Societal Development Through Human Resource Development

Abstract

The Problem.

Recently, human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners have reported the usefulness and effectiveness of an HRD framework to address emerging problems and issues to bring about meaningful and lasting change for the public good at multiple levels. However, basic expectations inherent in traditional HRD theory and practice that pursue organizational interests often do not fit numerous projects and programs designed for community development, nation building, or international development.

The Solution.

To understand the use of HRD for the purpose of societal development (SD), this article presents typical contextual characteristics of HRD in a community, a nation, and the world, along with the key change agents, such as governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international agencies.

The Stakeholders.

This article is addressed to the many HRD practitioners who work for SD without broader scope of theoretical background by providing principles, concepts, and methods that are currently used or have potential for advancing the practice.

Keywords

societal development national human resource development global human resource development NGOs international development

Human resource development (HRD) is a field of study that, while controversial in definition, typically consists of three main practice domains — organization development (OD), training and development, and career development (McLagan, 1989). Common topics and discussions in the HRD field have traditionally been related to work-related behaviors at the individual, group, or organizational level. However, as the world becomes smaller and more intertwined, HRD has provided a useful and effective framework to address emerging problems and issues that occur beyond a single organization or group of organizations. HRD is already recognized as making national-level efforts to deal with many societal and national issues (Cho & McLean, 2004; McLean & McLean, 2001). In both developing and developed countries, numerous projects and programs designed for community development or nation building have been launched, and HRD in nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), whose primary orientation is for the public good, has become more important in that the methods originating in HRD have been increasingly used in wider contexts, such as community, country, or societal development (SD).

Societal development can be defined and applied in various situations. Compared to social, societal is often used by social scientists when they are referring to the influence of societies, or things arising from the conditions set by society (Brian, 2008). Meanwhile, although development can be viewed from different perspectives, it is critical to acknowledge that there is no linear or universal model of economic and social development (Escobar, 1995). Our view is that development cannot be objectively applied to the diverse local cultures of societies. Given that, the most relevant approach to SD in the current issue is a change process in a societal system’s potential toward a better result, purpose, or end (Escobar, 1995). From this perspective, SD encompasses committed changes in all aspects of society that lead to human well-being.

However, when HRD is used for SD, basic expectations inherent in traditional HRD theory and practice that pursue organizational interests, mainly in organizational settings, often do not fit SD. Mostly, the main target groups are different; rather than a focus on employees HRD in SD settings serves multiple groups who may share no major characteristics in demographics or psychological traits. Even if the target groups are somewhat similar, each group’s composition or characteristics can never be as simple as employees who work within the same organizational identity.

Furthermore, the level and scope of contexts in which HRD interventions are used are not comparable. Typically, the main focus of HRD has been in business and industry organizations or in intraorganizational concerns. The issues that are most frequently addressed are performance improvement, enhancement of productivity, increased learning capacity in organizations, alignment of systems within organizations, effective work groups and their dynamics, or strategic management as seen in track titles in annual Academy of HRD conferences. In contrast, HRD for SD tends to deal with a variety of issues responding to the social reality of complex system surrounding human lives. The examples extend to health and safety, equity and disparity in many social aspects, literacy and education, poverty, human rights and social justice, and governance systems and policy initiatives at community, national, or even global levels (Lynham & Cunningham, 2006). This leads to significant challenges in development of methods for HRD intervention processes and multiple-stakeholder systems in SD settings.

Consequently, alternative training and educational systems to prepare professionals to undertake different interventions are demanding. Even though roles of HRD professionals are neither simple nor complicated, those who are working in SD setting are required to possess additional sets of competencies to function effectively, considering the complexity and uncertainty of work in SD. Many practitioners who are working for SD perform with little theoretical background and thus are likely to leave success to trial and error or follow what they have personally experienced instead of using the broader scope of information that is available in the HRD literature. In this regard, HRD professionals’ capability of accommodating this shift in practice has been questioned, and a need for strengthening academic foundations of HRD has been recognized (Frank & Yeager, 2011). It is obvious that “transdisciplinary competencies and mindsets” (Derry & Fischer, 2005, p. 4) of HRD scholars and practitioners are critical in SD settings.

This Issue of Advances in Developing Human Resources (ADHR) stems from acknowledgement of the lack of an adequate HRD framework in SD settings based on differences in the target group, level and scope of contexts and interventions, and roles and stance of the HRD professionals. We argue that current HRD theory and practice do not adequately address the issues and challenges faced in SD contexts in terms of purpose, scope, methods, or outcomes. Therefore, this Issue examines the practical application of standard HRD approaches to the challenges that exist for SD in various contexts. It has strong potential for advancing theories of HRD in that the assumptions, concepts, and methods used in various practices and cases will ultimately expand existing theoretical constructs of HRD for SD practice.

This article, as an introduction to this Issue, provides background arguments regarding the use of HRD for SD. The primary objective of this article is to present an overview of the emerging trend in HRD for SD to investigate relevant practices and develop those practices into scholarly inquiry. Accordingly, three major themes are discussed: (a) the source of the argument for HRD in SD, (b) the contexts in which this trend is found, and (c) the key change agents. Following this discussion, the structure of the Issue and the articles included are described, along with how each article contributes to the intent and focus of the Issue.

The Origins of Discussion on HRD for SD

Adhering to the definition of SD for this Issue, scholarly exploration of HRD for SD has originated from three perspectives. First, a traditional approach focuses on organizations as the primary context of HRD, highlighting organizations’ roles in and impact on society. For instance, Cornelius et al. (2008) developed a conceptual insight into the importance of human resource management (HRM), applying a triple bottom-line philosophy, which recognizes economic, social, and environmental influences on an organization. In the same vein, Garavan and McGuire (2010) emphasized the positive impact of organizations on society. The growing interest in corporate social responsibility or corporate sustainability in HRD is a good example of this position (Bansal, 2002; Fenwick & Bierema, 2008; Preffer, 2010). Many scholars have viewed organizational responsibilities to go beyond profit toward a broader societal agenda, such as commitment to individuals, ethical behavior, awareness of effective use of limited resources, and economic and social development (Bierema, 1997; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Budhwani, 2004; Colbert & Kurucz, 2007; Hatcher, 2002, 2003; Preuss, Haunschild, & Matten, 2009; Zidan, 2001). The organization’s responsibilities to the broader community and the public good are clearly articulated in HRD research and practice. However, because these contributions possibly conflict with an organization’s interests, solutions that address this dilemma are challenged (Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Garavan & McGuire, 2010; Preffer, 2010; Virakul, Koonmee, & McLean, 2009).

Second, there have been scholarly efforts to rediscover the human factor in HRD. That is, well-being in all life domains of humans in a broader context is being pursued as an ultimate goal of HRD. This perspective often originates from a philosophical discourse of human development as the guiding value of HRD (Kuchinke, 2010). This perspective may come from a holistic approach to HRD that acknowledges the interrelatedness of all global forces that influence HRD practices (Lee, 2007). Various activities in the public sphere that were not actively explored in traditional HRD research and practice until recently, such as improving health and safety, education, social justice, and spirituality, are argued to be worthy of consideration in HRD (Kuchinke, 2010; Pavlish, 2002). From this perspective, relevant activities in not-for-profit organizations or international agencies, including NGOs, are now considered as equally important as workforce issues or profit-and-loss factors (Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004).

Third, HRD for SD is obviously related to the expansion of HRD research and practice. Scholars are increasingly looking beyond the individual organization level. National HRD (NHRD), which refers to the development of a national policy to improve the well-being of its citizenry and is normally devised by governmental departments, has been accepted as one of the frame-breaking developments in HRD, as reflected in a special issue of the journal ADHR regarding NHRD in 2004 (McLean, Osman-Gani, & Cho, 2004). This Issue has spawned numerous articles (McLean et al., 2008; Metcalfe & Rees, 2005; Lynham & Cunningham, 2006) and another issue of ADHR (Lynham, Paprock, & Cunningham, 2006).

HRD operates in a global context as well. Particularly, global HRD (GHRD), from a wider perspective, highlights patterns of uneven economic and social development, revealing visible disparities among countries. According to Metcalfe and Rees (2005), who theorized a higher level of HRD (including national, international, and global HRD), HRD has great potential and strengths to address national and international problems. Redington (2005) also contended that global HRD functions are especially well suited to issues such as human rights or respect for cultural differences.

Scholars who have an interest in NHRD or GHRD have maintained that HRD can expand its application for SD to realize improved standards of living and quality of life. Lynham and Cunningham (2006) suggested problems that should be addressed and that require action in the field of HRD, such as health, equity in gender or access to education, literacy, community development, and so on. On the basis of the findings on imbalance among poor countries between northern and southern hemispheres in health, education, and knowledge, Pavlish (2002) urged HRD scholars and practitioners to connect the role of HRD to improving the overall health of the world’s people. As a result of these two emerging perspectives of HRD, this Issue of ADHR incorporates concepts from both NHRD and GHRD and adds a focus on SD.

The Use of HRD for SD: Various Contexts and Key Change Agents

HRD in the scholarly community is becoming conceptualized beyond its effects on individuals and organizations, and its potential to contribute at the societal level is being explored based on a range of motivations. The various contexts in which HRD is used for SD are discussed in this section.

A Google search of the keywords societal development and human resource development produced hundreds of documents and websites from NGOs and governments. Relevant websites contain direct links to some type of international development committee or agency, which represents high relatedness and interaction among those groups of institutions and people.

Given that HRD is used for SD, it is necessary to review various contexts in which HRD is working to bring about meaningful and lasting changes for the public good at multiple levels. HRD research and practice in the public sphere are reviewed based on literature and project reports to identify typical contextual characteristics, including community, regional, national, and international contexts, along with key change agents, such as governments, NGOs, and international agencies. These contexts and key change agents are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

However, it should be noted that organizations contribute to SD as well and has come to be known as corporate social responsibility (e.g., McWilliams & Siegel, 2001; Meehan, Meehan, & Richards, 2006; Schuler & Jackson, 2006; Virakul et al., 2009). Some organizations are willing to fulfill social responsibilities that lead to global sustainability as addressed in a special issue of ADHR (Vol. 12, No. 5) in 2010. Also, specific institutions, even religious institutions, are known to influence the society by providing HRD intervention to the community (Yamnill, McLean, & Singsuriya, 2008).

Local Community

Problems or issues in a specific community that shares demographic, economic, social, or other characteristics have been addressed using HRD interventions. In this context, local governments or NGOs are often key change agents that initiate changes for community development. Budhwani (2006) reported on how HRD was used for Ismaili community development in Minnesota. HRD was the primary method used in community development processes that served to strengthen the community, including leadership development, career development, literacy training, community building (used for team building and incorporating diversity into the community), and developmental activities for women. Yamnill and McLean (2010) reported results of a case study of an HRD intervention designed to reduce the problem of poverty in a Thai community. Here, a knowledge management intervention facilitated development of local public policy by the government and strengthened the community beyond individual and organizational boundaries. Self-learning and participatory learning that were promoted in the community constituted the key elements of the initiatives. In the case of India, NGOs have been providing a broad nontraditional context for investigating HRD processes and interventions (Razvi & Roth, 2010). Potential to help poor regions to transform to better conditions through diverse HRD strategies has been reported (Jha & Kumar, 2000).

Nation

Numerous social issues in a country have been approached from an NHRD perspective. In such cases, a wide range of problems in each nation has been explored, using many modes of HRD intervention. Although NHRD tends to originate in national interests of employment and preparation for employment issues, manpower planning, or human capital investment in some countries (e.g., Korea, Singapore), the issues and problems that are currently being addressed in NHRD research and practice are more in the public domain, such as poverty, education, social justice, welfare, or health, and they are often promoted by national and local governments (Lynham & Cunningham, 2006). Occasionally, NGOs play critical roles in dealing with such issues, especially in developing countries (Metcalfe & Rees, 2005). Governments and NGOs often attempt to solve local issues in conjunction with international agencies by exchanging information, advice, and resources (Metcalfe & Rees, 2005).

A few authors have reported the application of HRD processes to address social issues for the well-being of a nation’s people. A considerable volume of research studies has explored national context-bounded issues and problems and have been reported in major journals in the field of HRD since 2000. For example, Kuo, Yamnill, and McLean (2008) made pioneering efforts to address the social dilemma of prostitution in Taiwan and Thailand from an NHRD perspective. Johnson, Bartlett, Cunningham, Lynham, and der Marwitz (2010) argued for the necessity of academic dialogue on the role of NHRD in HIV/AIDS NGOs in a South African case study, while Virakul and McLean (2010) made the same argument for Thailand. NGOs have played a pivotal role in social and economic development in many nations and are considered as major stakeholders in NHRD policy formation and implementation (Metcalfe & Rees, 2005).

International Community

HRD has been used extensively to address global concerns. Global concerns that require international cooperation may include environmental threats, crime and social justice, health and safety, poverty, or human rights. At the global level, NGOs, particularly international NGOs, are gaining more power and influence in large-scale change initiatives at various levels (community, nation, or global). In fact, the perceived failure of state-led development approaches due to the slow-turning wheels of government bureaucracy (Lewis, 2001) has led to increasing interest in the roles of NGOs, nationally and internationally (Metcalfe & Rees, 2005).

International development agencies are among the main actors that pursue the well-being of people around the world. These organizations execute a wide range of global projects for the purpose of improving human living conditions. The World Health Organization combats global health issues, the International Labor Organization protects human rights at work, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization promotes literacy and skill development. The tasks and projects with which these organizations deal are mostly multifaceted. Especially large-scale OD approaches include a variety of activities (Budhwani, 2006). Adult leaning within NGOs has also been actively researched in many contexts (Baatjes & Mathe, 2004; Cook, Staniforth, & Stewart, 1997; Edwards, 1997; Ramirez, 1990).

A review of the contexts in which HRD is used for SD reveals that non-western authors are more active in broadening HRD to include social domains (Razvi & Roth, 2010). While western authors tend to focus on “processes, systems, and people within organizations” (Razvi & Roth, 2010, p. 68), non-western authors are more likely to seek remedial interventions to solve practical issues through application of a thought-provoking HRD model applied to newer areas where the public good is pursued instead of corporate capitalism. In this regard, it is imperative to adopt a global perspective to address the use of HRD for SD when portraying conceptual linkages between HRD and SD.

Descriptions and Contributions of Articles on HRD for SD

On the basis of emerging trends and increasing practices in the use of HRD for SD in various contexts, this Issue of ADHR explores the application of standard HRD approaches, which are typically organizational or interorganizational in orientation, to the challenges that exist for SD. This application is, by nature, complex and requires large system change projects. The primary objective of this Issue is to explore how emerging societal issues can be approached using HRD frameworks and to report case studies that have used HRD interventions at various levels and in various contexts. According to Yin (2008) who presented different applications for a case study model, describing the intervention itself is one approach of case study. Most case studies in this Issue used multiple sources of data to explore or explain the use of HRD for SD.

To meet this objective, the contents are structured into two parts: (a) application cases of HRD for SD, and (b) conceptual exploration of the application of HRD for SD. In the first part, authors have provided evidence of such applications through case studies, including Korea, the United States, and many other nations. In the second part, authors conceptually explored social issues, including organizational citizenship, social entrepreneurship, higher education, and human trafficking, with contextual application in India, Bahrain, and China.

The first part of this issue includes three articles that report cases of the use of HRD for SD from a global perspective. First, from a truly global perspective, McLean, Kuo, Budhwani, Yamnill, and Virakul (Article 2) summarized diverse cases in which HRD has been used for SD around the world. The article functions as a guiding article for the following case studies in this issue by illustrating the major contexts and methods used. Budhwani and McLean (Article 3) investigated the role of HRD in developing the Ismaili community in Minnesota, USA and found the use of HRD including training, mentoring or coaching was heavily focused on SD of the community. The case from Korea, reported by Byun and Ryu (Article 4), is a good example of how large-scale OD interventions, which fall into one of major HRD domains, can be used to enhance learning capabilities of a city and how a government initiates and executes such changes.

In the second part of this issue, focused on the conceptual exploration of the use of HRD for SD, Stolz (Article 5) conceptually aligned OD and corporate citizenship. By identifying the areas of overlap, Stolz emphasized corporations’ social responsibilities. Wang (Article 6) adopted an NHRD perspective in dealing with two (India and China) countries’ problems using the concept of social entrepreneurship in concert with HRD. Grittiths and Koukpaki (Article 7) explored the link between knowledge as a social resource and HRD for the purpose of SD. They focused on Bahrain as a lens for reflection on higher education institutions as an interface of societal knowledge creators for application to address societal needs. Mace, Venneberg, and Amell (Article 8) argued for the usefulness of HRD approaches in solving international human trafficking problems. Their exploratory analysis shows that it is possible to integrate the principles and practices of HRD to support a solution to this particular form of international crime. Altogether, these four articles represent potential social issues and topics that are not traditionally considered to be important in the field of HRD but have great possibility for usefulness of HRD to address such social concerns. These authors’ conceptual explorations could result in case studies in the near future, judging from that the previous three examples of case studies in the first part support the argument for the usefulness of an HRD framework for SD.

Based on a review and study of these articles reporting real case studies and conceptual exploration, it is possible for HRD scholars to build a working framework to understand the use of HRD for SD in terms of contexts, key agents, and effective interventions. Although there are still missing pieces in the picture of this phenomenon, these articles contribute to advancing our understanding of how HRD can be, should be, and is used for SD around the world.

Conclusion and Implications for HRD Research and Practice

HRD is still developing, still in the early stages of broadening its horizons as a discipline (Lee, 2001; McLean, 2006). The evidence provided in this Issue encompasses a diverse range of activities that affect the lives of people. The authors have portrayed various HRD activities in the public domain and identified a need to expand existing HRD theoretical constructs for their applications to SD. A traditional HRD approach that describes and interprets the change process in an organization should be moved to a broader framework that describes and interprets the change process at multiple levels and within multiple organizational configurations for the purpose of developing society.

The implications of this ADHR issue are substantial. First, HRD principles, concepts, and methods that are currently used or have potential for advancing the practice of HRD for the purpose of SD are identified to provide knowledge and skills to support practice. These attempts contribute to reshaping the terrain of HRD research and practice as a field of study.

Second, these efforts stress that the HRD profession has a social responsibility. Hatcher’s (2003) statement regarding moral responsibility of the HRD profession to work “beyond short sighted economic gain, behaviorally oriented psychological fulfillment or bounded or limited worldviews” (Hatcher, 2003, p. 53) echoes the necessity of explicit moral and ethical grounding of the HRD profession.

Third, the commitment to HRD for SD inevitably requires frequent, intense interactions among local and federal governments, communities, NGOs, and international development agencies considering various contexts and key change agents. Under these circumstances, HRD needs to learn how to promote cooperative partnerships, networks, and interrelations with diverse fields of disciplines related to SD and knowledge as delivered in this issue can provide valuable insights.

Fourth, the roles and required expertise of HRD professionals who work with a wide range of stakeholders in various social contexts should be examined. To work with these multiple players in a global setting, HRD professionals must understand the global systems and power relations, in addition to traditionally defined qualifications for HRD professionals in terms of technical expertise and knowledge. This situation calls for reexamination of current HRD curricula and programs and development of a transdisciplinary curriculum of HRD (Frank & Yeager, 2011).

Finally, this issue is perhaps the first collected literature in HRD for SD. In addition to providing an overall understanding of use of HRD for SD, it serves as a point of reference for future HRD research and practices, especially for those who have a primary orientation to the public good. Particularly, a variety of perspectives of authors who are experts in HRD, OD, SD, and global organizations enhance the scope of this issue diversely.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Bio

Namhee Kim is a contributing faculty at Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. She has extensive research experience in the field of education and women’s career development in South Korea. She currently serves on the Editorial Board for ADHR. Her research interests include career development, talent development and management, and global HRD. She received her PhD in HRD from the University of Minnesota. Email: namhee7@gmail.com

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