1. 10. Strategic human resource development:
10 Strategic human resource development: pot of gold or chasing rainbows?
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
develop and discuss a continuum of strategic maturity upon which different approaches to human resource development (HRD) can be located;
identify and explain the major features of strategic human resource
development (SHRD) and organise these into a conceptual framework;
analyse how systematic approaches to HRD can be accommodated in
conceptual frameworks of SHRD;
analyse the significance of the learning organisation and knowledge
management to SHRD;
critically review the rhetoric and reality of the role of managers as key SHRD stakeholders.

2. Figure 10.1 Mapping the SHRD territory: a summary diagram of the chapter content

3. Figure 10.2 A continuum of HRD strategic maturity
Source: Adapted from McCracken and Wallace (2000)

4. Figure 10.3 Mapping the HRD strategic maturity continuum
Source: Adapted from Garavan (1991); McCracken and Wallace (2000)

5. Figure 10.4 Problem-directed versus strategically oriented HRD in the introduction of new technology
Source: Adapted from Muhlemeyer and Clarke (1997)

6. Figure 10.5 The systematic HRD model
Sources: Gibb and Megginson (2001); El-Sawed (2002)

7. Figure 10.6 A strategically-oriented cycle of HRD activities

8. Figure 10.7 Employee learning and development as a strategic process
Source: Adapted from Harrison (1993a: 326)

9. Figure 10.8 Revised continuum of HRD strategic maturity

10. Figure 10.9 A systems perspective of knowledge management