Search results

This chapter discusses key training challenges that organizations need to confront with the objective of building a robust human resource management system. Given the dynamics of the current business environment, training and development has become an indispensable function in global organizations. Building an effective human capital that contributes to continual organizational growth has become the established norm to survive in a competitive business landscape. However, the training and development function is often rendered ineffective, on account of various bottlenecks existing in the organization. Addressing these bottlenecks is quintessential in ensuring the creation of a performance-driven human capital. The goal of this chapter is to draw attention to the training impediments that hinder organizational growth and to diagnose the underlying causes for the same. This chapter concludes with recommendations that organizational decision-makers can leverage in their quest to strengthen the human capital, by utilizing their training and development infrastructure optimally.

The paper investigates the effects of strategic human resource practices on intellectual capital and new product development performance in knowledge-based firms.

A quantitative approach was adopted to conduct the present study. The respondents were sampled from knowledge-based firms in Iran. Overall, 120 managers in 60 knowledge-based firms were selected using convenience sampling. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to ascertain the validity and reliability of the observed items, and a structural equation model was employed for testing the proposed hypotheses.

In the studied firms, strategic human resource practices have a positive and significant effect on intellectual capital. Moreover, the findings of this study indicate that those firms that use their intellectual capital have a higher new product development performance.

The study focuses on knowledge-based firms in Iran, which limits the generalizability of the research results. Therefore, future studies should be carried out with samples from other settings and countries. Moreover, as the study was cross-sectional, the causal relationships could not be inferred directly.

With regard to key areas of improvement identified in this study, knowledge-based firms should focus on increasing new product development performance by improving employees' training, involving them in their job-related decision-making process, empowering employees to innovate, developing intellectual capital and monitoring the customer's satisfaction level of new products.

The study extends the intellectual capital literature by linking strategic human resource practices to new product development performance in knowledge-based firms via intellectual capital as a mediator.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concepts of national human resource development (NHRD) and human resource development (HRD) in order to demonstrate their mutually reinforcing strategic value in the nation building process of Afghanistan.

This study conducted an analysis of the national context and organizational context of an international aid agency in relation to Afghanistan's nation building challenges.

The authors propose NHRD as an effective strategic approach to progressing Afghanistan's nation building strategy to be simultaneously used by the Afghan government and UNDP. Effective deployment of HRD principles in the selected international aid agency may further contribute to the nation building effort within Afghanistan by helping maximize organizational and workforce performances. In conjunction, these human development strategies can assist Afghan government's policy makers, and international aid agencies to successfully achieve human development goals.

The authors suggest that it is increasingly important for policy makers to understand the significant contribution of NHRD in nation building and organizational development. The authors propose some recommendations toward a sustainable modernization of a nation specifically in the context of the developing country.

The paper advances the mutually reinforcing value of NHRD and HRD and highlights their contribution towards human development, abatement of social injustices and building democracies around the world.

The paper explores a complex environment such as Afghanistan in which human development challenges are a shared responsibility between the national government and the international community. The authors’ discussion can serve as an example to demonstrate the role of NHRD in other post‐war and transitioning countries. This paper is also important for HRD scholars interested in exploring new and challenging contexts as it highlights HRD's role as a valuable policy tool in the context of national and international development.

Purpose: We generally ascribe hospitality industry talent shortages to organisations competing for dwindling talent rather than their inability to sustain industry talent pools. This chapter suggests that developing sustainable talent management and development (STMD) initiatives can address the talent attraction and retention issues the industry is facing. Following Ostrom’s (2002) design principles, we advocate for sustainable common pool resource networks as a solution for developing durable STMD initiatives to address talent shortages within the hospitality industry.

Methodology: A conceptual chapter synthesising disparate theories in a new context.

Findings: Despite hospitality organisations’ continued investment in talent management, talent shortages remain systematically embedded within the industry. These are the result of a perennial competition among hospitality firms for talent, when, instead, these firms should engage in collective efforts to sustain industry talent pools. The adoption of a more sustainable approach by incorporating Ostrom’s (2002) design principles to establish long-lasting common talent pool resource in the form of industry rather than firm-level talent pools may halt the decline in available talent.

Research Limitation/Implications: While hospitality organisations have a vested interest in sustainably managing talent, limited attention has been paid to creating sustainable industry talent pools. We propose several design principles for developing durable STMD initiatives, which require empirical testing.

Practical/Social Implications: We address talent shortages for hospitality organisations by offering the blueprint for developing sustainable industry talent pools for a collection of firms, which, on their own, would lack the experience and resources to securing a steady supply of talent. In addition, industry talent pools also have the potential to improve the general working conditions for employees in this industry pool.

Originality/Value of Chapter: This chapter addresses hospitality industry talent shortages by proposing the creation of sustainable regional industry talent pools rather than focussing on firm-level talent management practices.