Training and development in Indian public sector enterprises

Indian Public Sector Enterprises have been passing through massive changes due to advancements in science and technology and competition from the private sector. India has nearly one-sixth of the world’s population. Success is possible only through proper training and development.

Establishment of a different Ministry for human resource

The former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi rightly understood its importance and had established a separate Ministry for Human Resource Development in 1985. He stressed the development of human resources and because of his initiatives, training has taken an important place in the national economy. Later on, most of the public sector enterprises realized the need and importance of training their employees for better and improved results. The human resource development approach is essential in order to have the optimum utilization of manpower for the benefit of both, the employees and the organization.

Role of public sector enterprises in the Indian economy

Public Sector Enterprises have played an important role in the Indian economy since the enactment of Industrial Policy Resolution, 1956. These enterprises played a very crucial part in developing the industrial base of an agrarian economy with poor infrastructural facilities. The state’s intervention was deemed necessary in view of a low level of employment opportunities and a lack of trained manpower (Pant, 2000). Indian public sector enterprises are facing a high level of competition in the product market as well as in the labor market. Indian public sector enterprises need to improve overall organizational effectiveness and productivity to ensure a competitive edge in order to compete in the liberalized and open market scenario. These changes necessitate the need for training and development of personals in the public sector enterprises. Today public sector enterprises in India are passing through a phase of metamorphosis. On one side they are facing tough product market competition with the advent of multinational companies after the implementation of New Economic Policies in 1991. And on the other side, there are threats of closures due to inefficient operations with the second phase of economic reforms focusing on public sector restructuring. In this scenario, public sector enterprises are under immense pressure to improve organizational effectiveness by finding ways to become cost-effective and resource-efficient (Joshi, 2000). Most of these enterprises are still using labor-intensive technology and large-scale as well as long-term cost reductions can be achieved by improving the productivity of employees through effective training and development.

Challenges faced by public sector enterprises

High pay packages offered by the multinational companies are attracting high-quality fresh talent as well as high performers away from the public sector enterprises. This poses a great challenge for public sector enterprises. In this scenario, they have to improve, develop, and retain the available resource in order to have a competitive edge. These conditions further strengthen the need for training and development in public sector enterprises. Proper training and development will facilitate and ensure the acquisition of competencies required by the employees. This will help them to perform their task more effectively in order to accomplish overall organizational effectiveness. Also for appropriate and effective training, there is a need to understand the perception of employees towards training.

The need of the hour

A training program needs to be developed for the public sector enterprises on the basis of organizational analysis, operational analysis, and individual analysis. Organizational analysis can be done on the basis of the overall objectives of the organization, which includes their vision and Mission statement. Vision and mission statement of an organization defines where the organization wants to move from its present position, goals to be achieved in the future, and how those goals can be achieved. The operational analysis includes job analysis, which provides expectations from the employees to meet organizational objectives. This will give minimum acceptable requirements from the employees to do the job effectively. The individual analysis provides information on the present potential and existing capabilities, skills, knowledge, and attitude of the employees. Organizational analysis can be done by the human resource (HR) manager with the help of top management. Individual analysis can be done by individual employees with the help of the HR manager and line managers (Dessler, 2000).