The Role of Human Resource Development in Continuous Improvement: Facilitating Learning and Change

A focus on strategic human resource development (HRD) has been emphasised as a key contributor to ensuring organisational effectiveness and the maximum return from their most important asset; the people in the organisation. It has been argued that effective management and innovative approaches to the development of employees will enable organisations to capture and embed knowledge and skills. Organisations that are seeking not only to survive, but to maximise operational effectiveness in an ever-changing environment, need to ensure that at all levels, the human resource development strategy is aligned with broader strategic imperatives, and that sufficient emphasis is placed on the human resource development function. It is a role of management to ensure that the organisation and its people acquire the competencies and knowledge it needs through education, training and development activities. In manufacturing firms seeking to achieve improved performance through systematic change processes such as continuous improvement (CI), it is important that the human resource development function plays a role in the CI process.