If you are looking for an academic and detailed book on human resource development that is designed for academics and enquiring practitioners, then this will almost certainly satisfy your needs. It examines the underlying history of HRD, presents critical theoretical and philosophical foundations, and provides models and processes of a subject that is growing in importance.
It is written by two eminent academics in the field, Swanson and Holton, both of whom have a long and widely travelled experience of HRD. They are also champions of HRD and should be congratulated on their contributions to enhancing the reputation of trainers and the importance of learning and development at individual, occupational and organisational levels. They are supported by a number of other authors who provide additional material.
The book concentrates, as its title suggests, on the foundations of HRD, and there is a helpful table charting the history of HRD, which arguably began with a 1964 book by Harbison and Myers. Starting with antediluvian periods of human development, it then proceeds to the present day.
In spite of the discipline having existed for almost a half century the authors admit that they struggled to provide boundaries for a large field of practice. However, they did provide a definition: “HRD is a process of developing and unleashing expertise for the purpose of improving individual, team, work process, and organisational system performance”. They also provide a pyramid diagram with HRD at the apex and at the third level, i.e. “applications and contexts of HRD” they mention human resource management. This visual reversal of many diagrams that incorrectly have HRM at the apex is welcome. In fact, too many books and also academic programmes are titled HRM and then subsume HRD. A more accurate representation is for HR to be subdivided into two equally valid components – HRD and HRM.
The first edition of this book deservedly won the “Book of the Year” award from the Academy of Human Resource Development, and this second edition has been significantly revised and updated. The book consists of 21 chapters divided equally among seven sections addressing:
- 1.
introduction to HRD;
- 2.
theory and philosophy in HRD;
- 3.
perspectives of HRD;
- 4.
developing expertise through training and development;
- 5.
unleashing expertise through organisational development;
- 6.
advancing HRD; and
- 7.
HRD into the future.
Each chapter begins with an outline of the contents and ends with some reflected questions for the reader to contemplate. There is a detailed bibliography, and numerous diagrams and tables. In addition, there are a number of e‐resources, which include many of the diagrams to be to be found in the book.
Although it presents a largely US‐centric view of HRD, its voluminous contents provide sufficient generic and universal foundations for this not to be an impediment to readers beyond its shores.
There is no doubting the prolific nature of the two main authors, who frequently draw upon much of their prior research and writing; however, this sometimes gives the impression of being a little too self‐referential when there are many alternative sources available.
The time of publication in early 2009 was right in the heart of the credit crunch and a few reflections by the authors may represent a Zeitgeist backlash to unbridled capitalism. This is important, since HRD practitioners are very closely involved with organisational responses to economic adversity and should operate in an ethical manner – which is why the theories of HRD are diagrammatically presented resting on an ethical foundation.
One encouraging theme which occurs a number of times is the challenging approach it makes to the subject. One example is scepticism about the significant numbers of HRD practitioners and products making unsubstantiated claims, for example accelerated learning.
The book concludes with a chapter addressing some of the challenges of HRD and describes the AHRD's HRD Academic Programme Standards for university courses. This campaigning stance illustrates the commitment of the authors who continue to raise standards with this book.
