1. INTRODUCTION:

In light of the importance of HRD practices it is imperative to identify the levels of perceptions of employees towards the HRD practices and make necessary policies and programmes that are beneficial to the employees and overall development of the organization. Hence to draw the insights on the HRD practices followed by the textile manufacturing industry the present study is been conducted. The present study is aimed at investigating the opinions of managers working in textile organizations functioning in Andhra Pradesh, regarding the HRD practices. Further to understand the influence of HRD practices on employee performance.

The Indian textile industry is one of the largest in the world with a massive raw material and manufacturing base. India stands as the second largest producer of silk, after China, and the seventh largest producer of wool in the world. India is also the second largest producer of cotton, producing 18% of the world's cotton and constitutes 25% of the world's total cotton cultivation area. Andhra Pradesh is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. According to the Planning Commission of India, in the financial year 2011-12 the state was second in nominal GDP and in GDP per capital it ranks fourth. Major industry in Andhra Pradesh include agriculture, mining, information technology and textiles. The Andhra Pradesh Government has identified the textile sector as one of its long term growth engines. It is one of the leading cotton producing states in the country with a production of 2.6 billion bales (bales of 170 Kg each) in 2016-2017. Medium grade and superior long staple varieties of cotton are predominantly grown in the state. It also has the third highest production of raw silk and, fourth highest production of wool, along with the fourth highest number of textile mills in the country. Hence the textile industry is playing a predominant role in the growth of the India and Andhra Pradesh.

It is imperative for understanding the HRD practices followed by the organization frequently, to update the changes to suite the trends of the current scenario. As discussed earlier the textile industry in Andhra Pradesh is recognized as most prominent and priority sector for business development. In light of the above, it is necessary to understand the HRD practices followed by the textile companies operating in Andhra Pradesh.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW:

The review of literature gives a prelude to every researcher. Also a good foundation that will lead in the right direction. With these aspects the researcher referred to several journals, reports, books and research works at national and international levels. The literature for every research is essential. Review of literature is an important aspect of any research. It helps to trace out the past trends in any particular branch of subject. Review literature helps to identify the areas of research. Previous studies conducted have been reviewed in the following paragraphs.

The literature pertaining to HRD practices such as training and development, performance management, strategic human resource management and so on.

Chien-Chi Tseng, Gary N. McLean, (2008) in their paper titled "Strategic HRD practices as key factors in organizational learning" has initiated with a purpose to explore the relationships among strategic HRD (SHRD) practices and organizational learning; and the relationships among organizational learning and HRD outcomes through a literature review.

The keywords used in literature search identified by the study are HRD, SHRD practices, and organizational learning. The study collected the literature available in several electronic databases available in university electronic library, including both journal and book sources and Google scholar and Google were also used for literature search.

It is opined that the firms that develop and learn their Strategic Human Resource and Development practices have more opportunities to obtain and incorporate nine outcomes of HRD in the learning process such as organizational mission and goals, top management leadership, environmental scanning, HRD strategies and plans, strategic partnerships with line management, strategic partnerships with HRM, trainers as organizational change consultants, influence corporate culture, and emphasis on individual productivity and participation.

The study design was exploratory literature review. Hence it is necessary for empirical research studies to investigate why some SHRD practices like culture recognition, environmental scanning, and organizational mission and goals, are key factors in organizational learning. Instilling more SHRD practices through organizational learning may lead to more desired HRD outcomes.

Vathsala Wickramasinghe, Anuradha Gamage, (2011) in their paper titled "High‐involvement work practices, quality results, and the role of HR function: An exploratory study of manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka" has been sought to explore the relationship between high‐involvement work practices and quality results, and the role of HR function in the implementation of quality and high‐involvement work practices. Quality managers and HR managers from 34 manufacturing firms with ISO 9001 certification and competing for national/ international quality awards responded. Correlation and regression were used for the data analysis. Team work, communication, performance evaluation, empowerment, rewards and recognition, and skill development practices significantly positively correlate with quality results. Of these practices, performance evaluation has the greatest impact followed by communication, and rewards and recognition. In the implementation of quality and work practices, the role of the HR department can be identified as “steering”. A majority of research studies on high‐involvement work practices has been confined to Western manufacturing contexts; and findings of these studies are not conclusive. It is expected that the findings of this exploratory study will be able to establish baseline data to stimulate further research in this area.

Shrinibash, Mohapatra and Bhuyan (2013) have initiated a research with aim to investigate the organizational climate of the company, HRD climate and OCTAPACE in particular and to find the magnitude of relationship between job satisfaction and components of HRD climate. The study employs diverse statistical tools for analyzing the data such as mean, standard deviation, variance, skewness and kurtosis. The study enlightens the strengths and weakness of HRD climate and job satisfaction of employees. In addition the study finds the persistence of medium to good HRD climate in organizations. In particular the top management and line staff has exhibited a favorable attitude towards HRD policies and practices. Further it is observed that employees were very much satisfied with the development polices implemented by the organization. The study concludes by pointing that there exists a positive and significant relationship between Human Resource Development Climate (HRDC) and its components whereas negative significant relationship between job satisfaction and HRDC were revealed by the findings.

Nirmala M., Uma Devi A.M (2015), in their paper titled “HR Practices in Select Domestic and Foreign Companies in India - A Comparative Study” has pointed that human capital is more precious for every business than other capital resources such as money, material, and technology. It is also stated that human capital is significant since they are involved from every stage of operations in the organization such as from manufacturing goods to delivery to consumer. Hence the organizations are investing huge amounts in budgets to develop the human resource. The return on investments made on human resource can be obtained when they are properly managed and effectively utilized. The present study is aimed to examine the HRM practices in Change Management, Innovation and learning and global integration conducted in selected Indian and foreign organizations. In addition the study is also intended to examine the firm ownership influence on HRM practices. The study also plans to compare the HR practices followed in foreign and domestic companies functioning in India, examining the HR preparedness of these companies facing challenges as listed above. The study will be helpful in learning the strengths and weakness of the organizations and there on it will help develop on them.

Rama Krishna Gupta Potnuru, Chandan Kumar Sahoo (2016) in their paper titled “HRD interventions, employee competencies and organizational effectiveness: an empirical study” has stated that HRD interventions are significant in enhancing organisational effectiveness through employee competency building programmes such as training, performance management and career management. To examine the HRD interventions the study develops integrated research model by adopting principal factors from the existing literature. The study has been conducted among 290 executives and nonexecutives working in Indian cement manufacturing companies. The collected data is put for examining through structured equation modeling, in addition confirmatory factor analysis is been employed for testing validity and reliability of the data. The study finds that HRD interventions have an influence on building of employee competencies, which in turn is instrumental in improving organizational effectiveness.

Rob F. Poell, Ferd Van Der Krogt, (2017) in their paper titled"Why is organizing human resource development so problematic?: Perspectives from the learning-network theory (Part II)" has stated that HRD is an imperative domain within management. The policies and programmes in developing employees often can enhance the internal employees and support the change in organization. Planning HRD to these levels is a problematic affair to training effectiveness, participant motivation and added value. Hence the present study aims at understanding the why the above situations arise in an organisation. The study has two parts, first part discusses the above situations and second part elaborates the learning network theory. Learning network theory discusses the various experiences in organization forming which is the basis of learning and development of employees and other stakeholders for organizing HRD. The present study explain a comprehensive conceptual frame work to argue about why the above reasons arise in organizing HRD in the limited and one side faceted conceptualization in organizing HRD that is mostly used.

The findings of the study points that organizing HRD is viewed by majority of respondents as designing training courses and instruction sessions for employees, further it is believed as a tool of management. The paper suggests a network perspective for organizing HRD that guides the stake holders of the organization than any other approaches, by considering broad set of HRD practices and viewing employees as key stake holders. Further it is pointed out as important in taking account of learning experiences of employees gained through participating in career development and work rather than mere formal training. In addition it is pointed out that HRD strategies are are at least as important as those used by line managers and HR practitioners.

3. NEED FOR STUDY:

Human Resource Development improves the utilization value of an organization. The efficiency of production processes and various areas of management depend to a greater extent on the level of human resources development. Human Resource Development assumes significance in view of the fast changing organizational environment and need of the organization to adopt new techniques in order to respond to the environmental changes.

4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To understand the HRD practices followed by the textile industry in Andhra Pradesh.

2. To investigate the influence of demographic variables on perceptions of HRD practices.

5. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY:

The following are the hypothesis framed to understand and investigate the above objectives.

1. H1: There is a significant difference in opinions regarding the HRD practices among the men and women managers.

2. H2: There is a significant difference in opinions regarding the HRD practices among married and unmarried employees.

3. H3: There is a significant difference in opinions regarding the HRD practices among diverse age groups of employees.

4. H4: There is a significant difference in opinions regarding the HRD practices among various experience groups of employees.

5. H5: There is significant difference in opinions of employees regarding HRD Practices among diverse designation groups

6. H6: There is a significant difference in opinions regarding the HRD practices among various educational qualification groups.

6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The purpose of the present study is investigating the opinions of managers working in textile industry functioning in Andhra Pradesh regarding the HRD practices and to determine the association with employee performance. Hence the appropriate approach of research to achieve the above aims, is descriptive research design. The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. In social science and business research we quite often use the term Ex post facto research for descriptive research studies. The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what has happened or what is happening. Most ex post facto research projects are used for descriptive studies in which the researcher seeks to measure such items as, for example, frequency of shopping, preferences of people, or similar data.

6.1 Sample Design:

The present study follows non probabilistic– convenience sampling method. The study is interested to collect the primary data from managers pertaining to the HRD practices followed by the textile manufacturing units in Andhra Pradesh. The study collects the opinions from the managers in textile manufacturing units operating in the districts of West Godavari, East Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Visakhapatnam. Since these are the districts with high number of textile manufacturing units. The researcher has approached those manufacturing units that have accorded permission to conduct the survey.

6.2 Sample Size:

The study considered a Margin of error equal to standard of 5%, Confidence level 95%, Population size of 10,321 (according to the statistics given above) employees working in textile manufacturing units in Andhra Pradesh and Response distribution of 50%. Finally the calculated value of sample size is 371. The study considers taking greater than calculated value of 371 i.e. 375 by rounding to the nearest value of calculated sample size.

6.3 Data Source:

The study collects both primary and secondary data; the primary data is collected through structured questionnaire. The questionnaire is administered personally to employees and their opinions are collected through the questionnaire instrument. The primary data is collected for the purpose of analysis of variables of study.

The secondary data is collected through Journals, Books, dissertations and conference papers. The secondary is collected for the purpose of literature collection and for planning the study. The following sections will discuss the questionnaire design and variables of the study.

7. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

1. The study will identify the HRD practices being followed by the textile industry for their employees helps in comparison with other industry, to design the appropriate HRD practices compatible to the present trends and scenario.

2. The study is confined to study the perception of employees towards HRD practices. The dimensions of HRD practices considered in the study are i) HRD Climate ii) Rewards and Recognition iii) Career Planning and Development iv) Training and Development v) Performance appraisal and vi) Quality of Work life. Further the study is confined to understand the influence of HRD practices on Employee Performance.

3. The study is confined to study the above variables among the managers working in textile manufacturing units operating in Andhra Pradesh.

4. The managers are considered for the study rather than general employees, since managers are assumed to competent persons in the organizations are knowledgeable about HRD practices.

8. ANALYSIS:

The following table list weighted mean, Skewness and Standard deviation of the study variables. The study results indicate that the weighted mean of HRD Climate is 3.508, can be interpreted that employees are not decided on whether the HRD climate is conducive to the employees for overall development. The Skewness of HRD Climate is observed to be -0.182 which is in the standard range of -1 to 1. In addition the standard deviation value too is within the range of research standards i.e. .485.

The weighted means scores of Rewards and Recognition variable is observed to be at 3.61 indicates that employees have marginal agreeableness that the rewards and recognition provided by the organization and its superiors is sufficient. The Skeweness is at -0.107 indicates that the data is in normal distribution. In addition the standard deviation is at 0.601 is within the range of the standard norm.

The weighted mean score for career planning and development is observed to be at 3.58 indicates that employees opine that they are undecided that career planning and development is been looked after by their organization. The Skeweness of the Career Planning and Development is -0.205 indicate that the data is normally distributed. The standard deviation is at .542.

The weighted mean scores of Training and Development is observed to be 3.79 which indicates that the employees are marginally agreeing that they are happy with training and development programmes provided by the organization. The skewness of Training and Development is observed to be -0.293, which indicates normal distribution. The standard deviation is observed to be .4804 which indicates the data is varying as per the research standard norms.

The weighted mean score of the variable Performance Appraisal is observed to be at 3.82 which indicate that employees are marginally agreeing that they are satisfied with the performance appraisal system followed by the organisation. The skewness of Performance Appraisal is observed to be -0.192, which indicates the data is normally distributed. The standard deviation of employee opinions on Performance Appraisal is observed to be 0.5116 indicates that data is varying as per the research standards.

The study analysis of data indicates that variable Quality of Work Life has a weighted mean score 3.609 which indicates that employees are marginally agreeing that their Quality of Work Life is satisfactory in their organization. The skewness of Quality of Work Life is obtained at -0.276, indicates that data is normally distributed. The standard deviation is observed to be 0.5995 indicates the data is varying within the research standards.

The analysis of data indicates that variable Employee Performance has a weighted mean score 3.55 which indicates that managers are undecided that employees performance is been satisfactory due to the HRD practices. The skewness of Employee Performance is obtained at -0.224, indicated that data is normally distributed. The standard deviation is observed to be 0.62 indicates the data is varying within the research standards.

8.1 Weighted Mean scores, Standard Deviation and Skeweness of study variables

SL. No	Variable	Weighted Mean	Standard Deviation	Skeweness
1	HRD Climate	3.5080	.48561	-.182
2	Rewards and Recognition	3.6187	.60176	-.107
3	Career Planning and Development	3.5847	.54271	-.205
4	Training and Development	3.7923	.48040	-.293
5	Performance Appraisal	3.8267	.51160	-.192
6	Quality of Work Life	3.6091	.59555	-.224
7	Employee Performance	3.5536	.62470	-.276

The following are the findings drawn from the results obtained from the statistical analysis of the data.

1. The independent sample t-test results of Gender and Marital Status on the dimensions of HRD practices indicates that male and female employees are indifferent in their opinions regarding HRD Climate prevailing in the organization, further married and unmarried employees are indifferent in opinions on HRD Climate.

2. The independent sample t-test results of Gender and Marital Status on Rewards and Recognition reveals that male and female employees are indifferent in their opinions regarding Rewards and Recognition practices in the organization, married and unmarried employees are indifferent in opinions on Rewards and Recognition.

3. The independent sample t-test results of Gender and Marital Status on Career Planning and Development indicates that male and female employees are indifferent in their opinions regarding Career Planning and Development practices followed by the organization, married and unmarried employees have similar opinions on Career Planning and Development practices followed by the organization.

4. The independent sample t-test results of Gender and Marital Status on Training and Development indicates that male and female employees have similar opinions regarding Training and Development programmes implemented by the organization and married and unmarried employees are indifferent in opinions with regards to Training and Development programmes conducted by the organization.

5. The independent sample t-test results of Gender and Marital Status on Performance Appraisal reveals that male and female employees are different in their opinions regarding Performance Appraisal System followed by their organization and married and unmarried employees are indifferent in opinions on Performance Appraisal system followed by their organization.

6. The independent sample t-test results of Gender and Marital Status on Quality of Work Life indicates that married and unmarried employees are indifferent in opinions on Quality of Work Life and male and female employees are indifferent in their opinions regarding Quality of Work Life prevailing in the organization.

7. The independent sample t-test results of Gender and Marital Status on Employee Performance indicates that male and female employees are indifferent in their opinions regarding Employee Performance and married and unmarried employees are indifferent in opinions on Employee Performance.

8. The results of analysis of variance between the demographic variables like age group, years of experience, designation and Educational Qualification on study variables that include HRD Climate, Rewards and Recognition, Career Planning and Development, Training and Development, Performance Appraisal, Quality of Work Life and Employee Performance indicates that:

· The various demographic groups of employees are indifferent in their opinions regarding HRD Climate prevailing in the organization. However employees with diverse years of experience have expressed difference in opinions with regard to HRD Climate.

· Employee belonging to various age group and years of experience has exhibited significant difference in opinions regarding Rewards and Recognition. However employees belonging to various designation and educational qualification have similar opinions regarding Rewards and Recognition.

· Employee belonging to various age group, years of experience and designation has exhibited significant difference in opinions regarding Career Planning and Development programmes implemented in the Organization. However employees belonging to various educational qualifications have similar opinions regarding Career Planning and Development.

· Employee belonging to various age group, educational qualification and designation has exhibited insignificant difference in opinions regarding Training and Development programmes implemented in the Organization. However employees belonging to various years of experience have different in opinions regarding Training and Development.

· Employee belonging to various age groups, educational qualification and designation has exhibited insignificant difference in opinions regarding Performance Appraisal programmes implemented in the Organization. However employees belonging to various years of experience have different in opinions regarding Performance Appraisal.

· Employee belonging to various years of experience and designation has exhibited significant difference in opinions regarding Quality of Work Life present in the Organization. However employees belonging to various age groups and educational qualifications have different in opinions regarding Quality of Work Life present in the organization.

· Employee belonging to various age group, educational qualification and designation has exhibited insignificant difference in opinions regarding Employee Performance. However employees belonging to various groups of years of experience have different in opinions regarding Employee Performance.

8.2 Hypothesis Summary:

The following tables details the overall summary of the results obtained from independent sample t-test and analysis of variance.

Table: Hypothesis Summary

SL. No	Parameter	Test	Variable	Significance / Insignificance	Hypothesis Accepted/Rejected
1.	Gender	Independent Sample t-test	HRD Climate	t = 1.300, p > .05	H1a is Rejected
			Rewards and Recognition	t = .692, p > .05	H1b is Rejected
			Career Planning and Development	t = -.302, p > .05	H1c is Rejected
			Training and Development	t = 1.300, p > .05	H1d is Rejected
			Performance Appraisal	t = 1.873, p < .05	H1e is Accepted
			Quality of Work Life	t = 1.256, p > .05	H1f is Rejected
			Employee Performance	t = 1.041, p > .05	H1g is Rejected
2.	Marital Status	Independent Sample t-test	HRD Climate	t = .197, p > .05	H2a is Rejected
			Rewards and Recognition	t = -.724, p > .05
			Career Planning and Development	t = -.542, p > .05
			Training and Development	t = -.823, p > .05
			Performance Appraisal	t = -.075, p > .05
			Quality of Work Life	t = -.230, p > .05
			Employee Performance	t = .421, p > .05
3.	Age Group	ANOVA	HRD Climate	F = .500, p > 0.05	H3a is Rejected
			Rewards and Recognition	F= 2.721, p < 0.05	H3b is Accepted
			Career Planning and Development	F = 3.34, p < 0.05	H3c is Accepted
			Training and Development	F = .869, p > 0.05	H3d is Rejected
			Performance Appraisal	F= 1.054, p > 0.05	H3e is Rejected
			Quality of Work Life	F = .484, p > 0.05	H3f is Rejected
			Employee Performance	F = .469, p > 0.05	H3g is Rejected
4.	Years of Experience	ANOVA	HRD Climate	F = 2.672, p < .05	H4 is Accepted
			Rewards and Recognition	F = 2.347, p < .05
			Career Planning and Development	F = 3.423, p < .05
			Training and Development	F = 2.742, p < .05
			Performance Appraisal	F = 3.14, p < .05
			Quality of Work Life	F = 4.126, p < .05
			Employee Performance	F = 3.16, p < .05
5	Designation	ANOVA	HRD Climate	F = 0.333, p > .05	H5a is Rejected
			Rewards and Recognition	F = 0.180, p >.05	H5b is Rejected
			Career Planning and Development	F = 2.605, p < .05	H5c is Accepted
			Training and Development	F = .543, p > .05	H5d is Rejected
			Performance Appraisal	F = .321, p > .05	H5e is Rejected
			Quality of Work Life	F = 2.706, p < .05	H5f is Accepted
			Employee Performance	F = 1.88, p > .05	H5g is Rejected
6.	EducationalQualification	ANOVA	HRD Climate	F = 0.025, p > .05	H6 is Rejected
			Rewards and Recognition	F = .100, p > .05
			Career Planning and Development	F = .338, p > .05
			Training and Development	F = .960, p > .05
			Performance Appraisal	F = .253, p > .05
			Quality of Work Life	F = .531, p > .05
			Employee Performance	F = .242, p > .05