Critical Thinking in Human Resource Development [Paperback]

This book provides a reflexive critique of the assumptions of orthodox HRD research and practice and questions the conception of humans as resources, as well as the conventional performative focus of HRD. Examining the broader social, political and economic contexts, the book offers alternative perspectives for considering both the needs of individuals and the sustainable development of organizations in post-industrial economies.

1. Critical Thinking in HRD: An Introduction  Part One: Debates on Practice  2. Beware the Unbottled Genie: Unspoken Aspects of Critical Self-Reflection  3. Ideas for Critical Practicioners  4. Becoming Critical: Can Critical Management Learning Develop Critical Managers? 5. Management Education: A Tool for Mismanagement?  6. A Critical Review of of Researching Human Resource Development: The Case of a Pan-European Project  7. HRD Beyond What HRD Practicioners Do: A Framework for Furthering Multiple Learning Processes in Work Organisations  8. Place: A (Re)source for Learning  9. Critiquing Codes of Ethics  Part Two: Theoretical Debates  10. Deconstructing the Human in Human Resource Development  11. Sense or Sensibility? A Reflection on Virtue and 'Emotional' HRD Interventions  12. The Self at Work: Theories of Persons, Meaning of Work and their Implications for HRD  13. To Develop a Firm Persuation : Workplace Learning and the Problem of Meaning  14. Good Order: On the Administration of Goodness 15. Pedagogies of HRD: The Socio-Political Implications

The book provides a reflexive critique of the assumptions of orthodox HRD research and practice and questions the conception of humans as resources, as well as the conventional performative focus of HRD.Carole Elliott, Sharon Turnbull