The role of human resource development in organizational change: Professional development strategies of employees, managers and HRD practitioners

The aim of this chapter is to present, and provide empirical evidence for, a theory that gives central stage to actors operating strategically in the context of professional development. The learning-network theory (based on the seminal work of Ferd van der Krogt) deals with the organization of HRD taking into account the various ways in which different actors employ their own professional development strategies. It also assumes that neither managers nor employees will have very explicit ideas about the organization of HRD (which HRD practitioners tend to forget about in this connection). The chapter first presents the main tenets of the learning-network theory. Its proceeds by describing a case study conducted in a healthcare setting, where managers and HRD practitioners attempted to introduce a new working method through a learning program. The case study also shows how employees (healthcare officers) worked on their own professional development. The chapter ends in a discussion of the different strategies employed by employees, managers, and HRD practitioners in organizing HRD.