Role of HR Professionals in the Indian Information Technology Sector

(ProQuest: ... denotes formula omitted.)IntroductionHuman Resource Management (HRM) is an important support function to main business. The type of support it provides is well addressed in studies that investigate Human Resource (HR) activities (Harel and Tzafrir, 1999; Huselid and Becker, 1997; Ulrich, 1998; Jackson et al., 2004; Budhwar and Boyne, 2004; Budhwar et al., 2006a; Budhwar et al., 2006b; Lambooij et al., 2006; Jain et al., 2009). The profiles of organizations in multiple sectors vary and so do HR activities. There is however a firm belief irrespective of sector that HRM must play a more strategic role in supporting business. This implies that it must rise above just being a support function. Looking across literature it is seen that activities of HR professionals within a sector are much less addressed. A sector that needs close attention is the growing flagship sector of Information Technology in India. This paper communicates the activities that HR professionals play in organizations of the Indian IT sector. We describe their roles and activities with a specific reference to where the role played is strategic.The Indian IT industryThe success story of Indian IT industry is well described (Sheshabalaya, 2005). Most of this business is characterized as IT outsourcing and software code development. The industry is growing rapidly, and in the year 2008 it registered a growth of about 34%. The growing success of the Indian IT companies has brought with it a great surge of recruitment activities from the HR perspective. The top three Indian IT organizations namely TCS, Infosys and Wipro employ over 240,000 professionals.Table 1 shows the status of large IT companies in India. The top ten companies compete to be in the top ten ranks. The companies have varying growth percentages and revenues. The fully owned IT companies such as HCL, Cognizant and Wipro have very high growth percentages. Implying that they are fast growth companies needing care and nurture where the HR function is concerned. The companies at the over all lead revenue-wise are TCS, Wipro and Infosys. These have been in the lead for over a decade.HRM in the growing IT sectorGoals such as beating competition, meeting demanding customer's deadlines, managing fluctuating currency and the urge for speed, precipitate volatility. Volatility in the IT economy makes the role of HR professionals more complicated. HR professionals have a tight rope to walk in order to help drive performance and productivity in software development and out sourcing. The industry has challenges that HR professionals encounter on a daily basis. HR professionals spend time identifying ways to recruit, retain and right size manpower, pay competitive salaries on time, and maintain a work life balance; else employees leave and quit jobs.Developing reward (tangible and intangible) packages in IT organizations under such conditions is a challenge. Retaining the knowledge worker when attrition rates in IT organizations range from 10-40% annually is yet another challenge. Attrition rates of the knowledge worker are high in most organizations, with reasons for leaving being: study abroad, job abroad, new job in India, or study in India (Sontakke, 2000). In development teams that are close in terms of geographic proximity, or even far away as in virtual teams, the maintenance of a spirit of win-win and collaboration keeps the HR professional busy with conflict management techniques to resolve interpersonal conflicts. Whilst such managers give themselves for the organization, lobbying for their own image in the organization can become an energy consuming issue. The CEO's philosophy towards people influences the CEO's dependency on the HR function. In turn HR professionals need to educate themselves in the technical business of the organization.Often, today the line manager works with the HR professional to make business results happen. …