With change in the organizational environment the role played by the HRD professionals has also undergone a change. At present the HRD Professionals acts as:

Strategic adviser to help the decision makers on issues related with HRD. They also play the role of an HR systems designer and developer by assisting the HR management in designing and developing HR systems in an organization to increase its performance.

They also act as organizational change agents by helping the management in designing and implementing change strategies to transform the organization. The result is more efficient work teams, intervention strategies, quality management and change reports. The role of organization design consultant is also played by them when they advised the management on work systems design and efficient use of available human resources. HR professionals work as instructional designer or learning programme specialist when they identify the needs of the employees and develop and design the required learning programmes. They also prepare materials and other learning aids for these programmes.

An HRD professional dons the role of career counselor when he assists individual employees in assessing their knowledge and skills to development realistic career development plan for the employee. The role of a coach or a performance consultant is played by them when they advised line managers about the appropriate intervention designed to improve the performance of the group or an individual. HRD Professionals act as researchers when they assess the human resource development practices and programmes with the help of appropriate statistical procedure to find out their effectiveness and then they communicate the results to the top level management.

The common challenges faced by HRD professionals are:-

(a) Culture or attitude:
Different countries have different culture and as the world has become a global village HRD Professionals have to face the cultural challenges in different countries or with the employees belonging to the different countries.

(b) Technology or skills:
The pace of technological development is very high and the new technologies are replacing the older ones quickly. Same is the case with techniques and technologies use for training. An HR professional has to upgrade his skills and knowledge to meet the requirements of the new generation.

(c) Values of behaviour:
The HRD professionals have to adjust themselves to the emerging new values as principle centric leadership is becoming trend in the corporate world. Values like trust credibility timeliness and the simpler rules are becoming the corners stone of many businesses.

(d) Knowledge or information:
Enhancement of knowledge is also a big challenge for HRD professional as they have to understand the different philosophies demonstrated at different places in the world. For example the philosophy related to leadership changes dramatically in organizations from different parts of the world

(e) Life style or habits:
The life style of an employee is also important for HRD professionals because they have to understand the habits of the employees and then decide the training that needs to be imparted for bringing a change in the habits of the employees.

(f) Knowledge of new practices:
An HRD professional has to be aware of the new practices adopted by the organization around globe. An HRD professional should know about the practices like dignity of individual, retention of employees, leadership by examples, clear conscience relationship with employees share holder, vendors, suppliers, customers and society at large.

(g) Environment:
An open environment is required for the success of an organization. The organizational environment should have meritocracy, fearless, justice, speed imagination and accountability. It is the job of the HRD professional to inspire the employee to perform better ones this environment is created in the organization.

What is human resource development?
A human resource development is set of planned and systematic activities designed by an organization to provide opportunities to its members to learn skills necessary for the present and future job requirements. The process of HRD involves the development of expertise in the employee through organizational development and training and development. The aim of HRD is to improve the performance of the employees. The three main areas of human resource development are human resource management, quality improvement and career development.

The main functions of HRD are:-
1. Training and development
Training and development is aimed at improving or changing the knowledge skills and attitudes of the employees. While training involves providing the knowledge and skills required for doing a particular job to the employees, developmental activities focus on preparing the employees for future job responsibilities by increasing the capabilities of an employee which also helps him perform his present job in a better way. These activities start when an employee joins an organization in the form of orientation and skills training. After the employee becomes proficient, the HR activities focus on the development of the employee through methods like coaching and counseling.

2 Organization development
OD is the process of increasing the effectiveness of an organization along with the well being of its members with the help of planned interventions that use the concepts of behavioral science. Both micro and macro changes are implemented to achieve organization development. While the macro changes are intended to improve the overall effectiveness of the organization the micro changes are aimed at individuals of small groups. Employee involvement programmes requiring fundamental changes in work expectation, reporting, procedures and reward systems are aimed at improving the effectiveness of the organization. The human resource development professional involved in the organization development intervention acts as an agent of change. He often consults and advising the line manager in strategies that can be adopted to implement the required changes and sometimes becomes directly involve in implementing these strategies.

3. Career development
It is a continuous process in which an individual progresses through different stages of career each having a relatively unique set of issues and tasks. Career development comprises of two distinct processes. Career Planning and career management. Whereas career planning involves activities to be performed by the employee, often with the help of counselor and others, to assess his capabilities and skills in order to frame realistic career plan. Career management involves the necessary steps that need to be taken to achieve that plan. Career management generally focus more on the steps that an organization that can take to foster the career development of the employees.

Coaching is a technique of employee development in which a superior guides and instructs a trainee as a coach. The coach or the counsellor in consultation with the employee sets mutually agreed targets and then suggests the ways in which those employees can achieve those targets. He also evaluates the progress of the trainee periodically and suggests required changes in performance and behaviour.

In this method the coach needs to be a good communicator, a patient listener and an able motivator. Coaching works the best if the coach provides a model with which a trainee can identify. The coach should also accept complete responsibility and provide timely feedback to the trainee regarding his improvement. The advantages of coaching includes that it is a method of learning by doing and it provides a chance to an executive to coach his subordinates even if there is no development programme operational in the organisation at that time. It is also helpful in the orientation of new executives and for developing their operative skills. It allows frequent interaction between employees and their boss.

Retraining is given to long term employees of the organization to avoid the chances of obsolescence in terms of job requirements. Though these employees have under gone training in the past but retraining can be required due to factors like technologies changes or with a view to create a versatile work force that is capable of doing more than one jobs. The employees who are called back to work after lay off can also be given retraining. It is also used to widen the knowledge of the existing employees. Retraining is more common for the ordinary workers of the organizations as they are little equipped to foresee their needs for the job in future. They also need retraining when the tools and methods used by them are changed due to technological advances.