Implementing human resource development best practices: Replication or re-creation?

Abstract

Firms increasingly introduce HRD ‘best practices’ developed somewhere else, but results often fall short of expectations. Much of existing theory fails to guide the implementation of HRD best practices because it does not recognize how introduced practices interact with existing practices in the firm. In this paper, we contrast the dominant perspective ‘Implementation as Replication’ with a perspective of ‘Implementation as Re-creation’. Through four stages of the implementation process, we identify and discuss how these contrasting perspectives yield different implications for how firms go about introducing HRD best practices. First, when firms take up a practice, is this a process of adoption or translation? Second, is it assumed that new knowledge can be implanted directly and lead to new behaviour, or is active experimentation a necessary precondition to gain new knowledge? Third, are deviations from the intended plan considered errors to be corrected or sources for learning? Fourth, are introduced best practices treated in isolation or as integral parts of the firm's management system? We argue that implementation efforts guided by the re-creation perspective increase the prospects of HRD best practices succeeding as a useful tool in the receiving firm.     

Testing the gender similarities hypothesis: differences in subjective task value and motivation to transfer training

ABSTRACT

Are female and male trainees similar or different in their reaction to training programmes, specifically regarding their subjective task value and motivation to transfer? According to the gender similarities hypothesis, women and men are alike on most psychological variables. However, according to research in organizational behaviour, female and male employees differ on certain aspects, such as their job satisfaction and work identity. To test these two views on gender similarities and differences in the context of human resource development and training evaluation, the present study examined the extent to which gender moderated reactions to training. Based on the expectancy-value theory of motivation and self-determination theory, a web-based questionnaire was used to measure six training reactions: intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, perceived relative cost, autonomous motivation to transfer, and controlled motivation to transfer. The results indicated that women and men differed in their ratings of attainment value but were similar for the remaining five reaction measures. These outcomes support the gender similarities hypothesis. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for modelling gender effects in HRD research and their practical significance for promoting training effectiveness and transfer of training.     

Women and training: an empirical investigation in the Arab Middle East

Few studies have explored the professional training experiences of Arab women within the contexts of learning organisational cultures and relevant human resource development (HRD) practices. Capitalising on in-depth, face-to-face interviews, this study explores the experiences of women managers in Lebanon with professional training and organisational learning. The findings demonstrate the paucity of professional training and learning opportunities for women and illustrate how organisational discrimination and gender-biased cultures and tension influence women’s learning. To overcome these barriers and alleviate organisational tension, the Lebanese women managers capitalise on their agency and individual capacities to improve their training experiences and increase their access to learning opportunities. By virtue of individual agency and through their agentic process, the careerists shape their training and overall learning by being adaptive and developing structures of action that enable them to advance their learning. The results have important implications for HR managers and HRD scholars. They also extend our understanding of the importance, or lack thereof, of the learning culture within an organisation.     

Brain drain in Venezuela: the scope of the human capital crisis

ABSTRACT

Brain drain, the exodus of highly skilled professionals, has a strong connection with Human Resource Development (HRD), as these experts are human capital for organizations, communities, and nations. In today’s global economy, HRD practitioners and scholars need to keep abreast of what circumstances trigger the migration of talented workers around the world and the implications for HRD. This article describes the brain drain in Venezuela. The magnitude of the talent crisis is the result of a complex combination of poor policy implementation, mismanagement, corruption, and socio-economic and political conflict. This article exposes the current realities and the repercussions the exodus of talent has had on Venezuela and the decline of a country that was once among the world’s richest, but is now an impoverished nation.     

HRD research and practice after ‘The Great COVID-19 Pause’: the time is now for bold,critical, research

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life as we knew it and created an unprecedented opportunity to pause and assess ‘normal’ life and work. We have an opportunity to create a new ‘normal.’ What possibility does the chance to show up differently in our lives and work hold? The pandemic has caused significant shifts in values that will affect individuals, organizations, communities, and nations. This article challenges HRD scholars and practitioners to imagine how HRD might create a new normal through bold, critical research inquiry that interrogates exclusion, pursues organization and social justice, and creates humanly sustainable organizations and communities.     

Corporate eLearning: Human resource development implications for large and small organizations

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts the current attitudes towards, awareness of and take-up of eLearning in large and small organizations and outlines the implications for human resource development (HRD) professionals. An in-depth study was conducted in Ireland with a number of large multinational organizations and a number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the engineering, electronics, aerospace, pharmaceutical and medical device sectors. The study focused on awareness, perceptions, technology support infrastructure, current and planned involvement, most frequent and most preferred methods of delivery, benefits, barriers, the motivational factors and overall attitudes to eLearning. The comparison describes a number of similarities and a number of differences both within the large organization sector and within the SME sector and between the two sectors. Finally, the implications for HRD professionals are discussed.     

Redefining,relooking, redesigning,and reincorporating HRD in the post Covid 19 context and thereafter

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought several challenges to the way organizations were functioning globally. Considering the case of India, this is a time of complete work transformation for the entire workforce across all sectors of work. As the work from home scenario has never been a part of the functioning of Indian organizations, whether public or private, there are serious concerns of managing the same particularly in time of this crisis. Thus, the present article provides an insight into the response of Indian organizations in combating the repercussions that the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn with it as well as the challenges being faced. In line with the same, we propose the adoption of a 4-R Crisis-Normalcy Model of HRD that can be used by the HRD professionals to redefine, relook, redesign, and reincorporate the HRD interventions in the COVID-19 context. This model not only provides the basis for managing the COVID-19 pandemic aligned to organizational functioning but is a way forward to dealing with any type of crisis situation that may affect an organization.     

Disasters and dilemmas: aid agency recruitment and HRD in post-tsunami Sri Lanka 1

Abstract

This article examines the ethical dimensions and implications of recruitment and human resource development that face both local and international aid agencies operating in the context of an emergency response. Focusing on post-tsunami Sri Lanka it contends that, although the rapid proliferation of humanitarian organizations responding to the disaster created a boom in employment opportunities with international agencies, it also resulted in a human resource crisis for local ones and consequently the erosion of national emergency response capacities. It argues that the current recruitment and HRD practices of humanitarian organizations are insensitive to the disaster response needs of local agencies. It concludes with a call for international aid agencies to be more aware of the implications of their recruitment and HRD strategies in disaster-affected countries and recommends a number of ways in which practices could be improved to support, rather than diminish, local capacities.     

Technical rationality and professional artistry in HRD practice

Abstract

This paper outlines the limitations of a technical rationalist approach to HRD practice without seeking to negate it. It then offers a complementary view based on Schon's notion of the reflective practitioner which exhorts HRD practitioners to embrace complexity and reflection. We outline, first, a number of dimensions of diversity which confer complexity upon HRD practice, and, second, a series of suggested questions that may aid the framing of practical problems in a more effective way than might be the case with a purely technical rationalist approach. We urge novice (and expert) HRD practitioners to adopt a mind set that is contemplative of the diversities that they may encounter in practice and which is conjectural with regard to how these diversities may impact upon problems and their solutions.     

Developmental leisure: why work-related learning takes place outside of working hours

This study is interested in why many professionals engage in work-related learning after formal working hours. It has been argued that in knowledge-intensive work the work/leisure boundaries are blurring. Similarly, the line between work-related and non-work-related learning is harder to draw. In this study, an innovative concept of ‘developmental leisure’ will be introduced and explored. The concept refers to a human resource development (HRD) discourse that makes possible the evaluation of leisure in terms of its benefit to work-related learning. The study investigates how leisure intertwines with HRD and how it is positioned discursively in relation to work-related learning. The analysis is based on life stories from information technology professionals working in a large international organization. The findings of the analysis show that when leisure is discussed within the HRD discourse, it is positioned as a resource for work-related learning. Much of the learning outside of work intertwines with the objectives of HRD and learning at leisure becomes synonymous to learning for work.     

Careers after COVID-19: challenges and changes

ABSTRACT

There are few certainties in our visions of post-COVID-19 careers, but change is inevitable. This article will explore how HRD can be proactive in addressing the immediate needs of the post-pandemic workforce and workplaces, as they strive to recover and resume a productive future. Uncertainties about employment and employability, how workplaces will be configured, the future of some careers and the possibilities for new opportunities will weigh heavily on individuals as they navigate these challenges. Drawing on the career shock, resilience, and sustainable careers literature, we consider how both individual and contextual factors will impact people and their occupations moving forward.     

Flattening the learning curve of leadership development: reflections of five women higher education leaders during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020

ABSTRACT

For an adult, non-traditional student focused college, the pandemic brought into stark reality the challenges that the dislocation brought ‘home,’ literally, for many people. This article presents a set of reflections of five women leaders at a public institution of higher education. Through their reflections, they discuss their responses to the challenges faced by faculty, staff and students during the pandemic. Issues of gender, race, class, precarious work, technological access, and related challenges are raised to the surface. We offer three implications for HRD and leadership development research and practice.     

Perceptions of organization development in South Korea: the use of a sensemaking approach

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explores how employees engage in sensemaking during Organization Development (OD) initiatives in chaebols, that is, large family-owned firms in South Korea. In adopting a case study approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 37 respondents drawn from different levels of a chaebol to address three research questions. First, what key contextual factors are associated with employees’ sensemaking at different levels of an organization? Second, how do individuals at different levels of the organization make sense of an OD initiative through the ‘searching for plausibility’ property of sensemaking? Third, what contextual cues are influential when employees engage in ‘identity construction’ in sensemaking in response to an OD initiative? The findings and implications of the study demonstrate multiple subjective realities, which employees from different levels construct, indicating that the prevailing norms and practice within the existing culture, which have been influential in constructing the identities of employees should be identified when attempting to implement OD to change the organizational culture.     

The UK research assessment exercise

Abstract

This article examines and critiques the UK research assessment exercise (RAE) and its implications for research and writing in HRD. It describes the process and identifies weaknesses in some of the concepts and related criteria applied in assessing and grading research outputs and in particular the notions of ‘international’ and ‘world class’ as standards against which to judge those outputs. The article argues that the process has detrimental effects for emerging subjects such as HRD, for those engaged in research in such subjects and for journals such as HRDI which are relatively new to business and management. It concludes that UK academics working in the field of HRD are mistaken if they allow the RAE to drive their research and choice of publications and outlets, and that it is important to support the journals which are playing a critical role in establishing the subject.     

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.     

Expanding the HRD Role: Improving employee well-being and organizational performance

Abstract

An important opportunity for the HRD profession lies in assessing and reshaping the psychosocial work environment to create a healthy, mentally focused workforce that provides their organization with a competitive advantage. We explain why HRD professionals should be concerned with employee well-being, offer suggestions for assessing the work environment through a stress audit and discuss four key work factors that affect well-being: job control, role overload, social support and supervisor behaviour. By expanding their role to these concerns, HRD professionals can improve quality of life and contribute to organizational effectiveness. If they do, the result should be healthier employees, healthier organizations and a greater recognition of HRD's potential for transforming organizations.     

A digital pedagogy pivot: re-thinking higher education practice from an HRD perspective

ABSTRACT

This paper has a provocative purpose. From both HRD and academic practice perspectives, it considers the digital pedagogy pivot made necessary by the Covid-19 pandemic. Universities have traditionally resisted substantial change in learning and teaching processes. This paper addresses the challenge they face of achieving the equivalent of a ten-year digital learning strategy in mere months. From a position that HE pedagogy constitutes a site of HRD practice, the paper considers the characteristics of a meaningful, digitally enabled pedagogy in Higher Education (HE) and their alignment with established HRD theories and concepts. It considers the pedagogic opportunities arising from the ‘digital pivot’ and the HRD processes appropriate to facilitate game-changing approaches to academic practice in Higher Education. The paper advances debate about the relationship between HRD and HE academic practice and contributes proposals for HRD processes to support rapid pedagogic change. It further contributes an original categorization of the way in which HRD concepts and theories are aligned with principles of HE pedagogy and a digital pedagogy pivot model.     

HRD in 2020: a hop-on,hop-off city tour

This article reports on the outcome of a Future Search Conference in the UK to consider human resource development (HRD) in 2020 and beyond. We firstly consider themes from the past into the present. This includes the persistence of solutions in HRD that are systematic, predictable, how apprenticeships in the UK have had to accommodate government policies to ameliorate youth unemployment and the long-standing difficulty for HRD of failing to demonstrate a return on investment (ROI) on activities. We then present four scenarios based on key questions for the future relating to value of HRD and whether this will be a future for HRD. Reponses to the questions form scenario logics which we present against the theme of city tour. Each scenario is explained against the presented logic with positive, negative, ambiguous and uncertain implications for HRD. We suggest that each scenario carries a glimpse of what might be.