Human Resource Development Practitioner Roles and Competencies: An Analysis of Recent Research

Abstract

While the importance of the Human Resource Development (HRD) profession in improving the national training effort has been acknowledged in a number of publications, recent research on the roles and competencies of Australian HRD practitioners has been limited Such an undertaking may appear daunting, given the complexity and diversity of the HRD field. Consequently, much may be learned from the methodology and findings of previous studies. This paper analyses ten research studies undertaken in four countries between 1976 and 1989. It provides insight on both HRD practice and the taxonomies used to articulate practice.

New Zealand HRD practitioner competencies: application of the ASTD competency model

“…What these reviews by Moy (1991a) and Boam and Sparrow (1992) show is that, as one approaches management in any industry, competencies tend more towards interpersonal and personal competencies and less towards technical skills, which logically one could expect. This then has implications for selection as well as development of technical and management staff.…”

“…Wednesday and Saturday editions were selected because these are the two principal days on which jobs are advertised and are the editions which job seekers generally obtain (J. Harvey, personal communication, April 1997). The human resource development categories developed by Moy (1991aMoy ( , 1991b and McLagan and Suhadolnik (1989) for their studies were used as coding guides.…”

“…Their approach, she suggests, assumes a greater specialization of roles and participation in strategy than happens in reality (Moy, 1991a). Moy's concern possibly re ects the difference between HRD in the USA and in Australasia.…”

“…An example of an HRD competency model provided by Moy is that of the Ontario Society for Training and Development (cited in Moy, 1991a). In this model they identify twelve areas of core competencies: administration, communication, course design, evaluation, group dynamics, learning theory, manpower planning, teaching practice, teaching materials, training needs analysis and research and development.…”

Human resource development for community development: lessons from a sport‐for‐development program in rural India

“…Similarly, McLean and Laird (2001) argued that HRD is a process of developing knowledge, expertise, productivity and satisfaction of individuals, groups and communities. According to Moy (1992), HRD focuses on learning and development of an individual, group or organisation. A more recent definition by Wang et al (2017) described HRD as skilling through learning-related activities to influence individual and group values and beliefs to achieve a desired outcome.…”