This article focuses on the areas agreement between two recent and seemingly disparate Human Resource Development Review articles by Wang and Swanson (2008) and McLean, Lynham, Azevedo, Lawrence, and Nafukho (2008). The foundational roles of economics in human resource development theory and practice are highlighted as well as the need for…

Recent human resource development (HRD) literature focuses attention on national HRD (NHRD) research and represents problems in both HRD identity and research methodology. Based on a review of development economics and international development literature, this study analyzes the existing NHRD literature with respect to the theory development…

The purpose of human resource development (HRD) should be to improve individual performance so that it contributes directly to organizational performance goals. Performance-focused HRD has no room for blind application of interventions or poorly conceived programs. (SK)

The human resource development (HRD) profession needs to continue to develop its core theories and to understand that theory building is a scholarly process. Theoretical constraints affecting HRD are that HRD is a relatively young academic field of study and that most academic fields are applied and draw upon multiple theories in articulating…

This symposium will highlight the systematic approach related to PhD and master's HRD programs uniquely situated in Colleges of Business. Strengths of these programs will be presented through identifying their collaboration with businesses, strong internship programs, external funding sources, and strong HR relationships in business, industry,…

Analysis of the economics of training has become one of the most important issues of the decade for business and industry. Unfortunately, managers typically digress to a simple cost analysis and ignore the realities of cost-benefit analysis and the potential of large financial benefits to the organization. A proposed model to forecast training…

The validity of the Training Benefit Forecasting Method (TBFM) in a recreational vehicle service training setting was studied. Cost-benefit issues were associated with the Onan Service School change from a field-based Recreational Vehicle Generator Set training program to a customer-delivered self-instructional training program. Actual costs and…

This book details the work required at the outset of all efforts designed to improve an organization's performance at the organization, process, and/or individual levels. The book is divided into four parts that are devoted to the following aspects of conducting the systematic diagnostic analysis required to improve performance: (1) analysis as…

This annotated bibliography represents the core literature of the human resource development profession. An introduction describes the process by which the core literature was identified, annotated, and published for dissemination. The approximately 111 documents are categorized by the nine professional areas: training and development,…

Our understanding of workplace learning is shaped by four dominant discourses that may be labeled the discourses of design, demand, development and desire. Within these different discourses, understanding of workplace learning is shaped and bounded by particular assumptions about the "self in context," which includes the organizational…

This book examines the core principles of adult learning and the roots of andragogy, advances in adult learning, and practice in adult learning. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's 17 chapters: importance of learning theory; theories of learning (concept of part and whole models of development, theories based on elemental…