It was 25 years ago that our country witnessed the emergence of a new HRD culture in our country with Prof Udai
Pareek and Prof T.V.Rao heading the movement.
What started as a "Review Exercise of the Performance Appraisal System" for L&T by two consultants, Prof Udai Pareek and Prof T.V. Rao from the Indian
Institute Of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), resulted in the development of a new function - The HRD Function.
In the early seventies, this company, in association with IIMA the reviewed all aspects of its operations.
In 1974, the consultants studied the organisation and prepared a new integrated system called Human Resource Development ( HRD) System. This was probably the first of its kind in India. The new system clearly established the
linkages between the various personnel related aspects such as performance appraisal, employee counselling, potential appraisal training, etc. Prof Pareek and Prof Rao presented an approach paper to the top management on the new
ideas and this was accepted.
The Company wanted the implementation also to be done by the consultants, as it was not sure that enough expertise was available on the human process within the organisation. The
consultants, however felt that L&T managers had enough competence and insisted that an internal team undertake this task. Thus, the work was undertaken by an internal team with the help of the consultants and this was very
satisfying.
Based on the recommendations of the approach paper, a very high level role was created at the Board level to give a greater thrust to the new system. A separate HRD Department was created. A high level
internal team headed by a General Manager, monitored the progress of implementation of the new system initially, which was subsequently handed over to the HRD Department.
The HRD system has since then been reviewed
from time to time and improvements made, retaining the basic philosophy. The original consultancy reports of Dr. Udai Pareek and Dr. T.V.Rao have sown the seeds for this new function and new profession. This pioneering work of Dr.
Rao and Dr. Pareek lead later top the establishment of HRD Departments in the State Bank Of India and its Associates, and Bharat Earth Movers Limited in Bangalore in 1976 and 1978.
The first HRD workshop to discuss
HRD concepts and issues was held at IIMA in 1979. Several chapters of the book which was later published by Oxford & IBH as "Designing and Managing Human Resource Systems" were distributed in this workshop. This
workshop was the beginning of spreading the HRD message.
In subsequent years beginning 1980 a series of workshops were held to develop HRD Facilitators, both at IIMA and in the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural
Sciences (ISABS). IIMA workshops focussed in the conceptual parts and ISABS on experiental part. As HRD started growing Larsen & Toubro instituted a HRD Chair Professorship at XLRI, Jamshedpur. Dr. T.V.Rao moved to XLRI as
L&T Professor in 1983 to set up the Centre for HRD.
Subsequently, a National Seminar was organised in Bombay during February 1985 jointly by XLRI Centre for HRD and the HRD Department of Larsen & Toubro. The
National HRD Network was conceived during this seminar. The first HRD Newsletter was started consequent to this seminar by the Centre for HRD for XLRI and was sponsored by L&T. the National HRD Network took shape and became a
large body with about 20 chapters in the subsequent five year period.
The National HRD Network was nurtured by IIMA and XLRI on the one hand and by the corporate sector on the other. The National HRD Network later
gave birth to the Academy of Human Resources Development. This is the first family tree of HRD in India.
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