The Future of Hrd, Volume I: Innovation and Technology

ISBN-13: 9783030524098 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 256 str.

Mark Loon; Jim Stewart; Stefanos Nachmias

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Future of HRD: Disruption through Digitalization

 

Setting, motivation, scope and objectives of the book. Discussion and debate of the role of HRD in a world characterized by volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguity. Summary of each chapter and its role contribution to the book’s objectives.

Chapter 2: Role of HRD in developing capabilities for creativity & innovation at work

 

Human Resource Development (HRD) plays a significant role in the development of individual, team and organizational capabilities for creativity and innovation at work. This chapter positions creativity and innovation as multilevel phenomena, and discusses how organizations can develop these capabilities through recruitment, training, and reward. We argue that by focusing on these areas, organizations will also foster a culture of innovation. Furthermore, this chapter positions creativity as an essential part of a multi-stage innovation process, and therefore when this chapter refers to innovation it is inclusive of creativity.

 

A multilevel focus - early innovation research focused at the individual level, turning later to the team and organizational levels. Advances in statistical analysis allow innovation to be modelled simultaneously at the individual, team and organizational levels (Walker & Batey, 2014), which gives a more holistic understanding of complex organizational phenomena that cannot be achieved through single level research (Nielsen, 2010). Innovation is often overlooked during recruitment. When innovation is considered, it is usually assessed at interview and usually only in candidates for senior roles (Searle & Ball, 2003). However, innovation can be an integral part of the recruitment process at both the individual and team levels.

 

The role of recruitment in building innovation capabilities

At the individual level, recruitment should integrate reliable and valid forms of assessment such as psychometrics. Specifically, assessing the traits and preferences known to correlate with innovation, such as the personality trait Openness to Experience (Hammond, Neff, Farr, Schwall & Zhao, 2011). At the team level, there is a valuable but under-utilized opportunity during recruitment to assess team fit in relation to innovation. Not assessing this could result in a homogenous - and therefore less innovative - team in which a new team member is a poor fit.

 

Ongoing training and development of innovation capabilities can occur at both the individual and team levels. At the individual level, training is important to build confidence and provide a consistent understanding of innovation (debunking the many myths about innovation), and communicate the organization’s expectations around innovation. Subsequent coaching continues to build confidence, given that confidence is one of the strongest predictors of creative performance (Luthans, Youssef & Avolio, 2007). Given that innovation is a team activity, we argue that team coaching is then required to translate the individual learning into team learning. Team coaching has been found to correlate positively with innovation: Rousseau, Aube and Tremblay (2013) analyzed teams in a public safety organization and found a positive relationship between team coaching and innovation, for example.

 

Reward - giving something to recognize effort and achievement (Armstrong, 2006) - can be used to encourage and reinforce innovative behaviours within individuals and teams. When developing a reward strategy for innovation, there are four main considerations: (1) reward timing, (2) reward type, (3) which behaviours to reward, and (4) whether the reward is at the individual or team level.

 

First, innovation is a multi-stage process yet rewards often focus on the last stage/s. However, a final ‘big’ reward may be less effective than frequent smaller, associated with earlier stages of the innovation process. This is reflected by organizations such as Google, who have moved away from using award ceremonies as rewards for innovation, and towards smaller more frequent rewards (Baumann & Stieglitz, 2014). Second, there are many types of reward that can be used to build innovation capability. Research suggests that rewards without an immediate financial benefit, such as development or promotion opportunities, may be more effective at encouraging innovation than immediate financial rewards (Barros & Lazzarini, 2012). Third, innovation is a multilevel construct yet rewards typically focus on the individual level. It is important to consider how innovative team behaviours can be reinforced through reward (Axtell et al., 2000), and the reward strategy should reflect this. Fourth, the definition of reward used herein emphasizes effort and achievement (Armstrong, 2006). This is particularly relevant for rewards designed to encourage and reinforce innovation, as the risk inherent in innovation means that organizations that only reward ‘successful’ innovation will only reward a small portion of innovative behaviour. If individuals and teams are only rewarded for a small portion of their innovative behaviours then valuable opportunities to reinforce the desired behaviours are missed and the behavioural reinforcement will be less effective.

 

Organizations regularly cite innovation as a strategic priority (e.g. Boston Consulting Group, 2010; Ernst and Young, 2010), and having an organizational culture that is conducive to innovation enables this strategic priority to be met. Focusing on the factors discussed here –

• recruitment, training, reward – goes some way to fostering a culture of innovation as they signal to employees (and candidates, during recruitment) that the organization values innovation and actively seeks to develop innovation capabilities.

 

Overall, it is clear that organizations benefit from taking a multilevel view of innovation. By focusing on recruitment, training, and reward, organizations can build an innovative workforce and realize the benefits of effective innovation.

 

Chapter 3: Unleashing creativity in apprenticeships.

For the majority of learners vocational education and training in Switzerland secures the adequate preparation for work. With about 70% of each cohort Switzerland currently has the highest percentage of students enrolling in VET in Europe (Gonon 2007, p.8). Apprentices, also called ‘learners’, start working at a host company in a chosen occupation at the age between 15 and 17. They earn a salary that increases over time. Besides the training at the host company, they attend a vocational school for one to two days per week where vocational subjects and general education subjects are taught. Regular VET programs take three or four years and lead to the Federal VET Diploma.

 

Typically, ‘on the job’ training takes place while productive work is carried out for an internal or external client. VET learners gradually work without supervision and are responsible for a part of the productive work, which can include highly demanding and complex work steps. Some VET learners are already taking over a lot of responsibility (Hoffman and Schwartz 2015). The relevance of personal competences, such as creativity, taking initiative and working autonomously is increasing (Barabasch & Keller, forthcoming). Regulation and control activities that originally were in the responsibility of management, are handed over to workers (Heinz 2009). VET learners have to learn to reflect on why work processes are carried out in a particular way, and have to find ways how they can be carried out more effectively (Billett 2001). Innovation-oriented enterprises do adapt their VET training according to these requests, for example providing flexibility and individuality in workplace training, project-based learning, or new forms of learning accompaniment. The reorganization of VET supports the creative work of apprentices.

 

For the case study to be introduced in this chapter the Swiss telecommunication enterprise Swisscom was chosen, because it operates in an innovation-oriented context. It trains a relatively high amount of VET learners and has invested in future oriented training. Its innovative learning culture is not only shaped by the action framework of the enterprise, but also by the specific requests of the corresponding domain of the economy. High innovation pressure in the telecommunication industry results in special demands and requests to have an internal development dynamic, or ability to change (Krapf & Seufert, 2017). The company keeps about 50% of their apprentices after the apprenticeship, while the others seek new employment somewhere else. This is an intentional decision, because talent development also requires a wealth of experience for which change is necessary. Throughout the apprenticeship among others, creativity, as a competence defined in the framework curricula of many apprenticeship programs, is developed through various measures. HRD is particularly conscious about experimenting with different approaches, which will be introduced in this chapter as well as how they support workplace learning.

 

Multiple data were collected from March to July 2018. In total we conducted semi-structured interviews with seventeen learners in VET programs as IT specialist, ICT specialist, interactive media designer, commercial apprentice, retailing specialist and customer dialogue specialist. Interviewed where also five coaches who accompany and somewhat guide learners through their apprenticeship and three regular workers that work together with the apprentices within specific projects. Additionally, we interviewed four members of HRD management responsible for VET. Especially locations and projects considered as being particularly supportive of creativity were visited. The data analysis of the transcripts, field notes and company documents was guided by content analysis (see Kuckartz, 2016). This entails to structure the material in two dimensions: On the one side are cases, mainly individuals who were interviewed or groups of interviewees, on the other side, categories representing different research topics.

 

The results of our case study provide insights into corresponding organization structures of VET in the company that support creative work and creativity development. In addition, we focus on cultural aspects in support of learning, which are constituted by attitudes, beliefs and values of all stakeholders in VET within the enterprise. We will show how apprentices experience the new learning culture and how they learn within it. The chapter will draw conclusions for HRD management how they can support workplace learning, with a special emphasis on young learners, in terms of unleashing their creative potential in support of innovations at the workplace.

 

Chapter 4: Innovation through Interfirm Alliances

Strategic alliances are interfirm collaborative relationships formed by two or more partners who pool their resources and coordinate their activities to reach a common goal. As heightened competition and increased interdependence means that firms are increasingly incapable of staying competitive by relying entirely on its internal resources/capabilities (Das & Teng, 2000), interfirm alliances have become important strategic vehicles of maintaining competitiveness among business organizations. There are many reasons that firms form alliances. One of the most commonly cited reasons is the opportunity of interfirm learning and knowledge transfer. It is argued that strategic alliances provide means through which firms learn, transfer, share, and exploit knowledge resources that are otherwise unavailable within the firm (Grant & Baden-Fuller, 2004; Inkpen, 1998; Lavie, 2006). Literature has also shown that such externally accessed and/or acquired knowledge can help firms to develop innovations that otherwise could not be done internally or to improve the quality and efficiency of innovations developed in the firm (Matinez-Noya & Narula, 2018). In fact, research and development (R&D) alliances is one of the typologies of strategic alliances that has been widely analyzed for its purely learning and innovation focus.

 

The focus of the book chapter will be to highlight the importance of learning and creativity in interfirm alliances, particularly the R&D type of interfirm alliances, and then analyze how HRD can influence innovation through such collaborative arrangements by facilitating learning and creativity at individual, organizational, and inter-organizational levels. The chapter starts with definition and discussion of interfirm alliances and its various motives, emphasizing on the learning and innovation-focused alliances. This is then followed by introduction of the concept of learning and creativity both at organizational and inter-organizational level and the inherent difficulties, highlighting the concepts such as ‘absorptive capacity’, ‘knowledge tacitness’, ‘curiosity’, etc. This section of the chapter will be completed with a discussion of the nexus between learning, creativity and innovation and the prospects/challenges in alliances. The last section of the chapter will analyze how HRD practices can be used to develop innovation capabilities in alliances.

   

Chapter 5: Creating Technology-Human Interfaces

Contemporary examination of organizations across globe reveals marked differences in term of technology adoption and resultant impact on the job roles and employment scenarios.  The introduction of technology in to the workplaces that changed the prerequisites of what we use to call, “Quality Jobs” have considerably changed. The quality term in jobs has become more flexible and learning centric. The human-human interface that determined the socialisation capital of organization with strong impetus for learning and creation of quality jobs are encountering sustenance challenges thereby necessitating organizations to create parallel learning structures as an organizational development intervention.

 

For organizations to leverage upon the inclusion of technology in the workplace environment and for creating people-tech interfaces, the recognition of technology as a planned change is critical. Recognizing human-technology interface as a change, considerable amount of developmental activity need to be undertaken that will deliver sustenance to the change.  The creation of human-technology interface requires systematic learning of workplaces as socio-technical systems embedded with systems thinking. The socio-technical system refers to the work design and organization restructuring, wherein the present chapter will build upon the human–technology interface as a determinant of work design and emergence of parallel learning structures as a case of institutional restructuring.

 

Envisioning future workplaces as human-technology intensive systems, the open system thinking, at the very first place will eliminate the compartmentalization of organizations as human or tech intensive and will recognize human tech interfaces as a mutually reinforcing phenomenon and multiple causation with strong implications on nature of jobs, systems and people.  Further the literary evidences strongly suggest that parallel learning structures foster innovation and change, so a diagnosis into the linear relationship between  learning and innovation can be will be highlighted through small institutional cases that have created parallel learning structures for building innovative systems and structures.

 

Reflecting upon the linear relationship between change (Human-technology interface) and parallel learning structure, the relationship will be premised on considering, a structure as a division, parallel as a side-by-side unit, intended to increase learning (thoughts and people behaviour). This leads to the understanding of parallel learning structure as a micro representation of learning organizations. The inclusion of human-technology interfaces in academic setups reconfigures the social fabric of organization with strong impact on the socialisation capital. This socialisation capital strongly impacts the ease of learning and adoption of new change interventions. Hence forth the chapter will outline the creation of learning organizations as parallel learning structures that endorse socialisation. The chapter aims to answer the predominant question as to what is the scope of transformation or merger of parallel learning structure into the organizational structure so that one entity emerges. The human-technology interface calls for building the system architecture that supports the humane as well as tech context of organizations.  This poses serious implications for organizations in terms of creating human-technology interfaces, reason being that the elasticity of change of learning corresponding to the technological changes is a matter of introspection as organizations vary in terms of adoption of new learning.

 

Consequently, the future workplaces will be more agile, thereby mandating the creation of job profiles, that are flexible and intern driving organizations to develop workforce that can work with newer forms of technology and can use technology for improvising the performance levels in varied ways. Further the present chapter presents the three fold intersection of organizational perspectives that is work design, parallel learning structures and human-technology interfaces.  The chapter will enable HRD practitioners to create OD and change interventions aligned not only with the present organizational needs but also with the future work place contingencies.

 

Chapter 6: Redefining HRD roles and practice in the Machine Learning Revolution

Based on the growing needs of organizations to adopt technologies associated with artificial intelligence and specifically machine learning, the chapter explores why HRD practitioners must respond to the Digital Revolution and incorporate machine as well as human learning into their practice. The justification for the chapter is that for a profession and discipline that is concerned with organizational and individual learning and the development of human potential (Hamlin & Stewart, 2011) the advance of ML poses a fundamental challenge for the future. Harrison et al (2018) note that there is a shortage of academic research around ML from an HRD perspective. The Chapter will:

·         Explore the current role of technology in HRD practice. Firstly, in the delivery of learning content, usually referred to as e-learning and secondly, the management of learning and development of staff within the workplace as a Learning Management System (LMS). In both cases practice makes use  of electronic technologies to support learning. However, with the arrival of ML this chapter will demonstrate how these assumptions might need reconsideration.

·         Consider how the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Schwab 2016) or Industry 4.0, the development of ML and associated technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), algorithms and Internet of Things (IoT) will impact on human skill development and redefine the construction and assessment of working lives. 

·         Explore the potential impact of machine learning given its position as a ‘technology that allows computers that learn directly from examples and experience in the form of data’ (The Royal Society 2017, p.19 and its potential to  emulate how humans learn by providing an algorithm-driven machine with the data necessary to work against a goal, providing feedback to ensure it is working correctly then allowing the machine to work.

·         Explore concepts such as Deep Learning or deep neural networks and significant investment of resource (Parloff, 2016) in such operations as speech recognition, visual object recognition and object detection (Bengio et al., 2015).

·         Articulate a new role for HRD to lead and form collaborations across stakeholders and embed  human values within technologies so they can be ‘shaped to enhance the common good, environmental stewardship and human dignity’ (p.2).

·         Highlight recognized dangers, exemplified by the potential for perverse results, predictions and the replacement, complement or advancement of human skill (Fry 2018; Naughton 2018). Schwab and Davies (2018) argue that while Industry 4.0 has the potential for bringing significant benefits, there is also the possibility of adverse effects resulting from unfair distribution of benefits, the production of external costs and the disempowering of human beings.

·         Highlight from case studies specific HRD issues such as learned bias (Cheatham et al. 2019). For example, Amazon and Google programmes to automate recruitment and selection and the potential for incorrect, defamatory or bigoted associations for particular people and groups (Diakopoulos, 2016).

·         Share the work of Schwab and Davis (2018) and Fry (2018) who highlight ethical challenges which need to be addressed to ensure fairness and balance. Crucially, we will advocate a role for  HRD/LD as ML by definition means machines can create new answers to problems using its own route, affecting performance at work and beyond.

·         Introduce the concept of Future and Forecasting approach to stimulate strategic planning with a specific focus on AI and Machine Learning 

 

Chapter 7: Role of HRD to address the needs of digital revolution

In today’s digitalized world, globalization and automation have reduced the number of routine, low-skills jobs, followed by a rising demand for graduates with an enhanced skills-set to enable organizations to seek new opportunities and product innovations. New emerging technologies have a big impact on work conduct, while most recent socio-political and demographic changes (e.g. ‘Brexit’, economic instability, higher education reforms, generation attitude changes etc.) also reinforce the need to provide critical insights as to how graduates’ competences can improve and sustain business competitiveness and sustainability. Particularly, the European Union (EU), and most national governments across the globe, emphasized on the need to produce digitally capable graduates to satisfy governmental and organizational needs within today’s constantly digitally evolving world. Thus, being digitally competent could have a huge impact on workforce’s employability across most national economies and businesses operating within the EU borders and globally (Bilal et al., 2017; European Union, 2015; Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, 2018).

 

Drawing on digital competencies theories (Prifti, Knigge, Kienegger & Krcmar, 2017; Murawski & Bick, 2017; Ilomäki et al., 2016; Pan & Seow, 2016;Hartmann & Hundertpfund, 2015; Vieru, 2015; Bedwell et al., 2014; Davies, Fidler, & Gorbis, 2011; Ala-Mutka, 2011;), we argue that a strong relationship exists between certain digital competences (e.g. social intelligence/critical thinking/cultural agility etc.) and the likelihood for graduates to be recruited by organizations (SMEs, MNCs, NGOs and government agencies). With that in mind, being digitally competent upon graduation could strengthen a person’s employability within the labour market. As prominent research on the concept of digital competence is rather heterogeneous, a thorough review of the topic seems to be justified concerning implications for HRD both at national and organizational levels. Therefore, both from a national and organizational HRD perspective, the impact of graduates’ digital competencies becomes topical for the future economic success of most countries and businesses. Examining how national governmental policies (National HRD) in the UK and Switzerland and how educational institutions in both countries address such concerns could shed light onto the future direction of the UK’s approach to competences development outside the EU borders.

 

Evidence from the SERI report on Challenges of Digitalization for Education and Research in Switzerland, the Confederation and associated players have drawn up the Action Plan for Digitalization in Education, Research and Innovation (ERI) 2019–2020, which defines measures in eight action areas. Some of these areas include improving digital literacy, rapidly adapting the education system to market requirements and strengthening young academic's qualifications (digital skills) (State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, 2019). In the UK, the last decade was proved crucial regarding governmental efforts in up-skilling workforce’s competences through life-long learning initiatives. Such offerings, both on behalf of governmental bodies and educational institutions have a major impact on the understanding, development and provision of HRD in the UK. As noted by Lee (2004: 335) all these initiatives are “government-led, and they are mostly consultative, as well as these are based upon a stakeholder view of HRD and the economy”. It is of all British governments’ priority to enhance all types of competences of the workforce and across all business sectors. As to that, several governmental bodies were set to examine and propose policies, with the Quality Control in Higher Education being amongst them. Its aim is to design, propose, implement and evaluate workforce’s developmental initiatives, which eventually could lead to a stronger conceptualization of HRD in the UK. Having the nature of HRD evolved over the last couple of years, and in accordance to national HRD policies aiming to strengthen the workforce development frameworks, we believe that our chapter could exemplify HRD’s contribution to organizational management and practice, as well as how HRD addresses the needs of digital revolution in an attempt to create quality of jobs. This particular proposition comes in line with national educational policies, economic support to back up such initiatives etc. (Holmes, 2012).

 

In addition, graduate underemployment became a real problem, as many graduates are unable to utilize their knowledge and skills to their benefit. Therefore, there is a need for greater emphasis on setting learning outcomes to reflect a broader, ideological shift regarding the role of universities, increasingly perceived as serving ‘market’ or ‘knowledge-based economy’. Our aim is to initiate a discussion around future HRD strategies on behalf of national HRD and encourage the development of appropriate digital competencies amongst graduates. At a national level, the formation of strategic partnerships with educational institutions to develop and promote graduate digital competency frameworks is an indispensable measure in ensuring graduate employability.

 

We aim to examine the concept of digital competences and to raise awareness of their importance in line with graduates’ employability. We further aim to provide clarity on how digital competences are developed and assessed in two educational institutions (one British and one Swiss University). Since, policy makers are highly engaged in the debate as to how education policy can support organizations’ future capability development, there is a need for a new framework that provides clarity on the key competences required by modern organizations, and most importantly how digital competences relate to organizational competitiveness and sustainability. As organizational capability is core in sustaining business competitive advantage, digital competences are seen to play a crucial role in supporting future business success. Introducing a case study comparison as to how business schools inform their educational curricula to market constantly changing requirements of digital economy, in line with national HRD policies, and how they foster the development of digital competencies in their graduates is expected to exemplify how HRD practices are developed and applied in those two European, non-EU-member countries.

 

Chapter 8: European Innovation Policies impacts on Human Resources Development and Economic Growth

Innovation public policy has an essential role in influencing the competitive capacity of companies and is strongly associated with their ability to innovate and the way they are organized. The concept of innovation can be translated as "the successful production, assimilation, and exploitation of novelty," according to the   Green Paper on Innovation from the European Commission (1996) and to Oslo Manual (OECD, 2018).  The concept is then structured around three pillars: the renovation and enlargement of the range of products and services and the associated markets; the creation of new methods of production, supply and distribution; and the introduction of changes in management, work organization, and skills of the workforce – organizational innovation.

 

As important as the technological innovation is organizational innovation, integrating the organization of work, and the social dimension, namely, involvement, participation, and commitment of the employees, as these are, par excellence, factors that contribute to creating added value and differentiation for companies. In this sense, the concept of innovation depends on an integrated vision between the human dimension and the other multiple dimensions that innovation can assume (technological innovation, product innovation, marketing innovation, and other types of innovation).

 

In this context, organizational innovation main objectives are the increasing of effectiveness and efficiency of work, increasing cooperation and coordination within the company, and the company's ability to adapt to changes. To achieve this goal, several factors influence the Human resources Development, namely, training and coaching, organization of work, involvement of employees in the innovation process and the learning processes implemented to develop employees’ knowledge.  Innovation is then supported on tacit knowledge (rooted in people experiences and insights) whose costs and benefits are harder to quantify and also on explicit knowledge (enclosed in documents, reports, memos, and databases).

 

As widely known modernization of the industry in Europe, have been promoted by various innovation support programs in the last decade. The political, economic and social context that has been experienced in recent years led, to a commitment to innovation in a concerted and integrated way - not only technologically but also, and in particular at the organizational level. In this context, Public Policies can play an important role by promoting programs that contribute to improving the way companies invest in their capacity for innovation. However, the leading role rests with the companies themselves - they need to take the initiative by using their skills and investing in the skills of the employees, as they are the ones that determine their competitive ability.

 

Public policies besides the goal of creating a more modern and competitive business and industrial context, also are focused on the development of the workforce, not only in digital competences but also in soft skills. This type of skills contributes to creating a more innovative context and a culture of innovation. This chapter main goal is to make a global overview of innovation and the public policies oriented to programs that incentives the Human Resources Development and consequently the modernization of companies, influencing the way they contribute to economic growth.

 

Chapter 9: HRD in the future: Implications and Opportunities

This concluding chapter will provide a number of concluding remarks and offer the reader the opportunity to assess current and future implications.

O autorze

Mark Loon is Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at Bath Spa University, UK. He is a co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Human Resource Development: Practice, Policy and Research and an incoming Vice Chair in the British Academy of Management, co-leading the Management Knowledge and Education Committee.

Jim Stewart is Professor of Human Resource Development in Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, UK, where his role is to provide mentoring support and research leadership for colleagues teaching and researching Human Resource Management. He has authored and co-edited over 20 books on HRD as well as of numerous articles in academic and professional journals.

Stefanos Nachmias is Principal Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Business School, UK. His research interests include an assessment of line managers’ diversity needs, gender in the workplace and employment practices. He has co-edited several books, including Inequality and Organizational Practice, Volumes I and II, and Hidden Inequalities in the Workplace (Palgrave Macmillan).

Blurb

This edited collection captures current thinking about and future practices and strategies for human resource development (HRD). It brings together contributions from a number of leading academics, practitioners and consultants who are active in the debate about the future of HRD. As the world of work grows ever more complex, diverse and ambiguous, there is growing interest in how technology, globalisation, changing workforce demographics and talent development can play a greater role in developing organisations for the future. In this context, HRD is a critical tool to address current complexity and offer solutions to organisational learning needs. Split into two volumes covering technology and innovation as well as the role of HRD in disrupting management and organisational thinking, these books provide analyses of the role of HRD in addressing the needs of the digital revolution.

Volume I focuses on how technology affects organisational and individual life through innovation, creativity and learning. Contributions explore the growing trends around technology and how HRD could respond to these changes at the micro and macro levels. Together the two volumes offer a highly reflective, critical and insightful assessment on the foundations of HRD in the workplace.