Human Resource Development - A Case Study With Respect To Leather Technology

Summary
Human Resource Development has both short term and long term implications. Technology is closely linked to the perceptions of the immediate society. Technology education encompasses many inter-related areas. Human resource development of Technology thus has its ramifications not only in the closed loop of the industry but is also linked to the broader perspective of the relevant needs of the society, with far reaching consequences. Leather being an important economic product has vast employment and export potentials. Since 1948 when it was founded, Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai, India has played a pivotal role in the Indian Leather scenario. In this paper, Human Resource Development in the field of Leather Technology is presented taking CLRI as a case study. HRD has always been one of the strengths of CLRT. Human resource development in an area such as the Leather Industry has many complexities. Industry-academy-research interaction is a very important cog in the wheel. CLRI symbolizes the culmination of such a symbiotic relationship. Various training programmes have been designed and condu~ted at CLRI to suit practically every human resource requirement in the leather industry. This has been possible only by exploiting the tremendous research resources and potential available at CLRI. The relevant needs of the Industry were closely monitored and incorporated within the framework of the programmes. This has been carried out with a close interaction of the Academy thus maintaining the highest standards. The design of the programmes to suit the short term and long term needs of the industry, the constant monitoring and update of its programmes, revision of the course curriculum, faculty and course evaluation, accreditation systems and international collaboration and service are some of the other issues relevant to this case study and are discussed in this paper.

Human Resource Development: Education and Training
Modem society has often been characterized as a knowledge based society, as more and more areas of social and economic life become dependant upon the systematic application of knowledge for its effective functioning. Very early, in the eighteenth century education was seen as an investment in human capital as in the same way as the purchase of a machine represents investment in physical capital. Over the years, investment in education and training has been seen in broader perspectives and today it is seen more as a social investment rather than only as a private investment. Bloom using the state based' approach to explain the process of social learning brought out the importance of the affective domain. The cognitive learning process likewise which when applied to the process of thought occurs in three steps: learning, which is associated with collection of information, knowledge, which is associated with the interpretation of that information and wisdom which is more abstract in nature and reflects the higher plane of the 1eaming process which evolves through the experience of the acquisition of knowledge. Education and Training is an integral component of Human Resource Development. Discussions on education and training have often ignored the differences between the two. Even though there are grey areas existing in the middle, differences occur. Education deals with not only the imparting or learning of a skill but also dwells on knowledge which in turn can lead to wisdom. Training on the other hand is restricted in content and process, has immediate implications. It, essentially, is about work- related skills and is intimately connected to employment. Thus it follows that education and training are different but not mutually exclusive. An institution that provides a blend of both, thus targets a wider group with individual specific requirements and achieves a more complete delivery of the task of human resource development.

Relevance of HRD to the leather scenario
Leather is an important economic and export product of India. It has tremendous employment and export potential. The leatherindustry in India is unique. In an industry that relies a great deal on tradition and the practice of age old methods, a change in the outlook of an industry is of paramount importance. Value addition to leather can be achieved through technology. The personnel involved in the industry thus have to be kept abreast of all the recent trends and changes occurring in the technology. The partnership that can invoke these changes is the research-academy-industry interaction. This symbiotic relationship can in turn grow only if technology and the society in question move in phase with each other thus a close interface of technology with the socio-economic structure of the country is necessary.

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