Human Resource Development - Essay Example

Human Resource Development Name Course Code Course Instructor Institution Abstract This paper examines the meaning of the concept of human resource development, the context of human resource development in human resource management, the theories that underpin adult learning principles, and lastly, the significance of adult learning theories in the context of HRD in the workplace. As established, human resource development should be defined as the application of training and development practices, and opportunities for organizational development and career development in order to enhance organisational and individual employee performance. Within the context of human resource management, it is established that human resource development is intrinsically a function of human resource management intended to develop the employees through learning activities that align their work performance to better organisational performance. Examples of adult-learning theory include Andragogy, and Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT). Within the context of human resource development, Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT) motivates employees, and enables them to acquire competitive skills needed to adapt to the increasingly enhanced technological work environment. The andragogy theory, on the other hand, enables continuous learning at the workplace. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 a) Human Resource Development (HRD) 4 b) The context of HRD within Human Resource Management (HRM) 7 c) Theories that underpin adult learning principles 10 d) Importance of adult learning theories within the context of HRD 12 Conclusion 14 Reference List 14 Introduction To understand the meaning and objectives of human resource development in an organisation, it is crucial to first understand the purpose and significance of human resource development in the workplace. This is noticeable, for instance, in a large number of organisation that look forward to apply human resource development to increase their efficiency of their workforce and to compete in the increasingly competitive and globalised economy (Okoye and Ezejifor 2013; Khan et al 2012; Ali 2013). This paper examines the meaning of the concept of human resource development, the context of human resource development in human resource management, the theories that underpin adult learning principles, and lastly, the significance of adult learning theories in the context of HRD in the workplace. a) Human Resource Development (HRD) According to Okoye and Ezejifor (2013), human resource development consists of systematic use of training, career development, and organizational development efforts with the view of improving individual employees, teams, the entire organisation, as well as the overall organizational performance. Okoye and Ezejifor (2013) further suggests that human resource development entails the strategic development of the human resource in order to enhance practices needed for improving performance of individual employees and all employees throughout the organisation. Despite this, strategic development of human resources appears to centre on the proactive management change intended to facilitate survival of the organizations in the intricate unstable environment, and competitive global environment. Therefore, it could be reasoned that Okoye and Ezejifor’s (2013) description of human resource development is more aligned to enhancing human resource potential in the era of globalization. Indeed, the authors clarified that involving the strategic perspective to human resource development implies a necessity to create and implement policies related to human resource development practices that make sure that the human resource contributes to the acquisition of the organizational goals in competitive and unstable environment. According to Khan et al (2012), human resource development should be considered as inherently a sub-discipline of Human Resource Management (HRM) that deals with the development of productive skills through training and career development. The definition is less comprehensive and misses out on certain concepts of human resource management like human resource competitiveness and organisation’s sustainability, since human resource development is a function of human resource management. Another definition is also provided by Werner and DeSimone (2011) and Okoye and Ezejifor (2013) in their similar proposition that human resource development should be viewed as combination of systematic and premeditated activities intended for an organization to offer its members learning opportunities to improve their skills and to meet the existing and future demands and challenges. Although this definition is more comprehensive than that provided by Khan et al (2012), it should be noted that the purpose for which human resource development is carried out within an organisation is ambiguous, since the existing and future demands and challenges remain undefined. In another review provided by McGuire (2014), the author reviewed a range of studies while hoping to conceive an accurate and comprehensive definition of human resource development. He defined it as the processes intend to increase organisational member’s knowledge, skills, and capacities, and includes several opportunities like employee training, career development, performance management, and organization development. As can be conceived from this definition, the focus of the dimensions of Human Resource Development is to develop a highly superior workforce capable of enabling individual employees and the organisation to attain their individual and shared goals. At this stage, it is established that the processes of conceiving a definition for human resource development is complicated by the evolving nature of human resource management. For instance, it is observed that the term human resource development was, at the outset, defined as basically “training”, before evolving into “training and development” and eventual organisational performance. Still, confusion appears to arise over the purpose and the perceived beneficiaries of human resource development, and whether it should be defined from a global or sustainability perspective. Indeed, in reviewing past human resource development literature, McGuire (2014) made an observation surrounding the significance and description of HRD. In his view, several dimensions are seen as particularly influencing the evolving definition and nature of HRD: scope, beneficiaries, and location. Hence, as can be inferred from the definitions, the objective of human resource development is to improve learning, the potential of human resource, as well as organisational performance. It is also clear that the definition appears to be incomplete and needs to as well include the concept of sustainable human development. Hence, it is suggested that the definition of human resource should as well include its objectives, to allow it be defined as the capacity to improve learning, human resource potential, greater work performance, as well as lead to sustainable human development. For these reasons, human resource development should as well be challenged to follow more expansive objectives and agenda. In brief, therefore, human resource development refers to the application of training and development practices, and opportunities for organizational development and career development in order to enhance organisational and individual employee performance. As can be inferred from the suggested definition, learning within an organisation provides individual members of the organisation and the organisation to improve individual growth and development. b) The context of HRD within Human Resource Management (HRM) Ali (2013) defines human resource management as a component of the organization that deals with the “people” dimension, including employee recruitment, orientation, training, and appraisal with the view of attaining the organisation’s objectives. Hence, its key objective is to align employees, or individuals directly concerned with generating the organization’s output, with the organisation’s fundamental objective. There appears to be a general consensus among past and current scholars that the key objective of HRD is to align employees with the organisation’s fundamental objective and strategies (Sthapit 2010; Wilson 2005; Claretha 2016). Ali (2013) further observes that each organisation consists of individuals, acquisition of their services, development of their skills, and lastly improving their motivation to attain higher levels of organisational performance. As organisations need to improve their performance, human resource development is designed to achieve this objective. In other words, human resource development is intrinsically a function of human resource management intended to develop the employees through learning activities that align their work performance to better organisational performance. Indeed, as Ali (2013) notes, while recruiting the employees is a significant function, it is not enough. This is because maintaining their commitment and ensuring that their skills are aligned to the organisation’s core objectives is crucial, if the organisation has to attain its objectives. What this shows is that acquiring and maintain the right people is crucial, however, ensuring sustained organisational success may not be necessarily achieved, as there is a need for constant learning to align those acquired to flexibly respond to changing market demands or organisation’s scope of operation. In a different peer review article, Adewale and Adenike (2013) observe that human resource management is made up of four key functional tasks, such as staffing, training, development and motivation, as well as four core activities, such as acquiring people, preparing people, stimulating people, and maintaining people. Since human resource developed is observed to be concerned with training and development, it is within the human resource management context that training and development is conceived as a function. According to Adewale and Adenike (2013), training as a concept of human resource development is critical in successful human resource management, particularly in aligning organisational culture to the organisation’s objectives. Adewale and Adenike (2013) defined training as the planned efforts intended for promoting employee’s job-related competencies and realisation of organisational objectives. Such competencies vary from skills, behaviours, as well as knowledge necessary for effective work performance. Hence, training and development assist in the optimization of the application of human resource, which can assist the employees to attain the goals of the organization and the employees’ individual goals. Essentially, what workers learn are dependent on the social and cultural context at the workplace (Elliott & Turnbull 2004). Sims (2006) further suggested that since human resource is concerned with aligning organisational culture to the goals of the organisation, learning is a crucial activity that can help in the realisation of this objective. Technically, learning is part of human resource development intended to assist to develop and enhance organizational culture in an organization by construction of positive perceptions and knowledge that can help an organization. The need for greater organisational innovation and creativity has, in Adewale and Adenike (2013) view, also emerged in the era of globalisation as crucial goals for organisations that seek to attain competitive advantage. Under such a scenario, human resource management functioning like recruitment and motivation would be inadequate without the training and learning functions necessitated by human resource development. Adewale and Adenike (2013) observe that innovation and creativity concepts facilitate better employee performance. However, they are dependent on training and development, in addition to organisational culture. Logically, organizational culture is at the centre of organizational norms that depict the influence that the employees’ cultures within an organization have on employee creativity and innovation. Human resource development, as Adewale and Adenike (2013) observed, plays a crucial role in the creation of an environment that can facilitate innovative response to ongoing challenges, the competitive threats in the market, as well as new business opportunities. Adewale and Adenike (2013) further elaborated that the changing human resource environment, makes the concept of human resource development a crucial function of human resource management. They observed that the future challenges and trends in the society have showed the growing significance of human resource development. Sims (2006) further observes that the current and future human resource management is increasingly depending on human resource development function because of globalisation and the changing competitive environment. A critical review of the Sims (2006) and Adewale and Adenike’s (2013) works show there is a general consensus that the current society undergoes an extraordinary period of change rather rapidly. In essence, technological advances get to transform communications and information access, while the retiring population is increasingly expanding even as an actively working population is diminishing. All these signal a need for human resource development to continually align employees to the changing environments. c) Theories that underpin adult learning principles Workplace learning, as part of HRD, is when “people” are engaged in educational, training programmes as well as development and experiential learning activities (Jacobs & Park 2009). The ‘people’ in this present scenario are “adults.” Hence, the concept of ‘adult learning’ emerges. As Loosemore et al (2003) posit, once a motivation environment for training is created in an organisation, an approach for training has to be decided. However, this has to be development in consideration of the training delivery mechanism. Mahdi and Bright (2010) argued that the training delivery approaches have to be informed by adult learning theories, which is relatively unique from general learning theories. Examples of adult-learning theory include Andragogy, and Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT). Loosemore et al (2003) summarised the principles that underpin the theory of andragogy in adult learning, as it allows mature adults to be self-directed and to work independently in their learning. The adults also tend to learn effectively when experiential methods are used. The adult learners are also aware of their individuals learning needs. Additionally, adult learners learn in collaboration with the teachers. Lastly, the learner's experiences are used as resources. While the principles that the theory suggests are acceptable universally, their applicability have been questioned. For instance, self-directed behaviours in addition to a capacity to identify the knowledge gaps may be characteristic that some learners do not have, just because they are adults. Another example where self-directed learning is difficult is in the area of technical training, which can only be effectively performed by experienced instructors with the ability to explain the work procedures. Still, it should be argued that the andragogy theory is crucial, as it highlights the need to treat adult learners with respect, as the quality of the relationship between the learner and the teacher is anchored in equality (Loosemore et al 2003). Essentially, the theory of andragogy appears to emphasise the role of experience in increasing the quality of learning. Indeed, as Mahdi and Bright (2010) point out, andragogy gives great consideration to the adult learners experience. Mahdi and Bright (2010) further suggest that the adult learners are made to take part in an education activity, where their experiences are continuously leverage and tested to enable continuous learning. The role of experience is vital as adults prefer problem-solving orientation to subject-oriented learning (De Vito 2009). Additionally, when the cultural diversity complicates the manner in which the adult learners interact, the necessity to apply the basic principles of andragogy become even more essential. This includes the fact that the principle recommends a need to allow for time to understand the human similarities and uniqueness in order to build relationships across cultures. Abela (2009) also suggests the Kolb’s experiential learning theory, as a theory of adult learning within the context of human resource development. The theory is based on the backdrop that people's ideas are continuously constructed and change their experiences of life. The key principles of the experiential learning theory include the idea that learning is effectively envisaged as a process. Additionally, learning continuously occurs and is based on experience. The learning process also calls for a need to resolve the likely conflicts between the learners. The process of learning is essentially a process in which the learners get to accustom themselves to the world. Additionally, learning consists of interacting of people and their environment. Lastly, learning is essentially creating knowledge (Abela 2009). d) Importance of adult learning theories within the context of HRD Adult learning theories, such as self-directed learning, motivates employees, and enables them to acquire competitive skills needed to adapt to the increasingly enhanced technological work environment. According to Ellinger (2004), self-directed learning had today become crucial, as skills and knowledge are increasingly becoming perishable commodities, which requires that employees have to adapt continuous learning at the workplace. This is specifically so since the modern-day organisations have to contend with increasingly challenging global business environment, as well as to attract and retain talented employees. His assumption was that training employees using self-directed learning plays a crucial role in motivating and retaining employees, given that employees are able to enjoy their autonomy and independence. Therefore, the same could be said of the theory of andragogy, which also places emphasis on employee autonomy and independence. Self-directed learning enhances human resource development (HRD) efforts. Kessels (2004) also stressed the need for human resource development professionals to create an effective environmental that allow employees to be more self-directed in their learning, as self-directed learning boosts their motivation and encourages them to learn. This could be explained by the fact that since learners are motivated to learn, learning would happen, as they are motivated by pleasure instead of monotony and annoyance. The theories of adult learning also conceive cost-effective means to enhancing employees’ skills with focus on improving the organisation’s performance. For instance, a theory like self-directed learning tends to be a cost-effective means to effective employee learning, particularly in the modern-day era where internet has enabled online programs and e-learning. Learning through sharing information online is, essentially, transmitting information using networks that function as linear pipelines (Fenwick 2010). This may explain why Ellinger (2004) explains that self-directed learning is increasingly being used in human resource development. According to Ellinger (2004) advantage of encouraging self-directed learning in human resource development is that an organization gets to enable cost-effective learning environment, which is also more flexible. For instance, more organisations, such as businesses, universities, colleges, government institutions and industries make use of self-directed learning to facilitate human resource development, as adult learners can learn at own pace using their personal resources like laptops and internet to continuously learn. This saves the organisations of additional costs of having to purchase the resources for learners. At any rate, it reduces the cost of human resource developing while still enhancing continuous learning that is more appealing. Adult learning theories also enable continuous learning at the workplace. According to Kessels (2004), this is specifically so for the theory of andragogy, as it enables the employees to view the firm as a social community that specializes in the speediness and efficiency in creating and transferring knowledge. In the modern-day knowledge economy where the nature of work has changed and is taking on more of learning processes, the theory of andragogy, can ensure continuous learning in the workplace. One reason for this, as Knowles et al (2014) attempted to demonstrate is that the theory does not emphasise learning and development as requisites for undertaking tasks at the workplace and improving performance, rather it emphasises that learning and development are integrated dimensions of performing tasks. In which case, it transforms the organisation into a continuous learning environment. Ultimately, the results is a workforce with shared interests, passion for learning, responsibility, mutual appeal to other employees, as well as aware of their career paths (Kessels 2004). Conclusion Human resource development should be defined as the application of training and development practices, and opportunities for organizational development and career development in order to enhance organisational and individual employee performance. Within the context of human resource management, human resource development is intrinsically a function of human resource management intended to develop the employees through learning activities that align their work performance to better organisational performance. Examples of adult-learning theory include Andragogy, and Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT). Within the context of human resource development, Kolb's experiential learning theory motivates employees, and enables them to acquire competitive skills needed to adapt to the increasingly enhanced technological work environment. The andragogy theory, on the other hand, enables continuous learning at the workplace. Reference List Abela, J 2009, "Adult learning theories and medical education: a review," Malta Medical Journal, vol 21 no 1, pp.11-18 Adewale, O & Adenike, A 2013, "Impact of Organizational Culture on Human Resource Practices: A Study of Selected Nigerian Private Universities," Journal of Competitiveness, vol 5 iss 4, pp.115-133 Ali, A 2013, "Significance of human resource management in organizations: linking global practices with local perspective," Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce, vol 4 bo 1, pp.78-87 Claretha, H 2016, Bridging the Scholar-Practitioner Gap in Human Resources Development, IGI Global, New York De Vito, K 2009, "Implementing Adult Learning Principles To Overcome Barriers Of Learning In Continuing Higher Education Programs," Online Journal of Workforce Education and Development, vol 3 iss 4, pp.2-10 Ellinger, A 2004, “The concept of self-directed learning and its implications of human resource development,” Advances in Developing Human Resource, vol 6 no 2, pp158-177. 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