A Framework for Human Resource Development

The problem and the solution.The advancement of technol-ogy in the global workplace is having a profound impact on the roles of human resource development (HRD) professionals. In the past, technology in HRD was primarily educational media used to support training. Current forms of sophisticated tech-nology, coupled with the expanded role of HRD in the global organization, are now used by HRD professionals to support learning at work,enhance job performance,and facilitate organi-zational development and change. This chapter presents a con-ceptual framework for thinking about the role of technology in the digital workplace and highlights the challenges faced by HRD professionals in promoting individual and organizational learn-ing and performance improvement. The convergence of the information age and the technology revolution on shop floors, offices, and boardrooms of the global workplace has changed the nature of work and the roles that human resource development (HRD) professionals play in ensuring the effective performance of organizations, people, and processes. This has led to workplace changes that range from mechanical to computerized, information based to knowledge based, indi-vidualized to team based, and hands-on to minds-on. Increased skill levels are required to maintain complex equipment, and there is an increased need for knowledge workers who possess high-level mental skills that involve symbolic and abstract thinking (Grubb, 1984). As stated by Malhotra (1998), “knowledge workers need to be facile in the applications of new technologies to their business contexts. Such understanding is necessary so that they can delegate ‘programmable ’ tasks to technologies to concentrate their time and efforts on value-adding activities that demand creativity an