Chapter 14: Leveraging Technology to Design and Deliver Human Resource Development

The world entered unchartered territory driven by vast economic expansion, crisis, social change, new technologies and shifting power alliances. In this era, work and learning have become increasing virtual, hybridised between digital and physical environments. Tuning into daily news, it has become common to see proclamations that remote work is here to stay, offering benefits and frustrations to employees and organisations alike. The globalised world is in the midst of an information and industrial revolution that predated the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the pandemic accelerated the pace of change due to the need to reduce in-person interactions and allow employees to work from home (Bennett and McWhorter, 2021). It also remade the economy in ways people are just beginning to understand, characterised by broken supply chains, the phenomenon of the mass resignation and opportunity to envision new modes of work as well as practice in the field of human resource development (HRD). The power of advanced technologies and the vast array of software options offer great flexibility and are likewise reimagining organisational processes, structures and relationships to the external environment.