Human resources development ( HRD) is an important and valuable strategic direction for a company. HR development’s role in an organisational context is to enhance job performance, learning capabilities, and align people development with organisational strategic objectives.
This article explores HR development’s role and its influence on talent acquisition, career development, learning and development, employee retention and succession planning. Also, we’ll try to understand the implications and possible risks of integrating AI technology with organizational development.
HRD process is necessary to perform jobs effectively and to adapt to changing organizational requirements. Watkins and Marsick (1993) define Human Resource Development (HRD) as a “learning and development process that enables individuals to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes.”
According to research, HR development applications of AI and automation in HRD are extending to strategic implications. This is because organizations increasingly rely on technology for operational efficiency.
This analysis emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of organizational culture, ethics, and skills. Moreover, it identifies risks like job loss, stress due to continuous monitoring, and privacy issues because AI algorithms can reinforce biases.
The research concludes that an interdisciplinary approach integrating technological insights with human and organizational complexities is necessary to make progress in HRD apps and automation. Consequently, companies adopting AI tools and HR Development process automatization need to diminish negative impacts by ensuring transparency and accountability.
Four strategic directions of human resource development
Human resource development – HRD involves employee, knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) long-term development planning aligned with the organisational strategic goals. The HR development objective is to enhance workforce capabilities to maintain a competitive edge and successfully face future market challenges.
1. The strategic importance of talent acquisition
The importance of talent acquisition is related to strategic value for organisational performance because of the market competition. Recruitment needs anticipation and filling vacant positions with the appropriate talent is critical for maintaining an edge on the market.
A talent acquisition strategy facilitates maintaining services or product quality and creates premises for developing future leaders and innovative solutions. Access to a talent pool of creative and critical thinkers is the key to facing future challenges.
Meanwhile, organisations are considering incorporating Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to keep up with AI adoption. These tech integrations into HR processes are impacting all the aspects of HRM functions.
These technologies’ evolutions promise to make better recruitment decisions based on real-life and robust data. One of the advantages of using ML algorithms in recruitment is identifying the appropriate talent platforms and sourcing channels.
This allows us to adjust their talent acquisition strategies and thus adapt faster to the latest market trends. By using LLMs identifying skilled talent on niche job boards, drafting candidate personas or using organic search becomes easier.
2. Creation of career development paths
HRD strategic initiatives provide people with opportunities for both personal and professional growth. Targeted development projects, not only can help people improve job performance, but also contribute to personal skills development and speed up their career progression.
HR development initiatives are talent development paths that lead to increased career satisfaction, job performance improvement and a positive organisational culture. In an organisational context, these initiatives include training and learning programs, workshops, and coaching or mentoring sessions to learn specific skills and increase knowledge.
However, free AI tools are available to asses skills gaps and draft an individual career plan. Everyone will be able to create blueprints for learning and development action plans to reach learning objectives or develop new skills.
3. AI and Learning and talent development
Along with self-supervised learning and distance learning, AI predictive models are slowly integrating into our lives and helping us to learn. Up to a point, LLMs can provide assistance and information and also contribute to the overall job performance and synthesised data.
Free access to LLMs supports people’s learning efforts and makes learning new skills more accessible. Currently, HRD is incorporating these technologies to improve employee learning and development. Virtual reality applications are on trial to allow employees to practice skills in simulated environments.
Human resources development greatly contributes to shaping a positive organisational culture. An organisational environment that fosters learning and development and encourages collaboration will give people good chances to thrive, feel valued and contribute to their wellbeing.
HRD is a critical management function that impacts nearly every aspect of an organization’s operations and success. The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms in HRD is changing human resources development.
These technologies are already used in recruitment to customize learning experiences, identify skill gaps and draft training programs. Tech role extends from individual employee growth to overall organizational effectiveness. With knowledge, expertise and ethical guidance, AI will become a reliable component of a strong business strategy.
4. Succession planning and future leaders
HRD has a vital role in identifying and preparing future leaders within an organization. Succession planning aims to identify and develop talent to ensure leadership continuity. Through leadership development programs, employees can build leadership skills and get ready for greater responsibilities and complex tasks.
Furthermore, under the guidance of experts, LLMS can improve organisational succession planning. This technology can design predictive models to identify patterns and correlations between employee data, organisational succession risks, and possible outcomes.
Currently, AI tools can help draft individual development plans customized to employees’ unique strengths and weaknesses. They can match strengths with career aspirations and suggest connections with experienced leaders and mentors, thus facilitating knowledge transfer and skills development.
The future of learning and talent development
LLMs are becoming a learning aid for people in diverse industries. Stanford AI Index report states that in 2023 large language models number released worldwide has doubled and two-thirds of them were open-source.
Also, it seems that the proportion of people who believe AI will dramatically affect their lives in the next three to five years has increased and so, has the expression of nervousness towards the usage of AI products and services.
People are already using different free AI tools to learn foreign languages and programming or get assistance with administration tasks or personalised teaching. At the same time, we are gaining exposure to AI-optimized online learning content and course recommendations for AI skill acquisition.
The same study shows that AI enables people to complete tasks more quickly and to improve the quality of their work contributing to bridging the skill gap between low- and high-skilled workers. However, other studies caution that using AI without oversight can lead to diminished performance.
AI Learning implications and possible risks
AI learning tools are reshaping HR Development practices, due to the long-term implications of these technologies. However, questions about AI learning reliability are raised like copyrights, algorithmic discrimination, and massive job loss due to task automation.
Having a role model has been an important motivator for learners across generations. With the rise of GAI, the human touch might be the missing link in future learning and development programs. Nonetheless, HRD already uses data surveys to assess training needs analysis, design customized learning and development projects and analyse learning inputs.
Consequently, as AI learning evolves, so does the role of HRD professionals. This is why companies must invest in HR development. Learning styles and preferences data will help HRD experts guide people navigate through their learning challenges.
Therefore, a good human resource development strategy will value human potential alongside AI tech advancements and drive sustainable growth.