Unit 1 KMS1034

At the end of this unit, you will be
able to

Define HRD from various
perspectives

Describe the evolution of HRD

Explain the functions of HRD

Describe the impact of ethics on the
practice of HRD

Adult human beings functioning in
productive systems

Focus on resource people bring to
success equation

Intent is improvement

 A set of systematic and planned activities
designed by an organization to provide its
members with the necessary skills to meet
current and future job demands

De Simone & Werner, 2009
 HRD is a process for developing and

unleashing human expertise for the purpose
of improving individual, team, work process,
and organizational system performance.

Swanson & Holton, 2009

……the process of increasing the
knowledge & the skills, and the
capacities of all the people in a
society … from social and economic
points of view, the development of
human resources helps people to
lead fuller and richer lives … in short,
the process of HRD unlocks the door
to modernism….

Harbison & Myers, 1964

HRD - combination of training, career
development and organizational
development offers the theoretical
integration needed to envision a
learning organization, but it must also
be positioned to act strategically
throughout the organization

Marsick & Watkins, 1994

HRD is the integrated use of training
and development, career
development and organizational
development to improve individual
and organizational effectiveness

McLagan, 1989

Discipline of HRD is the study of how
individuals and groups in organizations
change through learning

Chalofsky & Lincoln, 1983

Organized learning activities arranged within
an organization to improve performance
and/or personal growth for the purpose of
improving the job, the individual and/or the
organization

Gilley & England. 1989

Survival through labor and learning
100BC – 300AD: The influence of
Greeks & Romans
300 – 1300AD: The middle ages
1400-1800AD: The Renaissance
Apprenticeship in Colonial America
The industrial era
C20th influences

Development of humans driven by need to
survive

Primitive education limited to family or tribe

Informal & often chaotic activity
Fitting of child to physical & social environment
through experience of previous generations

Ability to control fire

Engage in crafts & led to true division of labor

Transfer of skills becomes conscious
process

Greeks view education as opportunity
for individual development & personal
achievement

Dimensions of education

Moral
Aesthetic
Agent of culture & citizenship

However regarded menial work with
contempt

Romans adopt Greek ideals

Integrated into roman life through laws
& institutions

Exemplify how laws & political
infrastructure used to achieve long-
term social, economic & cultural
change

Manual skills acquired through family
apprenticeship

Monastic school influence

Spiritual value of own labor

Important element in Christian discipline &
teaching

Monasteries separated from secular world

Self-sufficient
Practical learning central to monastic life
Academic and artistic training

Outside of monasteries

Participation in skilled labor

The apprenticeship method

Systems for preparing youths to become
expert workers
3 stages

Apprentice
Journeyman
Master

Organization of merchant and craft guilds

For common protection and benefit
Early craft unions of today

Secular education for girls and boys

Education given to all people and
available to girls & boys

Education beyond religious training

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)

Sensory learning

Experience & perception of senses as
important bases of knowledge –
empiricism

John Locke (1632 – 1704)

Experience, the best teacher

Social Contract (Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1712 – 1778)

Education should evolve to natural
spontaneous experience

Manual training

Johan Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 – 1827)

Education from simple acquisition of
knowledge to education as organic
development

European influence

Colonial authorities broadened scope of
apprenticeship to emphasize educational
purpose

Appearance of free public school system
in 1647

Early leaders

View of education as preparation for life,
domestic, economic and not merely
acquisition of curious learning, elegant
scholarship or showy accomplishments

Horace Mann (1796 – 1859)

Integration of practical and vocational
training within general education

Decline of apprenticeship

Industrial advances created demand for
workers trained in a different way

Training and corporation schools

Formation of technical societies for
purposes of mutual assistance and
economic advancement

Corporation schools

First programs of formal instruction sponsored
by businesses held on company premises

Public education and training

Growing criticism of failure of public
schools’ curriculum in preparing youths
for life

Creation of public schools for providing
manual skills

Role of government in training

Land Grant Act (1862) – public
endowment of higher education

Smith-Hughes Act (1917)

The early 1990s

Increasing importance of vocational
training & schools

Development of professional
associations

The World Wars

World War I

Workforce needed to be expanded 10× &
trained immediately

4-step method of training

World War II

Training Within Industry (TWI)

Programs

Job instruction, job methods, job relations &
programme development

Factory system often abused workers

“Human relations” movement
promoted better working conditions

Start of business & management
education

Tied to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Employee needs extend beyond the
training classroom

Includes coaching, group work, and
problem solving

Need for basic employee development

Need for structured career development

ASTD changes its name to the American
Society for Training and Development

1. Organizations are human-made entities that
rely on human expertise to establish and
achieve their goals

2. Human expertise is developed and
maximized through HRD processes and
should be done for mutual long-and/or
short-term benefits of the sponsoring
organization and the individuals involved

3. HRD professionals are advocates of
individual/group, work process and
organizational integrity.

HRD can take a variety of names and
roles

Embraces thinking underlying

Training and development
Employee development
Technical training
Management development
Executive and leadership development
Human performance technology
Organizational development
Organizational learning
Career development

As an umbrella term, HR is often
confused with HRM

Major components of HR

HRM

HRD

Many HR departments actually limited
to HRM goals and activities such as
hiring, compensation and personnel
compliance issues

(Swanson & Holton, 2001)

Training and development (T&D)
Organizational development (OD)
Career development (CD)

Training – improving the knowledge,
skills and attitudes of employees for
the short-term, particular to a
specific job or task – e.g.,

Employee orientation

Skills & technical training

Coaching

Counseling

Development – preparing for future
responsibilities, while increasing the
capacity to perform at a current job

Management training

Supervisor development

The process of improving an
organization’s effectiveness and
member’s well-being through the
application of behavioral science
concepts

Focuses on both macro- and micro-
levels

HRD plays the role of a change agent

Ongoing process by which individuals
progress through series of changes
until they achieve their personal level
of maximum achievement.

Career planning

Career management

Strategic management and HRD
The supervisor’s role in HRD
Organizational structure of HRD

Drastic times, drastic measures
Blurred lines – life or work?
Small world and shrinking
New faces, new expectations
Work be nimble, work be quick
Security alert!
Life and work in the e-lane
A higher ethical bar

Changing workforce demographics
Competing in global economy
Eliminating the skills gap
Need for lifelong learning
Need for organizational learning

Implications for HRD professionals

1. Address racial, ethnic & other
prejudices as well as cultural
insensitivity and language
differences

2. Provide developmental opportunities
for women & provide safeguards for
sexual harassment

3. Aging workforce

New technologies
Need for more skilled and educated
workers
Cultural sensitivity required
Team involvement
Problem solving
Better communications skills

Employees need to be taught basic
skills:

Math
Reading
Applied subjects

Reform of public school education

Organizations change
Technologies change
Products change
Processes change
PEOPLE must change!!

Organizations must be able to learn,
adapt, and change

Principles (Peter Senge):

Systems thinking
Personal mastery
Mental models
Shared visions
Team learning

Secular societies

Legal interpretations

Based upon contemporary values & standards

e.g. in the US it was once legal and ethical to discriminate
against women and minorities in hiring but now affirmative
action laws make it illegal to discriminate against these groups

In business & management of an organization

Several parties are involved

Activities affect all parties

Raises questions like

What is fair and what is not

What should be done and what should not be

What kind of behavior is good for environment and what is
not

In other words, asking what is ethical and what is not so ethical

Worldview of Islam encompasses
both al-dunya (life in this world) and
al-akhirah (life in the Hereafter)

4 axioms (Naqvi, 2001)

Unity

Equilibrium

Free will

Responsibility

Naqvi, S.N.H. (2001). The Islamic Ethical System in Khaliq Ahmad & AbulHasan M. Sadeq
(eds.) Ethics in Business and Management London: ASEAN Academic Press

Brotherhood & benevolence (Al-Ukhuwwah
& al-Ihsan)

Justice & fairness (Al-’Adl)

Fulfilling the contract (Ifa al-’Aqd)

Peoples’ rights (Huquq al-’Ibad)

Fair compensation (Al-Ujrah)

Cooperation (Al-Ta’awun)

Trust & honesty (al-Amanah & al-Ikhlas)

Sadeq, A.M. (2001). Islamic Ethics in Human Resource Management
in Khaliq Ahmad & AbulHasan M. Sadeq (eds.) Ethics in Business and Management London: ASEAN Academic Press

Based on the teachings of Confucious (a thinker
& social philosopher)

Development of personal characters and virtues
in the context of interpersonal relations e.g.
benevolence, righteousness, etiquette & trust

Belief that cultivation of personal lives lead to
regulated families, governed states and finally
there is peace all under Heaven

Critical development stages of Confucianism

Classical Confucians

Neo-Confucians

Reformist Confucians

Modern Confucians

Lam, K.C.J. (2003) Confucian Business Ethics and the Economy. Journal of Business Ethics 43:
153 - 162

The meaning of trust

Trust exists because we are all already
related to each other in a variety of ways
e.g. clients, employees, supervisors etc

Relations are for life

Ethics beyond rights

Actual value of social obligations depends
upon the goodwill and favour of the
obligated person, and there is no place for
the existence of the notion of right

Traditional meaning of compensation “providing
the necessities of life” replaced with dai yu “how
you are being treated”

Koehn, D. (1999) What can Eastern Philosophy Teach Us about Business Ethics. Journal of Business
Ethics 19: 71 - 79

Studies values and customs of an
individual or a group

Covers analysis and employment of
concepts such as right and wrong, good
and evil, responsibility etc

3 main areas

Meta ethics – study of concept of ethics

Normative/descriptive ethics – study of ethical
norms

Applied ethics – study of the use of ethical
values

Focuses on issues surrounding employer-
employee relationships

Discrimination issues – affirmative action, gender,
age, disabilities etc

Employee representation issues – unions, strikes
etc

Employee/employer privacy issues

Fairness of employment contract – employment
legislations

Occupational safety & health issues

HRD is too important to be left to
amateurs

HRD should be a revenue producer,
not a revenue user

HRD should be a central part of
company

You need to be able to talk MONEY