Human Resource Development Different point of View

As technology is permeating our personal and professional lives, it is also having an enormous impact on the field of human resource development (HRD). Virtual HRD (VHRD) has recently emerged as a new area of inquiry in the field and is driving a paradigm shift necessitating new skills, policies and theories as we move forward.

This webcast will highlight a recent issue of Advances in Developing Human Resources, (December, 2010) on Virtual Human Resource Development (VHRD).





Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations. Human resources is also the name of the function within an organization charged with the overall responsibility for implementing strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals (i.e. the human resources). This function title is often abbreviated to the initials "HR".

Human resources is a relatively modern management term, coined as late as the 1960s. The origins of the function arose in organizations that introduced 'welfare management' practices and also in those that adopted the principles of 'scientific management'. From these terms emerged a largely administrative management activity, coordinating a range of worker related processes and becoming known, in time, as the 'personnel function'. Human resources progressively became the more usual name for this function, in the first instance in the United States as well as multinational or international corporations, reflecting the adoption of a more quantitative as well as strategic approach to workforce management, demanded by corporate management to gain a competitive advantage, utilizing limited skilled and highly skilled workers.