HRD Practice: Who Is Doing the Work?

Abstract

This Issue marks the one-year anniversary of Advances in the single topic format. I am extremely pleased with the new direction of the journal and the variety of submissions thus far. In my inaugural Editorial, I encouraged prospective authors to connect the practice and profession of human resource development (HRD) with other professions, disciplines, and workforce industries. An area that I would like to see more application of practice is the blue-collar workforce. An unspoken, but implied assumption is that HRD focuses on white-collar workers, and less on blue-collar workers (StorbergWalker, 2012). Yet, evidence exists that this group of workers find “dignity and meaning in their work despite outsiders’ perceptions” (Lucas & Buzzanell, 2004, p. 285). Therefore, developing blue-collar workers toward meaningful work would be a fruitful and new way of thinking about HRD. I further encourage potential authors to stretch creative thought around the question, who are the folks doing HRD work? We consistently refer to HRD practitioners and professionals, yet I doubt you will find either of those titles on the payroll! I vividly and respectfully recall our former Board member, the late Ross Azevedo (1942–2020) pointing out in various meetings or discussions how there are practitioners across a wide range of fields and workforce industries who do HRD but call it by another name. The boundaries of HRD have certainly broadened beyond learning and performance. Now that we have included critical HRD, virtual HRD, strategic HRD, societal HRD, and others continue to emerge, identifying the people doing the work of HRD will become integrated with other organizational functions and functional areas. I emphatically restate my vision for bringing HRD and human resource management (HRM) into closer collaboration. Over the past year, I have received numerous manuscripts with a focus on HRM. Unfortunately, submitting authors do not identify a common link with HRD, refer to HRD literature, or suggest implications for HRD practice. However, I am encouraged by the interest shown and as we offer recommendations to potential authors, we move closer to crossing the invisible line.