Using system traps to understand and potentially prevent human resource development intervention failure

IF 4 3区 管理学 Q1 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR
Deborah Blackman, Fiona Buick, Samantha Johnson, James Rooney, Nabil Ilahee
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Adopting human resource development (HRD) activities can lead to improved organizational outcomes, such as improved performance and innovation. However, while the implementation of HRD strategies is widespread, there are concerns that they have failed to support the learning and skill acquisition required to support both individual learning and improved organizational outcomes. Having established that HRD is a systems level issue, this paper applies Meadows's (2008) system traps to suggest that adopting this lens could explain why extensive HRD interventions have failed to deliver desired system outcomes. Qualitative data is analyzed to consider why HRD interventions fail to result in increased capability development in the Australian public sector. The findings demonstrate four system traps were present in HRD interventions, which help explain the ongoing failure of HRD interventions to support required learning or improve organizational performance: (1) shifting the burden to the intervenor; (2) seeking the wrong goal; (3) policy resistance; and (4) drift to low performance. We argue that the presence of these traps suggest that HRD subsystems will need to be reconceptualized for there to be a real improvement. To this end, we apply Meadows's (2008) suggestions to overcome the traps, identifying potential strategies for HRD practitioners to act as system intervenors. Our paper contributes to knowledge through focusing on a specific aspect of systems thinking to help explain why HRD intervention failure occurs.

利用系统陷阱了解和潜在地防止人力资源开发干预失败
采用人力资源开发(HRD)活动可以导致改进的组织结果,例如改进的绩效和创新。然而,虽然人力资源开发战略的实施是广泛的,但人们担心它们未能支持支持个人学习和改进组织成果所需的学习和技能获取。在确定人力资源开发是一个系统层面的问题之后,本文运用梅多斯(2008)的系统陷阱来表明,采用这一视角可以解释为什么广泛的人力资源开发干预未能提供预期的系统结果。定性数据分析,以考虑为什么人力资源开发干预措施未能导致提高能力发展在澳大利亚的公共部门。研究结果表明,人力资源开发干预中存在四个系统陷阱,这有助于解释人力资源开发干预在支持所需学习或提高组织绩效方面的持续失败:(1)将负担转移给干预者;(二)追求错误目标的;(3)政策阻力;(4)向低性能漂移。我们认为,这些陷阱的存在表明HRD子系统将需要重新概念化,以便有一个真正的改进。为此,我们采用梅多斯(2008)的建议来克服陷阱,确定人力资源开发从业者作为系统干预者的潜在策略。我们的论文通过关注系统思维的一个特定方面来帮助解释为什么人力资源开发干预失败。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
7.60
自引率
6.10%
发文量
19
期刊介绍: Human Resource Development Quarterly (HRDQ) is the first scholarly journal focused directly on the evolving field of human resource development (HRD). It provides a central focus for research on human resource development issues as well as the means for disseminating such research. HRDQ recognizes the interdisciplinary nature of the HRD field and brings together relevant research from the related fields, such as economics, education, management, sociology, and psychology. It provides an important link in the application of theory and research to HRD practice. HRDQ publishes scholarly work that addresses the theoretical foundations of HRD, HRD research, and evaluation of HRD interventions and contexts.
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