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Role of HR in NGO: Project Report
Role of HR in NGO: Project Report
Role of HR in NGO: Project Report
Role of HR in NGO
(2019-2020)
1941009
1
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Project Report entitled “Role of HR in NGO” is a record of project work done
independently by Ms. ADITI PAREEK under my guidance and supervision and that it has not previously
formed the basis for the award of any degree, fellowship or associateship.
Jaipur
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DECLARATION
I, ADITI PAREEK, student of BBA Semester IV hereby declare that the project work presented in this
report is my own work and has been carried out under the supervision of DR. CHITRA RATHORE of
S.S Jain Subodh P.G (Autonomous) College. This work has not been previously submitted to any other
university for any examination.
Aditi Pareek
Jaipur
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is not often in life that you get a chance of appreciating and expressing your feelings in black and
white to thank the people who have been a crucial part of your successes, your accomplishments, and
your being what you are today. I take this opportunity to; first of all, thank the faculty at S.S. Jain
Subodh P.G. (Autonomous) College, especially Dr. K.B.Sharma, Principal, and Dr. Rita Jain, Head of
Department BBA for inculcating and instilling me the knowledge, learning, will-power, values and the
competitiveness and professionalism required by me as a management student.
I would like to give special thanks to Dr. Chitra Rathore for educating me silver lining in every dark
cloud. Her enduring efforts, guidance, patience, and enthusiasm have given a sense of direction and
purposefulness to this project and ultimately made it a success. I express my sincere and heartiest thanks
to everyone who has contributed towards the successful completion of this project.
Last but not the least; I would like to thank my family for supporting me spiritually throughout my life.
Aditi Pareek
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CHAPTERISATION
1. Introduction
2. What is an NGO?
2.1. Introduction
2.2. How does an NGO work
2.3. Importance of NGOs
2.4. Challenges faced by NGOs
2.5. Top NGOs
2.6. Criticism
3. What is Human Resource?
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Importance f Human Resources
3.3. Who is a Human Resources Manager
3.4. Role of the HR Manager
3.5. Duties of the HR Manager
4. Human Resources in NGOs
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Importance of HR in NGOs
4.3. HR Selection Procedure
4.4. Challenges
4.5. Recommendation
5. Conclusion
6. About the study
6.1. Relevance of the study
6.2. Objectives
6.3. Limitations
6.4. Collection of Data
7. Bibliography
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Introduction
Human resource practices play a vital role as humans are the main resource to use the rest of the
resources. Investment for increasing human resource is important, and the more an organization invest in
its human resources, the greater the return from the investment is likely to be. Human resource practices
focus on the different aspects that can enhance the potential of an individual not just in the reference of
an organization but also in their personal life. Training and development, performance appraisal,
potential appraisal, career counseling, employee welfare, health, and safety are few of them.
The role of human resources is an integrating factor in any industry or sector and it matters most when it
is related to the service sector like education, travel and tourism, NGOs, etc. Further, owing to the
changes in the business environment and the advances in technology, communication, and consumerism,
the planning of human resources has become an incessant activity on the part of HR functionaries
working in a service organization. Broadly, human resource practices are required not only to maintain
the people as resources but also to enhance the capability of the organization, through its competent
people.
Human Resource Management is defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an
organization’s most valued assets – the people working there who individually and collectively
contribute to the achievement of its objectives. The overall purpose of human resource management is to
ensure that the organization is able to achieve success through people.
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What is an NGO?
While NGOs have no fixed or formal definition, they are generally defined as a nonprofit, citizen-based
group, independent of governmental influence (although they may receive government funding). NGOs,
sometimes called civil societies, are organized on community, national and international levels to serve
specific social or political purposes, and are cooperative, rather than commercial, in nature. NGOs are
private agencies that support development at local, national and international levels by organizing
indigenous groups. NGO activities include, but are not limited to, environmental, social, advocacy and
human rights work. They can work to promote social or political change on a broad scale or very locally.
NGOs play a critical part in developing society, improving communities, and promoting citizen
participation. NGOs work for the betterment and upliftment of socioeconomically and politically weaker
sections of the community to improve their status in the society so they can have equal rights and
opportunities. As a community group and organization, NGO provides and fulfills certain services,
development-oriented tasks and works with aims and objectives to bring about required positive changes
in society, community, areas, and situations.
BINGO (business-friendly international NGO or big international NGO): the Red Cross is one example
of a BINGO.
ENGO (environmental NGO): the World Wildlife Fund is one example of an ENGO.
QUANGO (quasi-autonomous NGO): an NGO which may have some governmental members; the ISO is
one example of a QUANGO.
RINGO (religious international NGO): the Catholic Relief Services is one example of a RINGO.
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HOW DOES AN NGO WORK?
1. Registration-
Every NGO in India is legally required to document a trust deed/ Memorandum of
Understanding/Bylaws that contain the name and address of the NGO, mission and objectives,
details of governing body members, human resource and staffing information, rules and regulations,
administrative laws and procedures.
An NGO can be registered as follows-
As a company: An NGO should be registered as a company under Section 8 of the Company’s Act
2013 when it’s objective is to promote arts, science, education, sports, social welfare, protection of
the environment and even for research purposes but its members cannot be paid a dividend. All
profits should be utilized for furthering the objectives of the company.
When registered as a company, it will not have to add the word ‘limited’ at the end, whereas it is
mandatory for the company to have words like Foundation, Council, Federation, etc. in its name.
As a society: An NGO with seven or more members can be registered as a society under the Society
Registration Act of 1860. The process is a little tedious than usual but is efficacious in the long run
with respect to its functioning and working. Section 20 of the Act elucidates that such societies may
include a military orphanage, formation and maintaining libraries, galleries and public museums.
However, there must be well-defined powers and regulations in their memorandum while registration
itself, accompanied by an affidavit. Such a society provides rules and powers for the members in the
documents itself and is governed as per the society bylaws.
As a trust: A Charitable Trust is not legally obliged to obtain registration; unless the Trust wants to
claim income tax exemptions. In Charitable Trust at least two people are required; there is no limit of
maximum members. While like Section 8 Company and Society, Trust is a separate legal entity. The
Author or Founder of the Trust will initially contribute to the corpus of the Trust and will also list out
the objectives for which the said corpus can be used and also set the vision and mission of the Trust.
After yielding the required trust deed and application form for Trust registration, on an average, it
takes only 2 days to 1 week for its formation. Here, trustees are vested with power rather than a
single person hence decisions tend to be more acute and quicker.
After the completion of the NGO registration in the above three methods, the NGO is eligible to
apply for registration under section 12-A and 80G Income Tax Act 1961.
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2. Funding-
Fundraising efforts are important for the NGO's existence and success. NGOs can raise funds
through internal sources like membership fees, sales, subscription charges, donations, etc. or grants-
in-aid from the Government, private organizations or foreign sources. The inflow of foreign funds is
governed by the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 1976. NGOs can also raise funds
through crowdfunding, organizing fund-raising events like workshops, seminars, sports events, etc.
or by digital means.
The following figure (Fig.1) shows Private and Government funding trends in the social sector
(NPOs and NGOs) for the year 2014-2018-
Fig. 1
3. Management-
Two management trends are particularly relevant to NGOs: diversity management and participatory
management. Diversity management deals with different cultures in an organization. Intercultural
problems are prevalent in Northern NGOs that are engaged in developmental activities in the South.
Personnel coming from a rich country are faced with a completely different approach to doing things
in the target country. A participatory management style is said to be typical of NGOs. It is intricately
tied to the concept of a learning organization: all people within the organization are perceived as
sources for knowledge and skills. To develop the organization, individuals have to be able to
contribute to the decision-making process and they need to learn.
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4. Human Resources-
The human resource is the most important resource in any organization. Just like any other
organization, Non-Government Organizations also need BODs, managers, employees, etc. Being a
Non-Profit Organization, NGOs look for volunteers. The volunteers can be assigned any work from
the plethora available. It could vary from playing with kids, taking care of the elderly to handling the
organization's paperwork, making the annual report, organizing fundraising events, planning future
events, projects and the like. Not all people working for non-governmental organizations are
volunteers. Paid staff members typically receive lower pay than in the commercial private sector.
Employees are highly committed to the aims and principles of the organization. The reasons why
people volunteer is not necessarily purely altruistic and can provide immediate benefits for
themselves as well as those they serve, including skills, experience, and contacts. NGO needs huge
commitments, advantageous and self-motivated individuals who put in their best having a will and
genuine desire to help the needy along with the presence of transparency. Life of an NGO worker
always stresses upon profound peace of mind which is quite toilsome in this modern world.
5. Building a network-
An NGO needs to build a wide professional network with other NGOs, government agencies, media,
and the corporate sector. Like most other organizations, an NGO thrives primarily on the strength of
partnerships.
Among the numerous causes for which NGOs work, some are-
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IMPORTANCE OF NGOs
NGOs have contributed to the development of communities around the world and are important partners
of many governments – while remaining independent from governments. Non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) play a significant role in today’s society, typically, picking up the government’s
deficits in services and social protection for citizens via the philanthropy of donors and the socially
aware. They provide services to society through welfare works for community development,
assistance in national disasters, sustainable system development, and popular movements.
For the proper development of a particular country or a region, it is very important to bring education
and awareness to the people about their rights and duties. Compromising with this issue means a big
chunk of society is to remain disengaged and deprived, and without proper knowledge, it is not possible
to achieve the goals. NGOs play an important role in helping out the common man with their rightful
demands and also try to help needy people in every possible way. The first and foremost, the NGOs are
responsible for disseminating education among the people at large and making them aware of their
rights. This is the biggest role as well as the biggest challenge for the NGOs.
NGOs maintain a large informed network of supporters who can be mobilized for events to garner media
attention and influence policy changes; hence they have the power to reach masses and bring to light any
kind of injustice prevailing within the society.
NGOs also play an important role in health research. NGOs have made and continue to make substantive
contributions by supporting relevant and effective research. India as a nation has a large vulnerable
population in terms of health, security, education, employment, and opportunities. It is not possible for
the government to serve each and every corner of the system and NGOs can facilitate communication
upward from people to the government and downward from the government to the people.
Communication upward involves informing the government about what local people are thinking, doing
and feeling while communication downward involves informing local people about what the government
is planning and doing. NGOs enable citizens to work together voluntarily to promote social values and
civic goals, which are important to them. In some cases, NGOs become spokespersons for the poor and
attempt to influence government policies and programs on their behalf. Thus NGOs play roles from
advocates for the poor to implementers of government programs; from agitators and critics to partners
and advisors; from sponsors of pilot projects to mediators.
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CHALLENGES FACED BY NGOs
Lack of Funds- Many NGOs find it difficult to garner sufficient and continuous funding for their
work. Gaining access to appropriate donors is a major component of this challenge. They may have
limited resource mobilization skills locally, so instead, they wait for international donors to approach
them. Current donors may shift priorities and withdraw funding. The NGO might suffer from a general
lack of project, organizational and financial sustainability.
Absence of Strategic Planning- Many NGOs suffer from the lack of a cohesive, strategic plan that
would facilitate success in their activities and mission. This renders them unable to effectively raise and
capitalize on financial support.
Poor Governance and Networking- A lack of effective governance is all too common in NGOs.
Many have a deficit of understanding as to why they must have a Board and how to set one up. A
founder may be too focused on running the NGO for their own purposes; however, governance is
foundational to transparency. Poor or disorganized networking is another major challenge, as it can
cause duplicated efforts, time inefficiencies, conflicting strategies and an inability to learn from
experience. The more NGOs communicate with one another, with International Non-Governmental
Organizations (INGOs) and with the community at large, the more effective all of them can be.
However, many NGOs perceive INGOs as hindering or even threatening to their goals and missions.
Many NGOs do not maximize the use of current technologies that could facilitate better communication
and networking. More effective use of technology can assist NGOs in staying abreast of important
regional, national and global concerns.
Limited Capacity- NGOs often lack the technical and organizational capacity to implement and
fulfill their mission, and few are willing or able to invest in training for capacity building. Weak capacity
affects fundraising ability, governance, leadership, and technical areas.
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TOP NGOs IN INDIA
1. SAMMAAN FOUNDATION: Originally established to link the poor to the mainstream through
education, training and financial support, the current project of this NGO involves the rickshaw pullers
to help them earn a better livelihood. This NGO also has a notable contribution in areas like child
education, health services and welfare of women.
2. GOONJ: A recipient of the “NGO of the Year” award in 2007 at the India NGO Awards, this NGO
aims at solving the clothing problems of the downtrodden. Goonj also provides relief during Rahat
floods in West Bengal, Assam, and Bihar.
3. CHILD RIGHTS AND YOU (CRY): CRY was started in the year 1979 by Rippan Kapoor.
The NGO is located in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, and Delhi. It is dealing with many issues
like Child Labor, Girl Child, Malnutrition, Poverty, Education and Illiteracy, Child Marriage, Child
Trafficking, Gender Inequality.
4. GIVE FOUNDATION: Give Foundation was founded in the year 1999. It is located in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. It is an online donation platform and aims to channel and provide resources to credible
non-governmental organizations across India. It helps in raising funds and contributions from individuals
and then distributes it to credible NGOs.
5. AKSHAYA TRUST: The sole aim of this NGO is to restore human dignity. Operating in
Madurai, this NGO offers rehabilitation, healthy food and care to the street destitute.
6. SMILE FOUNDATION: The main aim of this NGO is the rehabilitation of the underprivileged
by providing them education and healthcare services, thereby converting them into productive assets. It
is run by a group of corporate professionals.
7. UDAAN WELFARE FOUNDATION: The main aim of this NGO is to help the destitute, the
main area of stress being women, children, and senior citizens and also environmental welfare. One of
their main projects is a cancer chemotherapy center.
8. LEPRA SOCIETY: This NGO aims at the prevention and control of diseases like AIDS, leprosy,
and tuberculosis in poor communities.
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9. UDAY FOUNDATION: A New Delhi-based NGO, the Uday Foundation provides support to the
parents and families of children suffering from congenital disorders and other syndromes. Their projects
also include research to open new horizons of healthcare technologies. They also have health projects for
common people. Their special stress is in the area of protecting child rights.
10. HELPAGE INDIA: Established in 1978, the sole aim of this NGO is to provide resources to the
elderly people of our country. Their objective is to make aware senior citizens of their rights and protect
the rights of the senior citizens of our country so that they can also play a key role in our society. They
also work with the government (both local and national) to implement policies that will be beneficial to
the senior citizens of our country.
11. PRATHAM: The main aim of this NGO is to provide education to the children living in the huge
slums of Mumbai and even providing education to those people who are unable to go to school. Their
projects have increased enrollment of children in schools thus promising them a better tomorrow.
12. DEEPALAYA: This NGO aims at providing education to the children living in the slums of
Delhi. Their projects also include providing healthcare, education, vocational training to the
downtrodden and the physically disabled. They have contributed towards significant rural development
in Haryana and Uttarakhand.
While there is no data to show the no. of NGOs in India, but according to some sources India has nearly
3.4 million non-governmental organizations (NGOs), working in a variety of fields ranging from disaster
relief to advocacy for marginalized and disadvantaged communities. They are a major part of civil
society which brings rapid change and social transformation.
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CRITICISM
In general, there is an overall positive view of NGOs because of the good deeds they work for but every
good thing comes with some criticism. Some direct complaints target operational problems,
inconsistencies, misuses of funds (some high-profile), dogmatic commitments to a certain assumption
about economic policy, etc. Some have argued that power relations between NGOs and their 'target
countries' are often highly radicalized. Conceptually, there is a slowly growing body of work looking at
the underside of the 'Aid Industry'. Although most complaint literature is against multilateral or bilateral
agencies, there are occasional criticisms of NGO operational strategies and inadvertent adverse impacts.
In many developing countries with dysfunctional economies, entry into the aid-industry is the most
profitable professional career path for young college graduates. As NGOs provide services in the
community for free or at subsidized rates (such as training), the private sector is unable to evolve and
compete effectively at sustainable levels. Once an NGO begins offering products or services for a fee
(handicrafts, evaluations, digging wells, counseling, etc.), they will over time inevitably compete with
private-sector providers of these same services. But with their donation-funding support or access to
voluntary labor, they have a significant competitive advantage. Co-option (by political or other forces),
mission-drift, changing core services based on an ever-changing funding landscape, transparency,
accountability, moving beyond a charismatic founding leader, and donor-driven rather than self-defined
strategies are some additional areas for concern. New NGOs occasionally receive 'do-gooder' complaints
of engaging in activities to help, without understanding the full complexity and interplay of issues,
resulting in doing more harm than good. But again, in general, NGOs are viewed as beneficial
complementary source filling gaps in society not provided by the public or for-profit sectors. NGOs have
also played a crucial role in upholding International Law, especially United Nations treaties. Their work
continues to be the leading factor in social and political change.
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WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE?
Human resources are used to describe both the people who work for a company or organization and the
department responsible for managing resources related to employees. The term human resources were
first coined in the 1960s when the value of labor relations began to garner attention and when notions
such as motivation, organizational behavior, and selection assessments began to take shape.
Human resources are the people who make up the workforce of an organization. You could call it
personnel, labor, manpower or people. Human Resources Department (HRD) is the department within a
business that is responsible for all worker-related things. That includes recruiting, vetting, selecting,
hiring, onboarding, training, promoting, paying, and firing employees and independent contractors. HR
is also the department that stays on top of new legislation guiding how workers need to be treated during
the hiring, working, and firing process.
Human Resource is considered by many business strategists to be the most important of all company
resources. That’s because employees can gain new skills, thereby helping the organization grow. Other
resources simply don’t have that capacity.
Since an organization is a body of people, their acquisition, development of skills, motivation for higher
levels of attainments, as well as ensuring maintenance of their level of commitment is all significant
activities. These activities fall into the domain of HRM.
Human Resource Management is a process, which consists of four main activities, namely, acquisition,
development, motivation, as well as maintenance of human resources.
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IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Behind every successful organization is a good team of working professionals dedicated to their
craft and to the advancement of the organization’s goals and interests.
One can, therefore, conclude that there will be no building of a good team without having good
human resource management. The benefits of having such human resource management include
but are in no way limited to the following:
One of the major responsibilities of a human resource team is recruitment and training. This is
where it all begins. Plans and strategies are drawn for the purpose of hiring the right people for the
job. The human resource team-
It is without question that a safe, clean, and healthy environment helps increase the overall feeling
of wellness in an employee. Being comfortable and enjoying the atmosphere in a workplace helps
bring out the best performance of an employee and contributes to how an employee feels working
in the company which translates further to job satisfaction.
Human resource management aims to have employees reach their full potential in relation to work
and provides healthy suggestions and feedback for improvement. Employees are given information
from time to time regarding their performance and further defines the roles they are given which
helps them focus on what needs to be improved or missing.
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4. Dispute Management
It is but inevitable for disputes to arise in any organization. Human resources, after all, is a diverse
resource that is filled with many individuals coming from different cultures and different
backgrounds. No two humans are ever alike, and clashing personalities would always be at the
forefront of employee relations. Human resource management effectively acts as a mediator and
consultant in these circumstances and helps sort out the issues involved between parties. Hearing
out grievances from each side helps them come up with viable solutions which when taken in a
timely manner prevents issues from blowing up out of proportions.
Human resource teams actively participate in communities like organizing seminars, business
meetings, or other official get-togethers in order to develop public relations with other institutions
and to the general consumer public. Human resources management further develops seminars and
business meetings to provide exposure for the organization to the public, thereby improving or
increasing public image. Having a good public image encourages the best minds to come looking
for a job at your place. Human resource management likewise aims to have a balance in recruiting
the most suitable applicants and retaining talented employees.
The human resources of an organization are managed by the head of the Human Resource Department,
the Human Resource Manager.
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WHO IS A HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER?
Human resource (HR) managers are involved with recruitment, training, career development,
compensation and benefits, employee relations, industrial relations, employment law, compliance,
disciplinary and grievance issues, redundancies, etc. The job involves keeping up to date with areas such
as employment law, which change often.
Generalist HR roles are usually found in small and medium-sized companies, where the HR manager
will deal with the whole range of HR activities. In large organizations, you will often find specialists, for
example in learning and development, recruitment or employee relations.
Role of HR manager-
HR professionals are mainly concern with developing spontaneous theories and models for improving
HR practices. They are creating models that will fit with the required organizational requirements. In
some research, it has been proven that HR professionals make every effort to create balance with the
contradicting forces within the organization. HR personnel is doing this effort without thinking about
many business changes. Earlier, the traditional role of Human Resource professionals as being the
administrative arm of the organization was to systematize and make policies. The role of the HR
professional in serving executive objectives has been well executed. However, it has become a major
roadblock for some organizations. Despite these views, this role is occasionally maintained.
Staffing/resourcing/hiring
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Evaluating/rewarding
Motivating/mentoring/ counseling
Developing/maintaining the culture
Managing/controlling
The role of the HR manager is transforming and answering the changes that occur in his
organization. In order for the organizations to succeed in a business environment they are now
becoming adaptable, elastic, quickly respond to changes and have become customer-
centered. The below-mentioned duties of an HR in the modern world explain that the HR
professional must balance the roles of being a change agent, an administrative expert, a strategic
partner, and an employee champion.
Duties of an HR manager-
Recruitment: Recruitment has been one of the major responsibilities of the HR team. It is the
job of HR personnel to plan and devise strategic campaigns and guidelines for recruiting suitable
candidates for a required job description. They also have to serve as a mediator between the
employer and the candidate and communicate company policies and terms of the contract to the
candidate before he is hired. This is the first pillar of HR management that every HR manager
starts with. It’s probably one of the most important aspects of any HR professional’s career. The
recruitment function comprises 2 main objectives-
I. Attract Talent- Attracting talent starts with first planning the requirement of manpower in
the organization and the gauging needs of the organization’s human resource
requirements, and accordingly putting a plan of action to fulfill those needs with the
placement of “talented professionals”. That’s followed by creating an “employer brand”
which will be representative of the organization’s good image and portray an attractive
impression in the minds of potential candidates.
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II. Hire Resources- This is where the recruitment strategies are put into action. The HR
manager needs to run all possible engines to go out there in the market and find that one
suitable gem. This part of the role includes things like finding relevant locations to look
in, reach out to maximum potential candidates using mass communication mediums,
aggregate all responses, filter out irrelevant applications, judge suitable incumbents and
coordinate internally to get them interviewed.
Training:
Not all is done once you’ve recruited a suitable candidate for the job. Training is important to
help the new hires get acquainted with the organization’s work pattern. It is imperative for the
HR department to incorporate a training program for every new employee based on the skill set
required for their job. It will further also contribute to employee motivation and retention. For the
training to be effective, every new employee can be subjected to on-the-job training for the initial
days to get him in sync with the work guidelines of the organization. This training will not only
be of assistance to the employee but also give the HR team an insight into the employee’s
workmanship. On completion of the training, HR plays a significant role in assessing the results
of the training program and grading employees on the same.
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Appraisals:
Performance appraisals help in employee motivation by encouraging them to work to their fullest
potential. It also enables to give them feedback on their work and suggest necessary measures for
the same. This helps employees to have a clear view of what is expected of them and what they
are delivering. They can thus, work well towards improving their performance and achieving
targets. The role of HR in this would be to have a policy of generating timely appraisal reports
and a review of the same by the authorities. The HR team should communicate individually with
employees and give clear feedback or suggestion on their performance. A system to reward
employees excelling at their work would help in employee motivation and thus garner a higher
degree of productivity and employee engagement.
Resolving Conflicts:
Where different people have different views, conflicts are almost inevitable. Whether the dispute
is amongst two or more employees or between the employee and the management, an HR
manager has the right to intervene and help map out a solution. The HR should be available at the
disposal of the conflicting parties and hear out their issues without being judgmental. Prior
investigations are a must before passing any judgment. The HR head is not expected to
discriminate or play favorites in this matter and always deliver an unbiased and practical
decision. Reimbursement in case of any loss caused and strict actions against the defaulter should
be practiced for effective conflict resolution by the HRM.
Employee Relations:
Human Resources are called so because its major responsibility is dealing with the human part of
the organization and this involves having great interpersonal skills. An HR manager who sits in
the office all day will not turn out to be good at building connections with the employees and
thus fail to serve the purpose of being an HR head. As an HR person, employees should feel
comfortable coming up to you with their problems and for that, it is important that the HR team
builds a good public image within the organization.
The HR team has to be proactive and know their employees. The HR head’s role is to establish
the trust and confidence of the employees. He should be looked upon as both an HR expert and
an employee advocate.
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Legal Knowledge
This may seem the least glamorous of all, but is an important aspect of the HRM. An HR
manager should always be in compliance with the law. Whether it’s drafting new policies or
writing terms of a contract, it is the HR department’s job to build guidelines keeping the laws in
mind. This ensures an organization’s continued growth and existence. While drafting policies,
the HR should always ensure to be at an upper hand legally and keep the organization’s practices
in tune with the labor laws, tax laws, permissible working hours, minimum wages, and a no-
discrimination policy.
Management
Management is the most important job of an HR manager. Management extends right from
managing employees to managing the employers and the whole HR department as well. The role
of an HR manager is to manage, create, implement and supervise policies/regulations, which are
mandatory for every employee and also have knowledge of its appropriate functioning. As
mentioned before, the HR as a department should also be well managed by the HR head. If the
HR department itself is in a state of chaos, it cannot serve as a peacemaker for the other
departments.
Organization
An HR head is responsible for organizing all functions of the organization. To start with, it
includes employee on-boarding, i.e. welcoming new employees. It is a must for every HR head to
carry out induction for every new hire and give them an orientation regarding the company
policies and rules.
The HR personnel should also introduce the new employees to their colleagues and assign them a
mentor. It also involves listing out job expectations and defining roles and responsibilities, thus
getting the new employees in tune with the working of the organization. The HR personnel is
also responsible for organizing and storing all employee data efficiently and keeping it secure.
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HUMAN RESOURCES IN NGOs
If Non-Governmental Organizations can play a better role in corporate social responsibility, the question
here is who can play a better role in linking industry with the community. The answer here is the Human
Resource Management Department of the industry. The HR managers should take lead in its effort to
make a linkage between the community and the industry. To develop a better rapport with the people,
HR managers have to make use of their Strategic Relationship Management Skills. They should interact
with the community by establishing better linkage with the Non-Governmental Organizations working
there in the locality. The HR managers can initially conduct Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the
community and community leaders with the help of Non-Governmental Organizations and need
evaluation and need prioritization is to be conducted.
Non-government organizations (NGOs) have become significant players in development policy over the
last two decades. The evolving relationship among NGOs, developing states and donors are a critical
aspect of international development assistance and the wider development policy debate. NGOs vary in
their missions, internal management, the scope of the engagement, source of funding, relations with
developing sates and targeted areas of operations. NGOs are the vanguard of civil society. They have
increasingly been seen as the vehicles of the new polices agenda of economic liberalization and political
channeling resource through northern and indigenous NGOs support grassroots organizations, social
change, political empowerment, and sustainable development. Developing states have ceded space to
NGOs to deliver services, perform contract development work and promote institutional capacity
building. The role of NGOs in the contemporary world is elaborately described in the present study
along with the management challenges and other issues faced by NGOs, social activity, policy-makers
and all concerned.
Just as businesses and organizations of all sizes and areas of operation rely on their personnel to execute
their strategies and advance their goals, so too do non- profit groups. It follows, then, that non-profit
organizations need to attend the same tasks as profit-seeking companies do when they turn to the
challenges of establishing and maintaining a solid workforce.
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Extensive research was done by PRIA; a leading NGO in India, on the NGO Sector indicates the
following facts about NGOs in India-
From the above data, it is revealed that most of the NGOs are staffed with voluntary workers and many
of them have very few paid staff. The question arises, how many personnel in NGOs are professionals if
very few people are remunerated for their services.
Review of various pieces of literature such as books, journals, and unpublished research reports reveals
that the empowerment of human resource professionals is high on the agenda in development plans and
policies. NGOs have proved to have the potential to facilitate the process of empowerment among
professionals. The definition encompasses a few key elements such as power, autonomy and self-
reliance, entitlement, participation, awareness development and capacity building.
Capacity-building for NGOs is an ongoing process. As we move ahead to bring about social change, we
also end up facing new and unexpected challenges. However, constant training and exposure to new
ideas can lead organizations to address these challenges and improve their organizational growth.
Organizational development is a critical aspect of fundraising. If the systems of your organization are set
right, you not only perform better, but you also have the prospect of attracting donors to support and
empower you.
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IMPORTANCE OF HR IN NGOs
Human resource management is the management of the people who work in an organization. They can
be managers, employees, project officers, field workers, coordinators. Since the organization is run by
these people, they are considered to be a “resource” – ‘a human resource.’ Like we use funds to manage
a project, we also need to use these ‘human resources’ or ‘people’ to manage the organization.
It is not enough just to have a dedicated team for an organization. It is fundamentally believed that
unless the team is not properly managed, motivated and performed, the organization will not achieve its
goal and objectives.
Almost all the HR practices are being adopted by larger NGOs and the roles and responsibilities are
equally challenging. Clear selection criteria must be created. An NGO should take advantage of the
benefits of tools like psychometric testing in the selection process. Psychometric testing and other
similar tools can contribute significant value by helping HR practitioners in placing the right types of
individuals in the right positions. This also helps to ensure that new employees receive the correct
training to enhance their own skills, specifically in critical positions such as childcare and management
roles.
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Providing employees with support and understanding is especially important in organizations that work
with children and trauma cases. An example is that of a wellness initiative that focuses on the well-being
of staff, including, health, trauma and employee stress. Such initiatives are aimed at retaining qualified,
enthusiastic employees and developing a positive organizational culture. It is critical for HR practitioners
to partner with businesses in understanding the needs of an organization, what challenges the industry is
facing such as skills shortages, salary disparities, etc, best practice HR procedures and government
policies that stand as a hindrance to the success of an NGO.
The personnel function in the NGO industry has evolved to the HR business partnering concept and is
well embraced by many NGOs in recent years. Any NGO using the business partnering model with
strategic intent in aligning people to business is bound to achieve organizational success. The NGO
world is continuously evolving and is becoming an industry to be recognized as the change frontier in
economic and social development in the country and with the right people, it’s bound to achieve
success.
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HR SELECTION PROCEDURE IN NGOs
and the aftermath
2. Recruitment-
Recruiting, screening, and selecting the organization’s workforce is the main nature of human
resource management functions in NGOs. Every NGO adopts unique strategies for fulfillment the
process of HRM and different types of tools are followed by the NGOs to complete the process.
While the process of recruitment for many non-profit organizations, publicizing its very existence is
the most important step that it can take in its efforts to recruit staff and volunteers alike. This is
especially true if one wishes to encourage volunteers to become involved. Volunteers are the life-
blood of countless non-profit organizations, for they attend to the basic tasks that need performing,
from paperwork to transportation of goods and/or services to maintenance. Many non-profit groups
have found that contact with some community organizations, particularly churches and civic groups,
can be particularly rewarding since these organizations already have members that may be
predisposed toward lending a hand.
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your work will set the standard for volunteer performance. If you are disciplined and well organized,
you will often attract more qualified volunteers." Managers of non-profit organizations should make
sure that they do the following when engaged in the process of staffing, screening, and selection:
Recognize that all personnel whether they are heading up your organization's annual fundraising
drive or lending a hand for a few hours every other Saturday have an impact on the group's
performance.
Use an application form that covers all pertinent areas of the applicant's background.
Ensure that the screening process provides information about an individual's skills, attitudes, and
knowledge.
Try to determine if the applicant or would-be volunteer is interested in the organization for
legitimate reasons (professional development and/or advancement, genuine interest in your
group's mission) or primarily for reasons that may not advance the organization's cause
(loneliness, corporate burnout, etc.).
Objectively evaluate prospective employees and volunteers based on criteria established in the
organization's job specifications.
Be realistic in putting together a volunteer workforce. "Managers cause most of the problems
with volunteers by making unreasonable assumptions about their intentions and capabilities,"
wrote Kennedy. An organization that sets the bar too high in its expectations of volunteers (in
terms of services provided, hours volunteered, etc.) may find itself with a severe shortage of this
potentially valuable resource.
Recognizing that would-be volunteers and employees bring both assets and negative attributes to
your organization, non-profit groups should be flexible in accommodating those strengths and
weaknesses. "If you want people to perform in an organization, you have to use their strengths—
not emphasize their weaknesses," said Drucker. Organizations that pay attention to these
guidelines will be far more likely to enjoy positive and lasting relationships with their volunteers
and staff than those who fill their human resource needs in a haphazard fashion.
Once the recruitment of staff is finalized, an appointment letter needs to be issued, which comprises the
information about the final selection. On acceptance of the letter, the new employee will be signing an
employment contract with the organization.
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The employment contract comprises of the following:
5. Poor Performers-
Many non-profit organizations find that at one point or another, they must address poor performance
by a member of the organization. When that person is a paid member of the staff, dealing with the
issue is in many respects no different than it would be in the for-profit world. Organizations of all
types have a right to assume certain standards of performance from paid employees, and if that
standard is not met, they should, by all means, take the steps necessary to ensure that they receive the
necessary level of performance from that position, even if that means firing a poor worker. The
situation becomes more complex when the person is a volunteer, however. The volunteer work is an
essential element of many non-profit organizations, and the primary characteristics of volunteerism
—selfless service— make it difficult to remove poor performers. In addition, the insensitive handling
of one volunteer can have a negative impact on other volunteers upon which your organization relies.
Nonetheless, Kennedy stated that "volunteers should be held accountable just as though they were
being paid top dollar to work. This does not mean that you can be careless about people's feelings.
Even for-profit managers have learned that managing and supervising requires certain social graces
and sensitivity to every individual. However, the reluctance of non-profit managers to hold
volunteers accountable to reasonable levels of performance or to terminate bad volunteer
relationships can be their downfall."
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6. Compensating the Organization's Employees and Volunteers-
Compensation is one of the most important parts of human resource management. Different types of
packages, perks, complimentary gifts are practiced by the NGOs to make the employees satisfied.
The main intention of such type of compensation is motivation, need fulfillment and satisfaction of
employees. Two types of benefits may be provided to compensate the employees-
Tangible Benefits: Benefits that can be quantified, especially in money terms are called
tangible benefits. The benefits can be as attractive as those provided by for-profit business
corporations. In addition, the benefits can be far more economical for the corporation and
beneficial to the employees than any program that could be offered by unincorporated
organizations. The nonprofit corporation can establish an employee pension and retirement
income plan. It can provide for sick pay and vacation pay. It may arrange for group life,
accident and health insurance coverage for its officers and employees. It can elect to cover its
employees' personal medical expenses that are not covered by the group insurance plans,
provided that the corporation can pay all or part of the cost of the various employee benefits
it sets up.
Intangible Benefits: Successful managers of nonprofit organizations recognize that the people
who compose their organization’s workforce—volunteers, employees, officers, and directors
alike—are often participating in the group at least in part for altruistic reasons. Although
successful business executives have learned that workers are not entirely motivated by
paychecks or promotions—they need more—the need is even greater in non-profit
institutions. Even paid staff in these organizations to need achievement, the satisfaction of
service, or they become alienated and even hostile. After all, what's the point of working in a
non-profit institution if one doesn't make a clear contribution
7. Appraisal-
A very few Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are emphasizing performance appraisal to
determine the strength and weaknesses of their employees to improve their productivity so that it
helps the organizations to acquire competitive advantages with human resources. Organizations have
to realize that a well-developed performance appraisal process can be useful for assessment of
employee training needs, employee merit appraisal, determining employee salary, feedback, and
suggestion for performance development.
Performance appraisal can also be used as a motivational tool for communicating performance
expectations to employees and providing them with feedback. So, like any other organization,
performance appraisal plays an important role in NGOs too.
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The Employee Performance Plan can be developed to analyze an employee’s performance. It is
developed jointly by the NGO supervisor and the employee together after discussing and planning the
objectives, activities and results to be undertaken by the employee. The Performance Plan for the year
specifically outlines the targets to be achieved by the employee over the year and these targets will be
used as benchmarks during the annual evaluation and appraisal.
Position held:
In addition to the Employee Annual Performance Plan, the employee has to develop a work plan on a
monthly basis in consultation with the supervisor and based upon the Annual Performance Plan.
Activities Months
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Au
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Sep Oct
g
Conducting a
baseline
survey
Organize a
health camp
Writing
proposals
…….
…….
9. On-going support-
A constructive HR department can tremendously affect the dynamics of an association. Inspiration
and motivating employees can be difficult within regular organizations, not to mention an NGO. And
so, it is imperative that the leadership team within an NGO is strong enough to lead the organization
through difficult times and able to effectively communicate the vision to the rest of the organization
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the organization navigate through smoothly. While NGOs may have different challenges compared
to private organizations, some of these may be similar to private organizations in terms of talent
acquisition, onboarding, training and development. However, with a pro-active stance from the HR,
most of these can be overcome.
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CHALLENGES
The following are the human resource problems identified within the local NGOs:
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reality of trained employees quitting before making a significant contribution to the organization
after the training and therefore many organizations do not plan for this. In a situation where
training opportunities were available o the relevant staff was not given the opportunity to attend
and instead another staff is sent for training or the supervisors attend the training yet they are not
directly involved in project implementation activities. In project-oriented organizations, there is
no certainty of growing in one’s career as the funding duration is normally short term and funds
or opportunities to support the development of human resources capacity are normally few or not
available.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the listed challenges in managing human resources. Local NGOs in the development sector
need to adopt a strategic focus in human resource management and replace the traditional forms. HRM
in small organizations is often ad hoc, and often a reflection of the backgrounds of founders and
entrepreneurs.
I see there is a need for local NGOs to borrow and contextualize best and promising HRM practices used
by the business sector to improve organizational HR management. This will address the issues that arise
as a result of having adhoc HRM practices that are influenced by the founders of the local NGO or are
not contextualized to fit the context in which an organization operates.
The following are possible solutions that would be relevant if adopted and implemented to address the
current challenges that local NGOs have in managing human resources. There is evidence that the earlier
small organizations adopt HRM approaches and the extent to which they invest in the practices and
people, have long-term impacts on organizational growth and survival.
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Develop and Implement Staff Performance Management System
Organizational success comes from employees’ total commitment to the organizational mission,
goals, objectives, and values. It is the task of the management to induce and encourage that
commitment. Many organization faces the challenge of having unmotivated employees whose
poor performance affects the growth and survival of the organization. Introduction of
performance-based incentives (monetary or non-monetary forms), within local NGOs, will go a
long way to boost employee motivation
Outsourcing HR Functions
Local NGOs that are small and lack the adequate funds to have an HR unit and find the different
HR functions intensive and complex to manage from within can consider outsourcing. Some key
HR functions that can be outsourced may include; development of organizational policies and
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practices, career development, staff counseling, recruitment and selection. This is especially
important for local NGOs whose size is not too large to warrant having an internal HR team.
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CONCLUSION
The market environment for competent and skilled personnel is becoming increasingly competitive and
costly. The constant pressure for change has forced some local NGOs to realize that events within and
externally affect their performance and survival. Local NGOs need to be aware that competent
employees together with effective HR systems and practices are factors essential for securing sustainable
competitive advantage in their market space or niche. This requires local NGOs to be proactive in
continuously seeking to improve their human resource management practices. The adoption of the
organizational development process can support local NGOs to develop strategies that introduce planned
and systematic HR management practices. Organizational systems, processes and activities are
integrated and synergized through a strong organizational culture. A crucial task for local NGO
leadership is to evaluate the extent to which organizational culture ensures the strategic integration and
adoption of human resource practices to make sure employee potential is harnessed and developed for
the benefit of both the individual and organization. Donor agencies and governments are an important
part of the local NGOs' lifecycle as many organizations receive support from the two institutions to
undertake development at the community level. There is a need for donor and government agencies to
become more sensitive and pro-active in understanding the human resource challenges of partner
implementing organizations and offer more support to build capacity in HR management in addition to
providing funds and registration of the organizations.
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ABOUT THE STUDY
A number of researches have been undertaken which highlighted HR Practices for achieving higher
performance standards in the organization. Some of the researches also explain that designing and
integrating human resources systems is of the ways to ensure the creation for customers and sustain an
organization's effectiveness.
There is growing evidence that corporate HR Practices are associated with high performance and can
encourage employee behavior and attitudes towards strengthening the competitive strategy of an
organization. But no empirical research has so far been undertaken to investigate the effects of HR
Practices in a non-government organization. Thus a gap exists in the research in this area of
importance. All these faces have motivated the researcher to undertake this research work. This research
will be of great help too:
1. NGOs
This research carries out a thorough study of Human Resource Practices in NGOs. This will suggest
measures for improvement and help NGOs to betterment in performance.
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OBJECTIVES
Every research has its limitations and merits as well. This research is no exception to this and prone to
the following limitations:
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COLLECTION OF DATA
The task of data collection begins after chalk out the research plan. Here the researcher uses both
primary and secondary data.
Primary data — The primary data are those which are collected afresh and for the first time. and thus
happen to be original in character
Secondary data — The secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone else and
which have already been passed through the statistical process.
Here the research study will mainly be supported by secondary data which will be collected from the
annual reports of selected NGOs.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites-
www.ngopulse.com
www.quora..com
www.humanresourcespath.com
www.ciphr.com
www.fundoodata.com
www.peoplematters.in
www.indiatoday.in
www.ngosindia.com
www.savethechildren.in
impact Magazine
HRM Review
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