Positions in Human Resource Development (HRD)
Human Resource Development (HRD) is the second part (albeit much smaller) of the HR world (the first being Human Resource Management--HRM). If HRM professionals are keeping the wheels turning smoothly, HRD professionals are helping them turn faster and better. Human Resource Development refers to the activities in an organization that help develop and grow employees. Many organizations simply refer to HRD as training or learning and development but in reality, it's much more than that. HRD includes:
- Training and learning
- Organization development, which includes:
- Succession planning (determining who is next in line for a CEO or other senior job)
- Coaching (helping employees overcome on-the-job problems)
- Performance management (those pesky performance reviews)
HRD is the area of HR that is growing most quickly as organizations recognize the need to go way beyond simply managing their workforce. While smaller organizations often have HR Generalists assume the responsibility for training alongside other HR tasks, large companies such as Medtronic, Bank of America and Texas Instruments have entire functions devoted to subsets of HRD such as organization development.
"Organization development is a key part of Human Resources," says Phil Skeath, a performance improvement consultant at Bank of America. "We are business partners who support our line managers' needs, but we are also an integral part in driving the company's strategy."
HRD professionals may be responsible for a certain subset of the workforce (such as training the sales force), or may serve as internal consultants working on projects as they arise, such as helping to restructure a department or working on the succession plan for an entire division. Other HRD responsibilities include employee performance evaluations, training new employees, and helping companies deal with change as the result of a new program, technology, merger or acquisition.
HRD careers are growing every year. Training and development is one area in which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts growth in 2005 and beyond. This is due not only to how complex jobs are becoming, but also the aging of the workforce, and the many changes in technology requiring more and more training and development programs for workers. What does this mean for HR professionals? HRD might well be an increasingly popular career path.
Because HRD is not only growing, but is structured very differently from organization to organization, if you see HRD as a viable career path, it's important to research where it fits in specific companies. Organizations that only have a training and learning function may not see as much value in HRD as a company that has a specific organization development function.
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