The first-corporate human resources and industrial relations - concerns itself with matters pertaining to policy and process leadership. The second-divisional and locational HR-takes care of the actual implementation at the company's three business divisions and nine locations.

The idea is to distance the HR department's profile from the bureaucratic ``personnel department'' of yore, and take a more proactive and keen interest in grooming human capital within the organisation.

The first division, corporate human resources (HR) and corporate industrial relations (IR), consists of a dedicated team of eight to nine professionals who act as the think tank for people-related policies and processes. A separateset of 15 to 20 managers are responsible for implementing and reviewing the same.

``The role of the corporate HR is to review, define and oversee industry and business-related people policies and procedures, to conceptualise, introduce and monitor organisation development and training interventions, and to act as facilitator and champion for all people and culture issues,'' says KS Oberoi, vice-president, operations and HR, Voltas Limited. More specifically, this department would look at issues like change management, people-related policies, organisation design, compensation policy and design and training and development.

Corporate IR on the other hand, is be geared to play a lead role in the proactive handling of issues that are of interest to the company's unionised employees. While remaining a centralised function with accountability for execution at the local level, Corporate IR is expected to promote a positive culture across the organisation. The scope of Corporate IR extends to industrialrelations across the company, staff administration of senior management staff and all levels of central service departments and to develop and maintain IT systems in HR.

To this end procedures to be adopted by the Corporate IR division are: putting in place recruitment guidelines, skill enhancement through training programmes and workshops, open and frequent communication to obtain and give feedback, creation of team work at the work place and dissemination of organisation objectives and customer service parameters.

With regard to the second division, the divisional and locational groups will henceforth report administratively to the business unit vice-president and functionally to the general manager HRD. All review and follow up activities will take place at the level of the Corporate HR and IR divisions.The change was imminent. Considered a routine function so far, HR had passed off as personnel administration for long at the Rs 1539-crore air conditioning major.

However, ``With the organisationmaking efforts to transform itself into a faster, quicker and dynamic entity, in contrast to the bureaucratic and staid Voltas of the past, it became imperative for us to revisit the way in which we look at the management of our human resources,'' explains Oberoi.

The company initiated a restructuring drive two years ago when it posted its first-ever loss in 1996-97. The turnaround strategy included selling non-core businesses and consolidating in the core areas of air-conditioning and engineering. As a fallout, Voltas was faced with a host of people-related issues like reduction in its mammoth workforce and improving productivity and efficiency across every level to face the changed business environment.

``Corporate transformation of the type we have had to undergo in order to survive is a multi-stage process. It involves restructuring, revitalising and renewing. In order that these processes move forward rapidly and smoothly, it was essential for HR to take on a new role,'' says Oberoi.

The motivebehind segregating the process owners from the executors might be to disburden the latter from paperwork and a gamut of administrative chores, besides ensuring free and easy flow of ideas. The scheme of things however has have every chance of insulating the policy makers from the empirical world of implementation, warn observers.