A comparison of the practices used by human resource development professionals to evaluate web-based and classroom-based training programmes within seven Korean companies

The purpose of the study was to compare the practices used by human resource development (HRD) professionals to evaluate web-based and classroom-based training (CBT) programmes within seven Korean companies. This study used four components of evaluation and three factors of evaluation barriers to compare the differences between these two training approaches. This study also explored the key decision factors for determining how HRD professionals evaluated their web-based and CBT programmes. Two data sets were used for the study; one set of data was gathered from a survey questionnaire distributed to HRD professionals and the other was gathered from interviews with HR/HRD directors within the seven companies. The results showed that web-based and CBT programmes were not meaningfully different on the most components of evaluation and evaluation barriers. The results also found six key decision factors determining evaluation for web-based and CBT programmes.     

Approaches to HRD in Russian IT-companies in the period of economic crisis

Economic crisis differently impacts on the decisions of companies how to manage human resource development (HRD) initiatives. For the IT sector, intellectual capital becomes a core source of sustainable competitive advantages where HRD is seen like a tool to develop the internal stock of human capital. This article explores the approaches to HRD used by Russian IT-companies during the crisis. On the basis of the conceptual debates regarding the necessity to invest more in HRD programs even in the crisis conditions and our own empirical research, we tried to find out what happened with HRD costs during the crisis and what was the relationship between HRD costs and company’s performance during the crisis in Russian IT-companies. We conclude that Russian IT-companies perceive the value of HRD programs; hence, the most innovative-active and fast developing IT-companies prefer to constantly invest more in HRD initiatives. In crisis conditions, we recommend them to develop and implement more internal training programs.     

The perceptions of human resource development professionals in Taiwan regarding their working relationships with subject matter experts (SMEs) during the training design process

While the literature supports the importance of establishing a relationship between designers and subject matter experts (SMEs) in the training design process, this approach is not followed in all global practices. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of human resource development professionals in Taiwan regarding their working relationships with SMEs. The respondents of the study were HRD professionals who worked in high-tech companies located in a science park in Taiwan. The study found that a significant relationship exists between the ability to work with SMEs and current ability in the training design process among HRD professionals who had worked with SMEs. This study provides implications for the professional development of HRD practitioners and HRD practice in Taiwan companies. Cross-cultural issues are discussed to explain inconsistencies between the results and US-based perspectives on the training design process.     

Impact of Information Technology Integration and Lean/Just‐In‐Time Practices on Lead‐Time Performance*

Managers seeking to improve lead‐time performance are challenged by how to balance resources and investments between process improvement achieved through lean/just‐in‐time (JIT) practices and information technology (IT) deployment. However, extant literature provides little guidance on this question. Motivated by both practical importance and lack of academic research, this article examines empirically the relationships among interfirm IT integration, intrafirm IT integration, lean/JIT practices, and lead‐time performance using data from IndustryWeek's Census of Manufacturers ( IndustryWeek, 2006 ). The results provide several new insights on the relationship between IT integration and lean/JIT practices. First, the study confirms that implementing lean/JIT practices significantly reduces lead time. Second, lean/JIT practices mediate the influence of IT integration on lead‐time performance. This suggests that process improvements that result from lean/JIT practices are important contributors to the success of IT integration. Even companies that have experienced success in reducing lead time through lean/JIT practices may benefit from IT integration practices such as those embodied in enterprise resource planning systems. The findings provide managers with empirical evidence and a theoretical framework on the balance between lean/JIT and IT for effecting improvement in lead‐time performance, thus offering practical guidance on this important question. Future research is needed to extend the lean/JIT practices in this study to supply chain practices and explore the relationship between supply chain practices and IT integration.     

Korean corporate HRD in transition: issues and challenges

The purpose of this study was to explore the human resource development (HRD) practices of Korean corporations in order to highlight predominant concerns and issues. A comprehensive review of literature and empirical data indicated three recurring practices. The first was that Korean corporate HRD showed a tendency to transform informal communicative practices found in workplace settings into formally structured HRD interventions. By doing so, HRD extended its control throughout all possible types of training and learning experiences occurring in the workplace. Second, as host organizations requested HRD to play the role of strategic business partners, the function of HRD was found to be the regulation of organizational needs by focusing on the development of high potential individuals within organizations. Third, with today's demographic shift such as the increasing elderly population and the increasing number of women in the workplace, the monolithic interventions of HRD seemed no longer appropriate.     

An integrated model of national HRD and critical HRD: considering new possibilities for human resource development

Though both National Human Resource Development (NHRD) and Critical Human Resource Development (CHRD) have received an increasing amount of attention, only two published works have used an explicitly critical approach to discuss NHRD norms, policies, and practices. The purpose of this article was to examine and articulate the relationship between NHRD and CHRD and make a case for the importance of that relationship to the field of HRD. We identify some commonalities between NHRD and CHRD, including the shared priorities of context, culture, and empowerment, which provide a strong foundation for future focuses on theory-sharing, global awareness, holistic and socially conscious economic development, negotiated power and performance, and emancipation in HRD research and practice.     

Trends and challenges of developing human capital in Singapore: an analysis of current practices and future potentials

As one of the most vibrant nations of Asia, Singapore is well known for its dynamic and innovative human capital development initiatives. These are driven mainly by the government policies, with inputs from public sector organizations and large local companies. Human resource development (HRD) related legislations, financial incentives, infra-structural support and deployment of management and info-communication technologies (ICT) help to sustain the national HRD initiatives. This paper presents an analysis of the current practices and future trends and challenges faced by organizations in Singapore. Some of these challenges are: ageing workforce, talent retention and development, rapid technological changes and cross-cultural skills development for working in the emerging markets. Eight trends and challenges identified here are expected to significantly impact the HRD profession in future. Implications of the trends and challenges are also discussed for future research and professional practice.     

Vertical integration of HRD policy within companies

This study concerns HRD policy making in companies. More specifically, it explores whether so-called vertical integration of HRD policy at different organizational levels occurs within companies. The study involved forty-four large companies in the industrial and the financial and commercial services sectors. Findings indicate a virtual absence of HRD policy making or strategic HRD alignment in all aspects and at all levels within the companies studied. The HRD alignment process was not really strategic and hardly interactive. It is then problematical to harmonize HRD policy processes in a vertical direction.     

Employer branding practices for young talents in IT companies (Russian experience)

This article discusses the current Russian experience of information technology (IT) companies in building employer branding practices to attract and retain young talents. Focusing on generation theory and employer branding perspective, we identify the core employment values and preferences of young IT-professionals and consider the efficient employer branding tools used by three IT companies to cooperate with them in the conditions of ‘war for talents’.     

Responsible leadership development – crucible experiences and power relationships in a global professional services firm

There is increasing consensus that Human Resource Development (HRD) has a central role to play in promoting the principles and practices of corporate responsibility (CR). An important HRD intervention involves developing responsible leaders able to attract support for CR throughout the organisation, but empirical research is lacking in this area. This article contributes to the theoretical and practical knowledge of responsible leadership development (RLD) by addressing two questions: first, how does RLD engender learning that goes beyond basic cognitive awareness? Second, what affects participants’ abilities to manifest this learning in the workplace? A review of the RLD literature reveals a ‘knowing-doing gap’, which, it is posited, may be linked to a lack of theorisation around power. This issue is investigated by means of a case study on a responsible leadership development programme run by a professional services firm. Drawing on Bourdieusian concepts of language and power, the study reveals some of the mechanisms that inspired new socially responsible values whilst also demonstrating some of the contextual barriers inhibiting their manifestation in the workplace. It is argued that HRD professionals need to engage with Bourdieusian ideas of language and power to promote deeper learning around responsible leadership, which can more easily be embedded into the workplace.     

Exploring a theoretical foundation for HRD in society: toward a model of stakeholder-based HRD

This article explores a theoretical foundation of human resource development (HRD) that can be adopted to explain the increasing use of HRD interventions and practices in the wider context of society and the world. While there has been growing interest in and literature about the societal meaning of HRD, previous research has focused mostly on HRD practices and lacked a theoretical framework that could explain and characterize the interactions between HRD and society. Based on a review of current approaches to the HRD–society nexus, we suggest that the nexus can be better understood when complex interactions between internal and external stakeholders of an organization are recognized, and we introduce the stakeholder-based HRD (SBHRD) model as a tool for identifying the interactions between HRD and society and the characteristics of the interactions with regard to plurality, interdependency, and legitimacy. The SBHRD model carries theoretical implications of possible changes in the epistemology of HRD, pushing forward well-being as the purpose of HRD, and enlarging HRD research topics. From a practical standpoint, the SBHRD model enhances the value of social responsibilities of corporations and ethical management, enlarges the scope and beneficiaries of HRD activities, increases the opportunities of collaboration with adult education, and points to different modes of communication in practice.     

The future of HRD research: Strengths,weaknesses, opportunities,threats and actions

This article clarifies the boundaries of human resource development (HRD) with respect to other concepts frequently used and misused in HRD literature. Through a proposition, a set of criteria for human resources is presented. A cross-culture literature comparison of the criteria demonstrates the consistency of the connotation in two contrasting cultures. This study has important implications for HRD research, practice and continued theory development effort. It relates to the identity and distinctiveness of HRD discipline, as well as the domain of HRD research and practice.     

New job – new ideas: the relationship between tenure and perceived creative climate

Human resource development (HRD) practices are intertwined with organizational creative climate (CC). Understanding the factors that influence CC is important since CC influences not only employees' possibilities to share and develop ideas, but also potentially employees' decision to leave their current organization. This study focuses on how perceptions of CC is related to tenure in organizations by analysing perceived CC in a random sample of unionized Swedish white-collar workers (n = 1303). It finds tenure to be negatively related to perceived CC for the first few years of employment. The level of knowledge required for a position does not moderate this relationship, but more knowledge-intensive work in itself tends to be associated with higher levels of perceived CC. Implications for HRD are discussed.     

A necessary dialogue: a South African case study exploring the role of national HRD in HIV/AIDS non-government organizations

This article makes the case for a coordinated and multi-faceted national level response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa from the field of human resource development (HRD), arguing that national policy debate on this issue must include the development of human resources in HIV/AIDS non-governmental organizations (NGOs). An exploration of potential connections between HIV/AIDS and HRD was conducted with a qualitative case study in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Through this study, four major thematic categories emerged in connection to the work of NGOs involved in the management of HIV/AIDS, government policy, and the emerging theory and practice of national human resource development (NHRD). In addition, findings pointed to the need for HRD research to be conducted in HIV/AIDS related NGOs given their front-line roles in both policy and practice. Initial suggestions for dialogue between NGOs involved with managing HIV/AIDS and the HRD research and practice community are made along with recommendations for stronger linkages between NHRD and HIV/AIDs.     

Leadership in Context: The Four Faces of Capitalism

The literature on the human resource development (HRD) needs of very small (micro) firms and sole entrepreneurs is limited and what does exist tends to be polarized between the needs of the policy favoured by technological entrepreneurs or of extrapolated large-firm organizational practices. The research we conducted made observations of how a group of rural-based entrepreneurs in north-east England, handled HRD issues. A key finding was that this group made extensive use of their spatially fixed egocentric networks to further their business activities. Consequently, we argue that the development of HRD models for such firms must acknowledge the importance of such structures, something that they currently fail to do.     

Human resource development in Pakistan: evolution,trends and challenges

Human resource development (HRD) is an ever-changing field. The concepts and the underlying principles of HRD may be similar throughout the globe, but its practice differs due to contextual factors such as culture, technology, resources and national policies. This article describes the development, current status and future trends of HRD in Pakistan. After analysing HRD in corporate, non-profit, education and community development settings, this article outlines the important role of HRD for the social and economic development of Pakistan.