Strategic human resource development in Sri Lanka

The environmental factors have been changing theorists and practitioners' views on competitiveness. Many organizations have realized that competitive advantage is internal to the organization, and if developed effectively, human resources are the most valuable asset of any organization. It is accepted that human resource development (HRD) practices can be either influenced by strategy or vice versa. Organizational plans impact directly upon HRD in its role in getting, keeping, developing, and managing people. The human resource development function can provide input concerning the quantity, quality, and skill mix and the costs of acquiring, retaining, developing, and motivating people, indicating that successful business strategies are developed around the "core competencies" or the skills of the organization. As organizational strategy and human resource strategy are both input to and a constraint to each other, an important place should be given to the HRD strategy in the organizational strategy process. Although entry-level employability is high (Perera & Wickramasinghe, 2006), once hired, employees need development opportunities to perform their job roles better. However, a number of reasons are responsible for the failure of the HRD component in the strategy process. Several studies revealed that whilst some functions, like production, influenced strategic decisions, the HRD function consistently exercised the least influence. Further, although organizations were likely to employ human resource specialists and have a range of policies, there was little interconnection between them; also, there was little interconnection with business planning. When HRD is identified to play a central role, Akuratiyagamage (2003a) states that four questions have to be answered, namely, "Do organizations have strategies?", "Do organizations identify HRD needs connected to strategy?", "What methods are used to provide deliberate and planned HRD opportunities for employees?" and "Do organizations have separate human resource/HRD departments/units to serve organizational needs effectively?" Clarifications for these provide specific suggestions on how to improve the role of strategic human resource development in organizations. The answers to these questions were sought by investigating a random sample of 78 private-sector-owned manufacturing firms operating in Sri Lanka. Building on the arguments of Akuratiyagamage (2003b), Mamman and Akuratiyagamage (2005), and Wickramasinghe (2005), the study also investigated differences based on the ownership of the firms. The findings of the study led to reveal the existence of organizational strategies and existence of HRM strategies related to HRD. It is revealed that 75% of the firms have organizational strategies; 70% of the firms have HRM strategies; 75% of the firms have HRM policies. This can be interpreted to mean that the firms have a strategic perspective. Though data reveal that the majority of the firms do have the strategic perspective, a considerable number of firms affirmed that they maintain organizational strategy, HRM strategy, and HRD policies unwritten. This implies a considerable degree of scope and opportunity to develop and strengthen the strategic dimension to their businesses. Results further revealed the existence of human resource/HRD departments/units in the firms. The firms identified several types of HRD needs connected to strategy. With regard to methods used to provide HRD opportunities, the findings indicated a wide range of HRD methods/techniques were rarely in use. References Akuratiyagamage, V. M. (2003a). Formal processes of managerial learning: A comparison of management development practices across foreign, joint-venture and local companies. Proceedings of 2nd Annual Research Sessions 2003, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 21. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/408301989 Akuratiyagamage, V. M. (2003b). International business and transfer of management development practices: Evidence from Sri Lanka. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Management of Developing Countries 2003. University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, December 12. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/408299907 Mamman, A., & Akuratiyagamage, V. (2005). Human resource function in the strategy process: A comparative study across foreign, joint venture and local companies in Sri Lanka. In 20th Workshop on Strategic Human Resource Management (pp. 28-30). Perera, R. C. L., & Wickramasinghe, V. (2006). Employability and employability skills of graduates from local universities. In Proceedings of International Conference on Business Management (Vol. 3). March 17. https://journals.sjp.ac.lk/index.php/icbm/article/view/934 Wickramasinghe, V. (2005). Human resource function in the strategy process: A case for convergence. Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Sri Lankan Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2005, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. https://hal.science/hal-05597058