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Professional fields are guided by the search for reasoned answers to the question of what to do, and this both in the exercise of daily practice and in the education and training of future practitioners. In educational theory and in management, the framework of virtue ethics has received much attention as an alternative to duty-based and result-oriented approaches of considering what to do in professional practice. Virtue ethics dates back to Greek philosophy and is concerned with practical wisdom, defined as acting virtuously in pursuit of a good and worthwhile form of living. This article outlines the major tenets of virtue ethics in the context of working and work organization and posits that the focus on practical wisdom should be seen as a central concern of HRD practice and HRD education.

In a recent editorial, Alexandre Ardichvili pointed to the important contribution of economics Nobel laureate Herb Simon, suggesting that Simon's notion of the sciences of the artificial could offe...

This essay seeks to connect core aspects of the human development (HD) literature with its ethical and moral commitment to human flourishing and theoretical and applied scholarship in human resource development (HRD). Summarizing the central arguments advanced by philosopher John Finnis and economist and Nobel Memorial Prize winner Armatya Sen, the paper argues for the relevance of the HD frameworks for HRD. This is done by briefly reviewing the role of values for professional fields in general and HRD in particular, followed by a summary of the justifications for and definitions of HD as reciprocal obligations between social institutions and individuals. The central part of the paper argues for the conceptual proximity of the two fields and proposes that the moral and ethical value stance of HD can provide a solid philosophical foundation for HRD.

Based in identity theory and the depletion hypothesis in the work-life literature, this study investigated dimensions of the meaning of work and work stress among mid-level managers in the United States, Brazil, and Korea. Findings include a high salience of work as a central life concern but a primacy of family involvement in each country. The importance of religious involvement, leisure activities, and community involvement was rated low. Intrinsic and extrinsic orientations to working were related to increased levels of work stress, but in each country the dimensions of work stress were associated with meaning of work aspects in different combinations and affected different demographic groups in different ways. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings imply the need for a differentiated understanding of the meaning of work dimensions in international settings and the awareness that increased levels of work stress can results from higher levels of work centrality and intrinsic and econ...

Understanding, I have been urging, is active, is an engagement, is a form of agency….It is an expression of individuality; and it strikes against the conventionalism of competency, insofar as compe...

This paper compares human resource development in the UK and US by focusing on characteristics of master's level academic courses of study as important elements of each country's national system of HRD. Following a review of the history, structure, definitions, professional associations, credentialing and accreditation schemes, and national level recognitions and awards for outstanding HRD, the results of an empirical investigation of eighty-three leading academic institutions in both countries are presented. These include institutional profiles, enrolment trends and curriculum required for master's level degrees. The findings point to substantive differences in content and structure in both countries and suggest directions for further study and knowledge building in comparative human resource development.

This cross-cultural study utilized the full range leadership framework developed by Bass and Avolio and Hofstede's model of culture, and compared leadership styles and cultural values of over 4,000 managerial and non-managerial employees in ten business organizations in Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Germany, and the US. Regarding socio-cultural dimensions, the study found that, compared to Germany and the US, the four former USSR countries differed primarily by much lower levels of Power Distance, higher levels of Masculinity and much longer planning horizons. The results on leadership indicate that two dimensions - Contingent Reward and Inspirational Motivation - produced the highest scores in all four countries of the former USSR. Two less efficient leadership styles, Laissez-faire and Management by Exception, have received signiecantly higher scores in the four former USSR countries, than in the US and Germany. Finally, the study suggests that cross-cultural human resource develop- ment issues cannot be described in terms of simplieed dichotomies between the East and West. For constructs measured in this study, signiecant differences were found not only between the two groups of countries but also between individual countries within these groups.

(2001). Why HRD is not an academic discipline. Human Resource Development International: Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 291-294.

Based on the observation that the systematic study of university-based HRD education - especially in an international comparative approach - is an important but under-explored area of scholarship, this article reports on the results of a need-sensing process among a panel of twenty-one senior HRD administrators and scholars in the United States and Great Britain. The resulting research agenda identified knowledge gaps and research needs in three broad areas: subject matter of HRD education; institutional characteristics, arrangements, and linkages; and outcomes and effectiveness of HRD education. Several categories were identified in each of the three areas and examples described. The implications of this study for research and theory building in international and comparative HRD are discussed.

This survey-based study centered on feedback seeking behaviors by students in twelve human resource development university courses in the US, UK, and Singapore. Based on previous research, the study differentiated among sources of feedback, and student and instructor behaviors and characteristics. The results of this study suggest that students sought feedback about attainment of learning goals quite frequently and from a variety of sources. Instructors tended to underestimate their own role and overestimate the contributions of course activities and materials in this process. Individual-level and instructor-related variables emerged as important predictors of feedback seeking behaviors. The implications of these findings for further research and the practice of human resource development education and training are discussed.

(2000). Debates over the nature of HRD: an institutional theory perspective. Human Resource Development International: Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 279-283.

This cross-national study investigated the influence of leadership styles on subordinates' levels of satisfaction with the leader, judgment of the effectiveness of the leader, and willingness to exert extra effort in work performance. A sample of the population of 5,300 manufacturing employees in two US and one German plants were surveyed using the Avolio et al. (1995) multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ). Results indicated higher levels of transformational styles among US employees and among higher-ranked employees. Transformational leadership styles, however, were correlated positively with outcome measures in both countries and at all levels of the organizations, but the strength of the correlations was lower for German employees. The study has implications for the practice of international management and leadership development in each country and suggests the need for further research in this area.

This last issue of 2009 and Volume 12 marks the end of my term as Editor of Human Resource Development International, and it is with mixed emotions of satisfaction and some sadness that I write thi...