Human resources management explained – Part 2
David Seddon, Professor of Developmental Studies at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, cites in his paper titled, Nepal’s Dependence on Exporting Labor’, that there are at least 700,000 Nepali workers working overseas and an equal number working in India’s private sector excluding another 250,000 in India’s public sector. That’s a lot of able Nepalese bodies absent from the country’s workforce. Of course, the remittance earned by the country is substantial, almost Rs.100 billion, so one shouldn’t judge this migratory trend unkindly. However it is another thing that what remains of able bodies within the country needs to be developed to the best of their capabilities, with motivation and rewards keeping up with expectations, if we are not to lose what is left of able bodied manpower.
It would be worthwhile recapitulating on what the good professor cites as the reasons for a significant part of Nepali labor rushing off to foreign lands. He says, ” The failure to create and implement a coherent overall developmental strategy mobilizing all of Nepal’s resources-including effective education, training and manpower planning for human resource development- has led to low rates of growth and high levels of unemployment and underemployment” Note specially the words, education’, training’ and manpower planning’. These are terms Human Resource Development (HRD) managers are quite familiar with and in fact form the bedrock of manpower development in business and industry. It would also be worth mentioning that most managerial books talk about employee needs and wants along a similar vein. In What America Does Right’, Robert H. Waterman Jr. states that top performing companies are better organized to meet the needs of their people, so that they attract better people than their competitors do and that their people are more greatly motivated to do a superior job. He further adds that there are a number of common motivational factors, including the need to feel in control, to believe in the value of their work, to be challenged, to engage in lifelong learning, and to be recognized for their achievements. Top performing companies seem to honor these needs.’ Ensuring this happens to be HRD’s responsibility.
K. Mathema, former marketing chief at Panchakanya Steel Industries (a premier organization of Nepal), was personnel manager for eight years in cigarette maker Surya Tobacco Ltd. and two years in pharmaceutical giant Hoechst Nepal Pvt. Ltd. According to him,