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Chapter 4

Chapter 4. The Role of Theory and Philosophy in Human Resource Development. Introduction to HRD Theory. “Theory is particularly important to a discipline that is emerging and growing” ( Chalofsky , 1990; Ruona , 2000; Torraco , 2005). Two definitions from HRD scholars

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Chapter 4

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  1. Chapter 4 The Role of Theory and Philosophy in Human Resource Development

  2. Introduction to HRD Theory • “Theory is particularly important to a discipline that is emerging and growing” (Chalofsky, 1990; Ruona, 2000; Torraco, 2005). • Two definitions from HRD scholars • “A theory simply explains what a phenomenon is and how it works” (Torraco, 1997, p. 115). • “Theory building is the process or recurring cycle by which coherent descriptions, explanations, and representations of observed or experienced phenomena are generated, verified, and refined” (Lynham, 2000, p. 160). • HRD theory, because of the increasing demand, is an ongoing process.

  3. Theory-Development Journey as Research • The Theory development research journey is intricate and rigorous (Swanson and Holton, 2009) • Theory development requires multiple scholars and a wide variety of theory building. • The textbook outlines two types of research (p. 74-75): • Basic understanding of HRD • Research meant to advance the profession

  4. Requirements of a Sound Theory • Athoretical– no thorough scholarly or scientific basis for the ideas and products being promoted • Critics of HRD accuse HRD products of being athoretical (p. 75) • Patterson (1983) developed criteria for assessing a sound theory: • Importance • Preciseness and clarity • Parsimony and simplicity • Comprehensiveness • Operationality • Empirical validity or verifiability • fruitfulness

  5. Philosophy and Theory Underlying HRD • Is HRD a discipline or a field of study? • “While HRD continues to mature, the stage of maturation varies within nations and between nations” (p. 75). • “Theory has an enormous challenge and opportunity in the growing HRD profession” (p. 77).

  6. Philosophical Metaphors for HRD Theory and Practice • Essay by Dr. Karen Watkins, noted HRD scholar • “Philosophies for the role of HRD calls for different theories” (p. 77) • Five philosophic metaphors: • HRD as Organizational problem solver • HRD as Organizational change agent/interventionist or helper • HRD as Organizational designer • HRD as Organizational empowerer/meaning maker • HRD as Developer of human capital

  7. Organizational Problem Solver • Usage of Systems Theory • Find definable characteristics to tweak to increase productivity • Focuses more on problem solving than problem finding • YouTube video on Problem Solving • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8BMwqR2Za0

  8. Organizational Change Agent/Interventionist or Helper • HRD help people and organizations change • Need to first figure out why people are acting the way they are, and what could influence them to act differently • Kurt Lewin – father of organizational change agentry • Behavior is a function of the field that exists at the time the behavior occurs (B = f(P,E) • Behavior(B) is a function(f) of the interaction between a person(P) and his or her psychological environment(E). • Analysis begins with the situation as a whole from which we may differentiate parts • The concrete person in a concrete situation can be represented mathematically (Hall and Lindzey, 1970). • Force in the psychological field is the tendency toward movement in people or groups (p. 80). • Many people are in many groups – overlapping situations • Chris Argyris – “intervention… entering into an ongoing system of relationship, to come between or among persons, groups, or objects for the purpose of helping them” (1970, p. 15). • The system exists independently of the intervenor

  9. Organizational Designer • “Diagnosing and selecting the structure and formal system of communication, authority, and responsibility to achieve organizational goals” (p. 83). • Herb Simon’s administrative decision-making theory: • “individuals have a bounded rationality that leads to satisfaction in decision making” (1965). • Elements that make up decision-making activity • Programs – has basic parts: • Stimuli – information evokes a program • Inputs – facts and values • Content – execution steps • Outputs • Unprogrammed activity: • Intelligence activity – searching the environment for conditions calling for a decision • Design activity – inventing, developing, and analyzing a course of action • Choice activity – selecting a course of action from those available • Intelligence activity – differences between novices and experts • Design activity – conceptual and aesthetic qualities • Parameters of situation • Skill needed to design • Components to be designed • Outcome criteria

  10. Organizational Empowerer/Meaning Maker • “Seek to transform people and organizations in order to foster long-term health and effectiveness” (p. 86). • Geuss (1981) – emancipation as a movement • Initial state • False consciousness (FC) is interconnected with oppression • FC is self-designed and oppression is self-imposed • The power in the above lies in the fact that people do not realize their oppression is self-imposed • Final stage – free of FC • Dissolve illusion of objectivity • Become aware of own origin • Bring to consciousness the unconscious determinants of their action (Geuss, 1981) • Critical theory generated – three parts • Demonstration that change is possible • Depiction of practical necessity of the change • Assertion that movement or transformation comes about only if people accept the theory as their “self-consciousness” (Geuss, 1981)

  11. Developer of Human Capital • “Productive capabilities of human beings that are acquired at some cost and that command a price in the labor market because they are useful in producing goods and services” (Parnes, 1986, p. 1). • “Salaries are seen in supply-and-demand terms” (p. 88) • HRD has to overcome the distortion in measuring economic effectiveness • “Human capital theory provides a strong, bottom-line oriented justification for HRD” (p. 89) • Critics point to the limits of capitalism • “People gain considerably more from training than simply an enhanced economic value” (p. 90)

  12. Summary/Conclusion • HRD and the theories behind it are developed and varied, and the combination of theory and philosophy in HRD is crucial to the field of study and furthering the practice of HRD

  13. Chapter 5 Theory of Human Resource Development

  14. Perspectives on Theory and Practice • Theories must be verified • Phenomena in HRD • Long lasting, broad (ex: democracy, global warming) • HRD as an applied discipline

  15. Theory Framework for Applied Disciplines • Swanson, 2007 • Six components: • Boundary of the Theory of an Applied Discipline • Contributing Theories for an Applied Discipline • Core Theory for an Applied Discipline • Useful Theory for an Applied Discipline • Novel Theory for an Applied Discipline • Irrelevant Theory for an Applied Discipline

  16. Theory of Human Resource Development • “The bias of HRD has been the belief that organization, work progress, group, and individual performance are mediated through human expertise and effort” (Swanson, 1995). • The Training within Industry (TWI) project that came with the end of WWII was seen as the origin of contemporary HRD (Swanson, 1995). • HRD professionals need to think about performance both with and without the human perspective (Swanson 1995). • HRD professionals need to focus on the host, typically the organization, which is the primary way to implement change and improvement. • Performance – the output of a system; the fulfillment of goods or services produced • Operational definition of HRD: “HRD is a process of developing and unleashing expertise for the purpose of improving performance.” • Performance improvement = organizational systems, processes, groups, individuals

  17. HRD is an improvement process functioning within the host organization The three theories are presented as a three-legged stool: to provide stability for HRD even through change. The seat represents the fusion into the core theory of HRD. The “ethical rug” serves as a filter. 

  18. Economic Theory Perspectives • Scarce Resource Theory • There are limitations to everything • Sustainable Resource Theory • Much like Scarce Resource Theory, except that if focuses on the long-term effects • Human Capital Theory • “Schooling, training, expenditures on medical care, and lectures are capital in that they improve health, raise earnings, or improve someone’s literature” (Becker, 1993).

  19. Psychological Theory Perspectives • Gestalt Psychology • “We do not see isolated stimuli, but we see stimuli gathered together in meaningful configurations” (p. 106) • Associated words: introspection, meaning, closure, insight, life space, field theory, humanism, introspection, phenomenology, and relational theory • Behavioral Psychology • Concerned with what can be seen, and behavior is what’s studied. • “Individuals respond the only way they can given their capacity, experience, and present forces working on them” (p. 106). • Associated words: readiness, law effect, exercise, frequency, stimulus, response, reinforcement, punishment, programmed learning, and drives. • Cognitive (purposive-behaviorism) Psychology • “Attempts to explain goal-directed behavior and the idea that humans organize their lives around purposes. Integrates theory from Gestalt and Behavior Psychology” (p. 107). • Associated words: drive discriminations, field-cognition modes, cognitive map, learning by analogy, learned helplessness, structuring, information processing, short- and long-term memory, and artificial intelligence.

  20. Systems Theory Component of HRD • General Systems Theory (GST) • “Forces us to talk intelligently about inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback” (p. 108). • HRD must understand how it and other subsystems connect and disconnect from the host organizational system • Chaos Theory • “Given an approximate knowledge of a system’s initial conditions and an understanding of natural law, one can calculate the approximate behavior of the system” (Gleick, 1097, p. 15). • HRD must help its host organizational system retain its purpose and effectiveness given the chaos it faces • Futures Theory • “Future’s theory is critical for sustainable performance in that it prepares one to recognize and cope with an evolving future state” (Chermack, 2005). • HRD must help its host organizational system shape alternative futures

  21. Ethics in HRD • “Ethics is the filter among the three core theories of economics, psychology, and systems within the performance improvement context” (p. 109). • Performance is not the ethical issue; it is what is gained from the performance and how they are distributed.

  22. Summary/Conclusion • Framed the discipline and theory of HRD through definition, model, component theories, and their propositions. • In order for theories to be valid, they must go through rigorous research and building methods. • The journey is continuous

  23. Chapter 6 Component Theories of Human Resource Development

  24. Psychology and the Discipline of Human Resource Development • “Psychology is one of the core theories of HRD” (Passmore, 1997; Swanson, 1994). • Systems in psychology are known as “movements” or “schools” • “Systems or framework theories inspire specific theories that propose specific formal propositions” (p. 115).

  25. Emerging Foundational Theories of Psychology • Individual Growth Perspective • Recognizes the potential that humans have to grow and develop • “Humanistic psychology is still a somewhat loosely formed movement that views humans as self-actualizing, self-directing beings” (p. 117). • Social System of Organizations • Focuses on elements of the social systems, and how they undergo change (Cummings and Worley, 1997). • Do the three core theories provided make an effort to understand the individual within the system?

  26. Limits of Psychology • Issue 1: Domains of Performance • Psychology’s primary focus in the individual rather than the organization as a core area of focus. • HRD can draw from psychology, but must realize that it cannot be used by itself. • Issue 2: Building Capacity for Performance • “At the individual level, psychology pays only limited attention to building future capacity for individual performance” (p. 120). • “At other levels, performance drivers are not an area of focus for psychology” (p. 120).

  27. Economics, Human Capital Theory, and Human Resource Development • Economics • “Allocation of scarce resources among a variety of human wants and needs” (p. 121). • Economics deals with human behavior that cannot be controlled • Human Capital Theory (HCT) • “Branch of economics most applicable to HRD” (p. 122). • General HCT – increases skills and productivity of people by the same amount in the organizations providing the training as it would if they went to work for another organization • Specific HCT – training that increases productivity more in the organizations providing it Relationship 1: Concepts of production functions as applied to education and training Relationship 2: Human capital relationship between learning and increased productivity Relationship 3: Human capital relationships between increased productivity and increased wages and business earnings, and between increased citizenship processes and increased social efficacy

  28. Human Capital Theory and Human Resource Development • Macroeconomic Theory • “Addresses the aggregate performance of an entire economy or economic system (e.g., the European economy or world economy)” (p. 124). • Concerned with fiscal and monetary policy • Supply and Demand • Supply and demand of education and training affects the role of HRD; become crucial to the long-term success of the organization • Elasticity of Demand • “Indicates the degree of responsiveness of the quantity of a product or service demanded by consumers to changes in the market price of the product or service” (p. 125). • How elastic is the demand for education or training when the cost increases? • Opportunity Costs • “The value of opportunities foregone due to participation in a given project or activity” (p. 126). • Agency Theory • “Concerned with reconciling the behavior of self-interested individuals with conflicting goals within a larger organizational context where collaboration among individuals is sought” (p. 126). • Production Functions • “Technical or physical relationships between the inputs and outputs in a value-added process” (p. 126) • Screening Theory of Education • “Suggests that, as opposed to affecting the productivity increases espoused by human capital theory, education serves a screening function in which individuals are ranked by ability, achievement levels, and grading” (p. 127).

  29. Systems Theory as a Foundation for Human Resource Development • Systems Theory – systems and their interdependent relationships • Four fields dominate the discussion in system’s theory: • General Systems Theory • Cybernetics – the science of information, communication, feedback, and control both within the system and between the system and the environment. • Chaos Theory • Complex Additive Systems • Why Systems Theory? • Organizations are systems. HRD serves systems and the people within them. Through Systems Theory, HRD can ensure a holistic understanding of its subject (p. 130).

  30. The Support Provided to HRD by Systems Theory • Information: Knowledge or data about systems • Capabilities: The potential to act • Direction: Guidance for a field’s activities and development

  31. Challenges Posed by Systems Theory as a Foundation for HRD

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