Human Resource Development

• Organizations of all types and sizes, including

schools, retail stores, government agencies,
etc. must have at least one thing in common,
they must employ competent and motivated
workers.
• To compete and thrive, many organizations
are including employee education, training
and development as part of their
organizational strategy.
• Human resource managers in large
organizations ranked training and
development as the most important
functional area they had to deal with.
• This was followed in descending order by
recruitment and selection, productivity and
quality, succession, planning, employee job
satisfaction, compensation, globalization and
diversity.
• Richard Swanson has defined human resource
development as “a process for developing and
unleashing human expertise through training
and development and organization
development for the purpose of improving
performance.”
• HRD is the framework for helping employees
develop their personal and organizational
skills, knowledge and abilities. It includes such
opportunities as employees’ training,
employees’ career development, performance
management and development, coaching,
mentoring, succession planning, key employee
identification, tuition assistance and
organization development.
• Learning is at the core of all HRD efforts.
• A major focus today is on workplace learning and
performance.
• Jacobs and park define workplace learning as
“the process used by individuals when engaged in
training programs, education and development
courses or some type of experiential learning
activity for the purpose of acquiring the
competence necessary to meet current and
future work requirements.”
• HRD can also be defined as a set of systematic
and planned activities designed by an
organization to provide its members with the
opportunities to learn necessary skills to meet
current and future job demands.
• HRD seeks to develop peoples’ knowledge,
expertise, productivity and satisfaction, whether
for personal or group/team gain or for the benefit
of an organization, community, nation, or
ultimately, the whole of humanity.
• HRD activities should begin when an employee
joins an organization and continue throughout
his/her career regardless of whether that
employee is an executive, or a worker on
assembly line.
• In short, while Training and Development
activities or T and D for short constitutes a major
part of HRD, activities such as coaching, career
development, team building, and organization
development are also aspects of HRD.
The Progression Toward A Field of HRD
• The term HRD has been in common use since the
1980s. However, the concept has been in around
a lot longer.
• The origins of HRD can be traced to
apprenticeship training programs in the 18th
century.
• During this time, small shops operated by skilled
artisans produced virtually all household goods,
such as furniture, clothing and shoes.
• To meet a growing demand for their products,
craft-shop owners had to employ additional
workers.
• For little or no wages, these trainers or
apprentices learned the craft of their master,
usually working in the shop for several years,
until they became proficient in their trade.
• Not limited to the skilled trades, the
apprenticeship model was also followed in the
training of physicians, educators and lawyers.
• Apprentices who mastered all the necessary skills
were considered “yeomen” and could leave their
master and establish their own craft shops;
however, most remained with their masters
because they could not afford to buy the tools
and equipment needed to start their own craft
shops.
• To address a growing number of yeomen,
master craftsmen formed a network of private
franchises so they could regulate such things
as product quality, wages, hours and
apprentice-testing procedures. These craft
guilds grew to become powerful political and
social forces within their communities, making
it even more difficult for yeomen to establish
independent craft shops.
• By forming separate guilds called
“yeomanries” the yeomen counterbalanced
the powerful craft guilds and created a
collective voice in negotiating higher wages
and better working conditions.
• “Yeomanries” was the forerunner of modern
labor unions.
 Early Vocational Education Programs
• In 1809, De Witt Clinton founded the first
recognized privately funded vocational school
which was also referred to as manual school in
New York City.
• The purpose of the manual school was to
provide occupational training to unskilled
young people who were unemployed or has
criminal records.
• Regardless of their intent, these early form of
occupational training established a prototype for
vocational education.
• In 1917, Congress passed the Smith Hughes Act
which recognized the value of vocational
education.
• By granting funds (initially $7M annually) the Act
targeted state programs in agricultural trades,
home economics, industry and teacher training.
 Early Factory Schools
• With the advent of Industrial Revolution during
the late 1800s machines began to replace the
hand tools of the artisans.
• Scientific management principles recognized the
significant role of machines in better and more
efficient production system.
• Specifically, semi-skilled workers using machines
could produce more than skilled workers in small
craft schools. This marked the beginning of
factories as we know them today.
• Fueled by the increase in the number of
factories, the demand for skilled workers soon
outstripped the supply of vocational school
graduates.
• To meet this demand, factories created
mechanical and machinist training programs
which were referred to as “factory schools.”
• The first documented factory school in 1872
was located at Hoe and Co., a New York
manufacturer of printing presses. This was
soon followed by Westinghouse in 1888,
General Electric and Baldwin Locomotive in
1901, International Harvester in 1907 and
then Ford, Western Electric, Goodyear and
National Cash Register.
• Factory School programs differed from early
apprenticeship programs in that they tended
to be shorter in duration and had a narrower
focus on the skills needed to do a particular
job.
 Early Training Programs for Semi-
Skilled and Unskilled Workers
• Very few companies offered training programs
for unskilled or semi-skilled workers. This
changed after two significant historical events.
• The first was the introduction of the Model T
by Henry Ford in 1913. The Model T was the
first car to be mass produced using an
assembly line in which production required
only the training of semi-skilled workers to
perform several tasks.
• Another significant event was the outbreak of
World War I. To meet the huge demand for
military equipment, many factories that
produced nonmilitary goods had to retool
their machinery and retrain their workers
including the semi-skilled.
• For instance, the US shipping Board was
responsible for coordinating the training of
shipbuilders to build warships.
• To facilitate the training process, Charles Allen,
director for training instituted a four-step
instructional method referred to as “show, tell,
do, check” for all of the training programs
offered by the Shipping Board. This technique
was later named JOB INSTRUCTION TRAINING
(JIT) and still in use today for training many
workers on the basic elements of their job.
 The Human Relations Movement
• The Human Relations Movement advocated for
more humane working conditions.
• It provided a more complex and realistic
understanding of workers as people instead of
merely cogs in a factory machine.
• The Movement highlighted the importance of
human behavior on the job.
• This was addressed by Chester Barnard, the
President of New Jersey Bell Telephone in his
book(1938), The Functions of the Executive.
• Barnard described the organization as a social
structure integrating traditional management
and behavioral science applications.
• The Movement continued into the 1940s with
WWII as a backdrop.
• Abraham Maslow published his theory on
human needs, stating that people can be
motivated by both economic and non-
economic incentives.
• Maslow proposed that human needs can be
arranged in terms of lesser to greater potency
(strength) and distinguished between lower
order (basic survival) needs and higher order
(psychological) needs.
 The Establishment of The Training
Professions
• With the outbreak of WWII, the industrial sector
was asked to retool its factories to support the
war.
• As with WWI, this initiative led to the
establishment of new training programs within
the larger organizations and unions.
• The federal government in the US established the
Training Within Industry (TWI) Service to
coordinate training programs across defense
related industries.
• The TWI also trained company instructors to
teach their programs at each plant.
• By the end of WWII TWI had trained over
23,000 instructors, awarding over 2 million
certificated to supervisors from 16,000 plants,
unions and services.
• Many defense related companies established
their own training departments with
instructors trained by TWI.
• In 1942, the American Society for Training
Directors (ASTD) was formed to established to
establish some standards within the emerging
profession.
 Emergence of HRD
• During the 1960s and 1970s professional trainers
realized that their role extended beyond the
training classrooms.
• The move toward employee involvement in many
organizations required trainees to also coach and
counsel employees.
• Training and Development (T and D)
competencies therefore expanded to include
interpersonal skills such as coaching, group
process facilitation and problem solving.
• This additional emphasis on employee
development inspired the ASTD to rename
itself as the American Society for Training and
Development.
• Since the 1990s, efforts have been made to
strengthen the strategic role of HRD, that is
how HRD links to and supports the goals and
objectives of the organization.
 The Relationship Between HRM and
HRD
• In some organizations, training is a stand-alone
function or department.
• In most organizations, training or human resource
department is part of a larger human resource
management department.
• Human Resource Management can be defined as
the effective selection and utilization of
employees to best achieve the goals and
strategies of an organization, as well as the goals
and needs of employees.
• Some organizations have a centralized HRM
Department with highly specialized staff, but
in other organizations, the HRM function is
decentralized and conducted throughout the
organization.
• For example in large organizations, they have
a VP for Human Resource Management.
Under him are the following:
• HR Research Planning Director
• Staffing Director
• Employee Relations Director
• HRD Director
• Compensation and Benefits Director
• HRM functions can be divided into primary
and secondary functions.
• Primary functions are directly involved with
obtaining, maintaining and developing
employees.
• Secondary functions either provide support
for general management activities or are
involved in determining or changing the
structure of the organization.
• Human Resource Planning activities are used to
predict how changes in management strategy will
affect future human resource needs.
• HR planners must continually chart the course of
an organization and its plans, programs and
actions.
• Equal Employment Opportunity activities are
intended to satisfy both the legal and moral
responsibilities of an organization thru the
prevention of discriminatory policies, procedures
and practices.
• This includes decisions affecting hiring,
training, appraising and compensating
employees.
• Staffing (recruitment and selection) activities
are designed for the timely identification of
potential applicants for current and future
openings and for assessing and evaluating
applicants in order to make selection and
placement decisions.
• Compensation and Benefits administration is
responsible for establishing and maintaining an
equitable internal wage structure, a competitive
benefits package, as well as incentives tied to
individual, team, or organizational performance.
• Employee (Labor) Relations activities include
developing a communications system thru which
employees can address their problems and grievances.
In a unionized organization, labor relations will include
the development of working relations with each labor
union, as well as contract negotiations and
administration.
• Health, Safety and Security activities seek to
promote a safe and healthy work
environment. This can include such actions as
safety training, employee assistance programs
and health and wellness programs.
• HRD activities are intended to ensure
organizational members the skills or
competence to meet current and future job
demands.
 Secondary HRM Functions
• Organization/Job Design – concerned with
interdepartmental relations and the organization
and definition of jobs.
• Performance Management and Performance
Appraisal Systems – used for establishing and
maintaining accountability throughout the
organization.
• Resource and Information Systems (including
Human Resource Information Systems) –
necessary to make enlightened human resource
decisions.
 HRD Functions
• There are three primary HRD functions: Training
and development; Organization Development;
and Career Development.
• Training and development focuses on changing or
improving the knowledge, skills and attitudes of
individuals.
• Training typically involves providing employees
the knowledge and skills needed to do a
particular task or job though attitude change
may also be attempted.
• Developmental activities have longer term
focus on preparing for future work
responsibilities while also increasing the
capacities if employees to perform their
current job.
• T and D activities begin when a new employee
enters the organization usually in the form of
employee orientation and skills training.
• Employee orientation is the process by which
new employees learn important organizational
values and norms, establish working
relationships and learn how to function within
the organization.
• Skills and Technical Training Programs teach
the new employees a particular skill or area of
knowledge,
• Once new employees have become proficient
in their jobs, HRD activities should focus more
on developmental activities – specifically
coaching and counseling.
• In coaching, individuals are encouraged to
accept responsibility for their actions, to
address any work related problem and to
achieve and sustain superior levels of
performance.
• Counseling techniques are used to help
employees deal with personal problems that
may interfere with the achievement of these
goals.
• These techniques may address such issues as
substance abuse, stress management,
smoking cessation, fitness, nutrition and
weight control.
• Management Training and Development
Programs – to ensure that managers and
supervisors have the knowledge and skills
necessary to be effective in their positions.
• These programs may include supervisor
training, job rotation, seminars or college and
university courses.
• OD is the process of enhancing the
effectiveness of an organization and the well-
being of its members thru planned
interventions that apply behavioral science
concepts.
• OD emphasizes both macro and micro
organizational changes intended to improve
the effectiveness of the organization as a
whole.
• Micro changes are intended/directed at
individuals, small groups and teams.
• The role of the HRD professional involved in
an OD intervention is generally to function as
change agents.
• Facilitating change often requires consulting
with and advising line managers on strategies
that can be used to effect the desired change.
• The HRD professional may also become
directly involved in carrying out the
intervention strategy by such means as
facilitating a meeting of the employees
responsible for planning and implementing
the actual change process.
• Career development is an ongoing process by
which an individual progress through a series
of stages, each of which is characterized by a
relatively unique set of issues, themes and
tasks.
• Career development involves two distinct
processes: (1) Career Planning; (2) Career
Management
• Career Planning involves activities performed
by an individual, often with the assistance of
counselors and others, to assess his/her skills
and abilities to establish a realistic career plan.
• Career Management involves taking the
necessary steps to achieve that plan and
generally focus more on what an organization
can do to foster employee career
development.
• Career Plans can be implemented generally, at
least, in part thru an organization’s training
programs.
 Framework for the HRD Process
• HRD interventions should be designed using a
four step process or sequences:
- Needs Assessment
- Design
-Implementation
- Evaluation
• “ADimE”
• Needs Assessment Phase – a need can either be a
current deficit, e.g. poor employee performance
or a new challenge that demands a change in the
way the organization operates, e.g. new
legislation or increased competition.
• It is useful to think of need as a gap between
current set of circumstances and some changed
or desirable set of circumstances.
• Design Phase – involves designing the HRD
Program or intervention. If the intervention
involves some type of training or development
• Program, the following activities are typically
carried out during the Phase:
• selecting the specific objectives of the
program
• developing an appropriate lesson for the
program
• developing or acquiring the appropriate
materials for the trainees to use
• determining who will deliver the program
• selecting the most appropriate method or
methods to conduct the program
• scheduling the program
• Implementation Phase – delivering the HRD
Program generally presents numerous challenges
such as executing the program as planned,
creating an environment that enhance learning
and resolving problems that may arise ( e.g.
missing equipment, conflicts between
participants)
• Evaluation Phase – final phase in the HRD
Process
• Careful evaluation provides information on
participants’ reaction to the program, how
much they learned, whether they used what
they learned back on the job and whether the
program improved the organization’s
effectiveness.
• The information allows managers to make better
decisions about various aspects of HRD effort
such as:
• Continuing to use a particular technique or
vendor in future programs
• Offering a particular program in the future
• Budgeting and resource allocation
• Using other HR managerial approach (like
employee selection or changing work rules) to
solve the problem
• It is important that HRD Programs improve
individual and organizational effectiveness.
• Effective and useful evaluations must be
accomplished for every component in the
program.
• This begins with the program itself.
• Next, the learning specialist should be
evaluated to determine effectiveness, abilities,
attitudes and interpersonal skills.
• The learners should be evaluated to
determine if the program helped them
increase their knowledge and skills and/or
improved their behavior.
• Increases in these areas often result in
improved performance.
 HRD Climate in Organizations
• A “developmental climate” is necessary for
facilitating HRD. Such a developmental climate
can be characterized as consisting of the
following tendencies on the part of the
organization:
• A tendency at all levels starting from top
management to the lowest level to treat the
people as the most important resource.
• A perception that developing the
competencies in the employees is the job of
every manager/supervisor.
• Faith in the capability of employees to change
and acquire new competencies at any stage of
life.
• A tendency to be open in communications and
discussion rather than being secretive (fairly
free expression of feelings).
• Encouraging risk-taking and experimentation.
• Making efforts to help employees recognize
their strengths and weaknesses through
feedback.
• A general climate of trust.
• A tendency on the part of employees to be
generally helpful to each other and
collaborate with each other.
• Team spirit
• Tendency to discourage stereotypes and
favoritism
• Supportive personnel policies
• Supportive HRD practices including
performance appraisal, training, reward
management, potential development, job-
rotation and career planning.
• Organizations differ in the extent to which
they have these tendencies. Some may have
only a few of these and a few may have most
of these. It is possible to work out the profile
of an organization on the basis of these
tendencies.
• In summary, HRD is a process by which the
employees of an organization are helped in a
continuous and planned way, to:
• 1. acquire or sharpen capabilities required to
perform various functions associated with their
present or expected future roles
• 2. develop their general capabilities as individuals
and discover and exploit their own inner
potentials for their own and/or organizational
development purposes; and
• 3. develop and organizational culture in which
supervisor-subordinate relationships,
teamwork, and collaboration among sub-units
are strong and contribute to the professional
well-being, motivation and pride of
employees.
• HRD aims at helping people to acquire
competencies.
• The process of acquisition can be facilitated by
HRD mechanisms (instruments or subsystems)
like performance appraisal, training, OD,
feedback and counselling, career
development, potential development, job-
rotation and rewards.
• In the Western context Leonard Nadler is one
who contributed a great deal to the concept
of HRD. In his 1970 book on Developing
Human Resources Nadler defined the term
“HRD” as
- a series of organized activities
- conducted within a specifies time
- designed to produce behavioral change
• Some of the common activities within HRD are
training, education and development but each
has a separate definition.
• Training includes those activities which are
designed to improve performance on the job the
employee is presently doing or is being hired to
do. It can be expanded to include the necessary
activities to enable the employee to move to an
immediate higher-level position in the
organization but still within the basic area of
activity.
• Employee Education is defined as those HRD
activities which are designed to improve the
overall competence of the employee in a
specific direction and beyond the job now
held – when the worker is being prepared for
a place in the organization different from what
he now holds.
• Employee development is concerned with
preparing the employee so that he can move
with the organization as it develops, changes
and grows. The result could be a new job at a
higher level or an expansion of the current
activities of the employee into new fields
which are as yet undetermined.
• In his Handbook of Human Resources
Development, Nadler somewhat reworked his
definition of HRD as “an organized learning
experiences in a definite time period to increase
the possibility of improving job performance (and
growth).”
• Nadler offers the following explanations:
• Organized Learning Experiences: Intentional
learning structures with objectives, a plan and
provision for evaluation.
• A Definite Time period: as agreed upon and
identifiable point at which a particular phase
of learning has been completed.
• To Increase Possibility of: HRD and provide the
learning, but cannot guarantee that learning
experience will change performance.
• Improving Job Performance: Most
organizations sponsored HRD aims at affecting
job performance.