Abstract
ABSTRACT The forms of human resource development (HRD) have mostly been defined through categorizing similarities among the roles, goals, methods, and theoretical foundations of empirically observed HRD practices. However, this kind of empirical generalization fails to explain how these forms have emerged and how new forms of carrying out HRD develop. This article focuses on these questions. Its purpose is to show how the emergence of new forms of carrying out HRD can be explained on the basis of an activity-theoretical, evolutionary approach. This approach views changes in HRD as processes of ‘retooling’ that take place as an interplay between the emerging developmental challenges in production and the available HRD theories and methods. The conceptual tools provided will thus also help researchers and practitioners assess the requirements and possibilities for developing new forms of realizing HRD that match the complex challenges posed by the current economy. A case analysis is used to demonstrate the approach and its superiority over the classification of the types of HRD practices for understanding the variation in the forms of carrying out HRD and their development.
Highlights
The forms of human resource development (HRD) have mostly been defined through categorizing similarities among the roles, goals, methods, and theoretical foundations of empirically observed HRD practices
Torraco (2016), in turn, identifies two historical lines of HRD, the taskoriented ‘training and development line’ (T&D), which essentially relies on training needs assessment and different instructional designs, and the collabora tion-oriented ‘OD line’, which is based on the approaches of Organization Development and typically focuses on changing the attitudes and behaviour of individuals and groups
This article aims to explain the evolutionary dynamics of the forms of carrying out HRD and to unveil the relationships that engender changes in these forms
Summary
The forms of human resource development (HRD) have mostly been defined through categorizing similarities among the roles, goals, methods, and theoretical foundations of empirically observed HRD practices. Torraco (2016), in turn, identifies two historical lines of HRD, the taskoriented ‘training and development line’ (T&D), which essentially relies on training needs assessment and different instructional designs (see, e.g., Kraiger 2014), and the collabora tion-oriented ‘OD line’, which is based on the approaches of Organization Development and typically focuses on changing the attitudes and behaviour of individuals and groups (see, e.g., Beckhard 2006 or Bushe and Marshak [2009]) These types of studies acknowl edge the effects of economic, societal, and technological developments on HRD, but their analyses remain on a general level (see, e.g., Lee 2014). The purpose of this article is to provide a robust theoretical basis and methodology for and an example of such an analysis and to discuss its general izability and implications
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