The current orthodoxy is that 'knowledge' is the most powerful resource for organisational success. So how can managers develop the appropriate knowledge base to make their organisations grow? The answer lies in action research. Action research is increasingly perceived and used as a powerful methodology to promote professional awareness and development. However, there are very few texts that demonstrate how this can be utilised to promote management and organisational improvement or that emphasise the reflective nature of improving professionalism. Action Research in Organisations...

This volume contains original chapters by some of the leading researchers and writers in the field of HRD. It studies the design and conduct of research in HRD and, in doing so, identifies and examines key issues and debates concerning methodological principles and the possibilities and limitations of particular methods and techniques.

Recognizing a significant need to continually update the current body of knowledge on management development with the latest innovations in high quality research and practice in various parts of the globe, this book provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date work on the state of research and practice in management development.

Hill and Stewart provide examples of both management development research and practice to inform and stimulate future research and to encourage the use of research-based practice in organizations. In particular, the book:

• Explores and...

Science fiction can be seen as a diagnosis of the present, and a vision of possible futures. It therefore provides an excellent resource with which to interrogate both contemporary organizing processes and organizations as institutions. The marginal activity of science fiction has, however, been largely ignored in writing on organization theory. This international collection is the first book of its kind to explore how science fiction can enrich studies of organization by drawing on perspectives across the arts and social sciences.

Human Resource Development in a Complex World presents a strong challenge to traditional Human Resource Development. Internationally renowned authors address HRD from within the notions and language of complexity, presenting multifaceted alternative perspectives to the current practice and theory of HRD.

Over the past ten to fifteen years there has been an increasing interest in emotion in organizations, in diversity, ethics, care and the ubiquitous pursuit of quality. These concerns, however, have consistently been reduced to issues of management and regulation. There is now a growing need to confront issues related to the dehumanization of organizations. This book brings these issues together, presenting an original construction of the organization via an emphasis on the (m)other. This book is not a feminist tract, nor is it primarily about the experiences of women in organizations. It...

The first book to look at both aesthetics and human resource development, this timely and original work investigates existing, as well as possible future, connections and relations between the two areas.

Well structured and expertly written, The Aesthetic Challenges of Human Resource Development is undoubtedly a valuable reference for students of human resource management, business and management, and aesthetics.