Relationship between line and human resource executives in Indian organisations

This paper explores the working relationships between line and human resource (HR) in 16 different organisations covering a variety of sectors in India. A content analysis of responses taken from 74 line and HR managers reveals that while the quality of HR-line relationships is moderate to low in most organisations, there are organisations where HR and line are very cooperative and appreciative about each other. In general, HR-line interactions vary from good to moderate within companies in the IT sector while manufacturing and media companies fare poorly on this front. The relationship is healthier for financial services, real estate and mining companies. An area which can have significant effects on the quality of HR-line interactions in the IT sector is the proper design and execution of the performance appraisal process.