The development of human resources has always been a fundamental part of any organization that focuses on growth and dynamism. As a component of human resource management, human resource development (HRD) usually deals with training, as well as improvement of employees in their workplaces. The core focus of HRD is to develop the most advanced workforce in the organization in order to serve the customers efficiently. Employees need to be evaluated to determine their competency in performing their duties. Thus, HRD and evaluation are essential in any organization that seeks to achieve its goals strategically and effectively.
Defining HRD
Organizations develop their employees through human resource development. According to Radhakrishna and Raju (2015), Michael (1995) defined Human Resource Development (HRD) as follows:
HRD is a process of developing the human resources working in an organization by modernizing their knowledge and upgrading their skills, attitudes and perceptions in order to meet the changing trends of the globalized economy and also to utilize those developments for the attainment of the organizational goals (p. 30).
HRD is seen as a strategy to boost the capacity for employees, in addition to encouraging their commitment through participation in numerous developmental activities that improve employment relations. It enables employees to grow consistently, leading to higher productivity and organizational progress. HRD is the pivot that holds other functions of the organization through nurturing learning as well as modifying the behavior of employees. Without HRD, organization productivity and profitability could be at risk while relationship among employees could be of any significance.
HRD can also be defined as a series of organized practices in an organization, conducted within a particular time, with the aim of establishing behavioral change. Through HRD, employees are capable of developing their personal, as well as organizational skills and knowledge, which is crucial in handling their day-to-day activities in the organization. New employees have to be trained based on their responsibilities while old employees have to be trained on career development and mentorship, so that they can pass such knowledge to the new employees during teamwork activities.
HRD revolves around employees’ performance rather than the entire organization. Organizations should have clear goals to enable them focus on the appropriate HRD. An organization that serves only local clients should not invest on complicated HRD strategy, as it may become too expensive to maintain or too confusing for the employees to master. Achieving organizational goals requires organizations to have distinct sets of policies and practices to guide employees on positive outcomes. This is because HRD aims at helping employees to acquire competencies necessary for undertaking their responsibilities in appropriate manner and to enable organizations to reap benefits from their talented employees (Radhakrishna and Raju, 2015).
Evaluation in Organizations
Evaluation is also essential in human resources management, since it involves analysis of organizational activities to assess their efficiency in delivering services. Evaluation can be termed as a mechanism where managers can assess the activities undertaken by organizations in order to make decisions on how to improve programs. Managers can hardly improve the productivity of employees without first evaluating their capacity. Through evaluation, training managers can identify sections that require thorough training in order to save time and energy going through all segments that incorporate job description. According to rational choice theory, the ideal organization should be self-evaluating, since it is capable of monitoring its own practices, thus, determining whether it has the capacity to realize its goals (Carman, 2011).
Evaluation is an essential element in organizational strategy development, since organizations choose strategically what to evaluate. Twersky and Lindblom (2012), in their working paper “Evaluation Principles and Practices”, termed evaluation as “an independent, systematic investigation into how, why, and to what extent objectives or goals are achieved” (p. 3). Most organization usually incorporate evaluation in their programs in their initial stages to assess their progress, although other organizations do not see the essence of doing so, as long as they have clearly established strategies. Evaluation in the early stages of any plan can help the organization to avoid penalties or unnecessary burden to grantees. The aim of program evaluation is to check on designing and implementation of various activities to assist in making rational decisions.
As a social science procedure, evaluation involves organized study of suitability of social intervention that can be adapted to improve social condition. Key stakeholders in organizational programs may compel the organization to establish an evaluation process to demonstrate how the efforts made by the organization in achieving the expected objectives. An individual undertaking an evaluation process has to follow some steps that incorporate indicators to measure progress. Analyzing of data is also essential in evaluation, since the process cannot be complete without identifying the points that require adjustments.
Conclusion
Both Human resource development and evaluation are critical in determining the success of any organization. HRD is the strategy that organizations employ to boost the capacity for employees, in addition to enhancing their skills to attain the desired goals. Organizations can hardly attain their goals without an appropriate HRD. Evaluation involves undertaking a systematic process to investigate how the organization has achieved its goals and identifying the problems that hinder the course to attain the desired objectives. Managers can utilize HRD strategies, as well as evaluation procedures to make informed decisions on how to improve employees’ productivity.
References
Carman, J. G. (2011). Understanding Evaluation in Nonprofit Organizations. Public Performance & Management Review, 34(3), 350-377. doi:10.2753/PMR1530-9576340302.
Radhakrishna, A., & Raju, R. S. (2015). A Study on the Effect of Human Resource Development on Employment Relations. IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, 13(3), 28-42.
Twersky, F., & Lindblom, K. (2012). Evaluation Principles and Practices. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, An Internal Working Paper.