Chapter 1: Foresight from Insight
Setting, motivation, scope and objectives of the book. Discussion and debate of the role of HRD in a world characterized by volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguity. Summary of each chapter and its role contribution to the book's objectives.
Chapter 2: Evaluation of HRD practices from 1999 to 2019: What next?
The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of theory and practices on the evaluation of HRD since the UFHRD Conferences began to exist. The study is, we believe, of interest because evaluation has been a stream and topic on UFHRD as evaluation is fundamental for HRD. The research questions are
- How is evaluation of HRD done and more specifically:
- What are the underlying theories?
- What are the methods used ? Who does it? With what purposes? With what results? Has evaluation changed since 1999?
There are many approaches possible to HRD, and the outcome variables depend on the researcher. In general, the evaluation applies to an operation and it is possible to define immediate or long run outcomes. The most celebrated model to analyze the topic is Kirkpatrick's, but there are much more. Evaluation may seek results (participants or funds involved) or influence (difference in outcome variables before after or within-without). The level of qualitative or quantitative data involved in the operations of evaluation may differ considerably.
We will do a literature review on the research questions using large databases like EBSCO, Publons and SCOPUS. We will also use data published in books by renowned sources on the topic and available online. We hope to find trends and benchmarks on the several research questions. We also will discuss if HRD scholars and in particular if the UFHRD community had any impact on the results. This chapter has the limitations of dimension associated with it. However, regardless of this aspect we hope to get a comprehensive idea on the topic addressed. For researchers, the chapter offers an informative and open to speculation argument - what should we do in the next 20 years that we did not do in the last 20? For policy makers and managers, it should be challenging - what new policies and operations should design and implement on evaluating to fill the gap exist in practice. For the evaluators, it should be of interest because if good give a precise idea of the close past, present and distant future of the field they are evolving. Even if evaluation is a much-debated topic assessments like the one we suggest are not so common and the fact that will be focused on the last 20 years might be of interest for the book. In addition, we believe that more and more countries and organizations are evaluating HRD and also that resources had never felt as so scarce, and policies as so important - therefore the assessment is important and the inclusion in the book is important.
Chapter 3: OCD and HRD: Evidence-Based Learning
Contemporary literature suggests that 70% or more of rightsizing, mergers, acquisitions and other organizational change programme either fail or are just partially successful, and that the workplace challenges posed by organizational change and development (OCD) initiatives typically have a negative impact on employees (Shook & Roth, 2011; ten Have et al., 2017; Hamlin et al., 2019). Consequently, various scholars have suggested that organizational leaders, managers, and HRD professional practitioners should strive to become more critically reflective and truly evidence-based in their OCD-related
About the Author:
Mark Loon is Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at Bath Spa University, UK. He is a co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Human Resource Development: Practice, Policy and Research and an incoming Vice Chair in the British Academy of Management, co-leading the Management Knowledge and Education Committee.
Jim Stewart is Professor of Human Resource Development in Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, UK, where his role is to provide mentoring support and research leadership for colleagues teaching and researching Human Resource Management. He has authored and co-edited over 20 books on HRD as well as of numerous articles in academic and professional journals.
Stefanos Nachmias is Principal Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Business School, UK. His research interests include an assessment of line managers' diversity needs, gender in the workplace and employment practices. He has co-edited several books, including Inequality and Organizational Practice, Volumes I and II, and Hidden Inequalities in the Workplace (Palgrave Macmillan).
