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International Bulletin of Business Administration
ISSN: 1451-243X Issue 12 (2011)
© EuroJournals, Inc. 2011
http://www.eurojournals.com/IBBA.htm
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An Assessment of Human Resource Development Climate in
Rwanda Private Sector Organisations
Benjamin Akinyemi
HRM Department, School of Finance and Banking, Kigali, Rwanda
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +250783468279
Abstract
This study assesses the nature of developmental environment in two leading
Rwanda based telecommunication and insurance companies. It also attempts to understand
the differences between the Telecommunication industry and the Insurance industry with
respect to their prevailing Developmental Climate along the three dimensions of HRDC.
Primary data is collected from 87 respondents in both ations through a structured, self
administered 38-item Human Resource Development Climate (HRDC) questionnaire
developed by Rao and Abraham (1986). The questionnaire measured the General Climate,
HRD Mechanisms and OCTAPAC (Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Proaction,
Authenticity and Collaboration) Culture within the two private organisations. According to
the findings, the prevailing HRDC within both organisations is congenial. However, results
show that the developmental climate in the telecommunications company is more
favourable than that of the insurance company.
Keywords: Organisational Climate, HRDC, HRD Mechanism, OCTAPAC Culture,
General Climate
1. Introduction Drucker (1993) rightly pointed out that the capability of adding value through knowledge development,
improvement, and innovation are more important in comparison to traditional economic factors such as
monetary capital, physical labor and raw materials (Drucker, 1993). Organisations, therefore, need to
step up the development of human capabilities through the enhancement of knowledge, skills and
abilities of their workforce. As organisations are now competing for advantage in a volatile business
environment it becomes more pertinent to deliberately, consistently, strategically and innovatively
develop, optimize and utilize their major value adding resource, i.e. human resource. Organisational
success depends largely on the quality of their human resource. The effectiveness of any organisation
in reinventing itself through strategic development of human resources depends on the prevailing
organisational developmental climate. Organisations must ensure that an optimal level of Human
Resource Development Climate (HRDC) exists to enable their employees to discover hidden
potentials, improve on their current skills and acquire new, relevant skills and utilize them in the
interest of their organisations. The business landscape in Rwanda is changing rapidly. Due to recent
reforms, Rwanda has become “one of the fastest places in the world to start a business” (World Bank,
2011). The entrance of new players in most sectors has intensified competition. In order to succeed in
the emerging competitive environment it is imperative for businesses to equip their workforce by
providing developmental opportunities as well as a favorable HRDC.
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Contemporary organisations are currently going through the turbulent storm of change and
uncertainty occasioned by fast paced technology, intense competition, globalisation, changing
government regulations, changing demographics and customer expectations and demands, etc. In order
to keep up with the prevailing state of flux, ations must be proactive, adaptive, creative, innovative and
responsive. Organisational capability depends on human resource capability which is a factor of human
resource development. A firm’s competitive advantage “can be achieved by recruiting, and maintaining
a well-trained labor force and managers whose knowledge, skills and abilities serve as a source of
innovation (Zahra and Nielsen, 2002). It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to ensure that the right
environment exists within which employees can develop their full potential. Conducive human
resource development climate plays a major role in enhancing the knowledge, skills, abilities and other
attributes needed by employees to respond to current job demands and prepare for future challenges.
Technological innovation and new product development require an enabling enironment.
Contemporary organisations must be innovative in order to gain and maintain the competitive edge.
Employee creativity, innovation, high performance, high commitment, extra-role behaviour, etc. thrive
in favorable work environment. Hence, creating and maintaining a supportive climate where every
employee could realize and utilize their full potential is indispensable.
The Non-bank financial institutions (insurance companies, insurance brokerage firms and one
pension fund) and telecommunications sectors in Rwanda are now facing competitive pressures with
the country’s membership of the East African Community and a business-friendly environment
(Schware, 2009). A level playing field being provided by the government has attracted more
players/providers in the various sectors. Firms also feel the impact of other drivers of change, such as,
regional integration, globalisation, new technology, etc. Therefore concerted effort is being made to
ensure that companies stay afloat of the troubled waters of volatile operating environment. For
instance, new entrants, who are key regional players are now in the banking, telecommunications and
insurance sectors having set up operations in Rwanda. This is putting a lot of competitive pressure on
existing operators and the challenges call for rapid, proactive responses for continuity and
sustainability.
The current study is necessary to assess the HRDC within selected organisations – a non-
financial (insurance) and a telecommunications firm based in Rwanda. The main purpose of the study
is to examine the level of HRDC within the two industry leaders. Specifically, the study is intended to
look at the prevailing general climate, implementation of human resource development mechanisms
and OCTAPAC (Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Proaction, Authenticity and
Collaboration) Culture within the two selected companies. The telecommunication firm in this study
enjoys the first-comer advantage and has the largest market share in the sector while the insurance
company is the award winning insurance company as the best insurance company of the year in 2010.
The Government of Rwanda (GoR) has articulated its expectation for the nation in Vision 2020.
The long term goal of this vision is the creation of a productive middle class and fostering
enterpreneurship. As envisaged in the vision, transformation “from an agrarian subsistence economy
into a sophisticated knowledge-based society” requires that each institution or organisation also sets
and achieves the goal of becoming knowledge-based enterprises. This is only possible when the
organisations provide support for members to develop and utilize their skills, knowledge and abilities.
This study is an attempt to understand the extent to which selected organisations are contributing to the
national super-ordinate goal of transformation to the knowledge society.
Researchers on the assessment of human resource development climate have focused on Indian
organisations (Rao and Abraham, 1986; Venkateswaran, 1997; Srimannarayana, 2001; Mishra &
Bhardwaj, 2002; Rodrigues, 2004; Pillai, 2008; Saraswathi, 2010); Dubai organisation
(Srimannarayana, 2007) and Nigerian banks (Akinyemi, 2009). No study has been carried out
assessing HRDC in any of Rwandan public or private organisations. In view of the changing business
landscape in Rwanda due to liberalisation of economy and provision of a level playing field for
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businesses to operate and compete, it is essential to begin to examine the internal environment of
Rwandan based firms.
2. Background 2.1. Organisational Climate and Culture
Denison (1990, p.24) defines climate as “a set of conditions that exist and have an impact on
individual's behaviour” differentiating it from culture which he view as the deep structure of
organisations, which is rooted in the values, belies and assumptions held by organisational members
(Denison, 1996). As defined by French et al. (1985) climate is “the relatively persistent set of
perceptions held by organisation members concerning the characteristics and quality of organisational
culture. The authors distinguished between the actual situation (culture) and the perception of it
(climate). In his working definition of climate Schneider (1975) stated that “Climate perceptions are
psychologically meaningful molar descriptions that people can agree characterize a system’s practices
and procedures. By its practices and procedures a system may create many climates. People perceive
climates because the molar perceptions function as frames of reference for the attainment of some
congruity between behavior and the system’s practices and procedures. However, if the climate is one
which rewards and supports individual differences, people in the same system will not behave
similarly. Further, because satisfaction is a personal evaluation of a system’s practices and procedures,
people in the system tend to agree less on their satisfaction than on their description of the system’s
climate.”
There are two ontological interpretations of the organisational climate concept: realistic and
objectivistic; and subjectivistic and phenomenological (Ekvall, 1987). The objectivistic view sees
climate as an attribute of the organisation while, according to the subjectivistic approach organisational
climate is the organisational members' common perception of the organisational situation. Other
authors (James, James, & Ashe, 1990) describe climate as “a product of personal values and remain a
property of individuals irrespective of the empirical level of anaylsis.” Hellriegel and Slocum (1974)
define organisational climate as a ‘set of attributes which can be perceived about a particular
organisation and/or its sub-systems, and that may be induced in the way that organisation and/or its
sub-systems deal with their members and environment”.
The significance of organisational climate cannot be over-emphasized. It is a major determinant
factor of organisational success in view of its impact on its internal environment. Organisational
climate is “the set of characteristics that describe an organisation and that (a) distinguish the
organisation from other organisations, (b) are relatively enduring over time, and (c) influence the
behaviour of the people in the organisation” (Forehand and Gilmer, 1964, page 362). It has also been
defined as “a shared perception of what the organisation is like in terms of practices, policies, and
procedures what is important and what is rewarded” (Bowen and Ostroff 2004, p. 204). Making a
distinction between organisational climate and culture, Agarwal and Maloy (1999, p.2) noted that
“Climate refers to the members’ shared perception of how the organisation operates whereas culture
refers to the administration’s and the members’ assumption about how the organisation does and ought
to operate.” According to them, climate is “a manifestation of organisational culture, whereas culture
subsumes climate”. Organisational climate is comprised of organisational support, coworker support,
participation and involvement, communication, and health and safety climate (Wilson et al., 2004).
Components of organsational climate such as compensation, opportunity for advancement, supervisory
style, organisational goals, and concern for employees are found to be related to transfer of training
(Wexley and Latham, 1991).
Shoaf, Genaidy, Karwowski, Huang (2004) also refer to an organisation’s culture as
encompassing its shared values and beliefs, which guide the behaviors of its members and determine
the establishment of work practices and policies. Schein (1985) define culture as “…a pattern of basic
assumptions-invented, discovered or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems
of external adaptation and internal integration-that has worked well enough to be considered valid and,
therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to
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those problems.” Pareek (1995) sees culture as “…a cumulative preference of some states of life over
others (values), the predispositions concerning responses towards several significant issues and
phenomena (attitudes), organized ways of filling time in relation to certain affairs (rituals), and ways of
promoting desired behaviours and preventing undesirable ones (sanctions).” A weak organisational
culture cannot promote learning and development in organisations. As rightly predicted by Schein
(1985) “the culture of the future would be the one that heavily promoted active learning and training.”
2.2. Human Resource Development
HRD has been defined in variety of ways to stress its strategic role in Organisational Development. It
“is a process for developing and unleashing human expertise through organisation development and
personnel training and development for the purpose of improving performance” (Swanson and Holton
III, 2001). According to McLean and McLean (2001): “HRD is any process or activity to develop
adults’ work-based knowledge, expertise, productivity, and satisfaction, whether for personal or
group/team gain, or for the benefit of an organisation, community, nation, or ultimately, the whole of
humanity.” McLean and McLean (2001, p.10) offered an expanded definition to underscore its
evolutionary nature. They described it as “any process or activity that, either initially or over the long
term, has the potential to develop ... work-based knowledge, expertise, productivity and satisfaction,
whether for personal or group/team gain, or for the benefit of an organisation, community, nation, or,
ultimately, the whole of humanity.” In his own definition, Rao (1986) states that: “Human resource
development in the organisational context is the process by which employees of an organisation are
helped in a continuous planned way to: i) acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform varius
functions associated with their present and future expected roles; (ii) develop their general capabilities
as individuals and discover their own inner potential for own and/or organisation development
purposes; (iii) develop and organisational culture in which superior-subordinate relationships,
teamwork and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well-being,
motivation and pride of employees.”
Peter Drucker (1993, p.198), underscored the need for Human Resource Development when he
maintained that “employing organisations of all kinds — businesses, government agencies, non-
profits– must become institutions of learning and teaching as well. Schools, increasingly, must work in
partnership with employers and employing organisations.” This was echoed by Eurich (1990): “It
seems resonable to infer that a knowledge-based organisation must also be a learning based
organisation in which learning is not confined to company classrooms” (p. 171).
It is clear that “Human Resource Development aims at providing opportunities to individuals
for full expression of their potential and focusses on the creation of values and culture conducive to
individual growth in the organisational context.” Its success “in an organisation depends, to a large
extent, on the existence of a favourable HRD climate” (Venkateswaran, 1997). Thus, the significance
of HRDC in any organisation cannot be over-emphasized.
2.3. Human Resource Development Climate
Human Resource Development Climate (HRDC) is a component of the wider organisational climate. It
refers to perceptions about the prevailing conditions within the organisation that affect the life of
employees (work and personal life) and the activities within the organisation (Smith, 1988) or their
perception about an organisation’s developmental environment. Rao and Abraham (1986) list a set of
characteristics expected of such developmental climate as:
a) A tendency at all levels starting from top management to the lowest level to treat the
people as the most important resource;
b) A perception that developing the competencies in the employees is the job of every
manager/supervisor;
c) A perception that developing the competencies in the employees is the job of every
manager/supervisor;
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d) Faith in the capability of employees to change and acquire new competencies at any stage
of life;
e) A tendency to be open in communications and discussions rather than being secretive
(fairly free expression of feelings);
f) Encouraging risk-taking and experimentation
g) Making efforts to help employees recognize their strengths and weaknesses through
feedback;
h) A general climate of trust ;
i) A tendency on the part of employees to be generally helpful to each other and Collaborate
with each other;
j) Team spirit ;
k) Tendency to discourage stereotypes and favoritism;
l) Supportive personnel policies;
m) Supportive HRD practices including performance appraisal, training, reward
management, potential development, job-rotation, career planning, etc.
Rao (1986) emphasized the significance of climate. He provided a broader perspective of HRD,
proposing that HRD means building competencies, commitment, and culture. All three are needed to
make an organisation function well. The culture provides the sustaining force for organisations. The
prevalent developmental climate within organisations differ (Srimannarayana, 2007). Even units within
organisations may not have similar climate state (Venkateswaran, 1997). The current volatile nature of
business environment and the need for organisations to aid employees in reaching their full potentials
enhance their adaptation, pro-action, performance, creativity and innovation compels every
organisation to improve its developmental climate and make it highly congenial. It is only through a
skilled and motivated human resource that organisations can expect to excel in this age of
discontinuity, fierce competition, fast-paced technology, changing demographics and constantly
changing customer expectations and demands. Creating and maintaining a supportive climate that
inspires employees to unleash their potentials, discover, develop and productively utilize skills,
knowledge and abilities are indispensable.
3. Previous Research Series of studies have been undertaken to understand the impact and state of organisational HRDC.
Abraham (1989) surveyed the HRD practices of 68 Indian organsations. He measured various elements
of the HRD profile of these organisations including performance management practices, training,
career planning, promotions, rewards, etc., and the HRD climate (openness, collaboration, trust,
authencicity, proaction, autonomy, confrontation). He also constructed an index of growth of the
company profitability as a measure of organisational performance. He found that while HRD profile
did not correlate with the company performance, the HRDC did. The study indicates that HRDC is a
powerful intervening variable in translating HRD practices into profit. Employees who perceive that
the Human Resource department is concerned about them showed increased performance and positive
work attitudes (Eisenberger, Fasolo and Davis-LaMastro, 1990). In a study of 52 organisations, Rao
(1986) found that the average extent of climate was about 54% in these organisations which is rather
low. Rao (1989) conducted another study of 41 organisations. Findings from this study showed that the
general climate in the organisations was average due to a general indifference on the part of employees
towards their own development. Srimannarayana (2007) assessed the prevailing HRDC in Dubai
oranisations based on the responses of executives. He concludes that the climate is at an average level.
The study also revealed that HRDC in banking business is higher that the other businesses. HRDC is
higher in the insurance and shipping business than in tourism, food and trading organisations when
compared to banking, insurance and shipping organisations.
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Saxena and Tiwari (2009) did an empirical study of HRDC in selected public sector banks.
Their study showed that the HRDC in the public sector bank is average. They also found no difference
in the peerception of the employees on the basis of gender, qualification, designation but the perception
of the employees differs on the basis of change. A survey of HRDC in Nigerian commercial banks
(Akinyemi and Iornem, 2009) revealed a congenial HRDC. In another study of HRDC with a focus on
Commercial Banks (Rainayee, 2002) found that the overall level of OCTAPAC values in the banks
was perceived to be moderate.
Analysing the major factors that are conducive to the development of HRDC in a large public
sector heavy engineering organisation Venkateswaran (1997) surveyed 132 executives. The overall
score for the organisation was 3.70 on a 5-point scale, thereby signalling that the climate was, to a
large extent, favourable for HRD. Saraswathi (2010) assessed the extent of Developmental climate
prevailing in manufacturing and software organisations in India. He found that the three variables:
General Climate, HRD Mechanisms and OCTAPAC culture are better in software organisations
compared to manufacturing. The findings also indicate significant difference in the developmental
climate prevailing in software and manufacturing organisations.
Based on responses from 71 junior and middle level executives from various departments of a
public sector undertaking Solkhe and Chaudhary (2010) finds the existence of good HRD. According
to the findings, the managers in general showed a favourable attitude towards HRD Policies and
practices of the organisation. They were satisfied with the developmental policies of the top
management. Solkhe and Chaudhary (2011) conducted another empirical investigation examining the
three components of HRDC. The result from their study shows a reasonable level of development
orientation, trust and freedom of expression, healthy interpersonal relationship and openness. However,
employees are not satisfied with promotions decisions within the company.
4. Research Questions The study aims to answer the following questions according to the perceptions of employees in the
selected telecommunications and insurance companies:
Q1: What is the level of top management support for HRD in the two organisations?
Q2: To what extent are the HRD sub-systems implemented in the two organisations?
Q3: How are the two organisations faring in terms of OCTAPAC Culture?
Q4: Are there differences in HRDC Components between the two organisations?
5. Research Method In answering our research questions primary data was collected from respondents. The HRDC
questionnaire developed by Rao and Abraham (1986) was administered to respondents who are full-
time permanent staff of a telecommunication and an insurance company. The 38-item questionnaire
captures the three components of HRDC: top management’s commitment to HRD (general climate);
existence of OCTAPAC culture; and the functioning of the various HRD sub-systems. The OCTAPAC
culture indicates the existence of seven factors, namely, Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy,
Pro-activity, Authenticity, and Collaboration in an organisation. HRD mechanism indicates the extent
to which the various sub-systems of the HRD mechanism such as training, performance appraisal,
potential appraisal, organisation development, feedback and performance coaching, career planning,
rewards, employee welfare, quality of work life and human resource information systems are
implemented seriously (Rao, 1999). The general HRD climate consists of 14 items, HRD mechanism
has 15 items and OCTAPAC culture, 9 items from the 38-item HRDC questionnaire. To measure the
elements of HRDC respondents were requested to indicate their perceptions on a 5 point scale ranging
from 5 (always almost true) to 1 (not at all true) to measure the elements of HRDC which is grouped
into 3 broad categories as earlier indicated, i.e. general climate, HRD mechanisms and OCTAPAC
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culture. A total of 49 and 38 respondents from the telecommunication and insurance companies
respectively completed the questionnaires which were all found suitable for analysis. Data is analyzed
based on the responses received from full-time employees working in the selected companies.
5.1. Scope of Research
In this research, two private sector companies representing the telecommunications and insurance
industries in Rwanda were investigated. The telecommunications company is the leading company
with the largest market share while the insurance company is adjudged to be the best insurance
company of the year. Both firms are based in Kigali, Rwanda with branches in other major cities of the
country.
5.2. Sample
The sample used in this study comprises of full-time, permanent managerial and non-managerial staff
in two Rwanda-based companies representing telecommunication and insurance sectors.
6. Results of Data Analysis 6.1. General Human Resource Development Climate
In assessing top management’s commitment to HRD general climate, 14 corresponding items were
identified in the questionnaire and the respondents’ perception in selected organisations was
accordingly scored. Table 1 shows the mean, percentage, and standard deviation as well as the total
average scores in respect of the general climate prevailing in the organisations. According to the table,
the overall mean scores for the 14 items is 3.76 (73.64%) and 3.40 (67.07%) for the telecommunication
and Insurance organisations respectively. Results of data analysis show clearly that the HRD general
climate prevailing in both organisations is actually congenial, although, it is better in the
telecommunication than it is in the insurance company. The implication of this is that the top
management of these two firms are generally committed to promoting the development of employees
by providing a conducive environment for them to learn.
Table 1: General Climate – Top Management Support for HRD
Items Telecommunication Insurance
Mean % SD N Mean % SD N
1. The top management of this organisation
goes out of its way to make sure that
employees enjoy their work.
3.93 64.08 0.69 49 3.44 61.58 0.86 38
2. The top management believes that human
resources are an extremely important
resource and that they have to be treated
more humanely.
3.94 78.78 0.92 49 3.71 74.21 0.80 38
3. Development of the subordinates is seen
as an important part of their job by the
managers/officers here
3.75 73.47 0.86 49 3.29 65.79 1.01 38
4. The personnel policies in this organisation
facilitate employee development. 3.85 75.51 0.92 49 3.43 66.84 1.12 38
5. The top management is willing to invest a
considerable part of their time and other
resources to ensure the development of
employees.
3.57 71.43 1.00 49 3.47 69.47 0.76 38
6. Senior officers/executives in this
organisation take active Interest in their
juniors and help them learn their job.
3.67 73.47 0.92 49 3.39 67.89 1.05 38
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7. People lacking competence in doing their
jobs are helped to acquire competence rather
than being left unattended.
3.65 73.06 0.99 49 3.53 70.53 0.92 38
Table 1: General Climate – Top Management Support for HRD - continued
8. Managers in this organisation believe that
employee behaviour can be changed and
people can be developed at any stage of their
life.
3.88 77.55 0.83 49 3.66 73.16 0.88 38
9. People in this organisation are helpful to
each other. 4.06 79.59 0.81 49 3.41 66.32 0.86 38
10. Employees in this organisation are very
informal and do not hesitate to discuss their
personal problems with their supervisors.
3.35 66.94 1.01 49 3.24 64.74 0.94 38
11. The psychological climate in this
organisation is very conducive to any
employee interested in developing himself
by acquiring new knowledge and skills.
3.81 74.69 1.02 49 3.55 71.05 1.08 38
12. Seniors guide their juniors and prepare
them for future responsibilities/ roles they
are likely to take up.
3.57 71.43 0.98 49 3.11 62.11 1.01 38
13. The top management of this organisation
makes efforts to identify and utilise the
potential of the employees.
3.96 79.18 0.79 49 3.42 68.42 0.86 38
18. People in this organisation do not have
any fixed mental impressions about each
other.
3.67 71.84 0.86 49 2.92 56.84 1.04 38
Average 3.76 73.64 0.90 49 3.40 67.07 0.94 38
Top management support is highly required to create a conducive climate for employee
development. In the telecommunications firm it is worthy of note that the top management actively
support human resource development. This is evident in its belief that human resource is the most
valuable asset (item 2), support for investment in human capital (item 5), and identification and
utilisation of employees’ potentials (item 13). Senior managers’ commitment to employee development
is also noteworthy. Items 3,6,7,8 and 12 have mean score of between 3.57 and 3.88 showing that
managers in the telecommunication company take subordinates’ development with the seriousness it
deserves. In this company also it has been observed that the psychological climate is on the positive
side. For instance, items 9, 10, 11 and 13 have high mean scores. Specifically, items 9, 11 and 13 with
mean scores of 4.06 (79.59%), 3.81 (74.69%) and 3.96 (79.18%) respectively revealed strong
interpersonal relationship and cohesion which is healthy for individual development.
6.2. HRD Mechanism: Implementation of HRD Sub-Systems
This section examines the implementation of HRD sub-systems such as training, performance appraisal
and feedback, potential appraisal, career planning, rewards and employee welfare based on 15 items.
Accordiing to the table 2, mean and percentage scores for the implementation of HRD sub-systems are
3.80 (75.16%) and 3.35 (66.46%) for telecommunication and insurance companies respectively.
Table 2: HRD MECHANISM – Implementation of HRD Sub-Systems
Items Telecommunication Insurance
Mean % SD N Mean % SD N
14. Promotion decisions are based on merit
rather than on favouritism. 3.56 69.80 1.18 49 3.50 66.32 1.00 38
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15. There are mechanisms in this
organisation to reward any good work done
or any contribution made by employees.
4.15 81.22 0.87 49 3.57 69.47 1.07 38
16. When an employee does good work his
supervisor take special care to appreciate it. 3.82 76.33 1.01 49 2.89 56.32 1.15 38
Table 2: HRD MECHANISM – Implementation of HRD Sub-Systems - continued
17. Performance appraisal reports in our
organisation are based on objective
assessment and adequate information and
not on favouritism.
4.23 82.86 0.66 49 3.53 70.53 1.08 38
19. Employees are encouraged to
experiment with new methods and try out
creative ideas.
3.69 72.24 0.90 49 3.24 64.74 1.10 38
Items Telecommunication Insurance
Mean % SD N Mean % SD N
20. When any employee makes a mistake
his supervisors treat it with understanding
and help him to learn from such mistakes
rather than punishing him or discouraging
him.
3.90 77.96 0.94 49 3.42 68.42 0.79 38
29. This organisation ensures employee
welfare to such an extent that the
employees can save a lot of their mental
energy for work purposes.
3.96 79.18 0.79 49 3.55 71.05 0.76 38
30. Job-rotation in this organisation
facilitates employee development. 3.55 68.16 1.14 49 3.24 64.74 0.97 38
32. Weaknesses of employees are
communicated to them in a non-threatening
way.
3.71 72.65 0.97 49 3.18 63.68 1.04 38
33. When behaviour feedback is given to
employees they take it seriously and use it
for development.
3.84 76.73 0.83 49 3.53 70.53 0.80 38
34. Employees in this organisation take
pains to find out their strengths and
weaknesses from their supervising officers
or colleagues.
3.31 66.12 0.94 49 3.03 60.53 0.72 38
35. When employees are sponsored for
training, they take It seriously and try to
learn from the programmes they attend.
3.90 76.33 0.93 49 3.87 77.37 1.04 38
36. Employees returning from training
programmes are given opportunities to try
out what they have learnt.
3.78 75.51 0.98 49 3.24 64.74 1.10 38
37. Employees are sponsored for training
programmes on the basis of genuine
training needs.
3.90 77.96 0.96 49 3.45 68.95 1.31 38
38. People trust each other in this
organisation. 3.79 74.29 0.99 49 2.97 59.47 0.79 38
Average 3.80 75.16 0.94 3.35 66.46 0.98
6.3. OCTAPAC Culture
OCTAPAC (Openness, confrontation, trust, autonomy, pro-activity, authenticity, and collaboration)
culture is essential for facilitating HRD. Openness exists when employees feel free to discuss their
ideas, activities, and feelings with each other. By confrontation problems and issues are brought out
into the open with a view to solving them rather than hiding them for fear of hurting or getting hurt.
Trust is taking people at their face value and believing what they say. Autonomy is giving freedom to
let people work independently with responsibility. Proactivity is encouraging employees to take
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initiative and risk. Authenticity is the tendency on the part of the people to do what they say.
Collaboration is to accept interdependencies, to be helpful to each other, and work as teams (Rao and
Abraham 1986).
Table 3: OCTAPAC CULTURE
Items Telecommunication Insurance
Mean % SD N Mean % SD N
21. Employees are not afraid to express or
discuss their feelings with their
subordinates.
3.61 72.24 1.06 49 3.31 62.63 0.98 38
22. Employees are encouraged to take
initiative and do things on their own
without having to wait for instructions from
supervisors.
3.71 72.65 0.99 49 3.00 60.00 1.04 38
23. Delegation of authority to encourage
juniors to develop handling higher
responsibilities is quite common in this
organisation.
3.58 70.20 0.77 49 3.18 63.68 1.14 38
24. When seniors delegate authority to
juniors, the juniors use it as an opportunity
for development.
3.88 75.92 0.82 49 3.45 68.95 0.98 38
25. Team spirit is of high order in this
organisation. 4.30 80.82 0.79 49 3.41 66.32 1.14 38
26. When problems arise people discuss
these problems openly and try to solve them
rather than keep accusing each other behind
the back.
3.73 74.69 0.78 49 3.08 60.00 0.95 38
27. Career opportunities are pointed out to
juniors by senior officers in the
organisation.
3.67 71.84 0.78 49 3.21 64.21 1.02 38
28. The organisation's future plans are made
known to the managerial staff to help them
develop their juniors and prepare them for
future.
3.91 75.10 0.88 49 3.38 65.79 0.89 38
31. Employees are not afraid to express or
discuss their feelings with their superiors. 3.91 77.96 0.88 49 3.18 63.68 0.93 38
AVERAGE 3.81 74.60 0.86 3.24 63.92 1.01
The overall mean and percentage scores for OCTAPAC culture are 3.81 (74.60%) and 3.23
(63.92%) for telecommunication and insurance companies respectively. This depicts a higher level of
OCTAPAC culture in the telecommunication company than that of the insurance company. A high
order of team spirit has the highest mean score of 4.30 (80.82%) in the telecommunications company
while the insurance company has the highest mean score for item 24 where delegation of authority is
used as opportunity for development. The mean score for this item is 3.45 (68.95%). In the
Telecommunication company item 23 has the lowest mean score of 3.58 (70.20%) depicting the need
for improvement in delegation of authority. However, in the insurance company, the lowest mean score
of 3.00 (60.00%) is recorded for item 22. The company needs to do more in the area of employee
empowerment.
Table 4: Comparative Analysis of Human Resource Development Climate
HRDC
Dimensions
Telecommunication Insurance
Mean % SD Mean % SD
66
General Climate 3.76 73.64 0.90 3.40 67.07 0.94
HRD Mechanism 3.80 75.16 0.94 3.35 66.46 0.98
OCTAPAC Culture 3.81 74.60 0.86 3.24 63.92 1.01
Table 4 is a comparative analysis of HRDC dimensions between the telecommunication and
insurance companies in the study. In all the HRD dimensions, the telecommunications company
appears to have higher mean scores than the insurance company. This is probably because of a more
intense competition within the telecommunications industry than in the insurance industry.
7. Summary and Concluding Remarks The main objective of this study was to investigate the prevalent HRDC within two leading private
companies in Rwanda. The results of this study show that generally there exists a good HRD Climate
in the organisation according to the perceptions of respondents. The employees in general showed a
favourable attitude towards HRD Policies and practices of the organisations. However, it should be
noted that the existing developmental climate within the insurance company is not as favourable as that
of the telecommunication company. For the insurance company to practically improve its HRDC,
attention should be paid to team building, supervisory skills development and interpersonal
relationship skills enhancement. As suggested by Rao (1986), a general climate of trust, team spirit and
employee empowerment are parts of the characteristics of an ideal developmental climate. These are
specific areas where the insurance company in the study also needs to focus. Building a more
favourable HRDC by both companies would guarantee their positions as top service providers. In
series of studies on the factors to be considered for analyzing HRDC in various organisations, superior-
subordinate relationship, training and employee development practices, OCTAPACE culture, etc. were
considered to determine the HRD climate in various organisations like public and private sector
organisations, banks, educational institution (Jain, Singhal and Singh (1997), Rohmetra (1998),
Alphonsa (2000), Kumar and Patnaik (2002), and Mishra and Bhardwaj (2002). Empirical evidence
from research has also shown correlation between HRD practices/climate and employee performance,
attitude and behavior. For instance, Abraham (1989) found HRD culture to be an important intervening
variable in translating HRD practices into profit. HRD Climate also results in the development of
employee competence and commitment (Rao, 1999). According to Athreya (1988), HRD system that
supports a positive HRD climate makes existing systems more effective and makes
Organisations more receptive to new HR practices. For organisational effectiveness in the era
of discontinuity, intense competition, globalisation and constant change resulting from internal and
external environment a highly congenial developmental climate is indispensable.
Acknowledgement I acknowledge the support of my wife (Felicia) and my kids, Dave and Debby who allowed the funding
of this research from family savings. My appreciation also goes to Miss Uwase Marie Ange, my
committed and highly motivated personal research assistant, for her labour during the questionnaire
administration and collection exercise.
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