Human Resource Development

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of global human resource development (HRD) and highlights some of the key contextual challenges driving increased emphasis on HRD investment. It adopts a multilevel and embedded stakeholder approach to consider explanations of HRD from a variety of perspectives. Definitional aspects of learning and development at the organizational level are first introduced, followed by a deeper consideration of who the different HRD stakeholders might be at each level and what their priorities might include. Trends in the macro context for HRD are then discussed before a review of the organizational-level context of HRD is presented. Drawing on data from successive rounds of the Cranet survey (2004/5, 2009/10, and 2014/15), HRD investment across the countries surveyed is presented, followed by a discussion on needs identification, targeted investment, and common evaluation strategies employed. Throughout, it is emphasized that the significance of HRD extends beyond any individual level of analysis and, increasingly, issues concerned with developing individual knowledge and skills are of global significance as organizations and nations strive to develop their competitive human capital base.