The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (VII)

At the organizational level, a successful Human Resources Development program will prepare the individual to undertake a higher level of work, "organized learning over a given period of time, to provide the possibility of performance change" (Nadler 1984). In these settings, Human Resources Development is the framework that focuses on the organizations competencies at the first stage, training, and then developing the employee, through education, to satisfy the organizations long-term needs and the individual's career goals and employee value to their present and future employers. Human Resources Development can be defined simply as developing the most important section of any business its human resource by, "attaining or upgrading the skills and attitudes of employees at all levels in order to maximise the effectiveness of the enterprise" (Kelly 2001).

The people within an organization are its human resource. Human Resources Development from a business perspective is not entirely focused on the individual’s growth and development, "development occurs to enhance the organization's value, not solely for individual improvement. Individual education and development is a tool and a means to an end, not the end goal it self". (Elwood F. Holton II, James W. Trott Jr.). The broader concept of national and more strategic attention to the development of human resources is beginning to emerge as newly independent countries face strong competition for their skilled professionals and the accompanying brain-drain they experience.

Though human resources have been part of business and organizations since the first days of agriculture, the modern concept of human resources began in reaction to the efficiency focus of Taylorism in the early 1900s. By 1920, psychologists and employment experts in the United States started the human relations movement, which viewed workers in terms of their psychology and fit with companies, rather than as interchangeable parts. This movement grew throughout the middle of the 20th century, placing emphasis on how leadership, cohesion, and loyalty played important roles in organizational success. Although this view was increasingly challenged by more quantitatively rigorous and less "soft" management techniques in the 1960s and beyond, human resources development had gained a permanent role within organizations, agencies and nations, increasingly as not only an academic discipline, but as a central theme in development policy.

Source: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Related Post(s):
1. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (I)
2. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (II)
3. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (III)
4. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (IV)
5. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (V)
6. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (VI)
7. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (VII)
8. The Encyclopedia of Human Resources (VIII)