Human Resource Development

Foundations, Process, Context

Stephen Gibb

• Publisher: Red Globe Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780230247109
• eBook ISBN: 9780230344648
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Human Resource Development, 3rd edition, provides a complete and integrated introduction to the processes, practices and perspectives of HRD in the workplace from a theory and practice perspective. Various aspects of HRD at work are explored through case studies; encouraging the student to link the practicalities of HRD with academic analysis.

PART I

Foundations

Part I introduces Human Resource Development (HRD). HRD is concerned with the process of learning and change in work and employment to enable skilled people to perform competently in their roles, the key to sustainable organisational success. It describes and reviews the areas of theory which are relevant to understanding learning, change and the management of these in work and employment. The core process, policies and strategies for developing people in work and employment are described. Value-based and ethical concerns as well as economic issues are highlighted as significant in motivating and shaping human development in work and employment.

CHAPTER

1

Human Resource Development

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

• Define Human Resource Development (HRD);

• Describe a model of organisational value bases influencing learning and change in work and employment;

• Connect HRD and organisational learning and change challenges;

• Identify and critically reflect on contemporary challenges in HRD.

Question 1.1

Adult Learning and Change; How Long Does It Take?

How long on average does it take an adult to learn a new habit, to change?

Introduction

Human Resource Development refers to the process of learning and change in work and employment. This process has the purpose of enabling skilled people to perform competently in their roles. Knowledge of this, from theories to methods and practices, has wellsprings in the study of human development and work organisation, and the professional development and practical management in work. The major goals of HRD in the work and employment context can be to enable and improve competitiveness, control, creativity and collaboration. The challenge of HRD is to shape and advance personal, group, organisational and national learning and change to achieve these goals. The nature of the challenge does vary with industry sectors and organisations, reflecting the particular performance, employment and strategic concerns that prevail in different industry sectors and organisations. These aspects of HRD are introduced to be considered in more depth in later chapters.

Human Resource Development

Human Resource Development is concerned with the process of learning and change in work and employment to enable skilled people to perform competently in their roles (Nadler and Nadler 1970, Swanson and Holton 2001, Reid et al. 2009, Stewart and Rigg 2011). That’s a formal way of operationalising and defining the subject. Well-trained and developed people are able to work safely, effectively and efficiently. For those who are passionate about it, and study it as they aim to work professionally in HRD, the meaning of HRD is often more than that; it is about realising the potential of people, teams, organisations and countries. HRD is a necessary and critical foundation of success at all these levels. And how success is to be achieved is integral to how people understand their lives, work and societies (Kuchinke 2010) not only producing effective and skilled employees. A recent OECD report on ‘Human Capital’ (see Perspective 1.1) concluded that HRD is central to achieving economic growth and skilled employment and much more. It is this broader valuing, meaning and purpose of HRD that inspires people to ask questions and seek answers about adult learning. As a field of study, a discipline, HRD is emerging as the home of the study of adult learning and change, and the theory and practice of success (see Practice 1.1).

HRD in the ‘big picture’ is to be understood as being concerned with training people for and in work and employment, with the theory and practice of adult learning at the core of HRD connecting areas of theory, concepts and contexts which inform and direct thinking on adult learning and change that go well beyond training for employment (see Figure 1.1).

Perspective 1.1: United Nations ‘Human Capital’ Report

The OECD is a forum where the governments of 30 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The Human Capital report pulls together a lot of ideas and data about that, focussing on human development. Economic success crucially relies on human capital – the knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes that allow people to contribute to their personal and social well-being, as well as that of their countries.

Education is the key factor in forming human capital. People with better education tend to enjoy higher incomes, health levels, community involvement and employment prospects. Yet even in developed countries, as many as one-fifth of young people fail to finish secondary school, which severely limits their subsequent employment prospects. Learning beyond the years of formal education, continued training and education, will become ever more important as economies evolve and people work longer. To study HRD is to engage in debates on some of the key issues that affect our societies and economies today.

Source: Keely, B., (2007).

Practice 1.1: Recognition of HRD

The recognition and status of HRD in the workplace as a significant process, worth attention and investment, has been established over time. The original term ‘HRD’ has been used since 1970 (Nadler and Nadler 1970), though since then several important bodies and networks have evolved and shaped how we understand HRD. They include:

• Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD)

• University Forum for HRD (UFHRD)

• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

• American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)

• International Federation of Training and Development Organisations (IFTDO).

HRD Academic Journals

• HRD International

• Advances in Developing Human Resources

• HRD Quarterly

• HRD Review.

Figure 1.1 The scope of human development and HRD (Darker Circles)

The antecedents of producing capable and successful people, teams, organisations and countries are not confined to training for and in employment. These are part of the bigger picture where the organisation of learning and change to support human development is, in contemporary societies and cultures, associated with many contexts and outcomes (Seligman 2002, James 2007, 2008, Butler-Bowden 2008, Gladwell 2008, Ehrenreich 2009, Foley 2010). There is an interrelationship where human development for work both depends upon and contributes to human development in other contexts (see Perspective 1.2). In knowledge about HRD the foundations are understanding successful human development while the specific focus is the process of managing learning in work.

Perspective 1.2: Do firms that make large investments in Human Capital perform the best?

There are, in the simplest terms, two systemic views of Human Capital. There is the systemic view that a cycle of high skills, high wages, and long term success is initiated and sustained by investing in people, in human capital. There is the alternative view that a cycle of low skills, low costs underpins short term success. In this case employees are disposable costs, not assets to be invested in.

Subjectively the former view is appealing, but is it objectively true? Do, for example, firms that make large investments in employee development outperform the stock market . One study claims this is indeed the case (Bassi & McMurrer 2008). The evidence base is not robust, but the analysis of why this might be true is inter-esting; it is not just about the level of individuals’ skills, but about the positive reciprocal relationship between leadership and human capital investment. Investing in people challenges leaders and managers to be better; developing better leaders and managers results in an interest in upskilling other people too. The opposite is also seen; where the workforce is low skill there is little demand for improving leadership and management; and where leadership and management is limited there is not much motivation to upskill people, so this is a constraint on development. A cluster of practices produce a virtuous cycle underpinning success;

• Learning Capacity (training)

• Leadership

• Employee Engagement

• Knowledge Accessibility (learning)

• Workforce Optimisation

Human Capital means more than upskilling individuals, it raises challenges for managerial and leadership capacity too.

Source: Bassi, L. and McMurrer, D. (2008) Towards A Human Capital measurement methodology, Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(6), 863–881

Success: Individual and Organisational

The heart of HRD is about achieving successful human development for and in work. Capable, successful people, teams, organisations and countries are an outcome of many people working together with shared and contested definitions of success. The past and present results of working for success suggest there are both peaks and troughs that are encountered by individuals, organisations and societies in the extent to which human development as an ideal is actually attained. The peaks of the past and the present are represented by people, organisations and societies that flourish and achieve rewarding and fulfilling work and employment which contributes to potential being realised. The troughs in the past and the present are represented by people, organisations and societies that languish and decline, where potential is unrealised. If we better understood success, the probability of achieving and sustaining peaks and removing troughs would be increased. How we understand individual success has inspired many writers (Butler-Bowden 2008) and contemporary analyses (Gladwell 2008). In these, individual success is understood as emerging from a set of characteristics shared by successful people. These characteristics can be listed and commonly include the following:

• Optimism

• Having a definite aim and purpose

• Being willing to work

• Being disciplined

• Curiosity

• Risk taking

• Expecting the best

• Seeking mastery

• Well-rounded/balanced.

The iteration of such characteristics is hardly recent (Marlow 1984, De Bono 1985, Covey 1989), but...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Part I: Foundations
• Part II: Process, Concepts and Methods
• Part III: Contexts
• Bibliography
• Index