Modern organisations have become more complex, less mechanistic and increasingly sensitive to rapid changes in the external environment than in previous eras. Today, executives lead employees through a maze of complexity and changing contexts. However, another group of dedicated professionals, the human resource managers and practitioners, also…

This empirical study examines employee perceptions of quality management at three different time periods. New employees at a large United States manufacturing organization were surveyed regarding their perceptions of their organization's quality management practices before they attended a new employee orientation training, immediately after the…

These five papers are from a symposium on high involvement work teams that was facilitated by Catherine M. Sleezer at the 1995 Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD) conference. "An Empirical Study of Employee Involvement in Designing and Managing Reward Systems" (William M. Kahnweiler) reports on a study of 300 organizations that…

The author defines organization development (OD) and discusses organization, measurement of success, the role of specialists, the relationship between organization and organization interest illustrated in chart form, and 21 OD strategies. (JB)

These four papers are from a symposium on changing workplaces. "Women Entrepreneurs: Maintaining Business Success through Human Resource Development" (Dominic G. Kamau , Gary N. McLean, Alexander Ardishvili) investigates contributions of human resource development (HRD) to business success and reports the following: (1) women can be…

Any type of organization can be a learning organization (LO) if it possesses certain characteristics: provide continuous learning opportunities, use learning to reach its goals, link individual performance with organizational performance, foster inquiry and dialogue, embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal, and be continuously…

Career development has evolved from the mid-1970s, when it was rarely linked with the word "organizational," to Walter Storey's work in organizational career development at General Electric in 1978. Its evolution has continued with career development workshops in organizations in the early 1980s to implementation of Corning's organizational career…

These four papers were presented at a symposium on human resource development (HRD) and business outcomes moderated by Barbara L. Swanson at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "Incorporating Continuous Learning into a Cultural Change Process" (Carol Ann Zulauf, Joseph A. Ilacqua), focuses on best practices at…

This book presents an approach that organizes the principles and processes of an emerging human resource development (HRD) paradigm requiring training to be everyone's business. Chapter 1 describes the paradigm and presents a practical approach for applying it. Chapter 2 draws a picture of highly effective training (HET), focusing particularly on…

This book gives an overview of the field of human resource development (HRD) through providing a definition of the concept of HRD and discussing the future of the field, providing the history of HRD, its structure, major roles taken by practitioners, program areas, the field's international orientation, and careers and career preparation. It is…

New information about interorganizational collaboratives for job training and economic development was obtained through case studies analyzing six organizations with innovative job creation practices including (1) assistance to small businesses; and (2) benefits to low-income, hard-to-place workers. (SLD)

In a high performance work organization (HPWO), employee basic skills are just one of many components. HPWOs feature the following: they have flatter organizational structures, have work done by teams of highly skilled workers, and have a focus on quality, customer service, and continuous improvement. The collaborative approach to workplace…

This book addresses the goal of radically repositioning training from a peripheral role in the organization to that of a provider of bottom-line results, return on investment, and driver of performance. Each of five parts, and their respective chapters, begins with a changing mindset model that implies a shared perception, by both the individual…

A study evaluated the extent to which Employee Development (ED) projects provided increased opportunities for continuing general education and training for employees in Britain. A questionnaire that sought to relate employer involvement in ED to wider issues of workplace culture, personnel, and training policies was sent to 70 firms; 50 percent…

These four papers were presented at a symposium on action learning moderated by Lex Dilworth at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "Developing an Infrastructure for Individual and Organizational Change: Transfer of Learning from an Action Reflection Learning (ARL) Program" (ARL Inquiry) reports findings…