EAD 863 ASSIGNMENT 4 1

Assignment 4

Capstone Theory Paper

December 11, 2012

Linda Dunn

EAD 863

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In my current role as a full-time staff member at Michigan State University, I have

enrolled in many Human Resource Development (HRD) courses and attended professional

conferences to network with peers about communications and marketing issues. I believe that

colleges and universities (higher education) often use staff development and HRD

interchangeably to refer to Training and Professional Development (T&PD) for employees other

than faculty and executive management.

As higher education changes to meet the demands of the 21st century, employees must

adapt and change with it to be successful at both the individual level and the institutional level. I

want to be involved with T&PD in the area of HRD in higher education through a more holistic

training that benefits the learner and the institution from the outset.

Aims and Purposes of Professional Development in Higher Education Human Resource

Development

The aims and purposes of human resource development in a higher education institution

are many. I believe there are two contexts at work here – higher education (colleges and

universities) and human resource development. I am interested in the less visible HRD context,

not the more visible forms of faculty development, leadership development, and staff

development, as noted in Dirkx, Lesson 1. HRD aims to take the individual and the organization

into consideration, and these may compete with one another. A successful HRD program will

offer professional development courses that address issues at both the individual and

organizational levels.

As noted in Gilley, Eggland, and Gilley (2002), HRD can be defined as “the process of

facilitating organizational learning, performance, and change through organized (formal and

informal) interventions, initiatives and management actions for the purpose of enhancing an

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organization’s performance capacity, capability, competitive readiness, and renewal” (Gilley and

Maycunich, 2000a, 6). I believe that MSU must cultivate its workforce to successfully tread the

waters and ride the wave of the new landscape of higher education as it develops.

As noted by Dirkx & Austin (2005), Swanson and Arnold (1996) define human resource

development as a “process of developing or unleashing human expertise through organization

development and personnel training and development for the purpose of improving

performance” (p. 16). Performance improvement is addressed at the organization, process, and

individual levels.

Many professional development activities are oriented towards the needs and interests of

individual participants. On the other hand, many professional development activities are

oriented to bringing about effects at the organizational level. I believe transformational learning

is best achieved when both interests are considered and accounted for in training.

The Learner, the Nature of Knowledge, and Adult Learning within Higher Education

Human Resource Development

Higher Education HRD participants are adult learners, some who have high school

educations, some who have bachelor’s degrees, and some who have graduate degrees. Most of

the HRD participants are staff members, and have widely varied roles within the institution.

The principles of andragogy, the art and science of helping adults learn, are at play in the

context of higher education HRD. As noted in Merriam (p. 84) and based on Malcolm Knowles’

work, adult learners need to know “why” they need to learn something, and they need to know

the immediate relevance of what they are learning. Adult learners bring their own experiences to

their learning and are self-directed learners. They are motivated internally to learn, not by

external forces, and their readiness to learn is related to development tasks of social roles.

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To be effective, HRD offerings must be balanced to align with both individuals’ and the

organization’s needs. McClusky’s Theory of Margin (Merriam, p. 93) brings up an interesting

point about adults balancing internal load and power, with external load and power during their

careers. Recognizing these factors when working with participants in HRD courses may clarify

when learning is most likely to occur for participants.

There are many types of knowledge and learning. Lifelong learning is a concept that is

meaningful to me in the context of higher education HRD. Habermas’ three forms of knowledge

include technical, communicative or practical, and emancipatory or transformative. An example

of an HRD course that is technical in nature would be a course designed to train staff in how to

use a software program. Branch provides many strategies to use for technical and practical

training. An example of a practical HRD course would be diversity training for managers.

Silberman has many strategies for practical training, using team-building methods. A

transformative HRD course could be a leadership development retreat. Cranton and Vella

provide examples of transformative learning. It is possible for transformative learning to occur

in a course focusing on practical knowledge, if the individual’s reflection on their experience

changes their beliefs about some aspect of the learning.

I believe learning is a process, and people have different learning styles. Kolb’s learning

cycle describes experiential learning as a circular process that begins with a concrete experience

and continues through reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active

experimentation, which in turn results in another concrete experience. (Yorks, p. 114). Using

these ideas to provide active training designed for people with different learning styles is

challenging.

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Research has shown that adults learn through self-directed learning, taking control of

their own learning by how they set their own learning goals, finding resources, deciding on

which learning methods to use and evaluating their progress (Brookfield, 1995). Mezirow’s idea

of transformative learning uses the concept that perspective transformation is the central process

of adult development (Cranton, p. 56). Vella explores the idea of reflection using a dialogical

approach to adult learning. The use of open questions and dialogue allows participants to learn

from each other and reflect on that new learning (2002, Chapter 12).

A Model for Training and Professional Development in HRD

The Dirkx and Austin Conceptual Framework for Professional Development is quite

meaningful for my aims, purposes, and context (see Appendix, Figure 1). This framework

addresses three dimensions: 1) The overall aim of or purpose for professional development; 2)

The context of professional development; and 3) The primary focus of the professional

development activity (Dirkx, 2005). By looking at these three dimensions, HRD training can be

developed that is specific to the current needs in any one of the areas.

In context of higher education HRD training, there are possibilities for designing courses

based on one of several aims (technical, practical, or emancipator) with either an individual or

organizational focus. This model can be informed by different human, organizational, and

environmental contexts, making it a powerful model.

Instructional and Training Strategies for HRD

The first step in developing instructional and training strategies is to determine the goals

and the content of the T&PD program. A needs assessment will be done to identify the gap

between what is and what is desired. Techniques to assess need include surveys, observations,

interviews, focus groups, tests, job analysis, performance reviews, existing data, social

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indicators, and informal conversations. As Queeney (p. 118) states, “asking individuals to

identify their own learning needs is the simplest form of needs assessment. Identifying why

participants are attending training and the background levels of participants is also important in

choosing methods and examples to use in training sessions.

Developing instructional objectives is necessary to inform the learning activities.

Winegarden notes that objectives should be clearly stated and contain three elements:

performance – what the learner should be able to do; conditions – conditions under which the

performance should take place; and criterion – describes how well the learner should be able to

do the tasks. The sequencing of learning experiences is important, as noted in the Tyler

Rationale.

Training formats and settings that would be useful in higher education HRD include

stand-up presentations, small group work, and perhaps some large group work at the

organizational level. I would use active learning methods from Silberman and Branch. Open

questions and dialogue, along with role playing and journal writing (Vella, 2002) are powerful

instructional tools to use in higher education HRD courses. Providing reflective learning

opportunities is important at both an individual and organizational level.

Evaluating HRD Training and Professional Development Programs

If training is to be valued, it must be evaluated. There are several levels of evaluation to

be considered in higher education HRD training. Some training is initiated by the individual and

some by the institution. Finding a way to evaluate the immediate and long-term value of these

divergent levels can be challenging.

Questions may be asked about whether higher education HRD programs are worth the

investment, since many courses seemingly benefit the individual more than the organization (at

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least at the outset). The hours that employees are away from their work and in training may be

viewed as too costly for the organization. On the other hand, an argument can be made that lack

of training will keep the individual and organization from attaining a higher success level. As

Branch notes, a full cost analysis should take place in the design phase to determine return on

investment.

Evaluation can be done during (formative) the training session (the trainer gets immediate

feedback and may be able to make adjustments), at the end (summative) of the training session

(the trainer gets feedback about what worked and what didn’t work), and again later as a follow-

up a month or two later (after the participant has had time to apply some of what was learned at

the training session). Of course, there is no guarantee that participants will return evaluations if

they are not given at the time of training.

At some point, I believe that adult learners will seek out HRD training that they

individually determine is beneficial to each of them. Some individuals will ignore training

opportunities, and others will take advantage of any and all courses. The challenge for HRD

training lies in the pull between individual and organization, and the sometimes competing needs

and outcomes desired by them. Trainers must be aware of this during planning and design

phases as they identify the learning objectives for their courses. Successful higher education

HRD training and professional development is important to the forward movement of

universities and colleges.

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Appendix

Figure 1 – Dirkx and Austin Conceptual Framework

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References

Branch, R. (2009). Instructional design: The ADDIE approach. New York: Springer

Science+Business Media, LLC.

Brookfield, S. (1995). Adult learning: An overview. In Tuinjman, A. (ed.) (1995). International

encyclopedia of education. Oxford: Pergamon Press

Cranton, P. (1996). Professional development as transformative learning: New perspectives for

teachers of adults. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Dirkx, J. and Austin, A. (2005). Making sense of conintuing professional development: Toward

an integrated vision of lifelong learning in the professions. Presented at the Continuing

Professional Education Preconference of the 2005 Academy of Human Resource

Development International Reserch Conference, Feb. 22-23, 2005, Estes Park CO.

Gilley, J., Eggland, S. and Gilley, A. (2002). Principles of human resource development, 2nd ed.

Cambridge: Perseus Publishing.

Merriam, S., Cafarella, R. and Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A

comprehensive guide, 3rd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint.

Queeney, “Methods for beginners” from EAD 863 electronic coursepack.

Silberman, M. (2006). Active training: A handbook of techniques, designs, case examples,

and tips. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Vella, J. (2002). Learning to listen, learning to teach: The power of dialogue in educating adults

(Revised edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Winegarden, B.J. (2005). “Writing instructional objectives.” Retrieved from

http://meded.ucsd.edu/faculty/writing_instructional_objectives.pdf

Yorks, “Theoretical foundations of HRD practice” from EAD 863 electronic coursepack.