Exploring the human resource development policies and procedures in the school context

Despite the long and hesitant relationship between education and business sector, corporate theories are often adapted in education, but their implication is seldom explored. One of the corporate phenomena, Human Resource Development (HRD), which caters to the development of staff members and organization, has always been a pertinent focus for organizational development. This study aimed to explore the development and implementation of HRD policies and procedures in a school context. Moreover, the influencing factors and the issue and challenges faced during implementation and the ways to resolve them were also explored. Under the qualitative paradigm, the case study method was employed to investigate HRD experience of human resource officer, principal and other staff members including teachers, coordinators, support and administrative staff. These participants were affiliated with school unit in Karachi, Pakistan, which was, a part of a private educational network in Pakistan. With the use of semi-structured interview and document analysis, the participants\u27 experiences and views were discovered. The key findings of this study revealed that policy development in the school is done on the basis of mutual consensus of all the staff members, but the principal of the school is the main source of taking employees and senior management in the loop for policy development. The other findings related to policy implementation highlighted that school leadership made their decision about employees\u27 development by keeping policy guidelines as the main focus but also considered the needs and capabilities of employees as their prime focus. The findings outlined that school provides plenteous training and development opportunities to its teachers to do effective teaching. However, providing career progression opportunities to employees results in sustainable relationship with the organization and contributes to organizational development. The issues and challenges in policy implementation like difference in individual and organizational needs are also highlighted. The study recommends arranging policy dialogues in school, so that teachers can understand educational policies at local, national, and interactional level