Bridging the gap; aligning HR education with industry needs

financialexpress.com:

By Chiradip Bandyopadhyay

Modernity notwithstanding, human resources have retained their centrality and indispensability in organisations.  Businesses have evolved from industry 1.0, and industry 5.0 is knocking our doors. The question is not therefore, whether HR needs to change. The question is to what extent it needs to change and what are the new dimensions of change. The foremost dimension of change, which academicians and managers have unequivocal agreement upon, is to align human resource management education with emerging industry needs. 

Foremost in this narrative on alignment is to equip students with new technology relevant to HRM and enable them to implement such technologies. Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics based HR decision making, use of Chatbot based employee interfaces, Block chain based HR applications and Internet of Things (IoT) have become game changers for HRM in industry. Immense are the advantages to be reaped by the application of these technologies in various ways in HRM. Students in HRM have to be trained in the usage, application and management of these technologies. 

They need to be sensitised to the fact that technology assists human resources to enhance productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. An HR technology oriented management program may thereby be required to be adopted by management institutions. While regular, formal classroom teaching may have its limitations, institutions may have to look forward to asynchronous methods. Certifications provided by technology providers like SAP or IBM may be one of the options worth exploring. Other alternatives may be courses offered by EdTech companies or MOOC courses offered by various leading universities in India and abroad. 

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