David McGuire′s student-friendly introduction looks at Human Resource Development on an individual, organisational and societal level analysing how HRD can play a major role in organisational innovation, in developing communities and society and in operating on a cross-national and international basis. Key features: Links key training design and learning theories to broader economic and societal issues for a more holistic and in-depth understanding of the field. Seven brand new chapters ensure a good fit with HRD programmes at all levels and reflect the latest developments in the field, including career development, strategic HRD, knowledge management, the environment, ethics and CSR and the future of HRD. High profile case studies in each chapter bring the theory to life including Apple, Massive Open Online Courses, Barclays, Stephen Lawrence, Lloyds Pharmacy, Marriott Hotels, Netflix, Black and Decker, Google, Colgate-Palmolive, Marks and Spencer and Valve. Case vignettes throughout the chapters highlight HRD in action and provoke critical analysis and discussion, including How a Beer Can Aided the Design of Canon’s Revolutionary Mini-Copier and The Alaskan Village Set to Disappear Under Water in a Decade. An Appendix contains advice on preparing for an HRD examination as well as example exam questions and sample answers, to ensure examination success. Chapters map to the CIPD’s requirements at levels 5 and 7 making it an ideal core text for accredited and non-accredited programmes alike.

The rapidly transforming environment that we live in has made human resource development (HRD) all the more necessary for the success of today’s organizations. HRD initiatives help their organizations by developing employees who assist their organizations in not only surviving, but thriving in our increasingly global world. Today’s best practice or benchmarked organizations and their HRD professionals continue to recognize the importance of employee learning, knowledge, skills and motivation to organizational success. This recognition increasingly opens many doors as organizational leaders accept the fact that HRD initiatives can be used to ensure that organization members have what it takes to successfully meet the demands that confront them and their organizations. This book takes the position that HRD can demonstrate how their initiatives help to develop a superior workforce so that the organization and its individual employees can accomplish their strategic and operational goals in service to their clients or customers. This book is written with the belief that HRD professionals have many opportunities to learn, change and find ways both in and outside of the workplace to contribute to the development of learning organizations as we move further into the 21st century. A major point of this book is that HRD will continue to become more and more important to organizational success when one considers the increased responsibilities HRD professionals have taken on during and post- the COVID pandemic. The primary audience for this book is practicing HRM and HRD professionals, and other organizational leaders. The book provides proven ideas important to demonstrating the value of HRD. From a practical viewpoint, it is based on actual experience, a strong research base, and accepted practices presented in an easy to read form. A second target audience is students of HRD and HRM who are preparing for careers in this important field. This book will help them develop a solid foundation to the study of HRD practices or initiatives that are key to HRD success regardless of the type of organization. A third target audience is managers or leaders at all levels of an organization who are expected to take on a number of HRD responsibilities (e.g., as trainers, coaches, mentors, change agents, and so on) while regularly partnering with HRD professionals. It offers these individuals a firsthand look at what they should expect of their HRD functions or areas and how they can effectively work with HRD professionals in their organizations to achieve the organizations strategic goals by getting the most out of its human people.

Career Development: A Human Resource Development Perspective second edition offers an integrated framework for career development within the Human Resource function. It goes beyond conventional interventions, providing an interdisciplinary perspective. The authors explore challenges associated with contemporary careers and how a complication of contextual factors, individual attributes, and support mechanisms have and will influence career development. As with the previous edition, McDonald and Hite bring together the strengths of both theory and practical application, offering an integrated framework for career development. New to this edition are: Cases to support further reflection and problem-solving. Supplementary material for each chapter that includes discussion questions and further resources. An enhanced chapter on ethics and social justice. A concluding chapter which explores ongoing trends to expand the career development conversation. This book will help prepare human resource development students, scholars, and practitioners to develop and maintain successful career development programs, and to foster more innovative research that advances the discourse, as well as address their own professional interests.

Career Development: A Human Resource Development Perspective offers a strategic framework that demonstrates the role of career development within the human resource function. It goes beyond conventional interventions and includes key topics such as diversity, work–life balance, and ethics. Historically, the career development literature has been viewed either from the perspective of the individual (how to build a career) or from an economic perspective (how an organization benefits from developing employees). In this book, McDonald and Hite bring together the strengths of both traditions, offering an integrated framework for career development. The theoretical foundation expands on the counseling literature by incorporating the literature from human resource development and related fields. The application section reflects on the wide range of ages and working options that characterize the current and future workplace. The final section of the book addresses career development issues such as managing a diverse, global workforce; ethics; and work–life balance. This book will help prepare human resource development students, scholars, and practitioners to develop and maintain successful career development programs, and to foster more innovative research that advances the discourse.