Donald Kirkpatrick published a series of articles originating from his doctoral dissertation in the late 1950s describing a four-level training evaluation model. From its beginning, it was easily understood and became one of the most influential evaluation models impacting the field of HRD. While well received and popular, the Kirkpatrick model…

This mixed method study examines HRD professionals' decision-making processes when making an organizational purchase of training. The study uses a case approach with a degrees of freedom analysis. The data to analyze will examine how HRD professionals in manufacturing select outside vendors human resource development programs for training,…

A field enquiry in French distance education allows us to analyze the evolution of a specific institution towards new public management: Parallel to a trend of free courseware and open education, there is a paradoxical reality of distance education monetization. Whereas history shows how traditional French education is a state controlled public…

Purpose: Training is a key strategy for human resources development and in achieving organisational objectives. Organisations and public authorities invest large amounts of resources in training, but rarely have the data to show the results of that investment. Only a few organisations evaluate training in depth due to the difficulty involved and…

Purpose: How people learn and create knowledge together through interactions in communities of practice (CoPs) is not fully understood. The purpose of this paper is to create and apply a model that could increase participants' consciousness about knowledge creation processes. Design/methodology/approach: This four-month qualitative research was…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to set out an argument for a way to design, implement and manage IS with an emphasis on first, the learning that can be created through undertaking the approach, and second, the learning that may be created through using the IS that was implemented. The paper proposes joining two areas of research namely,…

Review of the current state of human-resource-development literature includes definitions, models, and dominant biases. The review concludes that the literature is fragmented and reflects a diverse range of issues and opinions. (73 references) (SK)

A macro model of training and development includes input (training and development climate), process, and output (individual/organizational change) indicators. A test of the model with 387 Kuwaiti bank employees supported these indicators. Managers' perceptions of training and development and the organization's return on investment were…

A study investigated the hypothesis that strategic human resource development shapes rather than supports corporate strategy. Data from 96 companies were used to analyze and revise a model of strategic partnerships. (Contains 92 references.) (SK)

Examines the concept of human capital, including how it is linked to strategic analysis and how it relates to four alternative models for return-on-investment (ROI). Discusses how to choose the best model for ROI justification of training or other human performance technology (HPT) interventions. (AEF)

This article explores some of the major issues in developing and implementing a competency-based human resource development strategy. The article summarizes a brief literature review on how competency models can be developed and implemented to improve employee performance. A case study is presented of American Medical Systems (AMS), a mid-sized…

Examines the role of training for improving the performance of people in ways that both they and their organizations value, focusing on what the true worth of training is and can be. Proposes a model for calculating return-on-investment (ROI) in training. Presents a case study of its application within an operational context at a bank. (Contains…

A field experiment of ninety-six employees tested a model of the relationships among dispositional learning orientation, self-efficacy, goal orientation context, and declarative knowledge. Specifically, the model predicted positive influences of task-specific self-efficacy (pre- and mid-training) and declarative knowledge in the relationship…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on the human resource development (HRD) function in organizations. In "Comparing Quality Profiles of Training Organizations--A Multi-Level Approach" (Martin Mulder), analysis of over 1,300 training projects indicates that variation in quality is almost entirely explained by the…

Workplace motivation historically has been an HR function, with ID as a training function. This division produces a split between motivation and training, leaving them isolated from one another. Intervention design needs to include motivation throughout its phases, to maximize motivating opportunities for performance improvement. The current…