Preparing a Globally Competent Workforce: A Mixed Methods Study of an Innovative Co-Curricular University Program

This study represents an initial effort to identify and measure a set of values that reflect the goals that human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners believe HRD should strive to achieve. Six values reflecting two value facets (locus of HRD influence and HRD outcomes) and a seventh value that relates to a perceived normative component inherent of HRD activity were identified and measured. Results indicated the value scales measured individual value priorities of HRD scholars and practitioners, and that the structure of these value priorities varied as a function of individual differences. Suggestions for future research are offered.

This chapter mobilises queer theory to enable HRD scholars and practitioners to move beyond treating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identities as binaried, bounded and stable categories. Specifically, this chapter draws on the work of Judith Butler to demonstrate how LGBT identities can be understood as performative, unbounded and susceptible to alteration, sometimes with subversive effects. This theoretical development is apposite within the human resource development (HRD) field because it has an impoverished history of recognising and addressing LGBT workplace issues, let alone studying the particulars of LGBT identities. Yet there is a growing consensus among a cabal of critical human resource development (CHRD) scholars that knowledge on LGBT identities must be advanced if HRD scholarship and practice is to become more inclusive. This chapter responds to this call using queer theory as a conceptual resource, in particular the deconstructive strategy of queering, informed by Butler’s work on the performativity of gender. This chapter reviews extant queer developments within CHRD scholarship before showing how Butler’s work can provide the conceptual tools for HRD scholars to queer LGBT identities in HRD theory and knowledge. The implications for developing future HRD practice queerly are outlined.

The purpose of this study is to examine how power relations among stakeholders, especially between the human resource development (HRD) practitioners and others, affect evaluation outcomes. Using a qualitative case study design, a managerial leadership development programme in a Korean company is analysed. This study shows that the HRD practitioners’ interests in securing their status within the organization governed shaping the evaluation outcomes. The evaluation report was produced and reported portraying mostly the positive aspects of the programme. However, while going through the evaluation, the HRD practitioners felt constrained, and considered themselves as the powerless in terms of the organizational strategic needs and expectations, both of which pertain to the characteristics of the organizational culture. Instead of attempting to alter the organizational culture, which was unfavourable to HRD functions, they are acquiesced to the culture.

Problem The field of human resource development (HRD) is recognized for its contributions to the body of literature on learning and performance. However, the lack of literature on problems emanating from the social systems (e. g. racism, sexism, ageism, sexual orientation, disability, to name a few) that create a barrier for optimal learning and performance is troubling. In this article, racism is called out as an enduring and pervasive social injustice that has become normalized and encompasses the whole of society as well as those spaces that are frequently occupied each day. Nonetheless the ideology of racism is egregious and continues to threaten individual well-being, dignity, and simply put, rights as a human being. As a program within numerous departments of higher education, the lack of literature that addresses racism and subsequently provide resources for educators is problematic. While it is understood that HRD is an interdisciplinary field that draws from multiple bodies of literature, the lack of contributions from HRD researchers, scholars, and practitioners on a topic that counteracts learning and performance is a problem. Solution HRD is uniquely positioned as a field of practice with an affiliate in higher education. HRD researchers and scholars are often instructors in HRD educational programs. This unique position can hugely impact what is learned and therefore what is practiced in the workplace. We propose a framework for an anti-racism curriculum in HRD educational programs that teaches students, the future workforce, how to recognize and disrupt racism and contribute to building workplaces that are equitable, fair, and psychologically safe. We use critical theory as a conceptual framework for an anti-racism curriculum that teaches students about the continued and pervasive system of racism.

This chapter provides human resource development (HRD) scholars and professionals with statutes and regulations that affect HRD scholarship and practice. The most important skills and competencies for HRD scholars and professionals to manage legal regulations and standards effectively are administration, treatment of participants, business skills, global mindset, industry knowledge, interpersonal skills, integrated talent management, and change management. These skills and competencies directly influence how HRD professionals interact and collaborate with others to improve employee behavior on the job. Technology skills may supplement these skills and competencies, but people-to-people interactions are essential for improved legal and ethical decision-making. HRD professionals must possess these skills and competencies to develop effective ethical and legal training programs and resources to ensure the economic success of organizations. HRD professionals can help to reduce problems and liability risks for their organization by helping all employees understand how important it is to treat each other fairly on the job. HRD scholars and professionals can design education and training using proven strategies to increase employee effectiveness in making ethical decisions and understanding legal statutes. HRD professionals must also understand economics and its role in the success of the organization. Exploring how to help organizations integrate Gig economy workers into the workforce is also a role of HRD professionals and scholars.

In today’s interconnected world, students must do more than just respect other cultures; they must also grasp global issues to become truly globally competent. This study explored students’ perspectives on the “why” and “how” of promoting global competence. Utilizing a descriptive qualitative approach, five themes were discovered through analysis of primary and secondary data sources, including virtual interview transcripts of 13 class leaders in the Purposive Communication course, essays, reports, and journals. Three themes emerged concerning the “why” of promoting global competence: gateway to career opportunities, inspiring a sense of social responsibility, and nurturing intercultural relationships. As for the “how,” two themes surfaced: the use of technology-infused strategies (TIS) and non-digital methods (NDM). These themes comprehensively addressed the three core aspects of global competence: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The findings of this study can provide the basis for integrating global competence into the General Education Curriculum’s course objectives or outcomes. Additionally, they offer valuable insights for creating instructional materials to enhance global competence.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to argue that human resource development (HRD) needs to embrace and include futures and foresight learning (FFL) as a new addition to its field of theorising and practice. The question to consider is: How can FFL become a new feature of HRD? A key part of the authors’ argument is that the inclusion of FFL will enable HRD to add to the success of any organisation and make a vital contribution to the management of people at work.Design/methodology/approachThis paper firstly considers some of the debates surrounding the meaning of HRD. The authors suggest that instability of the time serves to disturb any comforts that have been created in HRD and that there is a need to consider how there might be different futures for what we still call HRD in research, practice and praxis. This paper then considers how FFL might become one possibility for expanding the existing boundaries of HRD. The authors characterise futures and foresight as a learning process, which provides new but complementary features to what is already considered as HRD. This paper will show how FFL can lead to organisation's success and the way this can be achieved.FindingsThere is a wide variety of meanings of the term HRD; however, HRD is still cast as a “weakened profession” which has to play a subservient role to others in the workplace. Over the last 15 years, the expansion of the meaning of HRD has been seen as evidence of its evolving and emerging nature and development based on a co-creation with other disciplines. This creates a space for FFL, defined as an ongoing learning process to find predictable, probable, possible and/or a variety of long-term futures. FFL embraces three key processes of scanning, futuring and reconfiguring, all of which contain a high potential for participants and others to learn as they proceed, providing outcomes at each stage. FFL has been shown to enhance organisation performance and success and HRD interventions can play a key part in implementation. This represents a significant opportunity for the HRD profession to move from weakness towards strength.Research limitations/implicationsFor HRD researchers, while FFL is not yet on its radar, the authors would argue that the uncertainties of the future require that more attention be given to what might lie ahead. Indeed, HRD researchers need to ask the question: What is the future of HRD research? In addition, if the authors’ call for FFL to be included in the practice of HRD, such practice will itself provide new pathways for HRD research. Further research questions might include: To what extent is FFL practiced in organisations and what role do HRD practitioners play in delivery? How does FFL impact on organisation behaviour and outcomes? What new products and services emerge from FFL? What new skills are required to deliver FFL? Can FFL enhance the status of HRD practitioners in the work place and its role in decision-making? and How can the HRD profession develop as a hybrid profession with respect to machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI)?Practical implicationsFFL produces outcomes that have importance for strategy, HRD practitioner can learn to facilitate FFL by action learning and in leadership development programmes. FFL offers a significant opportunity to enhance the importance of HRD in organisations and beyond. FFL offers those involved in HRD a significant opportunity to transfer ideas into practice that have an impact on organisation sustainability. HRD can play a significant role in the design and delivery of ML and AI projects.Originality/valueThis paper concludes with a call for embracing FFL as a challenging but important addition to how we talk about learning at work. The authors argue that FFL offers a significant opportunity to enhance the importance of HRD in organisations and beyond. At its centre, FFL involves learning by people, groups, organisations and machines and this has to be of concern to HRD.

The Problem Cross-cultural research has received substantial attention from both academia and practice as it contributes to expand current theory and implements culturally successful human resource strategies. Although the quantity of this type of research has increased, several researchers have raised methodological concerns that the majority of cross-cultural research has simply assumed or ignored measurement invariance. The Solution In this article, we first provide the meaning for measurement invariance, discuss why it is important, and then explain stepwise confirmatory factor analysis procedures to test measurement invariance. We also diagnose the current research practice in the field of human resource development (HRD) based on a review of cross-cultural, comparative research published in the major HRD journals. Finally, we demonstrate that the group difference test results that have been found without ensuring measurement invariance can, in fact, be false. The Stakeholders This article contributes to the HRD literature and practice in two ways. First, HRD researchers are invited to recognize the importance of sophisticated research methodology, such as measurement invariance, and to examine item bias across different groups so they can make a meaningful and valid comparison. The same attention is advisable to any practitioner who attempts to identify group differences using multinational/cultural data. This article also provides HRD scholars and practitioners with specific multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) procedures to facilitate empirical tests of measurement models across different groups and thus disseminate the methodological advances in the field of HRD. It is our hope that the present article raises awareness, circulates relevant knowledge, and encourages more HRD scholars to think critically about measurement.

The Problem Authentic leadership (AL) has been viewed as an attractive leadership model to combat destructive forms of leadership. On a simple level, it is difficult to argue against authenticity when leading and developing leaders. However, on a deeper level, many scholars have challenged the ideas supporting authentic leadership to highlight the model’s theoretical assumptions and implicit values. Of the critiques, one of the most relevant challenges for HRD (Human Resource Development) is the critique based on identity because this critique aligns with HRD’s focus on diversity and inclusion. The problem is that HRD researchers and practitioners need to understand more about how authentic leadership, as described typically in scholarly and practitioner journals, homogenizes the workplace and discounts diverse ways of being authentic. The Solution The articles in this Special Issue offer a variety of different perspectives on the connection between authentic leadership and identity to make transparent the hidden assumptions, power dynamics, and contextual forces at play. When these unexamined and implicit factors are considered, HRD scholars and practitioners will be in a better position to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as well as in teaching, research, and service. The Stakeholders Researchers and practitioners interested in authentic leadership, diversity and inclusion, and power.

In recent months, there has been heightened attention to global education on the part of government, education, and industry. These sectors of our society recognize that global education is not a question of need in U.S. schools; we are far beyond the point of urgency in preparation of students who are well equipped to live and thrive in our 21st-century global society. The question is: What are we going to do about it?While it is certainly heartening for world language pro- fessionals to witness the increased interest in changing the education experience for students in PK-16 so that all students in U.S. schools have the opportunity to become globally prepared citizens, this goal has long been a part of our belief system. We value global education and hold firm to the belief that languages are the core of global preparation; the study of languages makes global competence possible. Therefore, how can we ensure as a profession that our students have access to experiences that will enable them to reach global competence?Several collaborative projects and initiatives are underway that will have a significant impact on ACTFL's work to raise public awareness of the major role of PK-16 language study in the development of a globally competent citizenry.The Languages for All? conference held September 30, 2013, on the campus of the University of Maryland convened more than 150 educators, policy makers, researchers, and experts in national intelligence to discuss the question of how the United States can make languages a reality for all students in PK-16. Participants at this forum, organized by the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study in partnership with ACTFL, responded to the white paper written by experts in our field that cites evidence of the increased demand for languages other than English in the past 10 years and the failure of schools to prepare students with these critical skills (Brecht et al., 2013).U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan raised similar concerns at the opening event of International Education Week on November 18, 2013, saying,Today, a nation's prosperity depends on its people's ability to thrive in the global marketplace. This is true for the U.S. and for our neighbors across the globe. What's more, in a nation as diverse as ours, the ability to interact comfortably and confidently with people of all backgrounds and points of view is critical. And that makes it more important than ever to provide all students with a well-rounded, world-class education-including opportunities to gain global competencies and world language skills; to understand other cultures; and to study abroad. (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, n.p, italics in original)Secretary Duncan's introductory remarks launched Mapping the Nation: Making the Case for Global Competency, an interactive map predicated on North Carolina's Center for International Understanding's work and produced by the Asia Society, the Longview Foundation, and SAS. This online resource shows the nation's global competitiveness based on data on economics, demographics, and education in each state and county (Asia Society; 2013; see http://mappingthenation. …

The Problem Authentic leadership (AL) focuses on enhancing the capabilities and capacities of leaders. Instead of focusing on the leader, this article considers the ethical challenges of fostering authenticity among employees. One such challenge is that marginalized groups may feel unable to be true to their values, a key premise of authentic leadership. To foster workplaces where marginalized groups feel able to be true to themselves, we must consider the cultural and structural barriers that can negatively affect people’s ability to express themselves in the workplace. Hence, when considering the merits of AL, it is important for human resource development (HRD) professionals to consider what occurs when employees do not fit institutional norms. The Solution Creating the conditions for a relational authentic approach to AL that allows authentic otherness to flourish is an important and complex ethical task, one that HRD scholars and practitioners are uniquely placed to encourage. The Stakeholders HRD scholars and practitioners interested in creating the conditions that encourage the flourishing of authentic otherness among employees.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among supervisor support, awareness of employees’ developmental needs, motivation to learn, training readiness, motivation to transfer and job performance.Design/methodology/approachA total of 216 responses from educational organizations in the USA were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method.FindingsThe findings indicate that supervisor support for training directly affected motivation to learn; both developmental needs awareness and motivation to learn had direct and significant effects on training readiness, motivation to transfer and job performance; developmental needs awareness directly affected motivation to learn; training readiness directly affected motivation to transfer.Research limitations/implicationsThis study investigated how supervisor support contributes to motivation, training and job performance. In addition, this study attempted to bridge the gap in the literature by investigating the relationships among supervisor support, developmental needs awareness, learning motivation, training readiness, transfer motivation and job performance.Practical implicationsBy conducting an initial needs assessment of participants, human resource development (HRD) practitioners can reflect on what participants want and need when designing and implementing professional development programs. HRD practitioners can also collaborate with participants’ supervisors to prepare for interventions to improve the quality and practicality of existing professional development programs.Originality/valueAlthough the extant literature suggests that organizational support, motivation and training transfer are distinct but highly interrelated constructs; little is known about the predictive properties of a supervisor’s role in the training literature. Supervisors play a crucial role in that they can influence their subordinates on whether to participate in training programs. The ability of supervisors to provide adequate support and engage in comfortable communication about training programs may lead to enhanced motivation to learn and to greater training transfer. These potentially desirable effects motivate the researchers to further explore the nature of this component and its relationship with other training outcome variables.

Despite the investment of considerable time and money to provide employees with access to high performance leadership professional development, the extent to which training transfer takes place is unclear. At risk are organizational investment, leader growth, and organizational effectiveness. The desire to optimize training transfer remains critical but elusive for trainers, human resource development (HRD) practitioners, and training transfer researchers. This challenge is referred to as the transfer problem. Motivation to transfer has emerged as a construct of interest as it is strongly and positively associated with training transfer. The purpose of this study was to explore trainees' motivation to transfer training delivered in a leadership development program situated within a large, nonprofit organization. Through the exploration of transfer motivation, factors that drive or restrain leaders' motivation to apply trained knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) obtained back to their workplaces were identified. Literature pertaining to training transfer, motivation to transfer, and leadership professional development was reviewed and served as the research foundation for the study. An instrumental case study approach was utilized; data collection involved interviews of eight alumni of a leadership professional development program and review of documentation and archival records associated with the leadership professional development program. First cycle coding and thematic analysis were employed to analyze the data. Although the combination and magnitude of forces that positively and negatively impacted motivation to transfer varied among participants, several factors emerged prominently from analysis. Driving forces included perceived value of training content, perceived applicability of training content, learning orientation, perceived need for leadership development, work commitment, networking opportunities, feedback and coaching, and self-assessment. Restraining forces included perceptions of the work environment, initial impressions of the program, timing challenges during the program, online learning, and workplace difficulties. Organizational leaders, trainers, and HRD practitioners can utilize these insights to guide the development and implementation of future leadership professional development programming. Recommendations emerging from this research include strategies for optimization of transfer motivation by maximizing driving forces and minimizing restraining forces at the individual, team, and organizational levels of analysis.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper was to test and explore alignment theory as a guiding principle for human resource development (HRD) by performing an empirical study. HRD scholars, professionals and others have adopted or assumed alignment theory to help explain HRD effectiveness.Design/methodology/approach– Constructs to measure an organisation’s strategic priorities and its HRD practices. A measure of HRD effectiveness was developed. A survey gathered data from 270 employees, managers and HRD staff in a sample of 76 organisations.Findings– The results show that HRD effectiveness does not vary with alignment as predicted. Forms of partial alignment, or the relations of an “odd couple”, are more strongly associated with HRD effectiveness than high alignment.Research limitations/implications– The use and integration of both normative measures (Likert scale) and ipsative measures (ranking) is necessary to capture alignment, but this limits the inferential statistics available to test validity and reliability. Qualitative data on case studies would be useful to explore alignment issues in context and depth.Practical implications– Stakeholders in organisations can use the “odd couple” interpretation of alignment as a fresh way to review and explore the opportunities and challenges of managing HRD effectiveness in an era where a narrowing and retrenchment of provisions is occurring and increasing.Originality/value– This study provides evidence which raises questions about alignment theory and policies intended to increase alignment. It suggests in the case of HRD, an alternative perspective that validates partial alignment can support effective HRD provisions.

This paper sets forward the [Programme for International Student Assessment] PISA framework for global competence developed by the OECD, which aligns closely with the definition developed by the Center for Global Education at Asia Society. Globally competent youth: (1) investigate the world beyond their immediate environment by examining issues of local, global, and cultural significance; (2) recognize, understand, and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others; (3) communicate ideas with diverse audiences by engaging in open, appropriate, and effective interactions across cultures; and (4) take action for collective well-being and sustainable development both locally and globally. Based on the Center's extensive experience supporting educators in integrating global competence into their teaching, the publication also provides practical guidance and examples of how educators can embed global competence into their existing curriculum, instruction, and assessment.