Do you have any theories about that?

“A theory is the more impressive the greater is the simplicity of its premises, the more different are the kinds of things it relates and the more extended the range of its applicability.”

-Albert Einstein

Human Resource Development is a descriptively complicated field. Unlike other disciplines which are clear-cut in their implementation and practice, the who, what, why and how of the HRD practice is still not clearly understood by many. Even those in the field may have trouble articulating their practices, unless they can employ accurate theory building.

So what is a theory and why should anyone care? According to Torraco, “a theory simply explains what a phenomenon is and how it works.” So basically theories give us a working idea of why something is happening, with ‘working’ being the key word there. Theories are not proof, evidence, or fact. They simply provide a loose understanding of something until more information allows us to modify or refine this knowledge. And this cycle continues.

Within a field of study, it is theory building that helps to drive new ideas and power the constant search for improvement and better understanding. Theories of practice allow us to use the best methods available while striving to learn more and unite workers within a continuum of similar techniques. Moreover, sound theory allows professionals and the public alike to discern those with poor methods and implausible results. It is through the marriage of theory with research and practice that HRD professionals deliver quality service to organizations as well as advance the field. As such, each part of this work (theory and practice) serves to guide the other for the ultimate benefit of both.

There are a variety of theories within human resource development employed by its practitioners. While all of them have similar goals of improvement, the methodologies used vary. While admittedly young in the field, I feel the strongest claim with the ‘organizational designer’ metaphor, “the process of first diagnosing and then selecting the structure and formal style of communication, authority, and responsibility to achieve organizational goals”(Hellriegal, Slocum, & Woddman, 1986). Through this theory, the HRD professional makes decisions through the evaluation of stimuli, inputs, content, and outputs. All activities are defined as programmed (one simple understandable stimulus) or unprogrammed (elements without a clear cut and effective response due to newness, importance, or complexity) with the goal of HRD to design effective and productive responses to unprogrammed activities. Within each unprogrammed element there are three stages including intelligence, design, and choice activities (Swanson & Holton, 2001). Intelligence activity draws upon problem framing, or examining what context and perspective is used to define the problem, an ability that varies greatly with the individual. Employees with limited work capacity (the amount of time one can work on a project without feedback) are often incapable of seeing problems in a broader perspective that encompasses long-term solutions and boundary defying implications. Design activity allows one to analyze among varying courses of action based upon situational parameters, required skill sets, necessary components, and client defined outcomes to determine which one yields the most effective plan. While seeming common sense, design theory was born from the product combination of many fields including art and architecture. Choice activity involves selecting the course of action that will best resolve the problem and establish organizational planned activities.