Human resource is being increasingly recognized as a prime source of strategic advantage. The need for its effective development is, therefore, more important than ever before. The significance of HRD is all the more vital in the service sector. The paper examines the HRD practices in banks in Coimbatore through a questionnaire-based data from 260 employees belonging to the public sector, old private sector, and new private sector banks. The validated questionnaire measures the HRD practices along seven dimensions. The paper studies the differences in HRD practices among the categories of banks and concludes with a discussion on the implications for the banking sector on implementing appropriate HRD practices.

Winds of change are sweeping across the corporate landscape and there is an increasing need to cope with the ever-changing forces of competition, technological onslaught, and new trends in the economy. This scenario has led to a growing awareness that productive utilization of human resources is the key to organizational success. Achieving competitive success through people requires viewing employees as a resource and hence investment in their development is essential. The concept of Human Resource Development (HRD) is gaining widespread popularity in India as well as in many other countries around the globe. In a changing environment an organization can only be dynamic and growth-oriented by developing its employees.

The concept of HRD is multidimensional. It has been defined by economists, social scientists, industrialists, managers, and other academicians in different ways and from different perspectives. In a broad sense, HRD is the process of increasing knowledge and skill of the people in a given society. In the national context, HRD is a process by which the people in various groups are helped to improve their competence continuously to make them more self-reliant and develop a sense of pride in their performance (Rao et al., 1998). In economics, it means accumulation and qualitative upgradation of human capital and its effective utilization for the development of the economy. In politics, HRD refers to preparing people for active participation in the political process. From the social and cultural points of view, HRD enriches life (Verma, 1988).

Management Research Journal, Human Resource Development, HRD Practices, Indian Commercial Banks, Public and Private Sector Banking Industry, Corporate Goals, Organizational Culture, Human Resource Information Systems, HRIS, Global Banking System, Economic System, Performance Management, Human Resource Management.