There is increasing interest in the intersection of education and training through societal development in the developing world, a concept linked to national human resource development (NHRD). In addition, education and training is known to correlate strongly with employment outcomes that are connected to economic success, health and family…

This paper will attempt to define a philosophy of adult education for the purpose of workforce development in Southern Africa. The different influences such as Ubuntu and communalism, indigenous education, diversity western philosophy, globalization and technology are explored in the context of the Southern African region.

Anderson (1980) and Harris's (2000) examinations of the history of workplace learning and training in the United States highlight issues of power and control in the determination of what training is provided to workers. This paper reviews these two texts and considers the implications of a constructivist paradigm in addressing the dilemmas of…

In 2007 Ghana celebrated 50 years of independence from British colonial rule. The golden jubilee offered an opportunity to take stock of how the country had progressed in expanding education and the challenges for the future. This paper offers a critique of the journey, highlighting the challenges and progress. What reforms in education has taught…

Critical approaches to HRD do not focus solely on improving organizational performance; instead, they address previously undiscussable issues such as power, politics, class, sexism, racism, and heterosexism. Since critical HRD often seeks to raise problems instead of solve them immediately, it is sometimes criticized for being elitist and detached…

The field of Human Resource Development has initially evolved and executed practice around a behaviorist business approach which has become inadequate and inefficient in addressing the multilevel challenges of today's complex organizations and meeting the needs of a new workforce that is increasingly becoming diverse. However, this trend is now…

As HRD scholars and professionals have become involved in international activities, there have been growing concerns as to whether the instructional programs they provide to help people in other countries are as effective as they should be. The focus of the session is issues in international and intercultural learning, based on models from culture…

This paper examines the debates and critiques surrounding HRD by uncloaking myths about HRD philosophy and practice that seem to commonly held by professionals in the field of Adult Education. We argue that the HRD field is "marginalized" in adult education and reflect on both the problems this situation creates and the increasing need to bridge…

This article fills a gap by identifying an under-studied area for learning participation (LP) in HRD theory building. A literature review is presented to identify gaps in adult education and HRD literature. An HRD LP framework is then proposed, from cross-sectional/time-series perspectives, to describe the pattern, factors, structure, and the…

The growth of technology has influenced human resource development (HRD) practitioners to embrace technology for both training and non-training interventions. This study examined technology-related articles in Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) publications in order to understand what these articles address and the future needs of…

The role of social setting in adult IT literacy has not been a topic of research in much of the current literature. The purpose of this proposed study is to compare and contrast the extent to which social setting influence adult IT literacy. Participants will receive IT literacy training at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR)…

HRD can have a humanistic impact on organizations through influence on the values embedded in the organization culture. One approach is through work-life policies and programs, which have become synonymous with humane, employee-friendly organizations. This paper will address the elements of a humane organizational culture, based on research of the…

This is one of six innovative sessions organized by the AHRD Scholar-Practitioner Committee. It examines how research and theory can be applied to inform common practitioner questions on evaluation. By examining use of research and theory to inform evaluation practice, session attendees will consider how to improve their own evaluations and link…

Recent research focusing on Human Resource Development (HRD) in East Asia is attracting increasing attention. The purpose of the study is to explore the definition and practice of HRD, together with influencing cultural factors, in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan. The results indicate a difference in the definition and implementation of HRD…

This study offers empirical evidence in HRD e-learning completion. Based on the Learning Participation Theory (LPT) (Wang & Wang, 2004), a study was conducted with U.S. corporate e-learners to explore the determinants of e-learning completion. The results generally confirmed the hypothesis by the LPT that individual, learning process, and…