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.