Human Resource Development Review: Research and Implications

Designed to inform, stimulate and influence research and practice in human resource development (HRD), this book reviews exemplary studies in the field and discusses their practical implications.

Topics discussed include: the importance of variety in behavioural models to improve training; methods for enhancing human performance; integrative and accelerated learning; the advantages of structured versus unstructured on-the-job training; team performance; why some teams learn and others do not; interventions that improve team processes and performance; the role of managers in organizational learning; how research on organizational learning might affect the role of HRD; and how HRD professionals can facilitate organizational learning into a transfer-of-training `climate′.

Darlene Russ-Eft, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Adult and Higher Education, College of  Education, Oregon State University (OSU).  She received her BA from the College of Wooster in psychology and her MA and PhD from University of Michigan in cognitive psychology.  She worked for international training companies as director of research before joining OSU, where she teaches doctoral and master’s courses to senior leaders and practitioners.  Her research focuses on issues related to leadership development and HRD program evaluation.  Her most recent book is titled Managing Social Science Research (2017, Wiley).  She is past president of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD); past board member of the American Evaluation Association; and past editor of Human Resource Development Quarterly.  In her previous role with international training companies and as a director for the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (ibstpi^R), she has undertaken several studies examining global competencies related to HRD.  She has received several awards for her research, including the Times Mirror Editor of the Year Award, the ASTD (now ATD) Research Article Award, and the AHRD Scholar Award.  She was also inducted into the AHRD Hall of Fame.

Hallie Preskill, PhD. is a Managing Director with FSG, a global nonprofit strategy, evaluation, and research consulting firm (since 2009), and leads the firm’s Strategic Learning and Evaluation practice. In her role as a senior advisor, she works on a wide variety of evaluation and learning projects. Sample clients include the Kresge Foundation, MasterCard Foundation, Knight Foundation, The California Endowment, Missouri Foundation for Health, Norlien Foundation, Packard Foundation, Northwest Area Foundation, Blue Shield of CA Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She has helped evaluate a wide range of initiatives and programs related to community information needs, substance abuse, early learning, poverty, arts and culture, teacher professional development, domestic and sexual violence, economic development, youth and education, and healthcare. 

Prior to joining FSG, Hallie spent more than 20 years in academia, teaching graduate level courses in program evaluation, training design and development, organizational learning, appreciative inquiry and consulting. Her research has focused on evaluation capacity building, transfer of learning/training, evaluation use, and evaluation as a catalyst for individual, team, and organizational learning. Hallie’s other books include: Reframing Evaluation through Appreciative Inquiry (2006, with T. Catsambas), Evaluation in Organizations: A Systematic Approach to Enhancing Learning, Performance & Change (2001, 2009, with D. Russ-Eft), Evaluation Strategies for Effective Strategies for Communicating and Reporting (2005, with R. T. Torres and M. Piontek), and Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organizations (1999, with R. T. Torres), and Becoming the Change: What One Organization Working To Transform Educational Systems Learned About Team Learning and Change (2011, with R. Babiera).

Hallie was the 2007 President of the American Evaluation Association. She received the American Evaluation Association′s Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Award for Outstanding Professional Practice in 2002 and the University of Illinois Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004. Hallie holds a PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Catherine M. (Cathy) Sleezer, Ph.D., helps individuals and organizations identify and address performance barriers and align training and development with goals. Grounded and guided by cutting-edge research and best practices, she has consulted successfully with a variety of organizations on needs assessment, training and development, executive coaching, strategic planning, organizational surveys, employee engagement, management development, new employee orientation, and team building. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and was a professor at Oklahoma State University before moving to the corporate world where she filled multiple roles for an international company.  Cathy’s work history also includes serving as a faculty member at Penn State where she directed the Institute for Research in Training and Development. More recently, she was the resident consultant for the University of Tulsa’s Center for Executive and Professional Development. Cathy is a past-director and president of the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (ibstpi®) and a past board member of the Academy of Human Resource Development and the ASTD (now ATD) Research Committee. Her co-authored books include Human Resource Development Review: Research and Implications, A Practical Guide to Needs Assessment (3rd edition), Fieldbook of ibstpi® Evaluator Competencies, and Managing Applied Social Research.