Human Resource Development Plan Research Articles

Women and non-governmental organizations in Kuwait: a platform for human resource development and social change

This article critically reviews the role of women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kuwait in supporting human and educational development. The spread of NGO's in any society is an indicator of the involvement of citizens in the events around them, whether in human resource development (HRD) or political advocacy. They act as a check and balance of the government, as they represent the public. This article will outline the historical development of women's NGO's in Kuwait and the challenges they faced in building commitment to gender equality. The discussion illustrates how they have lobbied government and become key stakeholders in national HRD planning. Women's organizations have been in the forefront of social change and equality agendas, garnering public support for civil rights and education provisions. In the absence of a united women's movement in Kuwait, the NGOs are a link for women to access state bureaucracy and make a significant contribution to human development and social change.

Women, empowerment and development in Arab Gulf States: a critical appraisal of governance, culture and national human resource development (HRD) frameworks

Current literature has not examined gender issues nor considered the governance regimes and institution cultures that shape national human resource development (HRD) systems. This is a key knowledge gap as many developing countries target women's learning in national HRD planning. This article addresses the following questions: what are the social and cultural factors that shape gender and HRD systems in three Arab Gulf States (Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia), and how are they linked to women's current social and economic status in the Gulf? In addition, how can national and institutional HRD frameworks support women's empowerment and education development? The findings of the investigation lead to a new framework for conceptualizing a gender and national HRD model that facilitates women's empowerment. I discuss how the model can guide government national HRD skills strategies and empowerment for women. In contributing to new knowledge on gender and HRD, I suggest that national HRD interventions improve women's livelihoods, but that partnership with civil society will be necessary to facilitate long-lasting social change. However, I also maintain that Arab women should be supported to develop feminist agency and create their own versions of Islamic feminism, relevant to their own empowerment agendas.

Botswana's Novel Approaches for Knowledge-Based Economy Facilitation

The Vision 2016, which is a set of strategic plans desired to position Botswana at the completive edge of the socio-economic hierarchy in Africa, is being implemented with concerted efforts from both the private and the public sector, including ordinary citizens. One of the major motivations for drawing this strategy has been the desire to transform Botswana from a resource and industry-based (e.g. agriculture and diamond mining) to knowledge-based economy. This has come from the realisation that in order to compete favourably at a global scale, there is need to put in place efficient knowledge value chains. To this course, several initiatives have been devised and/or implemented by both the government and the public sector. This article surveys the fundamental concepts on which this paradigm shift is hinged and brings out the different issues, initiatives and policies (such as Information and Communications Technology development, nurturing of an appropriate human resource base by way of strategic human resource development plans, investment in intellectual capital, etc.) that have been done so far in Botswana. The article, however, does not claim that it offers a compendium of existing programs towards a knowledgebased economy initiated by Botswana. The article posits that although significant strides have been scored in Botswana’s efforts towards a knowledge-based economy, a lot more needs to be done if it were to compete favourably at an international stage.

Pengaruh Budaya Organisasi, Modal Intelektual, dan Perilaku Inovatif Terhadap Kinerja Pemimpin Jurusan di Universitas Negeri Medan

The  objective  of  this  research  is  to  obtain  information  concerning  the  effect of  organizational culture,  intellectual  capital,  innovative  behavior,  on Department  chairman’s  performance.  The research  was  carried  out  in  2005 with  sample  of  40,  selected  randomly  and the data  has  been analyzed by path  analysis  after  all  variables  put  into  the  correlation  matrix.   The finding of  the research  shows  that  Department  chairman’s  performance  is  affected directly by Organizational culture, Intellectual capital, and Innovative behavior. Based on those findings it could be concluded that any changing or variation which occurred at Department chairman’s performance might have been effected by Organizational  culture,  Intellectual  capital,  and  Innovative  behavior. Therefore,  in  managing Department chairman’s performance, organizational culture, intellectual capital, and innovative behavior should be put into strategic planning of human resources development at Universitas Negeri  Medan,  however other  variables  are  necessary  to  be  taken  into  account  by  next  performance   research.

A Comparative Study of National Human Resource Development Plan Implementation Systems in Korea, the United States, and Japan

This article provides a comparative analysis of National Human Resource Development (NHRD) Plan implementation in Korea, the United States, and Japan. This study demonstrates that Korea is in a position very different from America`s and Japan`s with their unified NHRD Plans. First, while Korea provides systematic legal support in order to realize the NHRD Plan, especially with the enactment of the Human Resource Development Act, Japan and the United States lack such a legal basis. Second, from the perspective of systems to promote cooperation and participation, Korea has a key minister in charge of policy enforcement and an interagency process. Third, to win funding and support from policy-makers, Korea, the United States, and Japan fully recognize the importance of NHRD Plans and make their best efforts to win budget and support from top decision-makers. Fourth, in terms of the substantiality of annual enforcement plans, Korea has rather abstract criteria and less consistency in implementation. Fifth, as far as active publicity efforts are concerned, Korea lags behind Japan and the United States.

Game Theory and Strategic Human Resource Development

The problem and the solution .A fundamental approach to strategic human resource development (SHRD) planning is to present human resource development (HRD) investment as a viable solution to advance the organizational interactions. We examine two specific instances of interactions: the interactions between the firm and the employee, and the interactions between HRD and other functional areas within the firm. The prescriptive solution arising from the analyses presented here is a Nash equilibrium encouraging the firm to invest in frequent and continuous HRD. For HRD professionals, the prescriptive solution lies in providing measurable productivity and performance gains to organizational decision makers.

Participatory Internal Learning for Grassroots NGOs in Micro-credit, Livelihoods and Environmental Regeneration

Helzi Noponen describes a unique system designed to build capacities of grassroots NGO programme staff to think critically about programme operations and make strategic changes through a participatory monitoring and evaluation system. The system, called an 'internal learning system' (ILS), is augmented by a human resource development plan for organization staff and leaders designed to build key management skills through a linked set of training activities. This 'Barefoot Managers' curriculum has been launched by SEWA, Self Employed Women's Association, in one of their participant-run rural development associations, Banaskantha DWCRA Mahila SEWA Association (BDMSA), located in a resource poor and drought stricken rural area of northern Gujarat, India. The area faces extreme challenges and SEWA has initiated a participatory approach to the intertwined problems of environmental degradation and poverty. They have launched a variety of projects which improve the environment, provide income earning opportunities, build community assets and strengthen 'social capital'. The unique feature of this approach is that they have done this through leveraging the capacities of poor women as key actors in household and community survival.

Benchmarking Maquiladora operations relative to those in the USA

Examines the total quality management (TQM) programmes of Maquiladora operations located on the Mexican border and benchmarks their quality practices vis‐à‐vis those in the USA. Six domains of TQM programmes (information and analysis, strategic quality planning, human resource development and management, management of process quality, customer focus and satisfaction, and quality and operational results) were investigated; these domains were based on the Baldrige Award criteria. The results identify areas of improvement for both Maquiladora and US operations. Maquiladora operations need to improve customer focus and satisfaction, and employee training, whereas US operations need to improve quality and operational results, information and analysis, management of process quality, human resource development and strategic quality planning. Overall, the results suggest that US companies relocating their operations to the Maquiladora zone can obtain a competitive advantage in terms of both lower costs and implementation of TQM programmes.

Trends in Human Resource Development and Training

In the last ten years, the field of staff development and training has grown rapidly, internationally and also within Australia. In many organisations, the training and development of staff has become a major consideration, due to the greater demand for both technical and human skills. This paper reviews the recent and future trends in human resource development (HRD) and training within Australia, emphasising that there is significant room for improvement, with training tending to be conducted in a fragmented approach. It describes the external pressures that are forcing HRD to formulate a more structured approach to training and development and focuses on major areas such as career development, organisation development, and training methods. The final section of the paper emphasises the need for the professional education of the HRD practitioner. In conclusion, the author stresses that organisations need to develop comprehensive HRD plans, that there is a growing awareness of the need to integrate HRD plans within the strategic plans of an organisation, and that more training programs are becoming participative, using a variety of techniques and methods.

Science, technology, language, and information: implications for language and language-in-education planning

Abstract There is an important relationship between scientific information and language. Scientific information is cumulative, storable and retrievable. In the past 40 years, English has become the dominant language of science information because the USA was the only major industrialized nation to come out of World War II with its industrial and educational infrastructures intact, because a great deal of scientific research was undertaken in the English-speaking world, because undertaking research requires access to information, and because all of these phenomena coincide with the historical point at which computer use became established in information storage. It is observable that the greatest users of information are also the greatest contributors to the pool of information and that those who most frequently use the information pool come to control the information systems. International accords have established the concept that information in the global networks must be written in or abstracted in English, French, German or Russian; it is clear that the dominant language is English. Access to information is central to national development and modernization; consequently, the science information/language relationship has important implications for Human Resource Development Planning and modernization. The actions of the Japanese government in the period since the end of World War II are examined as a case study. The situation in the People's Republic of China is also examined in order to suggest what China must do to achieve modernization with respect to information development, information storage, and information management.

Science, technology, language and information: Implications for language and language-in-education planning

There is an important relationship between scientific information and language. Scientific information is cumulative, storable and retrievable. In the past 40 years, English has become the dominant language of science information because the USA was the only major industrialized nation to come out of World War II with its industrial and educational infrastructures intact, because a great deal of scientific research was undertaken in the English-speaking world, because undertaking research requires access to information, and because all of these phenomena coincide with the historical point at which computer use became established in information storage. It is observable that the greatest users of information are also the greatest contributors to the pool of information and that those who most frequently use the information pool come to control the information systems. International accords have established the concept that information in the global networks must be written in or abstracted in English, French, German or Russian; it is clear that the dominant language is English. Access to information is central to national development and modernization; consequently, the science information/language relationship has important implications for Human Resource Development Planning and modernization. The actions of the Japanese government in the period since the end of World War II are examined as a case study. The situation in the People's Republic of China is also examined in order to suggest what China must do to achieve modernization with respect to information development, information storage, and information management.

Technology and polity: The dynamics and dilemmas of managed change

There is an important relationship between scientific information and language. Scientific information is cumulative, storable and retrievable. In the past 40 years, English has become the dominant language of science information because the USA was the only major industrialized nation to come out of World War II with its industrial and educational infrastructures intact, because a great deal of scientific research was undertaken in the English-speaking world, because undertaking research requires access to information, and because all of these phenomena coincide with the historical point at which computer use became established in information storage. It is observable that the greatest users of information are also the greatest contributors to the pool of information and that those who most frequently use the information pool come to control the information systems. International accords have established the concept that information in the global networks must be written in or abstracted in English, French, German or Russian; it is clear that the dominant language is English. Access to information is central to national development and modernization; consequently, the science information/language relationship has important implications for Human Resource Development Planning and modernization. The actions of the Japanese government in the period since the end of World War II are examined as a case study. The situation in the People's Republic of China is also examined in order to suggest what China must do to achieve modernization with respect to information development, information storage, and information management.

Present trends and future prospects for criminal justice manpower planning

PRESSURES are building for human resource development and manpower planning to become a major criminal justice organizational undertaking in the years ahead. Rising labor costs in what are essentially ‘labor-intensive’ public bureaucracies have escalated the concern with increasing the cost effectiveness of the delivery of public services. Concurrently, cutbacks in the purchasing power of municipal, county and state jurisdictions have focused political, social and economic concern on efficiency in the utilization of criminal justice personnel. The current ‘taxpayer revolution’ and the corresponding reduction in funding for public-sector organizations are dramatic evidence that issues of efficiency and effectiveness have a broad-based public appeal. Human resource planning among criminal justice agencies has also gained support from labor organizations concerned with the ‘quality of life’ at the work place. Issues like job enlargement, job enrichment and occupational safety have emerged as major labor concerns in the past decade and are likely to continue to be issues in the immediate future. Thus, both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards have been linked to an organization’s ability to attract and to retain the kinds and numbers of people it needs. Against this backdrop, criminal justice agencies have begun to consider that the processes of human resource development and manpower planning involve something more than the traditional day-to-day aspects of personnel administration. Specifically, criminal justice human resource planning experts are beginning to recognize a need for broader-based manpower-related data-collection efforts, the employment of more sophisticated analytical techniques like job-task analysis and the need to interact more effectively with external agencies like the civil service, the budget office, the EEOC and the courts. But future developments in criminal justice manpower planning are of necessity linked to present potentials-planning will very likely evolve out of and be built upon current capacities. A review of the existing configuration of human resource planning efforts in criminal justice and the premises undergirding these efforts will serve to highlight what the future portends.