1st Edition

HRD Audit Rejuvenating HR Function for Business Excellence

By T. V. Rao Copyright 2025
    272 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    272 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    This book presents the first ever comprehensive approach to evaluating and redesigning Human Resource Development (HRD) function and intervention to maximise their contribution to business excellence.

    The HRD function recognizes the significance of competent and committed people in helping organizations achieve excellence. Studies across the globe have indicated that good HR systems and practices go a long way to make firms effective. Competent employees, top management, HR staff, and the HRD Climate play a critical role. This book examines how users of HRD are partners in any review and evaluation. It uses multiple methods like interviews with stakeholders, observation, questionnaires, analysis of documents and workshops. The book also outlines key HRD audit methodologies to review and rejuvenate HRD and align it with business excellence including intellectual capital building for long term.

    An incisive and invigorating read, this book would be useful to the students, researchers, line managers, CEOs, CXOs and faculty of Human Resource Management, Organizational Behaviour and Applied Psychology. It would also be an invaluable handbook for practicing business executives to help them implement the performance management and other talent management systems for leading to excellence.

     

    Foreword by Dave Ulrich Part One: Introduction 1. Good HR Practices Can Make a Difference 2. Elements of Good HRD: Need for Realignment 3. HRD Audit: Basic Concepts and Components Part Two: HRD and HR Audit 4. HRD Strategies 5. HRD Culture and Values 6. HRD Structures 7. HRD Systems 8. HRD Competencies Part Three: HRD Audit Methodology and Issues 9. HRD Audit Methodology: Interviews 10. HRD Audit Methodology: Observation 11. HRD Audit Instruments: Questionnaires 12. Measuring Business Impact and Establishing the HRD Score Card 13. Writing the HRD Audit Report 14. Designing and Using HRD Audit for Business Improvement Part Four: HRD Audit: The Indian Experience 15. Case studies and HRD Audit as OD Intervention

    Biography

    T.V. Rao is currently Chairman, T.V. Rao Learning Systems, (started at Ahmedabad and now in Bangalore), and a Former Professor at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. He has also worked as the L&T Professor of HRD at XLRI, Jamshedpur, between 1983 and 1985. Rao is the co-founder and first president of the National HRD Network, and the first honorary director of the Academy of HRD, India. He was also president of the Indian Society for Applied Behavioral Science (ISABS). He worked with David McClelland of Harvard University (the initiator of the competency movement) and had joint research projects with him in the seventies. Rao was also a visiting faculty at the Indian Business School, Hyderabad and was on the Boards of IIMA and GIM.

    Rao has worked as a short-term consultant to the UNESCO, USAID consultant to Ministry of Health, Indonesia, National Entrepreneurial Development Association, Malaysia, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. Rao has designed and assisted in implementing performance appraisals and other HRD Systems for a number of organizations in India and a few other countries. His consulting experiences including designing and implementing performance management and other HR systems in a number of organizations like SAIL, NTPC, Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL, Bharat Petroleum, NALCO, SBI, Bank of Baroda, Neyveli Lignite, MRL, BEML, Reserve Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Voltas, Sundram Fasteners, EID Parry, TI Group, Crompton Greaves, Transpek Industries, BILT, NOCIL, IL&FS, Mahindra and Mahindra, Escorts, Tata Finance, Titan, Taj Group of Hotels, Tata Cummins, KPMG, ICI, Hindustan Levers, Pfizer, Chanrai Group (Nigeria), Indorama (Indonesia), Godfrey Phillips India, Amway, Nestle, Wockhardt, Wyeth, Fulford, Galfar, FAO, Rome, Commercial Bank (Sri Lanka), Hemas Group ( Sri Lanka), CHR (Oman), Alexandria Carbon Black, Egypt etc.

    Rao along with Udai Pareek is credited with having established the first dedicated department of HRD at L&T in the mid-seventies, much before HRD was known. Rao has been working in the HRD field for the last 50 years and has over 60 books to his credit. Dr. Rao was awarded as HR Professional of the Year 2019 by the Asia Pacific Federations for HR Profession, Ravi Matthai Fellow by Association of Indian Management Schools and Life time achievement by INDAM, Business world and many other bodies.

    "A unique feature of the book is the HRD Score Card which has been developed and tested by the author. This Score Card can be used to access and benchmark the maturity level of the HRD function in organizations and make them business-driven. Written in a readable and accessible style, this practice-based book includes several cases, examples, illustrations, detailed questionnaires and checklists."

    - Business Line


    " There is a wide recognition that the HR function can be a key factor in business success and improved organizational performance. Yet, in many organizations, the HR function has either not performed upto expectations or has been unaware of its required role. Hence, a thorough evaluation of the HR function is imperative both to rejuvenate it and to make it more business-driven. HRD audit makes such an evaluation possible by examining the adequacy and appropriateness of the existing HRD systems." 

    - Financial Express


    "The HR function is the next horizon Indian firms are out to conquer. Rao’s four parameters for good HR functions—HR linked to business, systems-driven HR, HR values and employee competencies—are today’s catchphrases."

    - Businessworld