Organized Chaos

Faithful readers will recall last week’s reflection on theory and its use in human resource development. And I know what you’re thinking, theories are all well and good, but what about practical applications? You make an excellent point. A model for human resource development pulls together the multiple processes, analyses, inputs and outputs to direct organizations toward a course of action. While HRD is bounded by the organization from which it is working, the best-utilized models are based upon practical experience and multidimensional thinking. Models by definition are not required to have a theory, but may help construct a theory. However, models should not be equally substituted for theory.

Still, we grapple with a single definition of human resource development. You are not alone in this battle. There is currently no universal agreement of what theory/theories form human resource development. However, there is common understanding that elements of three core disciplines work in conjunction to form the elements used in HRD.

Psychological components within HRD include learning theories about decision-making, social learning, motivation, group dynamics, memory, and behavior. The most common perspectives within HRD are Gestalt psychology (seeing elements as meaningful wholes instead of a gathering of parts), behavioral psychology (the how and what of individual behavior), and cognitive psychology (the thoughts and why of behavior). While elements of these disciplines help lay the groundwork for psychology within HRD, they still fail to address some important behaviors. Researchers have also begun to study other emergent fields within the social sciences. Humanistic psychology studies an individual’s motivation and potential for growth, a crucial part of human resource development. Social psychology studies the interactions between individuals and groups. While neither field has yielded a complete theoretical understanding, both offer to provide new insight into important HRD psychological issues.

While most HRD professionals will tell you human resources are much more than a numbers game, organizational decisions are often made based upon finances and resources. Components of economic theory play a vital role in HRD. Scarce resource theory explains that everything has limitations and making wise choices regarding time, resources, and money will yield the greatest return on investment (ROI). The Sustainable resource theory is more long term thinking, stating the importance of resources that will last well into the future and their implications. Human capital theory, which sounds rather scary, actually means that people are true commodities and investments in their training and care will lead to calculated investment returns. Economic theory and HRD work together within an organization to most efficiently manage resources, thus leading to increased wealth. HRD must also contend with opportunity costs, agency theory, and production functions to truly provide guidance and improvement to an organization.

Systems theory can be an encompassing field, but four theories provide major contributions to HRD. General systems theory (GST) allows is think more in-depth about inputs, outputs, processes, and feedback and determine relationships about them. Chaos theory is a qualitative study regarding processes that appear to be unpredictable and in defiance of normal rules. Findings in chaos theory show that unusual events are not actually random, but a complex pattern that has reacted to initial conditions. Complex adaptive systems theorize that systems may emerge and border a chaotic state through the conduction of self-organizing and learning processes. Futures theory places emphasis on studying and planning for future conditions that are still evolving. No matter what element is used, systems theory argues that all systems can organized, despite their complexity, and that discovering this organization will allow us to analyze and solve system problems.

Often depicted as a three-legged stool, complementary theories from economics, psychology, and systems thinking work together to form the core beliefs of HRD. These ideas operate within an ethical framework to create a holistic HRD model for practice.