objectives .Interviewing is the suitable way to get the best possible data (ethno
methodology).After collecting the data using the interviews it will be applied with the
theoretical approach. Finally this study aims to determine the rhetoric’s and realities of Human
Resource Management practices in India.

References:
Pilbeam, S. and Corbridge, M. (2006), People Resourcing (Contemporary HRM in Practice),
Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Beard well, I., Holden, L., and Claydon, T. (2004), ‘Human Resource Management (A
Contemporary Approach)’, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

Prahalad, G. and Hamel, C.K. (1990),’The Core Competencies of The Corporations’, Harvard
Business Review, May-June, PP.79-91.

Legge, K. (1995), ‘Human Resource Management (Rhetoric’s and Realities)’, Basingstoke:

Macmillan Press Ltd.

Torrington, D., Hall, L. and Taylor, S. (2005), ‘Human Resource Management’, Harlow:
Pearson Education.

Brewster, C. and Larsen, H.H., and Mayrhofer, W. (1997), ‘Integration and Assignment: A
Paradox in human resource management’, Journal of International Management, 13, 1-23.

Budhwar, P.S. and Sparrow, P. (2002), ‘Strategic HRM through the Cultural Looking Glass:
Mapping the Cognition of British and Indian Managers’, Organization Studies, 234:599-638.

Stahl, G.K. and Bjorkman, I. (2006), Hand book of Research in International Human Resource
Management, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Mamoria, C.B. (1985), ‘Personnel Management (Management of Human Resources)’,

Bombay: Himalaya Publishing House.

Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. (2001),’Human Resources in Developing Countries’,

London: Rutledge.