Human Resource Management in Sri Lanka: A Profession or a Skilled Occupation?

Abstract

While there is no doubt about the importance of Human Resource Management (HR) for businesses around the world, the debate continues as to whether HR is a profession similar to medicine, engineering, accountancy, and law. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the attributes of a profession identified by Greenwood (1957) with HRM discipline, to identify whether HRM is a profession or a skilled occupation in Sri Lanka. Employing qualitative research methodology, indepth interviews were conducted with 16 top HR professionals, and secondary information was gathered from websites and documents related to Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka as well as Association of HR professionals, which are the known professional bodies related to HR in Sri Lanka. The findings indicated how the HR in Sri Lanka does not appear to possess many criteria of a profession, indicating the need for HRM discipline in Sri Lanka to acquire and demonstrate systematic theory, authority, community sanction, ethical codes and a professional culture. According to the interview information, HR can be identified as more of a skill-based occupation in Sri Lanka, where the success of an HR personnel is said to depend more on his or her inherent skills and abilities (vis-à-vis the systematic knowledge). Hence, it is clear that, at the moment, HR in Sri Lanka appears to be more ofan occupation with specialised skills and distinct competencies rather than a profession with attributes of a profession.