What are the key features of strategic human resource development? A critical discussion and evaluation of key theoretical perspectives on contemporary human resource development. Human resource development in practice.
Introduction
In this centuryThesis is provided by UK thesis base http://www.ttc-switch.com/ of learning organisations there is a growing interest in human resource development (HRD) as it is seen as an opportunity to gain and maintain an organisation’s competitive advantage through its people and their knowledge as well as skills. In a number of successful organisations learning and development at work changed the short-term training interventions and HRD became a powerful management tool. It is now linked to such organisational issues as performance management, change management, organisational learning and, therefore, HRD is getting a more strategic focus within the organisation (Bratton & Gold 2003). However, since the discipline of HRD is still developing there are various debates and discussions about its real meaning.
Firstly, this essay will concentrate on theoretical perspectives of contemporary HRD and try to identify the factors that influenced the emergence of strategic approach to it. Secondly, the question of the key features of strategic HRD will be discussed. Finally, to get the critical understanding of how these theoretical arguments work in practice a case study of Russells Ltd will be analysed. The main issues and the problems that the company faces will be diagnosed and some of the HRD strategy suggestions addressing it will be provided.

1. Human resource development in theory
As has been stated above the concept of HRD is still developing and evolving. McLean and McLean (2001 cited in Sandler-Smith 2008, p 14) define HRD as ‘any process or activity that, either initially or over the long term, has the potential Thesis is provided by UK thesis base http://www.ttc-switch.com/to develop adults’ work-based knowledge, expertise, productivity and satisfaction, whether for personal or group/team gain or for the benefit of an organisation, community, nation or ultimately the whole humanity’. Tseng & McLean (2008) suggest there are three professional practice issues that are usually involved in the definition of HRD: learning, performance and change. At the breakdown of the twenty-first century the industrial world has seen a range of changes that influenced HRD concept and practice as well (Reid et al 2004). It is probably impossible to analyse it all in this short essay but some of it is worth mentioning.
1.1. Contemporary human resource development#p#分頁標題#e#
A rapidly changing economy provoked by technological advancement, globalisation and high customer expectations on product quality prompt organisations to change in size and structure if they are to sustain their competitive edge (Johnson et al 2008). Change management became of key importance to a large number of organisations and the notion that learning is the only way to deal with change emerged (Bratton & Gold 2003). HRD at this point is seen as a crucial tool for successfully achieving organisational change (Noel & Dennehy 1991). Smith (2004) argues that HRD as a change agent creates a supportive learning environment within organisations, develops individual learning orientation in employees and provides necessary skills and knowledge for them in order to perform well in the changed environment. Thus, organisational change can be a good opportunity for HRD to start a dialog with organisations’ corporate strategy and consider its long term goals (Reid et al 2004).
Garavan et al (2000) suggest that there are three main theoretical perspectives on contemporary human resource development. The first one is capabilities-driven HRD which represents the idea that people within organisation can be a source of competitive advantage. HRD is seen as a tool that ensures the delivery of organisational capabilities and in that way the well prepared workforce is able to enhance organisational performance. Capability is defined here as a behavioural pattern determined by a mix of different skills and abilities (Garavan et al 2000). However, this perspective tends to ignore accidental and unstructured learning as it isThesis is provided by UK thesis base http://www.ttc-switch.com/ believed to have a modest impact on building an organisation’s competitive advantage. Another limitation of this perspective is the assumption that the organisation is a fairly rational entity with clear goals and that there is one best way to reach it (Bratton & Gold 2003). Conversely, in real life organisational goals are likely to be vague and the ways to achieve them are ambiguous. Consequently, the task for HRD would be to provide a wider range of skills and knowledge. Despite that, Luoma (2000) argues that strategic HRD is the best way to link the development of workforce and organisational capabilities. In other words, the desired performance and the needed capabilities to achieve it can only appear if HRD is involved in organisational strategy.
The second perspective on contemporary HRD, Garavan et al (2000) argue, is related to employee-employer expectations. The HRD role here is seen as shaping and managing the ‘psychological contract’ between the employee and organisation. Psychological contract consists ‘of felt and perceived expectations, wants and rights’ about the obligations of the 2 parties (Harrison 2002, p 323). The issues related to psychological contract often emerge at the presence of corporate restructuring of an organisation and influence employee flexibility and commitment (Bratton & Gold 2003). The role of such implicit expectations is vital and managing it well can increase performance levels and commitment of workers, reduce the turnover of staff and lead to a higher job satisfaction (DelCampo 2007). It has to be pointed out that to manage the psychological contract might be a difficult task as issues that constitute it are implicit and hard to spell out. Pate et al (2003) suggest that the effects of psychological contract violation are contextual: while it impinges attitudinal outcomes at the time of high job insecurity behavioural outcomes might not be negatively affected because of the fear of redundancy or unwillingness to disappoint colleagues. #p#分頁標題#e#
Hiltrop (1996) argues that in order to increase the loyalty and commitment of employees through rebuilding psychological contract organisations have to modify reward systems so it would be based on continuous performance improvement and recognise employees’ contributions. Also, organisations need to consider systematic training and development as it provides employees with knowledge and skills needed, allows them to grow their potential and taking on more challenging tasks. Thus, the importance of HRD and the request for it to be strategic is met in this perspective as well. However, some organisations can face economical disadvantages regarding psychological contract (Garavan 2000). Even if HRD complies with the psychological contract and provides employees with the opportunity to learn and develop, the risk of employees’ loss cannot be avoided unless their loyalty and commitment is high.
The third viewpoint on contemporary HRD focuses on organisational learning and learning organisation (Garavan 2000). Understanding that people and their knowledge as well as skills can be organisations core competency increased the interest in organisational learning and knowledge management (Swart et al 2005). A more holistic view of HRD changed the focus of it from simple training interventions to learning and development throughout organisation (CIPD 2008). According to Bratton and Gold (2003) there is a difference between learning organisation and organisational learning: the former is seen as a concept that underpins the importance of group learning to benefit organisation whereas organisational learning is a process of improving performance relying on development and learning experience. The double-loop learning is vital for existence of learning organisation (Swart et al 2005). It represents the idea of how organisations learn to learn. Thus, the learning at organisational level highlights the notion that organisations create a positive learning environment that stimulates learning at all levels for all employees and build knowledge which is used for continuous growth and development. Organisational learning creates a no-blame approach within organisation and mistakes that occur are considered to be opportunities to learn (Megginson et al 1999). Hence, learning organisation underpins the idea of knowledge creation and management within organisations which is seen as a source of sustainable competitive advantage.
To sum up it should be noted that these three perspectives should not be seen as separate and Garavan et al (2000) stress HRD has to be studied from multiple perspectives. It can also be concluded that there is a tendency for HRD to become more strategic. The key characteristics of strategic HRD will be discussed in the following part of this essay.
1.2. Strategic human resource development
In a very simplistic way it can be said that strategic human resource development (SHRD) falls in line with corporate organisational strategy (Bratton & Gold 2003). Wognum (2001) suggests there are three steps in strategic HRD aligning: 1) identification of organisational strategy, problems and developments at all organisational levels; 2) examination of identified issues considering potential HRD implications; 3) making strategic choices regarding the way in which strategy, problems and developments can be supported by learning and development. Thus, SHRD is mainly concerned with creating a certain structural design and learning environment within organisation that would stimulate learning at all levels in order to improve organisational performance and ensure competiveness of the organisation (Horwitz 1999). #p#分頁標題#e#
Garavan (1991) identifies nine key characteristics of SHRD which are as follows:
1. Integration with organisational missions and goals – HRD lies at the heart of organisational strategy which ensures its integration into business planning.
2. Top management support – HRD can only be strategic if top managers see it as an important tool in striving for organisational success.
3. Environmental scanning – HRD function must consider external environmental factors in terms of possible threats or opportunities. It is important that both HRD managers and top management conducted such environmental scanning in the terms of HRD (McCracken & Wallace 2000).
4. HRD plans and policies – in order to be strategic HRD must formulate its own plans and policies which should be incorporated in business strategy and plans as well as follow from it (Garavan 1991).
5. Line manager commitment and involvement – line managers’ involvement and enthusiasm is seen of key importance for SHRD. HRD specialists need to develop managers and support them in this activity. However McCracken & Wallace (2000) suggest there might be some limitations of SHRD at this point: HRD specialists often concentrate on the strategic level while line managers are usually involved only in the operational level and therefore fragmentation instead of integration occurs. Thus, it is very important to involve all stakeholders in HRD policy making process (Wognum & Lam 2000). Line managers and HRD professionals should work in partnership.
6. Existence of complementary HRM activities – HRM and HRD strategies must work in partnership as well. O’Donnel & Garavan (1997) underpin the importance of HRD policies and plans to be integrated with all human resource cycle activities such as selection, appraisal, rewards and development.
7. Expanded trainer role – trainers should be more active in promoting training, see their role as more strategic and proactive as well as of a key importance in striving for organisational success (Garavan 1991).
8. Recognition of culture – HRD function must be imbedded in the organisational culture and become ‘the way things are done around there’ (Swart et al 2005).
9. Emphasis on evaluation – a key element of SHRD is the evaluation of HRD function.
Although these characteristics seem to be clear and manageable to achieve in the real world making HRD strategic might be a difficult task. Bratton and Gold (2003) argue that in the UK there is little intention to make HRD strategic. Top management are more concerned with how to increase profit and minimize cost and, therefore, HRD is considered to be a secondary matter. McCracken & Wallace (2000) attempted to redefine SHRD and enhanced the nine characteristics provided by Garavan (1991). They see SHRD as more proactive and define it as ‘a creation of learning culture, within which a range of training, development and learning strategies both respond to corporate strategy and also help to shape and influence it’ (McCracken & Wallace 2000, p 281). #p#分頁標題#e#
In short, it becomes clear that the process of strategic HRD alignment is long and complicated. Reid et al (2004, p 25) suggest that HRD is a ‘situation-specific art’ which strongly depends on organisational context; however, ‘the most effective HRD interventions will continue to be strategic, relevant and unique’. On the other had, HRD is just one way of strategy-making and in some organisations financial issues often downplay the importance of it (Bratton & Gold 2003). At the same time, HRD is a principal tool in change management and when incorporated in organisational strategy can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage within an organisation.

2. Human resource development in practice
In order to apply the theoretical concepts discussed above to practice and analyse SHRD more critically this essay provides a case study of Russells Ltd. The major HR and HRD issues will be diagnosed, followed by some suggestions for the HRD strategy. Also the key players in implementing the new HRD strategy will be identified and the importance of their role and development will be explained.
2.1. Crucial major HR and HRD issues at Russells
Russells Ltd is a multidivisional manufacturing company that currently faces a number of difficulties as it struggles to regain its leading position in the market. As a result of a competitive environment the company had to undergo some drastic changes which, first of all, resulted in a huge redundancy of employees (in ten years the number dropped from 2000 to 800 workers). It can be assumed that the psychological environment in the company has been negatively affected due to employee insecurity and low trust in the company. Secondly, organisation is being restructured to gain a matrix structure and its culture is being changed to a project-based one. Hence, the company is responding to the factors from its turbulent environment and is undergoing change. Russells is going to recruit a number of experts and then the emphasis will be put on training and developing all employees at the different levels of organisation.
Thirdly, the psychological contract between the company and employees became tensed and the need to rebuild employee commitment as well as enhance flexibility became obvious. Moreover, the management of Russells note that the levels of employees’ performance have to be significantly improved and there is a need for multi-skilled and fast-adaptive workers. Finally, it seems that HR strategies fail to be aligned with corporate organisational goals and is in need of innovation.
In summary, the main areas of improvement and actions that HRD and HR have to take into account are as follows: help the organisation to manage change through learning and development, improve performance levels of the workforce, rebuild employees’ commitment and enhance flexibility (psychological contract), improve strategic integration of HR and HRD practices within organisation.
2.2. Suggestions for the HRD strategy at Russells#p#分頁標題#e#
Organisational restructuring and change creates an opportunity for the HRD to make a key contribution in strategic transformation (Noel & Dennehy 1991). Russells has a goal to become a company of continuous improvement and innovation in its processes and products and to regain competitive edge. Reacting to the concerns discussed above, HRD strategy at Russells should consider the following issues.
? Change management
Russells chose to change their structure to the matrix and that has some advantages and disadvantages that HRD professionals need to understand. Matrix structure enables efficient knowledge management as it allows specific knowledge integration at different organisational segments (Johnson et al 2006). Therefore it allows more flexibility but at the same time brings more confusion. Decisions take more time to be made and employees are unclear about their job and task responsibilities. Thus the important issue at Russells would be communication improvement. At the time of restructuring and downsizing employees want to know more about the changes and how it is going to affect them (Hiltrop 1996). Organisational vision and goals should be clearly communicated through HRD practices at this company. Change at Russells is inevitable but people can resist that change. Noel and Dennehy (1991) suggest HRD can tackle this problem with employee empowerment. Thus, HRD strategy at Russells should generate readiness for change and overcome resistance to it as well as concentrate on creating capabilities for change (Swart et al 2005).
? Performance management
In order to increase organisational performance HRD professionals should firstly find out what the developmental needs at individual and organisational levels are. It can be achieved if performance appraisal (PA) is aimed at learning and development and enables employees to achieve their performance goals and take on more challenging tasks (Swart et al 2005). PA is an opportunity for a manager and employees to discuss their performance, overall capabilities and potential of the individuals as well as underpin the areas of improvement and development (Bratton & Gold 2003). If implemented well PA at Russells could be an opportunity to rebuild employee trust in the organisation, motivate them to perform better and show they are valued members of the organisation. Employee involvement is an issue that should be considered while implementing PA. The main idea of it is that employees are not only listened to but their contribution is actually valued and involved in the decision making processes or incorporated into the policy of organisation (Marchington & Wilkinson 2006). That would help to rebuild commitment and loyalty of employees at Russells as people would feel the organisation is ‘theirs’.
Thus, performance management and appraisal could be an opportunity for Russells to align organisational goals, employee performance levels and their development. It links individual, departmental and organisational goals. HRD practitioners need to work in partnership with line managers in order to achieve these goals. When the main aim of PA is to develop employees in order to increase performance levels within the organisation HRD strategy is aligned with HRM (Harrison 2002). In a long-term perspective HRD professionals should consider the implementation of a talent management system at Russells. It could help to manage the knowledge within the organisation and ensure that employees who are developed and possess capabilities critical for organisational success would stay in the company.#p#分頁標題#e#
At the same time the importance of training interventions cannot be forgotten. Russells need ‘to do better with less’ and the need of multi-skilled work force is needed. Training could involve work shadowing to improve and increase individual skills (Reid et al 2004). The project-focused culture would also require team building training on a broad range of social and communication skills (Swart et al 2005).
? Psychological contract
As has been mentioned above, employee commitment and motivation can be enhanced through the process of performance appraisal. However the psychological contract between employees and Russells needs to be rebuilt and employees who survived downsizing need to be taken care of. Hiltrop (1996) claims that to rebuild employee loyalty and commitment reward systems can be used. Only continuous performance improvement and employees’ contribution should be rewarded. That would also improve HRD and HRM horizontal integration.
? Strategic HRD alignment
To become more strategic HRD function at Russells should consider the nine SHRD characteristics suggested by Garavan (1991). Organisation is seeking to regain its competitive advantage and leader position in the market through being innovative and continually improving. For that reason HRD strategy at Russells should create a learning environment and foster employee creativity. It seems that management at this company already take HRD seriously and support the idea that competitive advantage will be regained through continuous learning and development interventions. Bearing in mind that Russells is operating in a very competitive environment there is a constant need to scan it in order to be one step ahead of competitors. Thus, PESTEL and SWOT analysis should be conducted in terms of human resource development by both senior and HRD managers (McCracken & Wallace 2000). From suggestions made above HRD should form and clarify its policy, and line managers at Russells should be committed and enthusiastic in implementing it. The importance of line managers’ involvement and development will be discussed further. HRM department in the past achieved considerable credibility in the firm and, therefore, it can be assumed that complementary HRM activities do exist at Russells. HRD can be aligned with HRM through performance appraisal if the main aims of it are to help employees to realise the areas of development in order to help them to perform better.
In order to be strategic HRD at Russells should consider three more issues. Firstly, trainers should expand their role. At Russells the trainer role perhaps was seen simply as delivering training and, therefore, the organisation failed to change in time. O’Donnell and Garavan (1997) argue that trainers should be facilitators and consultants of organisational change. Secondly, HRD should mind the culture at Russells. It seems that at the moment there is a culture transformation to a project based one. However the downsizing and organisational restructuring possibly created a dreary atmosphere full of uncertainty and employees might be resistant to change and learning. HRD function should try to reduce these factors and try to foster the learning culture. Finally, HRD function should be evaluated and the results should be used to improve and develop it further. Cost-effectiveness issues are probably very important to Russells as the company is undergoing financial difficulties. #p#分頁標題#e#
To sum up, it seems that Russells has a great chance to manage organisational change in making HRD strategic. While some companies can use strategic HRD to gain competitive advantage and succeed in their markets it should not be forgotten that there is no one best HRD strategy for all organisations (Biswajeet 2003). It depends on a number of factors discussed above which might impede Russells striving for success and competitive edge.
2.3. The key players in implementing HRD strategy
To achieve competitive advantage trough employees or the human capital is only possible if the managers understand and communicate organisational goals and incorporate it in their managerial practices (Hiltrop 1996). In a case of Russells the key players in implementing HRD strategy would be line managers. As CIPD (2004) survey notice it is hard for line managers to take on more responsibilities about learning and development, however, if they do so organisational goals are better communicated and employees understand were they sit in the organisation and how important their role is while the organisation is striving to gain the competitive advantage. However, as mentioned above, it is important that line managers are not only responsible for implementation of HRD strategy but also participate in HRD strategy planning. Wognum and Lam (2000) suggest that when HRD strategy making involves all stakeholders it has a positive effect on perceived HRD effectiveness within the organisation.
The role of line managers are of a key importance as they conduct performance appraisal meetings (CIPD 2004). Therefore if performance appraisals are to motivate employees and increase their commitment to Russells, HRD strategy should foresee the need to develop managers and provide them with appropriate training on performance appraisal delivering skills. Moreover, in order that managers would be able to create and stimulate the learning environment in the organisation they need to be trained in coaching, mentoring and counselling skills (Swart et al 2005). It seams that they should become change agents and lead Russells’ employees through the period of organisational change and for that reason line managers will need leadership skills. Thus, HRD practitioners need to ensure line managers get all the training and development needed as well as continuous support in implementing HRD strategy at Russells.

Conclusion
Human resource development is a concept that is still developing and gets an increasing amount of attention because learning is the way to manage organisational change. Three main theoretical perspectives in contemporary HRD can be identified with the first one being capability-driven HRD. It represents the idea that people within organisations and their capabilities is a source of competitiveness. Second perspective concentrates on the concept of the psychological contract where HRD is seen to be responsible for managing and shaping it. Organisational learning and learning organisation is the third viewpoint of HRD which underpins the idea of knowledge management as a sustainable competitive advantage. There is a tendency for HRD to become more important and strategic within organisations, however, in order to achieve that it has to meet a number of characteristics.#p#分頁標題#e#
Russells Ltd has a good opportunity to make HRD a strategic issue and retain its competitive edge. HRD strategy should generate readiness for change and overcome resistance to it as well as concentrate on creating capabilities for change. In a process of change management, communication improvement and employee empowerment should be given a full attention of HRD managers. Rebuilding employee commitment and loyalty could be achieved by appropriately shaping performance appraisal and reward systems. It would also ensure HR and HRD horizontal alignment as the vertical fit could be reached in making HRD strategic (meeting the characteristics of SHRD). The key players in implementing HRD strategy are line managers and, therefore HRD specialist should be concerned with their development and work in partnership with them.

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