TOPIC.

7 Strategic Human
Resource Development
Learning outcome………
 Develop and discuss a continuum of strategic
maturity upon which different approaches to HRD
can be located.
 Identify and explain the major features of strategic
human resource development (SHRD) and organise
these into a conceptual framework.
 Analyse how systematic approaches to HRD can be
accommodated in conceptual frameworks of SHRD.
 Analyse the significance of the learning organisation
and knowledge management to SHRD.
Introduction
 Traditionally Training and Development was to fill capacity gap
in an employee.
 The Term Training and Development has been replaced by
Human Resource Development (HRD).
 Strategic Human Resource Development represents the latest
extension of training and development lineage where training
and learning are strategically integrated, vertically to an
organisation’s strategic goals and horizontally to other HR
activities.
 Most investment in HRD is a waste
of Money!
 HRD as a source of Competitive Advantage.
 HRD is seen as an investment and not a
cost in Strategic HRM.
 Learning organisations and Knowledge
Management .
Bottom-line benefits of SHRD – a case of business
turnaround at Hindle Power

 Hindle Power faced the threat of losing its major contract,

representing 75 percent of its income, if it did not improve
its customer services significantly. It responded by
investing heavily in HRD in order to survive and built a
platform for future growth.
 The pursuit of investing in people was used as a catalyst
for business planning and improvement with emphasis on
improving communication between line managers and
their staff.
 -Career planning was aligned to a new system of
performance appraisal and led to the internal promotion
of over 25 percent of staff.
 -A training budget was established for the first time and was
sufficient to support up to 26 days per annum for every
employee.
 -HRD intervention focused on business management and IT
skills. Induction, customer care and in conjunction with
suppliers, product awareness.
 -Non-work related HRD was also supported as an adjunct to
career planning because it was recognised that learning
derived would results in unplanned organisational benefits.
 Over four year period, a loss making company with a turnover
of $6 million was back in profit with a turnover of $15 million
and a transformation in its organisational culture.
Definition of the HRD/SHRD and
Key Theme
 ‘Human Resource Development encompasses
activities and processes which are intended to
have an impact on organisational and individual
learning. The term assumes that organisations
can be constructively conceived as of learning
entities, and that the learning processes of both
organisations and individuals are capable of
influence and direction through deliberate and
planned intervention. Thus, HRD is constituted by
planned interventions in organisational and
individual learning processes.’ ( Stewart and
McGoldrick, 1999:1)
 ‘A strategic approach to training and development
can be depicted as one where all those involved
are engaged in a connected, explicit and
developmental purpose which helps to
simultaneously fulfil and individual’s learning
goals and the organisational mission’ ( Mabey et
al. 1998:158)
 ‘SHRD could thus be defined as the creation of learning
culture, within which a range of training, development and
learning strategies both respond to corporate strategy
and also helps to shape and influence it. It is about
meeting the organisation’s existing needs, but it is also
about helping the organisation to change and develop, to
thrive and grow. It is the reciprocal, mutually enhancing,
nature of relationship between HRD and corporate
strategy which lies at the heart of SHRD and at the heart
of the development of a learning culture’ ( McCracken and
Wallace, 2000:288)
 ‘Strategic HRD may be considered as a range of
culturally sensitive interventions linked vertically
to business goals and strategy, and horizontally
to other business activities, to actively encourage
and support employee learning, commitment and
involvement throughout the organisation’ (Myers
and Kirk,2005:359)
Key Themes of SHRD
 Vertical integration- downstream where
vertical strategic relationship where HRD
interventions are designed to support the
achievement of an organisations mission and
its explicit strategic objectives.
 Two way , mutually supporting relationships
that exist when HR strategy also upstream of
business strategy.
 Another dominant theme arising from the
above definition is a focus on learning at the
level of the individual / organisation.
Characteristics of SHRD
 GARAVAN’S CHARCTERISTICS OF SHRD
 1. Integration with organisational mission and goals.
 2. Top management support.
 [Link] scanning.
 [Link] Plans and Policies.
 5. Line manager commitment and involvement.
 6. Existence of complementary HRM activities.
 7. Expand trainer role.
 8. Recognition of culture.
 [Link] on evaluation.
 HRD is characterised as being quite mature in-terms of
strategic integration. Down stream supporting role.
 Training at the end of the continuum reflects more a situation
where its interventions are viewed as remedial and a designed
to make good employee deficiencies, or fixing problems once
they have arisen, in order to increase organisational efficiency.
TRAINING HRD SHRD
Organisation not very Organisation quite Organisation very
strategically mature in strategically nature in HRD strategically mature in
HRD terms terms HRD terms

Little or no integration of Integration of HRD with Two-way strategic

HRD with organisational organisational mission and integration where HRD
mission and strategic strategic objectives in a also helps to shape
objectives downstream relationship organisational mission and
strategic objectives

Figure 1.0 Shows a Continuum of HRD strategic maturity

 TRAINING SHRD

TIME
Audit of employees skills, competences
and potential

Planning and investment in new Planning for new technology and analysis
technology of training needs to support its introduction

Investment in technology plus training,

including from supplier/ manufacture

Introduction of new technology Introduction of new technology

Lack of know- how and skills leads to

problems with technology

Analysis of training needs

Training of Employees Evaluation of training intervention

Organisational training
Systematic Training approaches to
SHRD
 Traditional, systematic approaches to
training.
 ( 1 ) Identification of HRD Needs
 ( 2 ) Planning and Designing HRD interventions to
meet identified needs
 ( 3 ) Implementing the planned HRD interventions,
and
 ( 4 ) Evaluating the outcomes of these
intervention
 Identify HRD
needs

Evaluate HRD Plans and design

outcome HRD interventions

Implement HRD
interventions

Figure 1. 2 Shows the Systematic Training Approaches to SHRD

 Analysing company
HRD requirements to
meet organisational
needs

Preparation and
Controlling HRD implementation of
HRD interventions

Securing success :
Know –how transfer
within the workplace

Figure 1. 3 A Strategically – oriented cycles of HRD activities

Figure 1.4 Employee learning and development as a strategic process
Source: Adapted from Harrison (1993a: 326)
A revised continuum of HRD
strategic maturity
 Level of strategic maturity in HRD
practices
 -No systematic training where employee development is
likely to be and at times accidental.
 -Training integrated with operational management as part
of planned structures for skills and career development.
 -Training as a vehicle for implementing corporate strategy
and achieving change in downstream, supporting role.
 -Training and learning as a vehicle for shaping strategy
through two-way strategic integration
 -Training and Learning as a process through which strategy is
formulated.
 -Learning and Development processes are strategically
directed to building and enhancing the organisation’s core
competences as the source of competitive advantages.
Figure 1.5 Revised continuum of HRD strategic maturity
Defining Characteristics of SHRD
 ( A ) Strategic Integration
 -The importance of two-way strategic integration where
SHRD both supports the achievement of organisational
strategies in a downstream relationship and can act to
help shape strategic formulation in an upstream
relationship
 -The role of SHRD in supporting (and being supported by)
other SHRM activities and strategies in a mutually re-
enforcing coherent packages.
 - The contribution of SHRD to strategic change through its
emphasis on and exploitation of a learning culture.
 ( B ) Centrality of a learning
Culture.
 -Learning occurs at the individual, work group and
organisational level. A key focus on SHRD is the creation
of a learning environment and structural design, which
promotes learning and development for performance
improvement and competitiveness. This positions learning
as an organisational capability such that those
organisation that are able to learn more quickly than their
rivals secure significant competitive advantages.
 ( C ) Multi-stakeholder perspective.
 -Focus organisational needs, senior management leadership
and strategic partnership between line mangers committed to
HRD and HRD specialist.
Learning Organisation
 A learning organization is the term given to
a company that facilitates the learning of its
members and continuously transforms
itself. Learning organizations develop as a
result of the pressures facing modern
organizations and enables them to remain
competitive in the business environment.
Organisation learning and the
learning organisation
 Organisational Learning. ( The process of
learning)
 -Focuses on learning that results in behavioural
changes among employees, either individually or
work groups.
 -Concentrates on how individual learns. Seeks to
analyse the process involved in individual or
collective learning in order to better understand
how it can contribute to formalised HRD
 -Concerned with knowledge development in order
to gain new insights that have the potential to
influence the future behaviour of employees
 -Viewed as a means to an end where behavioural
changes is directed at supporting the achievement of
organisational goals.
 The learning organisation (The process of
learning to learn)
 -Focus on learning that results in changing the
behaviours of the organisation itself as it
anticipates or responds proactively to changes in
its operational environment.
 -Concentrates on learning how to learn. Seeks to
explore methods for improving the learning
process in a continual quest to improve the ability
of the organisation to learn.
 -Concerned with enabling employees learning to
generate positively valued outcomes such as
innovation, managing change and development of
core competences
 -Viewed as an end in itself where the development of
a learning organisation can become a strategic goal
of the organisation.
 Characteristics features of the learning
organisation.
 -Learning can be derived from all experiences-
accidental and deliberate/successes and failures-
and used to shape future behaviours.
 -Learning is valuable in its own right and learning
how to learn is a critical part of the process.
 -Learning from both the external and internal
environment takes places at all levels of the
organisation and therefore there is a premium on
sharing knowledge across organisational
boundaries.
 -Learning is a continuous process and its most
powerful when it becomes habitual and
internalised.
 -Unlearning and the reconstruction and adaptation
of an organisations knowledge base is a key
managerial task.
 -Learning is used intentionally as an enabling
mechanism for organisational transformation
 -Conscious organisational initiatives are
necessary to translate learning, from whatever
force into a strategic forces.
 -An underpinning organisational philosophy, culture
and supportive structure are necessary to create a
right environment for experimental learning and its
operational application.
 -It embraces a multi-stakeholder approach with a
reduce emphasis on formal HRD interventions and
greater emphasis on employee accepting
responsibility for their own learning and managers
actively facilitating the process of learning.
Knowledge Management
 Knowledge management (KM) is the process of
capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using
organizational knowledge. It refers to a multi-
disciplined approach to achieving organisational
objectives by making the best use of knowledge.
 More recently the focus on the approaches to
HRD has moved on from learning organisation to
knowledge management. This shift has been
attributed to moves in developed economies away
from low tech, labour intensive industries reliant
on relatively low skill base to high-tech industries
reliant on knowledge workers. The argument runs
that because such workers are in relatively short
supply they have become identified as the key
source of sustainable competitive advantages
consistent with the idea of core competencies and
the resources based view of the firm.
 Given this rationale, it is not surprising that senior
management may increasingly look towards HRD to
build and help translate the knowledge and skills of
its employees –the organisations human capital –into
intellectual capital to the benefit of the organisation.
 Interest in knowledge management would therefore
appear to predicated on at least two recent interrelated
development, the advent of knowledge economy, and
the focus on knowledge as the route to competitive
advantages.
 Whereas in traditional economies added value is
achieved through optimising the utilisation of classical
factors of production (capital, labour, material) in the
knowledge economy added value is achieved through
developing and utilising existing and new knowledge to
enhances organisation efficiency, effectiveness and
innovation.
 Where intangible, knowledge based assets become the
most important currency in knowledge economy there
is a premium on developing HRD processes
strategically to capitalise on these assets.
 ‘People at all levels have accumulated knowledge
about what customers want, about how best to design
products and processes about what has worked in the
past and what hasn’t. A company that can collect all
that knowledge and share it between employees will
have a huge advantage over an organisation that never
discover what its people know.’ ( Skapinker, 2002:1)
 Facets of Knowledge's Management.
 (a) The first concerns the means of
capturing, storing, retrieving and
disseminating information. This is through
information system perspective.
 (b) The second strand concerns the
development of a learning culture as a
facilitator of knowledge management.
From this perspective learning is seen as a
subset of knowledge management.
 ( c ) The third strand focuses on the strategic
perspective with emphasis on intellectual capital.
A firms competitive advantage depends more
than anything on its knowledge, or, to be slightly
more specific , on what it knows, and how fast it
can know something new’.
 Human Capital refers to knowledge, skills,
experiences and competencies embodied in the
workforce that, as an intangible asset, has value to
the organisation. These individuals and collective
capabilities (know – how are acquired through life
long learning and organisations HRD practices.)
 However within the work context,
everyday job experiences and professional
and social network contributes
significantly to the accumulation of human
capital. It is when organisations are able
to utilise this human capital to business
advantages that it becomes intellectual
capital.
 From a system perspective, human capital
represents the key input to knowledge
management. When these inputs are converted
into the tangible outputs on which an
organisations trades such as inventions, patents,
market brands, reputation, problems solving, and
research and development capability etc. the
output come to represent the intellectual capital
of the organisation.
 Social capital represents the interpersonal glue
that facilitate the intra and inter-group
cooperation's and comprises such things as social
networks, and shared values, norms and
understanding.
 Interpreted through the systems construct, social capital is the process that
facilitates the translation of human capital into intellectual capital through a
powerful conduit for learning and generator of unique and valuable knowledge.

Figure 1.6 A systems perspective of knowledge management

 The Strategic Credential of Knowledge
Management.
 -Within the context of SHRM construct superior
human resources, i.e. the know-how embedded in
the organisation’s workforce, are a key source of
competitive advantages.
 -Knowledge , as a component of know how, and
social capital, if not the most important
dimensions of HR competences are at least major
contributors to human capital.
 The advent of knowledge economy, particularly
when allied to endemic change, places premium
on knowledge management where the utilisation
of existing knowledge and the generation and
application of new knowledge are used to
generate intellectual capital from which
organisation can profit.
 In advance economies, the emphasis is
increasingly directed towards ‘developing
knowledge workers capable of making rapid skills
transitions and adjustments in response to
unforseen and unforeseeable contingencies.
 This will necessitate that knowledge workers:
possess high level of job-specific capability,
demonstrate commitment to and an engagement in
continuous personal development, and exhibit
flexibility and cognitive agility to respond to conflicting
demands and the challenge of the unknown.
 The HRD infrastructure can make important
contributions to enable and support the development
of human and social capital. However this may mean
the need to transform learning and development to
move it from an over-reliances on structured
intervention to an infrastructure that can support life
long learning as a route to human and social capital
accumulation.
 Where such transformation can take place, it will
position HRD at the strategically mature end of the
HRD continuum.
 THANK-YOU VERY MUCH!!!