The traditional approach to human resource development (HRD) is a relic of the last century. HRD needs to radically modify its approach or risk irrelevancy in the current climate of accelerated change and uncertainty. Despite the rhetoric, current HRD practices - at the very least - are holding businesses and the workforce back from realising their full potential. These traditional programs come and go.
Approaches such as process reengineering, self-directed work teams, downsizing, and rightsizing and so on, are replacing each other largely because they are ineffective and unsustainable attempts at meeting the necessities of organisations operating in this rapidly changing global environment.
Conventional HRD is obsessed with competencies, skills development, and implementing and following processes and procedures. These strategies are essentially about doing, applying or improving something within the business; they do not question the way people think.
Table I below illustrates the changes that are needed for HRD now and in the future.
Changing paradigms of HRD
| Traditional approach |
Future approach |
| Human resources |
People |
| Doing |
Thinking |
| Training |
Problem solving |
| Maintaining status quo |
Managing change |
| Operational approach |
Strategic approach |
| Linear |
Cyclical |
| Top-down approach |
Bottom-up approach |
Each of these paradigm shifts are explained briefly.
Branding
'Human resources' is a derogatory term. It implies that people are the captive possessions of organisations. The re-branding of HR departments sends a powerful message that their business is really about people, their performance, well-being and development. One of the best terms I have heard for an HR department is People, Performance and Well-being, the term used by the HR department at Rockhampton Regional Council. This title captures the essence of HRD. Re-branding is the first step towards sustaining HRD and its relevance to organisational development.
Changing mindsets
HRD has been obsessed with what people do rather than how they think. Conventional HRD is obsessed with the pursuit and development of competencies. These competencies can be technical, personal or problem solving. But they don't address the need to change the way people think about their role and the organisational work they play. Sustainable behaviour change, whether it technical, personal or problem solving, is unlikely to happen without the correct mindset.
For example, teaching people planning techniques is unlikely to be practiced in an organisation that has a culture of 'flying by the seat of their pants'. Tackling the reason for why people value spontaneity over planning would be the constructive first step in changing the behaviour. HRD should be in the business of directly changing the way people think as a pre-requisite for changing their work practices.
Problem solving capabilities
The bulk of HRD programs are about training people to improve their technical skills and competencies. Yet, in a climate of rapid change and uncertainty, equipping people with the skills to critically reflect and problem solve is a far more practical approach to help them cope with the increasing uncertain demands of their work. The complexity of problems facing employees and ever-changing landscape is placing greater pressure and demands on people to be flexible and maneuverable.
For example, customers are increasingly becoming more demanding and varied in their preferences. Increasingly sales and marketing frontline staff often need to think 'outside the square'. Problem-based learning is often neglected in favour of a pre-defined curriculum that assumes that we are in a stable and predictable environment.
Change management
Most HRD interventions are about upholding and maintaining certain workplace practices. Whilst it is acknowledged that this is important in some instances such as health and safety and recruitment, it doesn't address the ever more critical role of continuous improvement and innovation. HRD should therefore place more emphasis on equipping people with the capacity to cope and manage change. Continuous innovation, changing people's mindsets and constructively questioning the current way things are being done is a far more relevant and constructive approach for HRD now and in the future.
Strategic focus
A lot of training and development initiatives are designed to improve the operational functioning of an organisation. This would include the majority of technical training. HRD ought to remedy this by being more strategically focused and assisting businesses to achieve their corporate mission. If HRD wants more influence in the boardroom, they need to frame their case in business terms so that senior non-HR executives are sold on the benefits. More effort aligning HRD with the organisational vision is more likely to legitimise the relevance of learning and development.
Action learning
Most learning and development programs have a finite start and finish. For example, a one day training program may require participates to arrive in the morning and throughout the day they undertake a pre-determined series of learning activities and finish that afternoon. This is often referred to as the 'sheep dipping' approach with a clear start and finishing point. A more effective approach for HRD is to adopt an action learning cycle to program implementation. More specifically, an action learning approach identifies the issues, prepares and tailors the training, undertakes the training using a variety of approaches to accommodate different learning styles, evaluates the effectiveness of the training, modifies the training and than repeat the cycle. This cyclical approach is in keeping with the developmental principles of spaced learning and continuous learning.
Bottom-up
Conventional wisdom suggests that the top-down approach to change is the only effective way to bring about organisational change. However, this traditional approach to change is based on several potentially faulty assumptions. For instance, the top-down strategy suggests that top management knows best. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. Also, most top-down models are driven by organisational leaders without regard for the strategic involvement of employees at all levels of the organisational structure. The bottom-up approach is sadly underestimated in its effectiveness in bringing about powerful and prolonged change.
What is desperately needed, not only by the HRD industry, but business in general, is a new and radically different paradigm for learning and development. A new paradigm for HRD adds to its legitimacy in the board room, enhances its effectiveness and is in keeping with the changing needs and interests of employees and employers.
About the author
This is an extract from Dr Tim Baker's new book: 'The 8 Values of Highly Productive Companies: Creating Wealth from a New Employment Relationship' (Australian Academic Press). This book can be purchased through www.winnersatwork.com.au
Dr Tim Baker is managing director of WINNERS AT WORK and an international consultant specialising in workplace culture. He is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute.