Themes of Adult Learning and Development in Human Resource Development

This hermeneutic study explores the practices and philosophies of Adult Education and Human Resource Development, so that integrated communities of practice maybe created by understanding the ways in which adult education theory informs the field of HRD. According to Dirkx (1996), Human Resource Development specialists hold various perceptions of their field as a form of adult education, some seeing it as interchangeable and others arguing its distinctiveness. There continues to be a wide gap separating learning theory and common training practice (Stamps, 1997), regardless of the widespread acknowledgment that learning is at the center of all adult education and training (Tuijnman, 1996). Perpetuating the gap is the argument, based on the bottom-line focus of Human Resource Development (HRD), that the purpose of HRD is improved performance (Swanson & Arnold, 1996). In contrast, Adult Education (AdEd) embraces the goal of bringing about learning, whether for the benefit of the organization or not. The historical meaning of adult education was to help fully realize a democratic vision in society (Dirkx, 1996), a purpose that potentially could be interpreted as incompatible with the focus of workplace learning. The gap that apparently exists can be summarized as follows: If workplace learning were considered HRD, then the purpose of training and organization development would be improved performance, and the focus would be on fulfilling the organization's needs; if workplace learning were considered adult education, then the purpose of training and organization development would be learning, and the focus would be on the individual. If the fields of AdEd and HRD, while recognizing their differing needs, focus on their similarities, an opportunity exists to forge an alliance, the potential result of which is a synergy that integrates the theories and practices of the two fields for the benefit of both the individual and the organization (Peterson & Provo, 1996). The emerging paradigm reveals a view of work that is developmental, participatory, and self-authorizing, if not democratic. Considerable emphasis is placed on contextual or situational learning, in which worker-learners are collaboratively engaged in both problem-posing and problem-solving . When HRD is framed within the context of the emerging paradigm of work and as a form of adult education, it will then see itself as being about the business of fostering learning environments in the workplace. (Dirkx, 1996, pp. 44, 46) Maki (1996) referred to the need to develop a citizenry of the workplace. According to Stamps (1997), communities of practice a term, he notes, that was coined by Ettienne Wenger and Jean Lave in their 1991 book, Situated Learning (Cambridge University Press) are possible when work and learning are integrated. The core principles of the communities of practice perspective are that (a) learning is social, and (b) learning happens on the job. Thus it is learning that gives rise to communities of practice, which are a way of thinking about how work gets done. The purpose of this hermeneutic study was to explore the potential for the two fields of Adult Education and Human Resource Development to come together for the benefit both of the organization, whose primary need must focus on performance, and of the individual, whose primary need focuses on personal development. Thus the specific research questions were as follows: (1) What is the practice of Human Resource Development (HRD)? Of Adult Education (AdEd)? (2) How do the fields of AdEd and HRD relate to one another? , and (3) Is there an opportunity for creating integrated communities of practice?