SHRM plans to coach Indian HR professionals

NETWORKING: The world's largest human resource management association is set to offer its expertise in India.

If you were to believe Susan R Meisinger, president and chief executive officer of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), HR in India is all set to witness "very exciting times."

On her maiden visit to this country (SHRM India has been operating since October 2005), Meisinger was impressed by the level of development in HR here.

The world's largest association devoted to human resource management, SHRM has more than 210,000 individual members in the US alone. Its mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals, and it is trying to fill a gap through its presence in India.

Says Meisinger: "We are not focussed on building membership here. We want to be a facilitator that serves to advance the HR profession."

With fewer than a thousand members in India, the Society is not worried about numbers. Meisinger says globalisation has become a daily reality for businesses, and SHRM wants to take this opportunity to help coach Indian HR professionals to work in a global economy.

The Society realises it is important to link US and India-based HR professionals through information sharing and networking. This explains why Meisinger visited India with over 20 HR professionals from the US.

The delegates have met senior HR professionals, business leaders, financial services and business-process outsourcing firms, academics and government officials. Speaking about the changing role of HR professionals, Meisinger is hopeful that the HR function will evolve in India as much as it has abroad.

"Already, lots of systems are in place courtesy the MNCs, but HR needs to move away from the tactical and transactional work and take on a strategic role," she notes.

It is this void that SHRM India hopes to fill by partnering globally recognised universities to offer executive education programmes that enhance leadership skills. Meisinger hints that an announcement on an executive education programme is likely in the coming months.

As for Indian education providers, Meisinger seems impressed by the emphasis given by Management Development Institute, Gurgaon to HR in its programmes. "But all I would say for now is watch this space."

In future, Meisinger notes, the HR function will become more broad-based. "Changes in India will impact HR in the US and vice versa," and hence the need to equip the global HR professional with the knowledge to manage change.

The Society seeks to build HR management as crucial to the growth of a company. "Indian companies are not as open to broad-basing the HR function, as there's still no proper understanding of what to expect from the HR department due to lack of reference or control," she says.

The Society seeks to educate companies on how to integrate HR with business development. Meisinger claims that even though India and the US are culturally different, the human capital challenges facing India are similar to the skills shortages the US is facing.

"In India the workforce is young, unlike the US, where most baby boomers are nearing retirement, making a gap in management imminent," she elaborates. "Most people might look at India to fill that gap, thus moving the war for talent to a global level." Clearly, these are exciting times!