Summary for Week 2 reading

Summary for Week 2 reading

The three readings for this week’s class all centered around two themes; the foundations and definitions of HRD. Chapter 1 introduces us to the field of HRD, obviously one critical area is the overall purpose of HRD. Swanson and Holton advised that HRD is to focus on what humans bring to the success of the organization. They then present 16 different definitions of HRD from a chronological perspective, this chronology shows how the definition of HRD has evolved from an individual knowledge and skills approach where economics is the driving force, to one where expertise is leveraged from a systems lens to help organizations perform, no matter how they view performance.

In regard todefinitions, MonicaLee presents an argument for not defining HRD at all. The main focus of her argument is about how context influences what HRD is to individual organizations. Since HRD means different things to different organizations, it is near impossible to apply a universal definition to HRD. From a theoretical perspective, at the core of her argument is the complex web of what the word development means. She identified four views of development; maturation, voyage, shaping, and emergent. One can see that how development is viewed by an organization would influence how the processes of HRD exists, therefore disallowing a universal definition.

Chapter 2 introduces us to how HRD is viewed. Ideas such as human potential, improvement and problem-solving lie at the foundation of many HRD processes. The authors then present a short review of systems thinking, the belief that all organizations exist as complex systems, and that HRD practitioners must understand how the complex relationships among the various parts of any organization must be considered in order to effectively address performance improvement.