Human resource development in an industry in transition: the case of the Russian banking sector

Abstract

This study documents issues and problems faced by the human resource development (HRD) system in the Russian banking industry, and identifies future trends for the development of this system. The study was conducted in 1998; it was based on a mixed-method methodology and included seventy large and medium-sized banks from six regions of Russia and forty-five educational and training institutions. Some of the themes that emerged were: in Russian banks, HRD was a part of 'personnel management', and not a function in its own right; HRD was regarded as a part of a larger lifetime education system; there was a stronger emphasis on selection and recruitment than on training and development or assisting personnel in realizing their long-term growth potential; training and development activities had a higher priority than organization development; there was a growing trend towards the use of learning technologies in medium-sized banks; in general, to provide outside training, the bank executives placed a higher trust in state-owned institutions than in private ones; the majority of participants had a goal of creating internal training centers in the future; a turbulent political and economic environment was regarded as a major barrier in the development of the banking education and training systems; another serious problem was the lack of instructors with practical experience. Recommendations for the transfer of Western HRD practices and a number of future research directions are formulated.