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Abstract:
Levels of analysis perform an important function in framing research and practice in human resource development (HRD). The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of HRD from the individual, organizational and community/societal levels of analysis. The paper highlights both the distinctiveness and usefulness of each level of analysis, identifies tensions within and between them, and outlines differences in underpinning assumptions, characteristics of HRD provision and delivery of HRD interventions. By adopting this approach, the paper draws attention to variations in meaning, intent, content and practice with implications for developing both the theory and practice of HRD.

Human resource development, HRD, levels of analysis, method

Abstract:
Intellectual capital is a diverse and multidisciplinary field where there is much scope for interdisciplinary research. Such interdisciplinarity demands that we first transcend boundaries between IC researchers and disciplines and then transcend any subsequently perceived ontological and/or methodological barriers. Moving from the particular to the general, this paper draws on the contours of the Habermasian (1984) communicative relation to present some theoretical insights on how intellectual capital is created linguistically in social space. The ontological and methodological implications of this particular approach to research lead to the general argument for adopting a relative view (Arbnor and Bjerke, 1997) on both ontology and methodology in order to craft navigational routes into interdisciplinary social space in the IC field. Such an approach allows IC researchers to draw on extant, and seemingly incommensurable, methodologies and techniques from analytical positivism, systems theory and the hermeneutic tradition in a scientifically justifiable post-foundationalist manner.

Communicative action, Habermas, intellectual capital creation, methodology, relative methodics

Abstract:
The emergence of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in Ireland over the course of the past decade has paralleled a period of exceptional national economic growth. This has raised questions regarding wealth distribution, power and governance. Based on feedback from Chief Financial Officers, and focused specifically on the board of directors of indigenous private firms, this paper seeks to identify some of the characteristics of the governance culture in this sector in Ireland. It deals specifically with issues such as board composition, non-executive directors and the perceived role and usefulness of accounting information in the decision making process.

Boards of Directors, Corporate governance, Information & Communication technologies, Ireland, Non-executive directors

Abstract:
Intellectual capital (IC), which has yet to be adequately conceptualised, is viewed here as a complex dynamic process of situated collective knowing that is capable of being leveraged into economic and social value. Knowledge creation and sharing mechanisms are generally perceived to be central to understanding this complex form of intangible value. In previous theoretical work we have claimed that the social philosophy and social theory of Jurgen Habermas provides a point of departure of sufficient theoretical sophistication to possibly enhance our thinking and understanding in this field. The main focus in this research stream is on the quality of critically constructive dialogue, which we term critical appraisal norms (CAN), within knowing-intensive organisational settings. The quality of such dialogue, insofar as it is measured by the procedural properties of its process of generation, is an empirical variable.
We provide some empirical support for this theoretical strategy here. Drawing on perceptual data from senior financial executives in the knowing-intensive Irish ICT sector we explore, using structural equation models, the relationships between Critical Appraisal Norms (CAN), Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Sharing, Organisational Capital, and Management Leadership. Notwithstanding the limitations of our research design, we find that the Critical Appraisal Norms (CAN) construct, which draws on the procedural properties of Habermas' conceptualisation of communicative action, provides statistically significant explanatory power in addressing both knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. CAN is found to be associated positively and significantly, both directly and indirectly, with knowledge creation - and with the broader process of intellectual capital creation. Some implications for the field of intellectual capital are then briefly discussed.

Communicative action, critical appraisal norms (CAN), Habermas, intellectual capital creation, knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, management leadership

Abstract:
Research on values has provided significant insights at individual, organizational and societal levels of analysis. One area that remains under-explored is how the individual values of managers influence decision-making on human resource (HR) issues. This article explores this relationship between the individual values of managers and HR decision-making by drawing on data collected from Canadian and Irish line managers. Questionnaire data was collected from a total of 340 managers. Results provide modest support for the proposed model in that capability values were shown to be a significant positive predictor of the importance of health and safety, and peace values were a significant positive predictor of the importance of employment equity. The findings emphasise the need to simultaneously examine both individual values and organisational factors as predictors of human resource decision-making.

human resource decision-making, line managers, individual values

Abstract:
Humanism has long been considered a cherished worldview underpinning human resource development. As such, it occupies a privileged status within the field, and in the main, its central tenets have gone unchallenged, despite massive changes in the economic, sociological, and technological structure of work and society. This article challenges the preeminence of humanism and argues that the rhetoric of humanistic approaches is not matched by organizational actions of compressed career progression pathways, tight budgetary constraints, and a market-driven economic philosophy.

Humanism, human resource development, HRD, training

Abstract:
This paper sets out to critically challenge five inter-related assumptions prominent in the HRD literature. These relate to: the exploitation of labour in enhancing shareholder value; the view that employees are co-contributors to and co-recipients of HRD benefits; the distinction between HRD and HRM; the relationship between HRD and unitarism; and, the relationship between HRD and organisational and learning cultures. From a critical modernist perspective, it is argued that these can only be adequately addressed by taking a point of departure from the particular state of the capital-labour relation in time, place and space. HRD, of its nature, exists in a continuous state of dialectical tension between capital and labour - and there is much that critical scholarship has yet to do in informing practitioners about how they might manage and cope with such tension.

capital-labour relation, critical modernism, critical theory, employment relation, HRD, human resource development

Abstract:
How do we critically evaluate the social impact of the information and communications technology (ICT) that, in the developed world at least, is central to both economy and society. Market oriented, functionalist and instrumental views tend to dominate discourse on ICT and the purpose of this paper is to challenge such views by suggesting a critical neohumanist alternative. Harvey's critical analysis of recent industrial society, Aristotle's concept of phronesis and Heidegger's tool analysis set the scene for the main argument of the paper based on Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. Using an illustrative case vignette from the Irish community sector, we argue that this theory provides potentially valid philosophical and social theoretical guidelines for a critical interpretive evaluation of the social impact of ICT that focuses attention on normative (Lifeworld) as distinct from instrumental (System) forms of rationality.

Critical social theory, critical theory, method, Habermas, ICT evaluation, social impact of ICT

Abstract:
This paper explicitly raises the issue of the ownership rights of labour to intellectual capital. Following Marx and Engels' identification of the 'essential condition of capital' - this paper begins an initial critical exploration of the essential condition of intellectual capital, particularly the ownership rights of labour. Adopting a critically modernist stance on unitarist HR and OB discourse, and contextualised within a background on the stock option phenomenon and recent accounting regulation, the paper argues that the fundamental nature of the capital-labour relation continues resiliently into the IC-labour relation. There is strong evidence that broad-based ESOPs have become institutionalised in certain firms and sectors - but the future of such schemes is very uncertain post 2005 accounting regulation. Overly unitarist HR/OB arguments are challenged here with empirical evidence on capital's more latently strategic purposes such as conserving cash, reducing reported accounting expense in order to boost reported earnings, deferring taxes, and attracting, retaining and exploiting key elements of labour. Research supports the positive benefits of broad-based employee stock ownership schemes; but further research on the benefits of such schemes and the reasons why they are or are not implemented is now required. From the perspective of labour, nothing appears to have really changed (yet) in terms of the essential condition of intellectual capital.

Intellectual capital, essential condition, stock options, ownership rights, expensing, IC-labour relation

Abstract:
Research on boards of directors is dominated by a largely context free methodological tradition that seeks to relate various structural and demographic characteristics of boards to firm performance. An alternative research agenda stresses the centrality of context and the necessity of gaining access to the real world of board processes, dynamics and interactions. We contribute to the latter here through the perceptual lens of the non-executive director or NED (~87 respondents from the FTSE-500, UK). Our point of departure is the apparently trivial insight that boards are groups of human beings who meet regularly on the basis of fulfilling a common purpose and that the quality of critically constructive dialogue among board members is an important component of board dynamics and probably a key antecedent of board meeting efficiency and effectiveness. The main purpose here is to gain some insight into what goes on "inside" the black box by exploring the association between the quality of such dialogue in board meetings and board leadership. We complement this processual, relational dynamics and social constructionist focus by incorporating three other variables in the exploratory analysis that are theorised to be associated with board effectiveness: (i) NED Human Capital based on the selection procedures in use; (ii) NED Role Clarity (role; power; responsibility); and (iii) Access to Information.

board dynamics, board effectiveness, communicative action, critical dialogue, Habermas, non-executive directors (NEDs)

Abstract:
Recent regulatory changes in Ireland include both the establishment of a compliance enforcement body ODCE (Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement) in 2001, the main focus of this paper, and the publication of The Companies (Auditing & Accounting) Act of 2003. In this paper we link discussion on corporate governance in SMEs with regulatory compliance set within the broad context of how recent regulatory changes in Ireland may be impacting on business culture. Law mediates the relationship between the steering media of economics and politics (Habermas) - and the lifeworlds of accountants, auditors and company directors. The relationship between the economic system and company law is not a simple binary - but a complex mediated one that is also subject to a range of other local, national, European and global forces. We also present some empirical evidence here on how such regulatory changes are perceived by Irish accountants, auditors and directors.

Corporate governance, compliance, Ireland, ODCE, regulation

Abstract:
Habermas' concept of communicative rationality, in which reason is construed in terms of the noncoercive intersubjectivity of mutual understanding and reciprocal recognition, provides a valid foundation on which the theory and practice of selves-directed learning can be developed. In an increasingly individualized world, a focus on learning networks allows a perspective transformation from the purely individualistic instrumental rationality of self-directed-learning towards communicative interaction via learning encounters and the possibility of satisfying the emancipatory conditions of communicative rationality within communities of selves-directed-learners in life and work. The orientation of communicative action to criticizable validity claims which are open to empirical investigation is the central core that makes this learning process both theoretically and practically possible.

Critical theory, Habermas, learning networks, self-directed learning, workplace learning

Abstract:
John Seely Brown notes that context must be added to data and information to produce meaning. To move forward, Brown suggests, we must not merely look ahead but we must also learn to look around because learning occurs when members of a community of practice (CoP) socially construct and share their understanding of some text, issue or event. We draw explicitly here on the structural components of a Habermasian lifeworld in order to identify some dynamic processes through which a specific intellectual capital creating context, community of practice (CoP), may be theoretically positioned. Rejecting the individualistic Cogito, ergo sum of the Cartesians, we move in line with Brown's We participate, therefore we are to arrive within a Habermasian community of practice: We communicate, ergo, we create.

Community of Practice, CoP, Habermas, intellectual capital, workplace learning

Abstract:
In this theoretical, empirical and occasionally speculative paper we argue that human interaction is the critical source of intangible value in the intellectual age. This argument is supported with some perceptual evidence on the dimensions of intellectual capital (IC) from the Irish ICT sector. Key fndings are that almost two thirds of organizational value is perceived to be intellectual and that half of this IC value is perceived to stem directly from the people dimension. Drawing on the system/lifeworld distinction in Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action we claim that the dominant tenets of market and hierarchy are changing in both nature and scope in an increasingly knowing-intensive economy. We argue strongly that these tenets must be complemented with ideas of community and lifeworld that place human interaction at the center of a more enlightened economic and social equation.

Communicative action, Human relations, Interaction, Habermas, Intangible Value, Intellectual capital, Ireland

Abstract:
This report presents the findings from an in-depth survey on eLearning conducted in Irish organisations in mid 2003. Empirical findings are presented on the coverage of eLearning, what types of training it is used for, which employee groups use it, how much time and money is devoted to it, and perceptions of Irish HRD professionals on the phenomenon itself. These findings are set within a broad comparative overview of the scale and scope of eLearning in a European context. Explicitly debunking all the hype and ungrounded projections of recent years on the eLearning phenomenon, the authors argue for the pragmatic, and empirically grounded, position that eLearning is an evolutionary, as distinct from revolutionary, phenomenon. It is at the early stage in its development - in many cases it can provide, if in part, learning effective and cost and time efficient solutions to employee and personal development situations - and, in combination with tried and tested traditional methodologies, termed 'blended-learning', it is probably most useful.

CIPD, eLearning, human resource development, HRD, Ireland

Abstract:
Employee stock option schemes have become increasingly prevalent over the past decade or so. This situation may, or may not, change due to recent accounting regulation that demands that stock options be expensed - quite simply because expensing reduces earnings. This must impact on the incentive for employers to grant such options in the future. Up to recently, international accounting standards did not address the recognition or measurement of option-based compensation expenses. Following the introduction of new International Accounting Standards in 2005 firms are now required to reflect in their profit or loss and financial positions the effects of share-based payment transactions, including stock options. Hence our question, to which we have no ready answer: Whither stock options now? Drawing on CIMA sponsored research, some very preliminary evidence on the structure of the compensation package in the Irish ICT sector, including the use of stock options, is presented in this research note. This sector accounts for almost one third of Irish exports, one sixth of Irish GDP, and directly employs almost 100,000 people. Its growth is regarded as one of the success stories of Irish FDI (foreign direct investment) strategy with a massive inflow by U.S. multinationals - where one would reasonably expect to see the stock option component of the compensation equation institutionalised in the U.S. transferred to their Irish subsidiaries - and in turn, perhaps influence the Irish owned, and largely unlisted, segment of the sector. We simply note the main finding here that granting stock options is a sector wide phenomenon for both managers (~10%) and knowledge workers (~7%).

employee ownership, Irish ICT sector, stock options, expensing

Abstract:
Both the role of the CFO (chief financial officer) and the discipline of accounting can be viewed as being in transition due to developments in the e-Business world. One perspective suggests that CFOs are becoming e-process architects - an alternative suggests that the CFO role is becoming commoditized to foot-soldier status with other roles such as CIOs (chief information officers) and CTOs (chief technology officers) staking a claim to its traditional accounting space. In this paper, we present some preliminary evidence relating to this e-architect/foot-soldier question, and on levels of e-Business activity, based on data obtained from over 120 CFOs in the Irish ICT sector.

Accounting, chief financial officers (CFOs), e-business, ebusiness, Irish ICT sector

Abstract:
This paper explores the impact of developments in the Irish economy and labour market on computing course development in the Irish Higher Education (HE) sector. Extant computing courses change, or new courses are introduced, in attempts to match labour market demands. The conclusion reached here, however, is that Irish HE is producing insufficient numbers of computing graduates notwithstanding the anomalous fact that the capacity to produce them is available in the Irish HE sector. Manpower planning is inefficient and IT skill shortages remain not as a result of poor industry/HE relations but because of a lack of understanding of Irish student perceptions, preferences and expectations. Pressures for radical institutional change are probably unlikely to emerge as skill gaps are being filled by immigrants with the requisite skills.

computing, Irish higher education, manpower planning, skills shortages, student perceptions

Abstract:
This working paper draws on the preliminary findings of eight focus group discussions on 'real world' consultation processes in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We find that there exists a massive culture of cynicism amongst 'activist' citizens with respect to state/administration initiated consultation processes. This begs the key question: if such levels of cynicism exist - regardless of the sophistication of the ICT technology employed - whither the effectiveness of future e-consultation processes? We present no simplistic, naïve or premature conclusions here but tease out some preliminary implications of these findings where we grant precedence to deliberative democracy over technology.

consultation cynicism, e-consultation, e-democracy, Habermas, Ireland

Abstract:
Neoclassical economic approaches continue to dominate evaluations of national skill-formation systems. We argue for the benefits of including alternative interdisciplinary and theoretically grounded approaches in any evaluation of the Irish system as it relates to its economic system. This broader focus, it is argued, could lead to more informed policy formulation and implementation. Following the "societal effect" approach, argues here that vocational education and training systems can only be adequately understood with reference to the set of interrelationships between the education system, industrial training system, the organizational structure of industry, the industrial relations system and the class and status relations of the wider society as reflected in its political system.

Vocational training, Ireland, cost/benefit analysis, societal effect

Abstract:
This paper draws on an exploration of continuity management (CM) in a large Irish semi-state organization in transition. Drawing on interviews with ten of the senior management team, findings are presented in terms of intellectual capital, replacement strategy, information sources, knowledge transfer to successors, tacit knowledge, CM systems, and barriers to CM implementation. There is a clear consensus in favor of introducing a CM system - but also clear recognition of the barriers, such barriers perceived to be mainly cultural.

Continuity management, knowledge management, organization culture

Abstract:
A major concern in recent political discourse is that government has become both isolated from and unresponsive to its citizens. Democracy, by definition, demands a two-way flow of communication between government and civil society. ICTs have the potential to facilitate such improved flows of communication - hence, e-democracy and e-consultation. This paper initially draws on focus group discussions on the theme of (e)consultation conducted amongst activist citizens on the island of Ireland. High levels of frustration, scepticism and cynicism were expressed on the form, nature and process of extant consultation processes. In follow-up demonstrations, however, the preliminary findings are much more positive suggesting that the potential exists for using e-consultation technologies to enhance democratic processes.

consultation, e-consultation technologies, e-democracy, e-government

Abstract:
This paper, in the context of the employment equity (EE) field, explores the relationship between individual values/beliefs and simulated hiring decisions of minority candidates in Canada, France and Ireland. Individual values/beliefs were elicited using Likert type scales; subjects responded to a series of simulated hiring scenarios.

Findings:
The link between individual value and belief systems and EE-related HR decision making on recruitment of minority candidates is modestly supported by the findings presented here. The values/beliefs of students from leading business schools influenced, if in part, their simulated hiring decisions on minority candidates presented in the scenarios. National context also matters as EE institutions differ at the societal level of analysis.

Research limitations/implications:
The subjects were business school students of limited work experience addressing scenario situations, not practicing managers making real hiring decisions. The use of self-reports leads to the usual issues related to common method variance, the consistency motif, social desirability bias, and so on and we note the limits due to the reverse ecological fallacy. Research findings provide modest support to our argument but should be treated with caution.

Practical implications:
Individual values and beliefs matter in HR decision making on recruitment of minority candidates.

Originality/value:
Much EE research focuses on antecedents of values/beliefs; this paper is one of a handful of investigations that attempts to establish possible outcomes of values/beliefs towards EE.

affirmative action, employment equity, human resources, recruitment decisions, values, beliefs, Canada, France, Ireland

Abstract:
Few empirical studies have examined the effect of personal values on the importance attached by individuals to training and development in organizations. We argue that personal values play an important role in decision-making processes (i.e. commitment to training and development) and that such values are the product of socialization processes operating at an organiszational and societal level. Questionnaire data were collected from 340 Irish and Canadian line managers to test the hypothesis that personal values affect the importance attached by respondents to training and development. Capability values were found to be a significant positive predictor of the perceived importance of training and development. The findings emphasize the need for simultaneously examining both personal values and organizational factors as predictors of training and development activity.

training and development, personal values, line managers, Canada, Ireland

Abstract:
Purpose - This brief introductory editorial introduces the background and rationale to the special issue "IC: Becoming Critical". This is based on a selection of papers presented to the 1st Intellectual Capital (IC) Stream at the 4th International Critical Management Studies Conference at Cambridge University, UK, in July 2005.

Design/methodology/approach - Critical management studies (CMS) is not just about theory but demands action; its purpose is to make a difference for the better. Following an introduction to the idea of what 'critical management studies' (CMS) entails the main ideas of the seven papers selected are then presented. Each paper is accompanied by a commentary from leading authors in the IC and KM fields.

Findings - Key themes emergent in this 'critical' issue include a decisive turn to language, uncertainty and risk, not-knowing, ambiguity and complexity, scepticism towards simplistic mechanistic models, ownership rights, and the dynamics of situated IC practice. The conclusion reached is that there is much that further work from a CMS perspective can contribute to the IC field.

Originality/value - This special issue is one of the first applications of critical management thinking to the intellectual capital field.

Critical theory, Critical management studies (CMS), Intangibles, Intellectual capital

Abstract:
Purpose - This paper presents an initial evaluation of recent Irish legislation in the area of corporate governance.

Design/methodology/approach - The background to the introduction of the 2001 Company Law Enforcement Act, establishing the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), and the Companies (Auditing & Accounting) Act of 2003, establishing the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA), is first outlined. Some empirical evidence is then presented on how such initiatives are perceived by Irish accountants, auditors and directors.

Findings - The tentative conclusion reached is that these regulatory and legislative changes, particularly the active stance of the ODCE, are contributing positively towards creating a compliance culture amongst Irish directors and their professional accounting advisers. The most striking aspect of the IAASA is its mere existence at a regulatory level over the main professional bodies for the first time in the history of the Irish state.

Research limitations/implications - Law mediates the relationship between the steering media of economics and politics (Habermas) - and the lifeworlds of accountants, auditors and company directors. This relationship is contextually complex and further research on this institutionalisation process may lead to further insights emerging.

Practical implications - Legislation, if supported with the requisite resources and institutions, can positively impact on business culture through influencing the behaviour of key actors.

Originality/Value - This paper is one of the first evaluations of recent Irish responses to enhancing the integrity of its business culture.

Corporate Governance, Compliance, Ireland, ODCE, Regulation

Abstract:
This paper explores the experiences of adult learners and tutors on a particular externally assessed distance learning degree programme. On this programme, assignments are set, reviewed and graded independently of the on-site tutor by the external awarding body. An analysis of eight interviews with four tutors and four graduates from one such course suggests that the absence of a link between the on-site tutor and external assessment has a significant negative effect on the teaching and learning environment for both adult learners and tutors. Guided by Basil Bernstein's work on the classification and framing of educational rules and roles, it is argued that benefits will ensue if the on-site tutors are included in, or at a minimum be allowed to become more familiar with, the assessment process. Inclusive framing is the process of including all parties in the education process. Insights from the interviews support the view that distance learning is suitable for adult learners but that external assessment procedures which separate the on-site tutor from the external assessor actually increase anxiety levels amongst adult learners.

adult learners, assessment, distance learning, inclusive framing, tutor/learner relations

Abstract:
This volume is an attempt to give a voice to the voiceless, the hidden Irish, the migrant, the nomad, the 'new' Irish and the immigrant - those communities whose languages and cultures run - unnoticed sometimes - like the underground stream that continues to enrich Irish culture and the culture of the Irish diaspora. It is also an effort to acknowledge those people who have frequently found themselves on the margins of society and whose registers and histories have more often than not been ignored or erased from the historical record. The Irish Traveller community scores high on all indicators of social disadvantage relating to health, unemployment, education, and early child and adult mortality - as do the Roma (Gypsies) who number at least twelve million people worldwide. While the Porrajmos (Holocaust) - with estimates of deaths ranging between 400,000 and 1.5 million Roma - is the most infamous example of anti-Roma prejudice, it is generally acknowledged that the collapse of the communist governments of Eastern Europe has rekindled anti-Roma sentiment in Eastern and Western Europe. Both Irish Travellers and Roma have had very little input into the manner in which their histories have been 'constructed' with the consequence that they have often been translated into a dramatic spectacle of cultural Otherness incorporating discursive strategies, popular stereotypes and an array of suspicions and superstitions. This book is an attempt to usurp this traditional and reductionist position.

This volume is an eclectic mix of brief life-history narratives from a number of Travellers themselves (such as the contributions from Bridgie Casey, Chantelle O'Reilly, and Willy Cauley - all of whom live in Limerick); and longer more academically oriented essays on areas as diverse as Travellers in England (Colm Power), culture (Mícheál Ó hAodha), language (St. John Ó Donnabháin), education and access (John Heneghan), publishing (Anna Farmar), literature (Paul Delaney), and identity (David O'Donnell). Moreover it includes an essay in Irish/Gaelic (Mícheál Ó hAodha), a translation from the Irish/Gaelic (Seán MacMathúna) and inclusion of French-Arab/African (St. John Ó Donnabháin) and Spanish Roma Gitanos (Dagmar Reschke) perspectives.

Ireland, Irish Travellers, Migration studies, Roma, Romani studies

Abstract:
This paper initiates a critical management studies (CMS) evaluation of social capital in an HRD context by drawing on insights from both Foucault and Habermas. Alternative interpretations of three seminal social capital concepts - weak ties, structural holes and social resources - are presented. Pragmatic, albeit critical, insights for HRD theory and practice are illustrated to counter-balance the managerialist appropriation of social capital in pursuit of largely economic ends. It is argued here that social well-being is as relevant to HRD practice as economic well-being. Ethical dimensions are noted and avenues of reflexivity for HRD practitioners are suggested.

critical management studies (CMS), Foucault, Habermas, human resource development (HRD), social capital

Abstract:
Global problems require global solutions. The argument presented here at a global level of analysis is that we can learn something from both modernism and postmodernism but that global problems are more adequately addressed and solutions more likely to emerge from critical theory and critical cosmopolitanism.

critical cosmopolitanism, critical theory, Habermas, HRD, modernism, postmodernism

Abstract:
Perspectives suggest different conceptions of HRD. This concluding article of the Special Issue reviews the contributions and proposes four meta-perspectives on HRD: language; community/societal; system; and psychological. It is argued that each perspective suggests a particular conception or definition of HRD and some implications of each meta-perspective for theory and practice are presented. Academics and practitioners are challenged to incorporate multi-perspectival views into theory, method and practice.

HRD meta-perspectives, language, system, community/societal, psychological

Abstract:
The problem and the solution. This issue overview to the special issue presents a brief justification for adopting a multi-perspectival approach to theory and practice in HRD. It is argued that such an approach has the potential to add both theoretical depth and breadth to HRD discourse as well as contributing to reflective HRD practice. The contributions are then briefly introduced.

Human resource development (HRD), perspectives, theory and practice

Abstract:
It is argued here, from a largely practitioner perspective, that a human resource development (HRD) strategy, allied with a global human resource management (HRM) strategy, is the effective way to link training policy and practice to organizational goals. Both manufacturing and service organizations require a critical mass of positive factors related to HRM to accomplish such goals. This involves the analysis of a myriad of internal and external environmental factors, a strategic approach in influencing key HRD stakeholders, and the formulation of HRD policies and plans in parallel with, and sometimes influencing, business strategy. This will link to all areas of the HR cycle - selection, appraisal, rewards and development - linked to individual, team and organizational performance.

HRD, human resource development, training policy

Abstract:
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is becoming an increasingly important issue facing the Irish legal profession. It requires individuals, law firms and professional associations to examine the developmental needs of legal practitioners and how these needs can best be satisfied. This article reports the findings of a small exploratory study on CPD within the Irish legal profession.

Continuing professional development (CPD), legal profession

Abstract:
A consensus is emerging that the key to competitive success is becoming the ability to create, leverage, maintain and develop specialised knowledge, competencies and intellectual resources. However little is actually known about the creation, management, utilisation and valuation of such resources. Although a concept such as intellectual capital cannot be precisely defined, this should nor prevent us from employing it in an era where the intangible is rapidly assuming economic, social and psychological supremacy over the tangible. Moving beyond objectivist and purely system theoretic perspectives the point of departure presented here in exploring this emergent dynamic is the set of symmetric and reciprocal relations presupposed in Habermas' theory of communicative action.

accounting, communicative action, critical theory, Habermas, intellectual capital, intangible assets

Abstract:
Recent market volatility has provided a fundamental challenge to those arguing for the central role of intellectual capital as a source of organisational value. Using perceptual data relevant to the importance of intellectual capital as a source of enterprise value gathered in two studies conducted before and after the recent maket 'downturn' respectively, this paper provides empirical evidence in support of the continuing and central importance of intellectual capital. The findings from these two studies also demonstrate consistency in the composition of the human, internal and external components of intellectual capital. The Irish software/telecom secor adn ideal research framework for any such investigation. In recent years Ireland has established itself as the largest software exporter in the world and this sector has been one of the primary engines of growth in an economy that has experienced real growth of over 40% in six years, a rate unparalleled in the developed world.

Intellectual capital, dimensions, composition of intellectual capital

Abstract:
This paper proposes an integrated germ cell model of development based firmly on a cognitive, as distinct from behaviourist, view of learning and on the psychological theory of activity. Uses this to explore how an umbrella concept of skill allied to a learning process suited to modern, flexible high-skill organisations, links to the emerging strategic role of the training and development specialist. Emphasises the workplace as the context of learning and argues that the move from the reductionist task idea of the Fordist productive system towards the more intellective skills required in modern knowledge and service organisations necessitates a meaning transformation in the concepts of skill acquisition, learning and training. As the fundamental role of the trainer is to ensure that effective learning occurs, the paper argues that modern trainers may need to adopt the broader, more expansive and integrated perspective presented here.

Training, activity theory, role of the trainer, HRD

Abstract:
Intellectual capital creation is theorised in this conceptual paper as a dynamic process of situated collective knowing that is capable of being leveraged into market value. The tacit, intangible and socially unconscious nature of substantive parts of this dynamic process presents some daunting theoretical challenges. Adopting a broadly social constructionist epistemology and a pluralist ontology, the point of departure introduced here is the set of symmetric and reciprocal relations presupposed in Jurgen Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. In this worldview, interaction, as distinct from individual action, becomes the germ-cell or basic unit of theoretical analysis. The relations and validity claims built into the medium of communicative action, viewed here as the nexus of intellectual capital creation, are substantive and real phenomena; they are thus open to empirical investigation.

intellectual capital, intellectual capital creation, Habermas, communicative action

Abstract:
The impact of the forces of globalisation on managerial practices across national boundaries has renewed interest in examining the degree to which culture impacts on the effectiveness of such practices. Increased employee interaction with global customers and the growth in cross-cultural training and international assignments demands the development of an ever wider range of employee skills. While research exists on the role of culture in the areas of recruitment, organisational socialisation and training transfer, there is a critical lack of theoretical rigour related to the impact of cultural issues in the field of human resource development (HRD). It is argued here that cultural influences may affect not only a professional's implicit concept of what constitutes effective practice, but may also affect researchers' explicit theories. At its core, culture encompasses a set of fundamental values that distinguishes one group from another and these values can act as a strong determinant of managerial ideology that consequently affects both HR practice and performance. It is probable, therefore, that much of the existing literature on HRD and related domains may be as culturally bounded as are the actual processes, procedures and practices of language, learning and HRD in particular contexts. This is the argument at the heart of this exploratory paper. With increasing globalisation, e-marketplaces, and intense competition a dawning awareness is emerging of the centrality of cultural issues and a greater acceptance of the fact that strong cultural traditions have their own incommensurable criteria of the true and the false, the productive and the unproductive. Contra this acceptance of relativism and an increased focus on contextualism there is also a resurgence of universalist tendencies, driven by the same forces of globalisation, a certain modicum of ideology, and by the internet and e-business in particular. The convergence-divergence debate continues to have relevance in the field of HRD and is addressed here in the context of societal, critical and globalisation theories. We draw no firm conclusions as this is a tentative attempt to locate various positions and boundaries, including our own.

cross-cultural management, convergence-divergence, human resource development, HRD

Abstract:
In this paper we present some preliminary evidence in support of an emergent base-line structural intellectual capital model. This is based on interviews with the chief executive officers of Irish software companies. The overall Irish software and telecommunications sector has established itself as the largest software exporter in the world in an economy that has experienced real growth of almost 40 per cent in 5 years, a rate unparalleled in the developed world. Basic empirical results are presented and some implications for management and particularly accounting are discussed.

intellectual capital, Irish software companies, accounting