WHRE Graduate Programs in US Colleges of Education:

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WHRE Graduate Programs in US Colleges of
Education

• Status, Prospects, and Promises

K. Peter Kuchinke Associate Professor of Human
Resource Education Director of Graduate
Programs Editor, Human Resource Development
International
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we can see a long way in all directions
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Outline

• Development of WHRE and related programs in US
  Colleges of Education
• Status and Program Characteristics
• WHRE Practice
• Future Directions
• Perspective/Limitations

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Summary

• WHRE as promise rather than reality
• Barriers to WHRE imbedded within academic
  institutional structures
• WHRE as intellectual, academic, and
  professional challenge and opportunity of the
  first magnitude

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Development of WHRE Programs

• Trends in Knowledge-Based Societies and Higher
  Education (Clark)
• Specialization and fragmentation of knowledge
• Boundary/Domain Struggles, Redundancy, and
  Overlap
• Trends towards increasing professionalization of
  occupational areas
• Trends in Organizations and Institutions
• Globalization, competition, technology, quality
  movement, consumer demands
• Knowledge requirements (Reich)
• Critique of Public Schooling (Nation at Risk)
• Decline of Labor Unions

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Development of WHRE Programs

• Trends in Vocational/Technical, Career/Technical
  and Adult Education
• Increased emphasis on academic skills
• Perceived lower status of vocational occupations
• Student and Employer Demand
• Changing priorities of business school curricula
  and research

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Status of WHRE ProgramsHRD Focus

• 2002 Research Institutional Characteristics of
  Leading HRD Programs
• 67 graduate HRD programs with faculty members of
  AHRD and UCWHRE
• (RI 27, RII 6, Doctoral I 7, Doctoral II 4,
  Masters I 11)
• Established in 1980s
• Enrolment total 5,800 (avg. 93 masters, 51
  doctoral, 35 certificate)
• 15 increase in programs since 1991
• Trends Decrease in masters, steady doctoral
  enrollment
• Increase in part-time course taking
• Core curriculum focused on TD roles
• Little coverage of emergent roles
• Predominance of positivistic and functionalist
  perspectives
• Narrowing of academic reach
• E.g. public policy, critical/emancipatory roles,
  special populations, business and society

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Status of WHRE ProgramsHRD Focus

• 2004 Research Contested Domains Case Studies of
  Three Programs
• Uneasy standing of Business-Focused Programs in
  Colleges of Education
• Different Program Signatures (VoTech/Adult
  Ed./Stand-Alone)
• Entrepreneurial Faculty
• Value Preferences of Students

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Status of WHRE ProgramsHRD Focus

• 2004 Research UK HRD Research
• 28 University Forum for HRD programs/Accredited
  by CIPD
• Located in Business Schools and HRM programs
• Curriculum focused on HRM/OB/OT strategy
• Greater inclusion of critical and constructivist
  perspectives

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Status of WHRE ProgramsHRD Focus

• 2006 Research HRD Programs in China and Korea
• National policies for HRD
• Korean programs modeled after US
• Chinese programs emerging in Business Schools

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HRD Practice

• Faster than average growth through 2014 (DOL/BLS)
• Over 800,000 people employed in HR/HRD jobs
  (2005)
• About 600,000 people engaged in learning
  activities, organizational HRD
• Trends
• Better preparation of HRD professionals
• Focus on Strategic HR
• Technology, International, Diversity
• Broader career options and career paths
• Competition for good jobs
• Strong employment opportunities outside of US

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HRD Practice

• Value and Investment in HRD
• Multiple entry points
• Multiple disciplinary preparations
• Limited use/value of credentials
• No domain specific program accreditation
• Little standardization of practice
• Proliferation of consulting/marketing industries
• Limited theory-practice transfer

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WHRE Challenges and Opportunities

• Theoretical
• Weak/splintered identity of WHRE
• Fragmented theory base
• Lopsided paradigmatic treatment of WHRE
• Lack of systematic models WHRE
• Corporate focus/insufficient focus on
• Not-for-profits
• Small/medium-sized organizations
• Community and faith based organizations
• Labor unions
• Non-executive/professional employee groups
• Non-paying work
• Public Policy research
• Little attention to life span approach

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WHRE Challenges and Opportunities

• Programmatic
• Contested standing in Colleges of Education
• Boundary issues with established fields
• Lack of vision
• Intellectually defensible theory base

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WHRE Challenges and Opportunities

• Practical
• Cacophony of quick-help three-step texts
• Little buyer decision aide/quality assurance
• Business School education and research

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Possible Directions

• Intellectually
• Education for, at, about, and through work (Copa)
• Extend public policy framework to HRD
• Extend VoEd research framework for HRD
• Consider learning, education, training after work
• Focus on Practice
• Programmatically
• Advanced level professional development
• Institutionally
• WHRE in the professions
• WHRE in professional schools
• WHRE in Colleges of Education and Campus
• International collaborations

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Summary

• WHRE as promise rather than reality
• Barriers to WHRE imbedded within university
  professional structures
• WHRE as intellectual, academic, and
  professional challenge and opportunity of the
  first magnitude

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Questions, discussion, comments.