Excerpt
Table of Contents
,Restricted Notice
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations
List of Figures
1 Introduction/Problem Definition
2 Objectives
3 Methodology
4 Main Part
4.1 The HRD cycle
4.1.1 Stage 1: Identification of HRD Needs
4.1.2 Stage 2: Design of HRD Interventions
4.1.3 Stage 3: Delivery of HRD Interventions
4.1.4 Case study BMW AG: Improving Decision-making
4.1.5 Stage 4: Evaluation of HRD Interventions
4.2. Future Challenges for HRD
5 Conclusion
6 ITM Checklist
7 Bibliography
List of Abbreviations
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Finanzplan des Bundes 2010. Investments for education and research
Figure 2: The HRD cycle. Triggers and phases (own depiction according to Mankin 2009)
Figure 3: Case study BMW AG, Munich. Process steps of developing a training aiming at improving quality of decision memos for board decisions
1 Introduction/Problem Definition
A lot of company representatives address the quality of their workforce to be the foremost competitive advantage for the company’s future viability. The German Government plans to invest 12,4 B€ in 2011 for education and research with a clear upward trend foreseeable for the next years to come (see figure 1).
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Figure 1: Finanzplan des Bundes 2010. Investments for education and research.
While Germany invested 9,9 B€ in 2007 the numbers from the business world are by far more impressive. In 2007 84% of all German companies invested a total amount of approx. 27 B€ (Lenske & Werner 2008) into education and Human Resources Development (HRD).
Given a company’s workforce is really a crucial competitive advantage would imply that human resources are more treated like an asset than like a cost factor. HRD has to be linked to the company- and HR-strategy. There should be a clear picture of how HRD works and how it contributes to the implementation of the corporate strategy.
2 Objectives
The following text should give answers to a number of elementary questions concerning the topic of HRD:
1. How does professional HRD work: which steps have to be successfully conducted to ensure a maximum contribution of HRD activities to implement the corporate strategy?
2. What methods and tools can be used to run the different stages of the HRD process?
3. What are the potential risks and opportunities?
4. What are the foreseeable future demands of HRD?
3 Methodology
The following text is based on an intensive literature research according to the topic of HRD. David Manikin’s specification of the “HRD cycle” delivers the blueprint for the description of the four phases of HRD. The case study “Improving decision making at the BMW AG” should give a short insight into practical experiences with implementing a “systematic training cycle” (STC)[1].
4 Main Part
The practice of HRD has its roots in training and human capital theory (Mankin 2009, p. 41). The term HRD originally was introduced by Leonard Nadler (Nadler 1980). HRD is focussing on a wide range of strategic and operational elements summarized in the following working definition:
“Human Resource Development (HRD) can be defined as a set of systematic and planned activities designed by an organization to provide its members with the necessary skills to meet current and future job demands” (DeSimon et al. 1998, p.2).
[…] Human Resource Development includes such opportunities as employee training, employee career development,performance management and development,coaching,mentoring, succession planning, key employee identification, and organization development.”[2]
On the following pages exemplary methods mentioned above will be addressed following the four major phases of the HRD cycle.
4.1 The HRD cycle
“The HRD cycle […] provides a methodical step-by-step approach to key stages in developing HRD interventions that span learning and development, career development and lifelong learning and organizational development […].” (ibid., p. 152).
Future requirements due to corporate strategy, performance gaps or personal learning and development lead to stage 1: The identification of HRD needs. Stage 2 is defined as the design of HRD interventions. Stage 3 addresses the delivery of HRD interventions. Stage 4 closes the cycle with the evaluation of the HRD interventions delivered. The model can be regarded as iterative. Also interdependencies and feedback loops between the different stages are possible.
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Figure 2: The HRD cycle. Triggers and phases (own depiction according to Mankin 2009).
4.1.1 Stage 1: Identification of HRD Needs
As indicated in figure 2, Stage 1 of the HRD cycle can be carried out on three different levels:
- A strategic level;
- An operational level;
- A personal level.
To specify the HRD needs an organization-wide training needs analysis (TNA) should be conducted. A TNA can be described as “the structured process carried out by a variety of different methods by which information about an organization’s development and training needs are gathered […]” (Matthews 1997). To put it in a nutshell a TNA is the analysis to identify the training needs of an organization or department or of particular employees[3].
[...]
[1] „The systematic training cycle [...] describes a methodical step-by-step approach to the key stages in developing a training intervention: identification of needs, design, delivery, and evaluation” (Mankin 2009).
[2] Source: Susann M. Heathfield 2011. What Is Human Resource Development (HRD)? Available from:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryh/f/hr_development.htm [Accessed Mai 2011].
[3] Source: Hrdictionary.com. Available from:
http://www.hrdictionary.com/definition/training-needs-analysis.html [Accessed April 2011].