Resource Development (resource + development)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting

Kinds of Resource Development

  • human resource development


  • Selected Abstracts


    Sustaining critically reflective practitioners: competing with the dominant discourse

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2006
    Aileen Corley
    This article argues that discourse analysis can be utilized in conjunction with other forms of analysis to develop a more critical teaching and research agenda for Human Resource Development (HRD); in particular this article suggests that the introduction of a discourse analysis perspective can support and facilitate the development of critically reflective practitioners. The article highlights the tensions inherent within competing definitions of HRD and calls attention to the power of dominant discourse and argues that HRD needs to become more critical, opening up alternative discourses in order to support learning and critically reflective practice. [source]


    Preliminary evidence of efficacy for EMDR resource development and installation in the stabilization phase of treatment of complex posttraumatic stress disorder

    JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 12 2002
    Deborah L. Korn
    This article reviews the complexity of adaptation and symptomatology in adult survivors of childhood neglect and abuse who meet criteria for the proposed diagnosis of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Complex PTSD), also known as Disorders of Extreme Stress, Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS). A specific EMDR protocol, Resource Development and Installation (RDI), is proposed as an effective intervention in the initial stabilization phase of treatment with Complex PTSD/DESNOS. Descriptive psychometric and behavioral outcome measures from two single case studies are presented which appear to support the use of RDI. Suggestions are offered for future treatment outcome research with this challenging population. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 58: 1465,1487, 2002. [source]


    Water Resource Development in the Quaternary Ryukyu Limestone Regions of Japan: Application of the GIS to the Site Selection of Underground Dams

    ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 3 2001
    Kaijun JIANG
    Abstract Based on the natural and social conditions as well as hydrogeological characteristics of the Ryukyu limestone, a major aquifer in the Ryukyu Islands, a conception of underground dam, was proposed in the early 1970s in order to develop ground water resources in the Quaternary Ryukyu limestone regions of Japan. The practice of nearly thirty years has shown that the underground dam is an environment-friendly and effective way for developing ground water in these regions. To further improve the technology associated with underground dam, the authors introduced related analytic methods. The application of the geographical information system technology to site selection of the underground dam is reported in this paper. [source]


    Why bartering biodiversity fails

    CONSERVATION LETTERS, Issue 4 2009
    Susan Walker
    Abstract Regulatory biodiversity trading (or biodiversity "offsets") is increasingly promoted as a way to enable both conservation and development while achieving "no net loss" or even "net gain" in biodiversity, but to date has facilitated development while perpetuating biodiversity loss. Ecologists seeking improved biodiversity outcomes are developing better assessment tools and recommending more rigorous restrictions and enforcement. We explain why such recommendations overlook and cannot correct key causes of failure to protect biodiversity. Viable trading requires simple, measurable, and interchangeable commodities, but the currencies, restrictions, and oversight needed to protect complex, difficult-to-measure, and noninterchangeable resources like biodiversity are costly and intractable. These safeguards compromise trading viability and benefit neither traders nor regulatory officials. Political theory predicts that (1) biodiversity protection interests will fail to counter motivations for officials to resist and relax safeguards to facilitate exchanges and resource development at cost to biodiversity, and (2) trading is more vulnerable than pure administrative mechanisms to institutional dynamics that undermine environmental protection. Delivery of no net loss or net gain through biodiversity trading is thus administratively improbable and technically unrealistic. Their proliferation without credible solutions suggests biodiversity offset programs are successful "symbolic policies," potentially obscuring biodiversity loss and dissipating impetus for action. [source]


    Natural Resources and Regional Development: An Assessment of Dependency and Comparative Advantage Paradigms

    ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2003
    Thomas Gunton
    Abstract: The role of natural resources in regional development is the subject of a debate between dependency theorists, who argue that natural resources impede development, and comparative-advantage theorists, who argue that resources can expedite development. This debate is assessed by a case study analysis of the impact of resource development on a regional economy. The case study uses a model to estimate the comparative advantage of the resource sector. The results show that natural resources have the potential to provide a significant comparative advantage relative to other economic sectors by virtue of generating resource rent, which is a surplus above normal returns to other factors of production. The case study also shows that there are considerable risks in resource-led growth, including the propensity to dissipate rent and increase community instability by building surplus capacity. These risks are amenable to mitigation because they are largely the result of poor management of resource development. The case study demonstrates that the most productive analytical approach for understanding the role of natural resources in the development process is a synthetic approach, which combines the insights of the dependency and comparative-advantage paradigms into a unified framework. It also demonstrates that the concept of resource rent, which has frequently been ignored in development theory, must be reintegrated into the unified framework to improve the understanding of the role of natural resources in the regional development process. [source]


    Effects of Human Capital and Long-Term Human Resources Development and Utilization on Employment Growth of Small-Scale Businesses: A Causal Analysis1

    ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 6 2005
    Andreas Rauch
    The purpose of this study was to explore how three different human resource variables affect employment growth of small-scale enterprises: human capital of business owners, human capital of employees, and human resource development and utilization. The literature suggests different models of how these human resource variables affect business outcomes. Longitudinal data from 119 German business owners provided support for a main effect model indicating that owners' human capital as well as employee human resource development and utilization affect employment growth. Moreover, human resources development and utilization was most effective when the human capital of employees was high. We conclude that human resources are important factors predicting growth of small-scale enterprises. [source]


    TPM,Total Productive Maintenance: Impact on competitiveness and a framework for successful implementation

    HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 4 2001
    K.S. Park
    Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) describes a synergistic relationship among all organizational functions, but particularly between production and maintenance, for continuous improvement of product quality, operational efficiency, capacity assurance, and safety. This article provides the key factors that are critical to the successful implementation of TPM. It is thus crucial to provide and discuss those factors for more effective TPM implementation. Also, this study explores the impact of TPM on the competitiveness of the company. This research concludes that long-term benefits of TPM are the result of considerable investment in human resource development and management. For TPM practitioners, we advise to build a supportive culture and environment with a strong emphasis on human and organizational aspects to promote effective TPM implementation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source]


    Relationships among developmental competency measures and objective work outcomes in a New Zealand retail context

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2010
    Duncan J. R. Jackson
    Competencies represent an important and popular topic in human resource development. Despite this popularity, a divide exists between practitioner approaches to developmental competency measures and the empirical scrutiny of such approaches. However, the scarce empirical studies on competency measures have begun to bridge this gap. In the present study, behavioral competency ratings and objective outcome measures were collected from 118 entry-level employees in a retail organization in New Zealand. A correlational design was applied to data in this study and, with the use of canonical correlation analyses, meaningful relationships were observed among competency measures and objective work outcomes. Such relationships are presented as being practically useful when making decisions about weighting certain competencies over others for developmental purposes. [source]


    The development and resulting performance impact of positive psychological capital

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2010
    Fred Luthans
    Recently, theory and research have supported psychological capital (PsyCap) as an emerging core construct linked to positive outcomes at the individual and organizational level. However, to date, little attention has been given to PsyCap development through training interventions; nor have there been attempts to determine empirically if such PsyCap development has a causal impact on participants' performance. To fill these gaps we first conducted a pilot test of the PsyCap intervention (PCI) model with a randomized control group design. Next, we conducted a follow-up study with a cross section of practicing managers to determine if following the training guidelines of the PCI caused the participants' performance to improve. Results provide beginning empirical evidence that short training interventions such as PCI not only may be used to develop participants' psychological capital, but can also lead to an improvement in their on-the-job performance. The implications these findings have for human resource development and performance management conclude the article. [source]


    Developing an OD-intervention metric system with the use of applied theory-building methodology: A work/life-intervention example

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2009
    Michael Lane Morris
    This article presents a new model, generated through applied theory-building research methods, that helps human resource development (HRD) practitioners evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of organization development (OD) interventions. This model, called organization development human-capital accounting system (ODHCAS), identifies return-on-investment measures for each of the elements of the human-capital employment life cycle that are impacted by OD interventions. We illustrate an application of the new model by using work/life (w/l) interventions as a test of the model. The contribution of this new model is fourfold: 1.It fills a gap in the literature by suggesting a holistic ROI framework for typically nonfinancial OD-type interventions. 2.It is generated from an accepted applied theory-building methodology. 3.It offers decision makers methods to develop "hard" evidence on which to evaluate w/l interventions. 4.It has the future potential to be expanded and used to evaluate the ROI for multiple types of OD interventions. [source]


    A study of best practices in training transfer and proposed model of transfer

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2008
    Lisa A. Burke
    Data were gathered from a sample of training professionals of an American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) chapter in the southern United States regarding best practices for supporting training transfer. Content analysis techniques, based on a rigorous methodology proposed by Insch, Moore, & Murphy (1997), were used to analyze the rich data. Findings suggest that interventions for bolstering training transfer are best carried out in the work context and design and delivery phase, take place after training or during, and involve trainers and supervisors. Activities garnering top attention from trainers as best practices include (starting with most frequently reported) supervisory support activities, coaching, opportunities to perform, interactive training activities, transfer measurement, and job-relevant training. Several new transfer variables also emerged from the data, indicating existing transfer models can be further refined. Ultimately, we propose a refined model of transfer to extend human resource development (HRD) theory in the area of transfer. [source]


    An examination of organizations' frontline service employee development practices

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2007
    Alexander E. Ellinger
    Firms with the ability to provide superior customer service can accrue significant competitive advantage and research suggests that frontline service employees' (FLSEs) actions have a considerable influence on the success of service operations. Yet, the high level of customer defections consistently attributed to poor and indifferent service suggests that many organizations are not placing sufficient emphasis on developing FLSEs to interact more effectively with customers. Although it is generally believed that human resource development enhances employee performance, relatively little is known about firms' approaches for developing and motivating FLSEs. We therefore examine the influence of service provider organizations' developmental practices on FLSE performance using data collected from 307 customer contact personnel. Our findings indicate that, in contrast to conventional wisdom, higher levels of employee development may not always yield the most beneficial outcomes. [source]


    An alternative approach to conceptualizing interviews in HRD research

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2007
    Jia Wang
    Qualitative researchers in human resource development (HRD) frequently use in-depth interviews as a research method. Yet reports from qualitative studies in HRD commonly pay little or no analytical attention to the co-construction of interview data. That is, reports of qualitative research projects often treat interviews as a transparent method of data collection, with the contents of answers to interview questions as data that mirror people's views and experiences of a "world out there." In this article, we demonstrate how an ethnomethodological approach to the reanalysis of interview data drawn from a qualitative study in HRD treats the research interview as a socially situated setting in which narrative data are co-constructed by speakers. From this perspective, it is possible to see how speakers produce unstable category descriptions and morally laden portrayals in order to support their claims. We argue that this type of analysis is useful for three reasons: (1) it provides a way to investigate instances in which interview accounts may prove analytically problematic; (2) it makes evident how interview data are produced by illuminating the conversational resources used by both researcher and participant to co-construct descriptions; and (3) it provides a new analytical approach for HRD researchers, who have until now relied primarily on thematic representations of findings derived from inductive analyses of interview data. By using this approach to analyze or reanalyze interview data, researchers may gain further insight into the research topic and the interaction that produced the interview data in a particular socially situated setting. This approach reveals the practical reasoning, identities, and moral assumptions demonstrated in talk by speakers. Such analysis, we argue, assists in HRD theory building in that it contributes to complex interpretations of data that respond to new and different questions, including methodological questions. [source]


    Understanding the conceptual development phase of applied theory-building research: A grounded approach

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2007
    Julia Storberg-Walker
    This article presents a provisional grounded theory of conceptual development for applied theory-building research. The theory described here extends the understanding of the components of conceptual development and provides generalized relations among the components. The conceptual development phase of theory-building research has been widely debated and discussed in a variety of disciplines, most notably in sociology and management theory. The breadth and number of these contributions makes it difficult for many human resource development (HRD) theorists to select the most appropriate process or framework to follow, and guidelines or a framework are needed to further the development of HRD theory. This grounded study contributes toward that gap. The study found that a five-component framework of conceptual development emerged from creating an HRD theory on human capital transformation. [source]


    Survey ranking of job competencies by perceived employee importance: Comparing China's three regions

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2006
    Jin Xiao
    The acquisition of skills that match job requirements has become an issue in human resource development. A uniform but vague list of desirable skills often provided by policymakers or advocated by scholars is used as a guide in education and training programs in China. Using survey data, this study analyzes the core skills that workforces in China consider to be important in carrying out job routines in different jobs, different industries, and different geographical regions. This study surveyed 25,933 employees from 397 randomly sampled firms of four counties in each of the East, Central, and West regions of China. Twenty kinds of job skills were deduced from interviews conducted in the field. Five categories of skills were identified by the employees: dispositional characteristics, technical know-how skills, job basics, problem solving, and communication. Using a hierarchical model, the analysis is focused on whether employees in different occupations ( for example, managerial, professional, salesperson, frontline workers) had different perceptions of required job skills. The results show both differences related to occupation and work experience and similarities in perceived job competencies among industries and across three regions. [source]


    Comparing the effects of determinants of turnover intentions between Taiwanese and U.S. hospital employees

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2006
    Cherng G. Ding
    This research assesses how the direct effects of career satisfaction and job satisfaction on turnover intentions and the indirect effects through organizational commitment differ between Taiwanese and U.S. hospital employees. Using data collected from 179 Taiwanese and 144 U.S. hospital employees, the test results find the following differences: the direct effect of job satisfaction on turnover intentions is negative and significant for Taiwanese hospital employees but not for U.S. hospital employees; the indirect effect of job satisfaction on turnover intentions through organizational commitment is stronger for Taiwanese hospital employees than for U.S. hospital employees; and the negative direct effect of career satisfaction on turnover intentions and the indirect effect through organizational commitment are stronger for U.S. hospital employees than for Taiwanese hospital employees. Finally, the managerial implications for human resource development are discussed. [source]


    Making subjective judgments in quantitative studies: The importance of using effect sizes and confidence intervals

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2006
    Jamie L. Callahan
    At least twenty-three journals in the social sciences purportedly require authors to report effect sizes and, to a much lesser extent, confidence intervals; yet these requirements are rarely clear in the information for contributors. This article reviews some of the literature criticizing the exclusive use of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) and briefly highlights the state of NHST reporting in social science journals, including Human Resource Development Quarterly. Included are an overview of effect sizes and confidence intervals,their definitions, a brief historical review, and an argument regarding their importance. The article concludes with recommendations for changing the culture of quantitative research within human resource development (HRD) to more systematically reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals as supplements to NHST findings. [source]


    Determining the relationship between drivers' level of education, training, working conditions, and job performance in Kenya

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2003
    Fredrick Muyia Nafukho
    One major issue in human resource development (HRD) is to determine factors that predict the performance of employees. The primary purpose of this study was to determine how level of education, training, and the working conditions of matatu (public service vehicle) drivers determined their job performance in terms of reduced road traffic accidents. Proportionate and simple random sampling techniques were employed to select 143 drivers who completed and returned the questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses stated. The findings indicate that the variables of driver experience and hours worked had a significant relationship with the dependent variable rates of traffic accidents per driver as hypothesized. The variables of education level, training, salary earned, and average speed traveled did not have a significant relationship with the dependent variable. [source]


    The effects of alternative reports of human resource development results on managerial support

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2003
    Brent W. Mattson
    Managerial responses to human resource development (HRD) results evaluation reports were experimentally investigated as a function of (1) how evaluation information was presented and (2) reported HRD program impact levels. Managers (n = 233) read a business scenario in which they were asked to make a decision about whether to implement a development program. They were then exposed to one of nine experimental treatment conditions (evaluation report type × reported program impact level). The report types included utility analysis, critical outcome technique, and anecdotal evaluation reports. Results were varied at three impact levels (low, average, and high). Findings of the study showed that managers perceived utility analysis and critical outcome technique reports as almost equally useful in decision making; however, the anecdotal evaluation report was found to be significantly less useful than either of the other two report types. There was no effect of the reported program impact level on the perceived usefulness of the evaluation reports for decision making. Furthermore, there was no interaction between report type and impact level on the perceived usefulness of the reports for decision making. These findings show that managers prefer information about the financial results of HRD interventions to anecdotal information, regardless of the reported level of impact. [source]


    Invited reaction: The effects of alternative reports of human resource development results on managerial support

    HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2003
    Wayne F. Cascio
    Mattson's article is an important contribution to the literature in HRD and program evaluation for a variety of reasons. It addresses an area that sorely needs rigorous research, it uses a theory-based model that is relevant to managers' evaluations of HRD programs, it provides valuable insights on how best to present HRD evaluation results to managers, and it demonstrates that HRD program evaluations that are expressed in terms of results do influence the decisions of operating managers. The ongoing challenge will be to articulate linkages between HRD programs, employees' behavior, and outcomes that are important to managers. Doing so will lead to even greater impact on managers' decisions about the future uses of HRD interventions. [source]


    The making of twenty-first-century HR: An analysis of the convergence of HRM, HRD, and OD

    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004
    Wendy E. A. Ruona
    Twenty-first-century HR is emerging to uniquely combine activities and processes of human resource management (HRM), human resource development (HRD), and organization development (OD),three fields that "grew up" distinct from each other. Contributing strategically to organizations demands that HRM, HRD, and OD coordinate, partner, and think innovatively about how they relate and how what they do impacts people and organizations. An analysis of the evolutions of these fields helps to explain why the distinctions between them continue to blur and how the similarities among them provide the necessary synergy for HR to be a truly valued organizational partner. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


    Employee perceptions and their influence on training effectiveness

    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2003
    Amalia Santos
    Studies of the benefits of human resource development (HRD) for organisations have assumed a direct connection between training strategy and a hierarchy of performance outcomes: learning, behavioural change and performance improvement. The influence of workplace practices and employees' experiences on training effectiveness has received little attention. This study investigates evaluation strategies designed to elicit greater training effectiveness, and explores the influence of trainees' perceptions and work environment factors on this. Drawing on detailed case study findings, the authors highlight the importance of management practices, trainees' perceptions of the work environment and systems of reward in explaining behaviour change after training. [source]


    Small firms and internationalisation: learning to manage and managing to learn

    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 3 2002
    Valerie Anderson
    Small firms contribute significantly to the UK economy, but most research into learning and work features the experience of large organisations. This article focuses on learning and work in small organisations. An interpretive framework relating to organisational learning is derived from the literature. Data on learning in small firms that internationalise are analysed to assess the extent to which models of organisational learning are applicable to the context and challenges they face. The article suggests that the large firm model of learning is inappropriate; the distinctive culture and communication systems of small organisations require different approaches to the acquisition, transmission and interpretation of knowledge. Tacit knowledge, developed through informal learning, is a priority and learning through local business networks is more important than participation in formal programmes. Advocacy of human resource development (HRD) practices based on conventional theories of organisational learning, therefore, may hinder rather than encourage performance in small organisations. [source]


    Company-based education programmes: what's the pay-off for employers?

    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 4 2001
    Graeme Martin
    This article addresses the question of whether company-based programmes of education repay employer investment in terms of learning transfer to the workplace. Building on earlier work by the authors, we use an in-depth longitudinal case study of a long-standing programme of continuous education sponsored by the US-based NCR corporation in Scotland. As educators, we expected to find that the programme would have been associated with positive outcomes, based on the belief that 'embrained' or formal, abstract knowledge can be transferred to the workplace. We were aware, however, that research in this area has not been promising in demonstrating learning transfer, in part because such a process is mediated by the quality of the transfer climate. Drawing on survey data and in-depth interviewing of a sample cohort, we found that the programme of company-based education had significant implications for learning transfer. Surprisingly, however, transfer climate had little influence on the willingness of employees to use their knowledge to make improvements or generate innovations at work. Finally, we found that these data supported situated learning theory, stressing the importance of tacit knowledge, informal learning, the communal nature of workplace learning and the difficulties in evaluating learning transfer. We believe that these results have important implications for the literature on the evaluation of HRD interventions, for human resource development (HRD) specialists interested in developing programmes of so-called lifelong learning and for practitioners working in the area of organisational learning and learning organisations. [source]


    HRD in multinationals: the global/local mix

    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001
    Olga Tregaskis
    This article is concerned with how MNCs (multinational corporations) differ from indigenous organisations in relation to their human resource development (HRD) practices, and whether this relationship changes across countries. We question whether local isomorphism is apparent in the HRD practices of MNCs, or whether MNCs share more in common with their counterparts in other countries. A series of hypotheses are put forward and tested, using survey data from 424 multinational and 259 indigenous organisations based in the UK and Ireland. The results suggest a hybrid form of localisation, where MNCs adapt their practices to accommodate national differences, but that these adaptations do not reflect convergence to domestic practice. The results also indicate that MNCs are selective in the HRD practices that are adapted. Evidence from this study indicates that country differences in career traditions and labour market skill needs are key drivers in the localisation of associated HRD practice. In contrast, MNCs, irrespective of national context, adopt comparable systematic training frameworks, ie training-need identification, evaluation and delivery. [source]


    The management of managers: A review and conceptual framework

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 2 2007
    Peter Boxall
    The management of managers is an important contemporary concern, but the literature on the issue is not well integrated. This paper reviews key sources on the topic across organizational economics, human resource development and strategic human resource management. It presents a novel interdisciplinary framework for analysing how firms manage senior managers and for guiding future research, arguing that firms adopt different styles to attract,defend, develop,renew and motivate,harvest their senior managerial resource, depending on their contexts and choices that are made in the firm over time. The notion that some styles draw on early identification of élites while others treat management identification as more of an emergent problem is central to the typology. Within each of the styles identified, effectiveness in the management of managers hinges on recognizing and handling certain strategic tensions and problems. [source]


    Different routes, common directions?

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 3 2004
    Activation policies for young people in Denmark, the UK
    This article analyses and compares the development of activation policies for young people in Denmark and the UK from the mid-1990s. Despite their diverse welfare traditions and important differences in the organisation and delivery of benefits and services for the unemployed, both countries have recently introduced large-scale compulsory activation programmes for young people. These programmes share a number of common features, especially a combination of strong compulsion and an apparently contradictory emphasis on client-centred training and support for participants. The suggested transition from the ,Keynesian welfare state' to the ,Schumpeterian workfare regime' is used as a framework to discuss the two countries' recent moves towards activation. It is argued that while this framework is useful in explaining the general shift towards active labour-market policies in Europe, it alone cannot account for the particular convergence of the Danish and British policies in the specific area of youth activation. Rather, a number of specific political factors explaining the development of policies in the mid-1990s are suggested. The article concludes that concerns about mass youth unemployment, the influence of the ,dependency culture' debate in various forms, cross-national policy diffusion and, crucially, the progressive re-engineering of compulsory activation by strong centre-left governments have all contributed to the emergence of policies that mix compulsion and a commitment to the centrality of work with a ,client-centred approach' that seeks to balance more effective job seeking with human resource development. However, attempts to combine the apparently contradictory concepts of ,client-centredness' and compulsion are likely to prove politically fragile, and both countries risk lurching towards an increasingly workfarist approach. [source]


    Dynamics of food-assisted development strategies in Bangladesh

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2002
    C. A. F. Dowlah
    This paper examines the dynamics of food-assisted development strategies in Bangladesh focusing on the ultra-poor women and children. The magnitude of poverty and malnutrition has been examined to determine how chronic food insecurity and malnutrition deter the ultra-poor from taking active part in the mainstream development programmes in Bangladesh. Forces and factors that led to policy and programme shifts over the years, including the imperatives of national development experience, World Food Summit 1996 and the Enabling Development Approach of World Food Program, have been scrutinised in order to suggest strategies for directing food assistance more intensely towards community and human resource development, instead of physical or infrastructure development, as done in the past benefiting more the non-poor than the poor. [source]


    Human resource development in remote island communities: an evaluation of tour-guide training in Vanuatu

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002
    Rosemary Black
    Abstract About 30% of visitors to Vanuatu visit the outer islands, where ecotourism has recently emerged as a small-scale but significant activity. In the face of increasing competition from comparable Asia,Pacific destinations, there has been pressure on tourism operators and the Vanuatu Government to improve product quality through mechanisms such as the development of high-quality tours. One way to enhance product quality is through the provision of appropriate professional training for tourism sector employees, including local tour guides. The paper outlines a tour-guide training programme delivered on the outer islands, which received financial assistance from several foreign aid agencies. The programme is an instructive example of an attempt to implement a human resource strategy in a developing country arising from the recommendations of a national tourism masterplan that sought the active involvement of international funding agencies in the implementation phase. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of the training programme and outlines the challenges of programme delivery. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Critically challenging some assumptions in HRD

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2006
    David O'Donnell
    This paper sets out to critically challenge five interrelated assumptions prominent in the (human resource development) HRD literature. These relate to: the exploitation of labour in enhancing shareholder value; the view that employees are co-contributors to and co-recipients of HRD benefits; the distinction between HRD and human resource management; the relationship between HRD and unitarism; and the relationship between HRD and organizational and learning cultures. From a critical modernist perspective, it is argued that these can only be adequately addressed by taking a point of departure from the particular state of the capital,labour relation in time, place and space. HRD, of its nature, exists in a continuous state of dialectical tension between capital and labour , and there is much that critical scholarship has yet to do in informing practitioners about how they might manage and cope with such tension. [source]