Journal of European Industrial Training

Towards a redefinition of strategic HRD

Martin McCracken Mary Wallace

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Martin McCracken Mary Wallace, (2000),"Towards a redefinition of strategic HRD", Journal of European Industrial Training,
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(1995),"The emergence of strategic human resource development", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 19 Iss 10
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(1991),"Erratum", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 12 Iss 6 pp. 21-34 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000000889
(2011),"What is HRD? A definitional review and synthesis of the HRD domain", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol.
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Towards a redefinition of strategic HRD

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Martin McCracken
Employment Research Institute, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland
Mary Wallace
Mary Wallace Training and Development, Doune, Scotland

Keywords

Strategic planning, HRD,

Learning organisations, Training

Abstract

Reviews the literature on strategic

human resource development
(SHRD) and explores the concept
specifically in the context of
the work of Garavan (1991),
which highlighted nine key
characteristics of SHRD.
Garavan's seminal paper is used
as a starting point from which to
examine the development of the
concept of SHRD. By examining
and reviewing the literature, the
nine characteristics are redefined
and enhanced, thus moving
towards a new model and
definition of SHRD. Concludes by
defining SHRD as the creation of a
learning culture, within which a
range of training, development and
learning strategies both respond
to corporate strategy and also
help to shape and influence it.
It is the reciprocal, mutually
enhancing, nature of the
relationship between HRD and
corporate strategy which lies at
the heart of SHRD and at the heart
of the development of a learning
culture.

Received: September 1999

Revised: January 2000

Journal of European Industrial

Training
24/5 [2000] 281290
# MCB University Press
[ISSN 0309-0590]

Introduction
Many commentators on organisational
matters advocate that the endemic and
complex challenges for the global economy
which emerged in the latter part of the
twentieth century will continue unabated into
the new millennium (Dicken, 1992; Peters,
1987; Handy, 1989). These challenges have
been characterised by the globalisation of
economic activity, the fragmentation of
markets, paradigm shifts in production
relations and massive leaps in technological
infrastructure (Freeman et al., 1993;
Sanderson, 1998; Hamel and Sampler, 1998). In
order to deal with such global shifts,
organisational theorists and practitioners
agree that organisations must understand the
vital role which learning and development
will play in ensuring their survival (Salamon
and Butler, 1990). Therefore, organisations
must realise that there is a need for serious
investment in human resource development
(HRD) and training, as the Department for
Education and Employment point out,
``Investment in human capital will be the
foundation of success in the twenty-first
century'' (DfEE, 1998). The fundamental
element of this will be the requirement of
organisations to ensure that any investment
which is made in human capital with the
promotion of HRD strategy is clearly linked to
the wider corporate strategy.
The concept of Strategic HRD (SHRD) has
been much explored in the training and
development literature of the last decade
(Higgs, 1989; Keep, 1989; Noel and Dennehy,
1991; Garavan, 1991; Holden and Livian, 1993;
Saggers, 1994; Sloman, 1994; Rainbird, 1995;
Garavan et al., 1995; Torraco and Swanson,
1995; Lee, 1996b; Stewart and McGoldrick,
1996; Harrison, 1997; O'Donnell and Garavan,
1997; Garavan et al., 1998), but there has been
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relatively little work on what characterises

an organisation with a strategic approach to
HRD. This article reviews the literature on
SHRD and explores the concept specifically
in the context of the work of Garavan (1991)
which highlighted nine key characteristics of
SHRD (see Figure 1). Garavan's (1991) paper
was used as a foundation and cornerstone
from which to examine the ways in which the
concept of SHRD had changed in the years
since 1991. By examining and reviewing the
literature, these nine characteristics are
redefined and enhanced, thus moving
towards a new model and definition of SHRD.

Defining SHRD
It is essential in beginning this analysis, to
define the term SHRD, and first to underline
the point that:

the field of human resource development

defies definition and boundaries. It's difficult
to put into a box (Blake, 1995, p. 22).

Garavan et al. (1995) also contends that the

term HRD is used in many different contexts
and that it concerns a range of widely differing
activities, leading to considerable confusion
about its use. Despite these difficulties,
however, a number of useful definitions of
SHRD exist, including the following:

The strategic management of training,

development and of management/
professional education interventions, so as to
achieve the objectives of the organisation
while at the same time ensuring the full
utilisation of the knowledge in detail and
skills of individual employees. It is concerned
with the management of employee learning
for the long term keeping in mind the explicit
corporate and business strategies (Garavan,
1991, p. 17).
Strategic HRD can be viewed as a proactive,
system-wide intervention, linked to strategic

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Martin McCracken and

Mary Wallace
Towards a redefinition of
strategic HRD

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Training
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planning and cultural change. This contrasts

with the traditional view of training and
development as consisting of reactive,
piecemeal interventions in response to specific
problems (Beer and Spector, 1989, p. 25).

These definitions, among others (Harrison,

1997; Stewart and McGoldrick, 1996), stress
the need for SHRD to operate within, be
linked to and keep in mind, corporate
strategy. This would suggest that HRD
should be responsive to corporate strategy.
However, it is important to ask whether
SHRD can occupy more than the rather
reactive role implied by this suggestion and
this article challenges the perception that
SHRD only ever flows from corporate
strategy. HRD, it is suggested (O'Donnell and
Garavan, 1997; Harrison, 1997; Torraco and
Swanson, 1995), should become more
strategically focused, but what, specifically,
does being more strategically focused
actually mean? In order to examine this
question, the following section will explore
the nine SHRD characteristics suggested by
Garavan (1991) (Figure 1). Each will be reexamined and redefined in order to work
towards a new model of SHRD.

The characteristics of SHRD

Integration with organisational missions
and goals

Garavan (1991) stresses the point that the

need for integration into business planning is
critical for SHRD, as is a contribution to
corporate goals and an awareness of the
mission of the organisation. Garavan et al.
(1998), also stress that HRD is viewed as a
strategic lever in organisations because it is
seen as a means of helping the organisation
to implement its business strategies. This
work points towards ``vertical integration'',
as described by those such as Guest (1987)
and Storey (1992). Clearly, this ``fit'' or

Figure 1
Key SHRD characteristics

integration is vital, but it echoes the

matching model of HRM (Devanna et al.,
1984) in suggesting a responsive and reactive
role for SHRD. Alternatively, a more
proactive role may actually be at the real
heart of SHRD, moving away from a strategy
supporting and implementing role, towards a
role where SHRD helps to shape and
influence, corporate strategy. Torraco and
Swanson (1995), for example, suggest that
where an emergent strategy is dominant (for
instance in organisations where there are
frequent technical innovations), then HRD
can have a strategy shaping, rather than
simply supporting, role. They also suggest,
more generally, that:
Today's business environment requires that
HRD not only support the business strategies
of organisations, but that it assume a pivotal
role in the shaping of business strategy
(Torraco and Swanson, 1995, p. 11).

Mintzberg (1978) and Mintzberg and Waters

(1985) put forward a similar model, exploring
HRM both as an implementation tool in
relation to corporate strategy, where strategy
is deliberate, and as a formation, as opposed
to formulation, tool, where it is emergent
(formulation is assumed to imply a formal
and deliberate planning process). This model
could apply equally to an examination of the
potential dual functions of HRD in relation to
corporate strategy. HRD could therefore, at
least in theory, also play a role in either
implementing and/or forming corporate
strategy.
Lee (1996a), using a model of training
maturity originally proposed by Burgoyne
(1986) in relation to management
development, also suggests that in
strategically mature organisations SHRD
resides in a proactive role at the top of the
scale shown in Figure 2.
In this work, the concept of training
maturity is used to describe the level of
sophistication which the organisation has
with regard to training and the extent to
which training helps to shape and formulate
(or form) corporate strategy. Integration with
organisational missions and goals, as
suggested by Garavan (1991), therefore
suggests an implementation role for HRD, but
truly strategic HRD should also shape and
influence these missions and goals (LegnickHall and Legnick-Hall, 1988; Butler, 1988).

Top management support

It is suggested that the support and active

participation of top management, as key
stakeholders, is vital for the development of
SHRD (Garavan, 1991). Lee (1996b) goes
further in suggesting that this support needs
to be from the point of view of their

[ 282 ]

Martin McCracken and

Mary Wallace
Towards a redefinition of
strategic HRD

Figure 2
Scale of training maturity

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operational roles and their own personal

development. It must therefore be in the form
of active, rather than simply passive, support
and involvement. Harrison (1997) also
suggests that HRD should be led, rather than
simply supported, by top management.
Torraco and Swanson (1995) and Noel and
Dennehy (1991) propose that to earn such
support, HRD professionals must
demonstrate their strategic capability,
crucially by helping strategic planners to
acquire the conceptual, analytical and
interpersonal skills they require to do their
jobs properly. This point is also made by
Garavan et al. (1998), where it is suggested
that HRD is often perceived as a means of
helping managers to adopt strategic
thinking. The role of such managers as ``key
actors'' in HRD (Garavan et al., 1998) suggests
that their active leadership of HRD (rather
than their passive compliance) is critical. As
a key SHRD characteristic, top management
support should therefore become top
management leadership.

Environmental scanning

Continuous knowledge of the external

environment, in terms of opportunities and
threats for the business and for HRD
specifically, is vital for SHRD to flourish
(Garavan, 1991; Higgs, 1989). However, it is
crucial that other senior managers, and not
just HRD professionals (Torraco and
Swanson, 1995; Sloman, 1993), should be
gathering such information. Who conducts
the SWOT or PEST analysis and whether it is
done specifically in HRD terms is critical.
Truly strategic HRD operates where senior
management automatically consider the
HRD implications of any changes in the
internal or external environment, rather
than seeing this as the job of the HRD
specialists (Rainbird, 1995; Peery and Salem,
1993). In this way, HRD can become properly
integrated into the organisation and into the
strategic planning process. It is not enough
for environmental scanning simply to take

place, although this is clearly critical; it must

be done specifically in HRD terms and by
senior management.

HRD policies and plans

Garavan (1991) also states that, for HRD to be

strategic in focus, it must formulate plans
and policies which flow from, and are
integrated with, business plans and policies.
Although it is acknowledged that HRD plans
can influence, rather than simply react to
business plans (Hendry and Pettigrew, 1986),
this appears to be a crucial and underdeveloped point. The implication is still of an
operational rather than a strategic emphasis.
Plans and policies are clearly necessary, but
it is also vital that there are HRD strategies,
developed by the top management team.
Strategy has been defined as:

the route that has been chosen for a period of

time and from a range of options in order to
achieve business goals. It is a guide to action
and therefore sets the scene within which
policies including those employee resource
(ER) policies relating to the learning and
development of people can be agreed and
implemented (Harrison, 1997, p. 19).

It is therefore about the present and future

direction of the organisation, from a broad
perspective, whereas policy can be seen as
the specific routes to be followed and the
tasks to be undertaken in order to achieve
the strategy. Training plans represent the
next level down and usually consist of the
details of priority training interventions
from the point of view of who, how, when and
where. For SHRD to thrive, therefore, HRD
policies and plans need to be supplemented
by HRD strategies.

Line management commitment and

involvement

The enthusiastic involvement of the line

manager (Zenger, 1985) is considered to be
critical for SHRD, since line managers are
key stakeholders and ``actors'' in HRD
(Garavan, 1991; Garavan et al., 1998). Garavan

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Martin McCracken and

Mary Wallace
Towards a redefinition of
strategic HRD
Journal of European Industrial
Training
24/5 [2000] 281290

(1991) points out that the role of HRD needs to

be clarified and that HRD staff also need to be
clear about the kind of support they expect
and desire from other stakeholders or
``actors''. Rainbird (1995, p. 83) regards the
trend towards devolvement of HRD
responsibilities to the line as:
A key indicator of the ability to integrate
human resource and business strategies.

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Paradoxically though, such devolvement

often involves only operational issues,
leaving HRD specialists to concentrate on
more strategic issues, so that divergence and
fragmentation, rather than integration, takes
place. What is vital is that line managers and
HRD specialists work in partnership on both
operational and strategic issues.
Lee (1996b) and Harrison (1997) also stress
the need for shared ownership of HRD, where
line managers and HRD staff work in
partnership over HRD issues. Wognum (1998)
refers to this as ``strategic HRD aligning''
the process of integrating stakeholder
interests in HRD. However, in reality, it is
likely that the role of line managers in HRD
is underdeveloped for a variety of complex
attitudinal and cultural reasons (Harrison,
1992; Garavan, 1987; Leicester, 1989; Sinclair
and Collins, 1992). It may even be the case
that training specialists exclude line
managers because of concerns over the
threat of substitution (Grace and Straub,
1991). Such strategic partnerships may
therefore not exist in reality. For example,
Garavan et al. (1998) found that many of the
``actors'' in HRD either claimed exclusive
ownership of HRD strategy or felt that it
rested with someone other than themselves.
Despite these difficulties, it seems clear that
line management support and involvement
are not alone sufficient for SHRD to flourish.
Also vital are collaborative and strategic
partnerships between HRD specialists and
line managers. Line managers should drive
as well as deliver HR policies (Storey, 1995),
and what is crucial for the development of
SHRD is that they do this in partnership with
HR professionals.

Existence of complementary HRM

activities

Garavan (1991) argues that HRD must view

itself as part of a wider package of HRM
strategies and that HRD is central to HRM as
``a vital if not the pivotal component''
(Garavan et al., 1995, p. 5). Such horizontal
and internal integration or ``fit'' (Guest, 1987;
Storey, 1992; Baird and Meshoulam, 1988) is
clearly important for the development of
SHRD, although others (Storey, 1994;
Harrison, 1997) question whether in reality
such integration exists. Certainly, merely

[ 284 ]

complementary (as opposed to fully

integrated) HRM activities may not in
themselves be sufficient for the development
of SHRD. What are needed are strategic
partnerships between HRM and HRD
professionals of the kind implied by
O'Donnell and Garavan (1997), where an
alliance between HRD strategy and a globalarching HRM strategy is suggested. Without
such real alliance and integration between
HRM and HRD, to the extent that they are
seen as one and the same, there is probably
little hope of either having much impact on
the achievement of corporate objectives.

Expanded trainer role

Garavan (1991) suggests that a strategic HRD

function requires trainers who can be
innovators and consultants, rather than
simply providers or managers of training
(see also Sloman, 1993; Pettigrew et al., 1982;
Harrison, 1997). However, Philips and Shaw
(1989) develop this further and suggest that
the consultancy role could involve training,
learning, or organisational change issues.
They contend that it is only really in the
latter role that the concentration is on
meeting the strategic needs of the
organisation; the former roles tend to
concentrate on meeting the needs of the
individual. Talbot (1993) also suggests that
the roles of the trainer could include:
.
adaptive (adapting the skills and
knowledge of staff to fit existing systems);
.
adoptive (getting staff to adopt new values
or attitudes); or
.
innovative (informing and influencing
organisational change processes).
It is in this latter role and in the
organisational change consultant role
(Philips and Shaw, 1989) that HRD specialists
can flourish and make a strategic
contribution. HRD staff also need to be
leaders, as well as facilitators, of change,
despite the possibility of underlying doubts
about their own credibility (O'Donnell and
Garavan, 1997). They need to be proactive
rather than simply reactive and to see
themselves in a central and strategic, rather
than peripheral and operational, role
(Garavan et al., 1998). Garavan's (1991) view
that HRD specialists need to develop and
expand their role could therefore be extended
to place an emphasis on strategic change
roles in particular. Equally critical, perhaps,
is the need for a common understanding
across the organisation about the role of HRD
staff. Bennett and Leduchowicz (1983), in
their model of trainer effectiveness, stress
the need of such congruence between the
trainer's own perception of their role and the

Martin McCracken and

Mary Wallace
Towards a redefinition of
strategic HRD

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Training
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expectations and perceptions of the rest of

the organisation.

Recognition of culture

It is clear that the HRD function must be

aware of corporate culture and take into
account the need for a match between culture
and strategy in the organisation (Garavan,
1991). Culture is seen as an important
variable in deciding how HRD should be
delivered and evaluated. An under-developed
issue would appear to be the role of HRD in
influencing and changing, rather than
simply maintaining, corporate culture. In the
words of Burack (1991, p. 88):
Human resource development (HRD) has a
crucial, challenging role to play in
successfully ``orchestrating'' strategic culture
change.

Culture is a complex concept and notoriously

difficult to pin down or clarify. The influence
which SHRD might have in changing
corporate culture could therefore be even
more difficult to isolate and clarify. However,
this is an issue which has been addressed in
some of the literature on the learning
organisation (Garratt, 1987; Senge, 1990;
West, 1994; Pedler et al., 1991, among others).
Learning, it is suggested, can be both a
product of culture as well as a means of
transmitting and changing culture, although
the interrelationships are complex and
poorly understood. Certainly, the existence of
a learning culture would seem crucial to the
existence of SHRD and likewise any
organisation where HRD has a role in
influencing culture probably already has a
learning culture in place. For SHRD to
flourish, therefore, a recognition of culture,
as pinpointed by Garavan (1991), may not be
enough. Complex though the issues and
interrelationships clearly are, it is proposed
that a recognition of the potential for HRD to
develop and enhance (as opposed to merely
recognise) corporate culture is essential.

Emphasis on evaluation

Garavan (1991) stresses that in order to be

strategic, the HRD function must evaluate its
activities, but this point would appear to
need further development. Jackson (1989),
Philips (1991), Torraco and Swanson (1995)
and Harrison (1997) all argue strongly that
training should be results-oriented and that
evaluation should take place at what
Hamblin (1974) calls the ultimate level,
(addressing whether business needs have
been met). This inevitably involves some
degree of cost-effectiveness evaluation,
difficult though it can be to carry out. It may
be that the lack of such investment
calculations simply helps to perpetuate a

culture in which training is seen as a luxury

rather than a serious investment in the longterm future of the organisation. The
importance of cost-effectiveness evaluation
in the development of SHRD should therefore
be stressed. Paradoxically, however, this
emphasis on pay-back calculations can lead
to a concentration on achieving quantifiable
results within a short timeframe and it is
vital not to undermine the importance of
HRD as an investment with long-term and
less tangible benefits (such as culture
change). This is one of the many paradoxes of
an examination of the role of HRD and it is
addressed in the work of Lee (1996a), in what
he calls the pay-forward view of training.
Nevertheless, the importance of costeffectiveness evaluation should not be
underestimated (Harrison, 1997).

Towards a new model of SHRD

Having examined the nine characteristics in
a highly compartmentalised manner, it is
vital to stress that in reality the issues are
not so easily separated out. They are
intricately interlinked and should
complement and mutually support one
another (Baird and Meshoulam, 1988). For
SHRD to emerge, therefore, it is essential, not
only that these characteristics exist, but that
they are well integrated and that there is
``internal fit''. All are important in their own
right, but they are also interrelated. If one or
more is absent or weak, then this could
significantly undermine the development of
SHRD, because the links with other
characteristics would also be weakened. For
example, top management leadership
without strategic partnerships with line
management would mean that HRD was not
properly embedded into the organisation and
this would represent a significant barrier to
the development of a learning culture. The
organisation would almost certainly be less
strategically mature in HRD terms than one
where both senior and line management
commitment to HRD were strong. The same
could be argued for almost any combination
of the characteristics. They have thus been
represented in Figure 3 as an open system,
with each reliant on the others, so that SHRD
emerges and thrives.
As SHRD emerges and thrives (as it must
for the organisation to survive in these
traumatic times), then so does a learning
culture. The concept of the learning
organisation (LO) (Argyris and Schon, 1978;
1996; Levitt and March, 1988; Garratt, 1987; De
Geus, 1988; Moingeon and Edmondson, 1996)
is relevant to consider in the context of

[ 285 ]

Martin McCracken and

Mary Wallace
Towards a redefinition of
strategic HRD

Figure 3
SHRD as an open system

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SHRD, which recognises constant

organisational and environmental change,
and the need for an identifiable
organisational learning culture (Schein,
1985) to emerge.
As a consequence of the challenges and
changes related to contracting out,
empowerment and de-layering, managers
will be operating in organisations which are
constantly evolving, so they will have to be
more flexible and undertake ``continuous
learning rather than periodic training''
(Institute of Management, 1994, p. 37). If we
consider for a moment a definition of the LO
given by Pedler et al. (1991, p. 1) ``an
organisation which facilitates the learning of
all its members and continually transforms
itself'' we can see how relevant this concept
of constant development for organisations is.
The facilitation of such learning and
development can only take place in a
supportive environment where there is a
clear link between HRD and corporate
strategy, where HRD is embedded into the
life-blood of the organisation, and where
senior, line and HR staff work in partnership
to support learning initiatives. All of these
aspects have clearly been communicated as
integral to the emergence of the LO, where
learning becomes ``institutional'' and as De
Geus (1988, p. 70) proposes:

whereby management teams change their

shared mental models of their company, their
markets and their competitors.

[ 286 ]

Without such integration between HRD

strategy and corporate strategy, and the
emergence of such ``institutional learning'',
SHRD will fail to flourish.
We can conclude by summarising the
differences between Garavan's (1991)
description of the characteristics of SHRD
and those developed above. As a result of our
review of the literature, each description of
the nine characteristics has been expanded
and enhanced and the differences are shown
in Table I.
The new enhanced version of the nine
characteristics suggests that SHRD is about
more than ``keeping in mind'' business
strategies (Garavan, 1991, p. 17). SHRD
should have a much more proactive and
influential role. This leads to a proposal for a
new model for SHRD, which is detailed in
Figure 4. This distinguishes between the
following:
.
Training, which has a reactive and ad hoc
implementation role in relation to
corporate strategy. Training specialists
tend to have an administrative and
delivery role, providing standardised
services to the organisation (Brewster and
Soderstrom, 1994). There is little evidence
of the existence of any of the nine Garavan
(1991) characteristics, even in their
original (rather than enhanced) version.
The organisation is strategically
immature in HRD terms and has no
discernible learning culture.

Martin McCracken and

Mary Wallace
Towards a redefinition of
strategic HRD

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Table I
A comparison of SHRD characteristics
SHRD characteristics (Garavan, 1991)

SHRD characteristics (Wallace and McCracken, 1999)

1.
2.
3.

Integration with organisational missions and goals

Top management support
Environmental scanning

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

HRD plans and policies

Line manager commitment and involvement
Existence of complementary HRM activities
Expanded trainer role
Recognition of culture
Emphasis on evaluation

Shaping organisational missions and goals

Top management leadership
Environmental scanning by senior management,
specifically in HRD terms
HRD strategies, policies and plans
Strategic partnerships with line management
Strategic partnerships with HRM
Trainers as organisational change consultants
Ability to influence corporate culture
Emphasis on cost-effectiveness evaluation

Figure 4
A model of SHRD

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strategic HRD

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HRD, which has a systematic

implementation role, but shows some
signs of beginning to shape corporate
strategy. HRD specialists have developed
an internal learning consultancy role
(Philips and Shaw, 1989), providing nonstandardised services to line managers
(Brewster and Sodestrom, 1994). The
organisation is beginning to develop a
maturity in HRD terms, with each of the
nine Garavan (1991) characteristics in
evidence and a learning culture starting
to develop.
SHRD, where the role is proactive in both
shaping and responding to corporate
strategy. SHRD specialists have developed
a strategic and innovative role as
organisational change consultants
(Philips and Shaw, 1989) leading, as well
as facilitating, change. The organisation
has become strategically mature in HRD
terms and evidence of all nine of the
enhanced Garavan (1991) characteristics,
as well as a strong learning culture, is in
place.
It is vital to stress that the roles described
here are not necessarily mutually
exclusive. They have been compartmentalised
for ease of analysis, but in reality
probably represent more of a continuum.
In particular, the various roles of training
and HRD specialists (Brewster and
Soderstrom, 1994) may well coexist at any
one time in one organisation.

The characteristics of SHRD suggested by

Garavan (1991) have thus been refined and
redefined, leading to a new conceptual model
of SHRD. SHRD could thus be defined as the
creation of a learning culture, within which a
range of training, development and learning
strategies both respond to corporate strategy
and also help to shape and influence it. It is
about meeting the organisation's existing
needs, but it is also about helping the
organisation to change and develop, to thrive
and grow. It is the reciprocal, mutually
enhancing, nature of the relationship
between HRD and corporate strategy
(Legnick-Hall and Legnick-Hall, 1988; Butler,
1988) which lies at the heart of SHRD and at
the heart of the development of a learning
culture.

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