CHALLENGES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN HEIs

Dr. Anupama Prabhat Chaudhari

Associate Professor
ASM’s Institute of Business Management and Research, Chinchwad Pune

ABSTRACT: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are undergoing many changes due
to globalization and growing competition. Education institutions and people associated
with HEIs contributes in the development of country. Every educational system at every
level depends heavily on the human resources for execution of its programme. The
function of human resource management in education includes staffing, recruitment and
placement, staff maintenance, staff relations, staff development, and job performance
reward. Management of human resources is challenging in educational sector. Though
almost all universities and affiliated institutions offer courses in human resource
management and train their students to manage large corporations, they are unable to
manage their own human resources effectively. The paper finds out the challenges of
human resource management in higher education institutions. For the identified
challenges recommendations are made by the researcher.

KEYWORDS: Higher Education Institutions, Human Resource Management, Staff

Maintenance

INTRODUCTION

Globalization, international competition, innovation, and technology advancements have

emphasized the importance of HRM for competitive advantage. Due to the advancement
of information and communication technology, the work places are drastically changed.
Management of task are completely changed. The work pattern is changed. This means
the working pattern of human resource at work place is changed. Employees efficient in
using technology with ease are more preferred at work place. Educational institutions are
essentially service providers but they are also work places for their employees’. So,
educational institutions cannot remain unaffected by the changes taking place world over.
Education is been looked as a business instead of service today. The human resource
management strategies of an organization effects the way in which its employees work as
well as how the organization itself works. The effective management of human resources
can contribute to the quality, profits and customer satisfaction and become a source of
sustainable competitive advantage to the organization (Noe et al., 2004). Though almost
all universities and affiliated institutions offer courses in human resource management
and train their students to manage large corporations they are unable to manage their own
human resources effectively.
Human resources is used to describe both the people who work for a company or
organization and the department responsible for managing resources related to
employees.
The human resource management could be separately defined as:
Human:  refers to the skilled workforce in an organization.
Resource:  refers to limited availability
Management: refers  how to optimize and make best use of such limited resource so as
to meet the organization goals and objectives.
Therefore, human resource management means proper utilisation of available skilled
employees and optimize the use of existing human resource in the organisation. HRM is
really employee management which focuses on those employees who have skills and
ability to use it. These employees could be as assets for the institutions. In this context,
employees are sometimes referred to as human capital.

HRM is a fundamental function of management that identify and manage the

performance of staff in any organization. This simply infers that when a staff in the
educational organization are selected and recruited, inducted and properly rewarded,
properly developed, appraised and promoted, they will be committed to the job, remain
dedicated and productive in the educational institutions. This means that human resource
management is the co-ordination of the activities and efforts of people associated in
educational institutions so that educational goals could be achieved. Hence, human
resource management in education is the process of motivating staff to maximize their
performance in order to obtain maximum output starting from the day they are recruited.

Dr. Shobha. A. Menon (2015) stated that “human resource becomes demoralizing
because despite good compensation packages offered on paper their actual
implementation is actually long drawn out and subject to multiple interpretations. Time
has come for human resource to change from an administrative function to a strategic one
so that educational institutions continue to attract quality human capital and gain
competitive advantage”. Alwiya AlluiJolly Sahni (2016) found that “the performance
appraisal and compensation system can be successfully used for directing and motivating
academic staff in their activities and seeing that their activities are in accordance with the
strategic planning and human resource management of the institution”. Dr. (Mrs)
Chinyere A. Omebe (2014) concluded in a paper that “education remains a veritable
means of human resource management and nation building in Nigeria. Whatever needs to
be done in this sector should be done in all sincerely and with every urgency for
education to fully achieve its predetermined educational objectives”.
Faculties (teachers) are the most important entity in educational institutions. Educational
standards can be established and maintained by the means of faculties. They are the
greatest aid to learning. Unskilled teachers or shortage of teachers may drop the quality of
institution. The curriculum could not be delivered properly and effectively to the
students. The end result of any educational institutions depends heavily on the human
resources in the institutions.
Human resource management in education essentially is concerned with three major
issues namely (i) Assessing the need for staff (ii) Satisfying the need for staff (iii)
Maintaining and improving the staff services.
Most of the higher education institutes in India are in protective environment.
Though privatization has started these institutions are even today protected in their
existence because of a number of reasons. The private universities are very expensive to
start. Thus payment of the employees is less in these universities. Many private
universities and institutions are yet to establish and have not been in existence long
enough. Government universities and their affiliated colleges are established long back.
These established institutions have strong alumni and are recognized as brands. State
funded universities are already feeling the pressure of reduced government funding. The
human resource of government funded higher educational institutions need to be
managed effectively to survive in the competition of various universities coming up with
latest advancement. The effective management is crucial to not only the competitive
advantage of the educational institution but also the progress of the nation

Functions of Human Resources Management in HEIs

Human resource Management involves many functions in the corporate world however
when applied to the education sector and particularly higher education institutions these
functions need some modifications. It is the motivation and co-ordination of the activities
and efforts of the staff in colleges to obtain maximum output from them and thus achieve
the goals of education. Some of the core functions that must be of importance are
discussed in detail below.

Recruitment and selection in higher education

Putting the right man at the right job is an important as hiring the right person.
“Placement is the process of assigning a specific job to each one of the selected
candidates”. With the process of recruitment and selection the educational institutions get
the best personnel to interpret and implement the curriculum programmes. This function
deals with finding people with appropriate and necessary skills, knowledge and
experience to fill the vacant teaching posts. The student intake is to be considered while
filling up the vacant sits. It is observed that most of the posts lie vacant for months
especially in government aided institutions or they are simply filled up from year to year
on an ad-hoc basis. This happens because a single recruitment involves a lot of clearances
from various government departments and the whole process is both long drawn and
rigid. In non-aided educational institutions the sits are vacant due to the payment issues or
shortage of skilled faculties. Some of the private HEIs have started absorbing the skilled
employees. Thus the quality of private HEIs is improving as compared to government
aided and poorly managed HEIs.

Training and Development – In this process the skills of staff are identified and if
required training is provided in faculty developing workshop. This function is more
important for higher educational institutions, as training to faculty will help them to
deliver in better way to students. Many universities and colleges organize orientation and
refresher courses for the orientation and sharpen the skills and knowledge of faculties in
specific areas. These need to be updated and made more practical and relevant so that
faculty is able to gain from such programs. Soft skills training is a must because
educational institutions are people places and in a competitive scenario people skills are
prime. This can be done through in-service training, conference, workshop and seminars.

Performance Appraisal – This process accesses the performance of faculty at his

workplace. The performance assessment in higher educational institutions are quite many
a times different then what is defined by the managing bodies of the organization. The
appraisal system many a times varies from individual to individual in private educational
institution. However the government authorized educational institutions follow the
policies for performance appraisal of the staff. The rules vary due to different parameters
that are of importance to the organization. This is necessary because the objectives of
each institution and the students they cater to are different so the standardized parameters
laid down by regulatory bodies do not often yield the results organizations are looking
for. The performance of the staff depends on the motivation and appraisal policies laid
down by the institution.

Compensation and Benefits- For effective results and productive goal achievements the
staff of the institutions should be satisfies and happy. Any institution at times expects
extra work and adjustments in their regular schedule. For unscheduled tasks and if the
staff are provided compensation that the extra load or adjustments are readily accepted
and executed by the faculties. For example if faculties are working for important work of
institution on holidays then compensatory off would make the staff happy and thus the
productivity increases. Similarly reward can be provided for extra achievements. Some
social and family benefit also makes the staff satisfied and happy. So, for maximum and
productive goal attainment, the educational heads must ensure the comfort and happiness
of the staff. That can be done through prompt payment of salary, and ensuring a safe and
healthy working environment.

Employee Relations-This is the most important human resource function in any

organization. Employee –employee relations, and employee-management relations affects
the productivity of the organization. In higher education institutions the teaching staff is
highly educated. They require good relations to be nurtured with peers as well as
directors and managing body of the institution. Unfortunately this is not happening in
today’s institutions. Employees in large universities today do not often identify with their
institutions. Efforts must be made to change this and improve employee relations to foster
competitive advantage. Staff should be recognized as human beings with feelings,
interest, needs and emotions and treating them as such with fairness and respect.
HR challenges in Higher Education Institutions
Nowadays, managing people at workplace has become complex. People are fed up of
doing same thig repeatedly. They need some change and orientation in time intervals.
They are not reliable for doing the same things again and again. The senior and
experienced people demand large amount of salary. The skilled people are very
expensive. Their productivity is highly dependent on the person’s ability to instruct.
Following challenges are identified on basis of observation and experience.

1. Poor Working Condition

The staff usually expects financial rewards for achievements. But in parallel they also
expect healthier and motivated environment in the institution. But it is observed that
the staff in the higher educational institutions have to adjust a lot. They are always
found demanding for facilities and flexibilities in their working conditions. There
should be a systematic procedure for reward system. A good remuneration tends to
reduce inequalities between staff earnings, raise their individual morale, motivate
them to work for pay increase and promotions, reduces inter group friction and
employee grievances. Staff salaries are not paid alongside with other civil servants
and in some cases, faculties are owned many months of salary areas.

2. Problems of Staffing
The problem of staffing is massive in most of the HEIs. The problem arise due to the
relation of quality and quantity of staff with respect to the size of the institution. The
reason is due to poor staff recruitment and selection process. Many politicians
interfere in the recruitment process. They favour some of their candidates who take
away the place of eligible and skilled candidates. Some staff rarely stay in the remote
areas where the management wants their services. They try to shift in the cities for
self-convenience and good earnings.

3. Use of ICT in Education

Today is the age of information and communication technology. ICT is useful in
almost all the sectors including business and educational sectors. ICT is the means of
rapid dissemination of information and imparting knowledge, decentralization of
work, expansion of work force. ICT helps the faculty as a facilitator, supervisor and a
guide for classroom instruction. ICT also helps in the administration of staff, students
and other activities such as funding issues.

4. Budget – HR budgets in higher education is much less than those found in other
industries. This results in low salary of the staff and reduce in the flexibility of the
staff. Thus it also reduces the amount of allowances to the faculties.

5. Switch over of faculties – Many private colleges and institutions are coming up.
In comparison to government authorized HEIs these private HEIs provide better
facilities to the students. For the sake of survival in the competition as well as to run
 the institution in profitable manner the owners and trustees offer different kinds of
facilities and flexibilities to the staff. Some provide good salary packages to the
skilled staff this makes the people switch over from one institution to another in small
intervals. Low retention rate of staff makes results in poor management of human
resources.

RECOMMENDATION

Considering the importance of human resource management, the following are

recommended.
1. Education should be made attractive by creating an encouraging atmosphere for
teachers.
2. The society is progressed via education. So government must pay more attention
towards the education sector.
3. The salary structure should be standardised in all the HEIs similarly. The staff of
private organisation suffers a lot due to less payment which can be eliminated through
standard salary structure. This will reduce the turnover of staff in HEIs.
4. To be adaptable in the fast changing education sector and technology faculty
development programmes, Orientation and refresher courses should be organised for
updating the knowledge of faculties.
5. Colleges and universities must have HR departments that operate efficiently and
at a high level. They must move past basic administrative roles and become a major
organizational influence.
6. To fully meet those challenges, HR leaders in higher education will need to move
beyond administrative roles and take their place among their institution’s leading
influences.
7. “Every university or college is faced with cost pressure, so HR has to be an expert
on operational efficiency and high-performing cultures,” says Scott Nostaja, national
human capital practice leader at Sibson Consulting, which includes higher education HR
consulting.
8. There’s a high level of predictable retirements coming, with a loss of intellectual
capital, so HR needs to be on top of succession.

CONCLUSION
The paper concludes that higher education institutions play vital role in developing HR
for various sectors. But HEIs are very weak in their own human resource management.
The reasons behind this weaknesses includes financial condition of the HEI, political
forces and peer institutions policies. Thus the challenges for human resource management
in these institutes are poor working condition, advancement of technology, lack of
motivation, rewards and most importantly budget.
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