Understanding Human Resource Development

Sandra Watson, Jim McGoldrick, Jim Stewart

• Preface 1 Researching HRD: philosophy, process and practice 2 Defining the research question: on seizing the moment as the research question emerges 3 Problems of method in HRD research: company-based lifelong learning and ‘longitudinality’ 4 The tools of freedom and the sources of indignity 5 Towards evidence-based HRD practice 6 Researching HRD in small organizations 7 Evaluating the impact of management development on performance 8 Learning for change by telling stories 9 Learning to change, changing to learn: case studies in the automotive sector 10 Analysing quantitative research 11 Writing the research story 12 Ethical issues in HRD research 13 Implementing networked learning with HRD professionals internationally 14 Implications for reflective HRD practitioners of the influence of life experience on managers’ career decisions 15 Going native!: ethnographic research in HRD 16 Convergence and divergence in HRD: research and practice across Europe 17 Using action research to explore the development needs of second generation Asian small businesses 18 A new approach to the literature review 19 Postscript: the future for HRD research