HRD CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES IN AFRICA

MAKING THE ELEPHANT DANCE

Introduction

‘Africa’s future lies in its people. Indeed, Africa must solve its current human development crisis if it is to claim the twenty first century. Africa’s future economic growth will depend less on its natural resources which are being depleted and are subject to long-run price declines and more on its labour skills and its ability to accelerate a demographic transition’(World Bank, 2000)

Introduction cont.

The strategic importance of HRD has been emphasized as the ‘cutting edge’ of Africa’s strategic development agenda

Africa needs well skilled and competent people to deliver the benefits of change and modernization for her people.

Cont.

HRD practitioners in Africa should use their skills and professionalism to entice the elephant so that even if it does not dance; it can at least ‘shake a leg’ in preparation to do a jig.

Challenges

Conceptualization of HRD Is it People development; Education and

Training or Learning and development? Human Resource Development is an

organizational process comprising skilful planning and facilitation of a variety of formal and informal learning and knowledge producing processes and experiences that

Cont.

occurs primarily but not exclusively at the workplace in order that organizational progress and individual potential can be enhanced through the competence, adaptability, commitment and knowledge creating activity of all who work for the organization

Cont.

HRD aims to add value to the achievement of an organization’s goals and objectives through

pointing people in the right direction (alignment) and

in developing their beliefs and commitment to the organization’s purpose and direction (engagement).

HRD imperatives

six imperatives for effective Human resource development in any organization:

a focus on the performance challenges for individuals and teams;

Seeing performance challenges as encompassing tomorrow’s employability as well as today’s work;

.

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Recognizing that most development is the result of social interaction;

Seeing development needs and pathways as contingent;

Assuming that everyone has rights as well as responsibilities; and Collaboration to develop capabilities

Funding HRD

Low levels of funding Decisions about funding of HRD are

determined at the annual budget process as an annual ritual

attitudes of learners who see training as part of their benefit package

The challenge of Globalization

to modernize and orient services increasingly diversified needs of customers the future is increasingly being disconnected

from past experiences and ways To keep pace with rapid rate of

Organizational and Technological change makes training and development very central to performance improvement

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As organizations continue to evolve and re-invent themselves in order to respond to the increasingly rapid pace of change, so must all learning and development professionals in order to keep abreast of these changes.

Challenges related to the Practice of HRD in Africa

It is perhaps one of the worst kept secrets of organizational life that the measurable improvement in performance over any given period, resulting from attendance of training course is all too often zero” (Carter, 1991).

emergence of the knowledge economy has necessitated development of knowledge productive organizations to replace the old concept of a learning organization.

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Organizations are increasingly relying on knowledge creation in order to gain competitive advantage and to work effectively in various collaborative arrangements.

Effective Human Resource Development is not something that will just happen; The need for professional input and expertise has become even greater (CIPD, 2005)

RESPONSES TO THE CHALLENGES OF HRD

Training an elephant to dance is thought to be difficult because of their huge size. Yet, the way they walk on their toes can be compared to the dance of a ballerina’ performing a special style of dancing to tell a story without any talking.

HOW PRACTITIONERS CAN ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES

Understanding ones values, beliefs and theories on learning

late MICHAEL JACKSON in his song ‘the man in the mirror’ sang; if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change

Our paradigms are the sources of our attitudes, behavior and relationships with others

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Focusing on oneself leads to an appreciation that personal and professional life do not exist in isolation

Helps get to grips with ‘doing’ and ‘being’ to ensure that the doing is informed by the being.

a realization that ones life is closely interwoven with that of other people in their surrounding

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enhances understanding of other people, their feelings, perspectives and concerns –enhances capacity to influence them

get to grips with how people learn - therefore how to position oneself to add value to their learning.

Paying attention to Personal and Professional development

It is impossible to develop new ways of organization and management while continuing to think in old ways. Morgan, G. 1993

Imaginization helps us to break free, to develop new images of organizations.

CPD enhances an individual’s professional practice

cont.

Critten (1999)- the capacity to learn about our own learning in collaboration with others is the defining characteristic of CPD

Clarifying Position and context in organizational L&D.

there is a tendency in organizations not to involve HRD professionals on business reorganizations decisions (CIPD, 2006).

‘Your customers can’t know how good you are unless you tell them’.

relationship marketing can clarify HRD role in achievement of the organization’s goals.

Cont.

Leadership, like power does not beg; it is those who have the moral compulsion to take the people where they want to go who rise to the occasion-Anonymous

offer leadership drawn from a personal not positional power

Be an ‘attractor basins ’or surrogate focal points of self organized knowledge processing (McElroy, 2003).

Cont.

If HRD is fully aligned with the business, makes effort to understand / be conversant with business operations, speaks the language and is seen by line managers as making a valuable contribution. Then automatically, they will be included in decision-making.

Professional Practice of HRD

Professionalism is not a technical skill. is a set of internalized character strengths,

attitudes and values directed towards high quality service to others

Is a reflective practice- involves reflection and experimentation

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focuses attention from outer experiences to the subjective processes of perception, construction, judgment and action to modify the thinking and act with greater integrity

develop a quality of mindfulness that makes one attentive to their thoughts and projects and at the same time to the needs of the learners (Hartog, 2002).

Aligning HRD to Strategic priorities

focus more on strategy deliver a learning agenda that enables

managers to achieve what they want to do. clear vision about peoples ability and

potential to provide competitive advantage ensures there is ‘fit’, ‘linkage’, or ‘integration’

of business strategy, values and action.

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directing the thinking within the organization from the traditional ‘doctor-type’ thinking to the more innovative ‘architect-type’ of thinking.

Sharing the responsibility for learning with others in the organization

create an environment that enables people to learn from each other and to embed the learning in their jobs.

Nurturing the Community Spirit:The knowledge that drives an organization

does not reside in its formal procedures but in ‘communities of practice’ created by people who on daily basis ‘negotiate meaning’ (Wenger, 2000)

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help the organization to ‘grasp the concept of dialogue and the search for identity in the ‘locus of real work’……then, the organization will be on the way to organizational learning without having to worry what kind of organization it is (P. Critten, 2002).

Facilitate learning –Do not train

Teachers and trainers can help learners choose goals, resources, methods of learning but they can no longer assume they know best in defining another’s needs or directly teach another what they need to know (Pedlar, Burgoyne, Boydell, 1988)

shape conversation to focus on issues that are important to people in their work;

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use the art of listening and asking empowering and interesting questions, to encourage people to highlight what has worked before as a way to base their focus on future possibilities together (Whitmore J. 2002).

Encourage the use of ICT but ditch the technology in training

Technological development and e-learning have a place in HRD practice

Technology however should not take centre stage

replace high-tech with high-touch techniques people learn more quickly when learning is

more sensory-based.

Keep evaluating the impact of L&D on corporate capability

show how the organization’s investment in learning increases productivity, profitability or improvement in skills and performance.

adoption of approaches that are appropriate to the organization

The secret is to define the results required before the learning is embarked on.

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The emphasis should be on the desired change and therefore the evaluation should involve whoever sends the employee on a course

shifts from measuring a return on investment towards incorporating measures of return on expectation.

God Bless You

Thank you for listening to me