Stakeholder involvement in strategic HRD aligning: the impact on HRD effectiveness

Abstract

The study reported here focusses on the question to what extent stakeholder involvement in HRD policymaking (here referred to as strategic HRD aligning) predicts effective HRD programmes. The study involved 44 large companies in the industrial, financial and commercial services sectors. The findings indicate that involvement of stakeholders in the strategic HRD aligning process, and their opinions on the quality of this aligning process in particular, have a positive effect on perceived HRD effectiveness. The perceived effectiveness is even more positive when the mean company score on the quality of strategic aligning is higher. Theoretical frameworkIn literature it is estimated that only between 10 and 20 per cent of capital invested in HRD and learning interventions will lead to enduring performance improvement (Baldwin and Ford, 1988;Latham and Crandall, 1991;Broad and Newstrom, 1992;Kessels, 1996). It is questionable if this result can be improved upon if all relevant HRD stakeholders give proper consideration before reaching the intended HRD goals and objectives. These goals and objectives will be developed during an HRD policymaking process. It is a dynamic and interactive process in which, as part of an ongoing and future company policy, HRD goals and objectives are formulated. This relates to the learning and development of individual and groups of employees for the benefit of the company as well as themselves (eg. Garavan, Costine and Heraty, 1995). Thinking of policies in terms of goals and strategies, which according to Hoogerwerf (1993) forms the basic structure of any policy is often termed 'final thinking'. According to the ideal, purely rational model, policymaking processes are typically sequential, linear and mainly top-down. Other policy models have been developed that deviate from this and which take the practical situation more into account, like

Training evaluation in Italian corporate universities: a stakeholder‐based analysis

“…These findings could be useful for building a bridge between the programme evaluation and human resource development (HRD) fields. This bridge may be strategic, considering the importance of training evaluation, which continues to be essential in demonstrating the added value of HRD, and the fact that the involvement of stakeholders in the strategic HRD aligning process has a positive effect on its effectiveness (Wognum & Lam, 2000).…”

Crisis planning: Survey results from Hurricane Katrina and implications for performance improvement professionals

“…While assuming a more strategic role within the organization is a continuous challenge for performance improvement professionals, research has shown that the perception of their utility is increased when stakeholders are aware of how performance interventions align with organizational goals (Wognum & Lam, 2000). In particular, performance improvement professionals can demonstrate their value in crisis planning by (1) informing stakeholders of crisis planning research, resources, and processes; (2) using performance improvement tools (such as the HPT model) to assess crisis vulnerabilities in individuals and systems; and (3) designing performance interventions that align with organizational goals to enhance individual, team, and organizational crisis preparedness.…”

Strategic Human Resource Development Alignment from the Employee's Perspective: Initial Development and Proposition Testing of a Measure

“…However, researchers considering SHRD‐alignment perspectives have also noted the importance of ensuring that organizational‐level and human resource needs are considered as valuable inputs to designing strategy (Buller & McEvoy, ). SHRD‐alignment researchers have noted concern that the human needs and the “whole person” perspective are not forgotten when determining strategies for achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Alagaraja & Shuck, ; Campbell, Coff, & Kryscynski, ; Wognum & Fond Lam, ; Wright & McMahan, ).…”

“…However, researchers considering SHRD-alignment perspectives have also noted the importance of ensuring that organizational-level and human resource needs are considered as valuable inputs to designing strategy (Buller & McEvoy, 2012). SHRD-alignment researchers have noted concern that the human needs and the "whole person" perspective are not forgotten when determining strategies for Volume 31, Number 3 / 2018 DOI: 10.1002/piq 273 achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Alagaraja & Shuck, 2015;Campbell, Coff, & Kryscynski, 2012;Wognum & Fond Lam, 2000;Wright & McMahan, 2011). An important component in all models of SHRD alignment takes into account the employee's perspective, which is closely linked with various aspects of an organization's learning culture (e.g., individual-level continuous learning, open-dialog components) (Leufvén, Vitrakoti, Bergström, Ashish, & Målqvist, 2015;Marsick & Watson, 2003).…”