Abstract
The core feature of human resource development (HRD) that distinguishes it from its sister concept of human resource management (HRM) is the focus on development. Even though HRD has eschewed a unifying and agreed-upon definition and continues to remain in a state of “becoming,” the idea of development has remained central (Lee, 2001, p. 338). Lee (2001) defined development in the context of HRD “as maturation, as shaping, as a voyage, and as emergent” (p. 331). In their article on “Reclaiming the ‘D’ in HRD,” Garavan et al. (2015) clarified the complexity of this term by typologizing development across two dimensions: how development happens, that is, “planned or emergent” and at what level development occurs, that is, at the individual or in “interdependent units” (p. 364). For most of HRD’s history, development has overwhelmingly been described as an individual journey: individuals embarking on individual development activities to achieve individual desired outcomes. Of course, this journey often occurs within the boundaries of larger systems and connects to the desired outcomes of those systems; however, the actual development is still overwhelmingly understood as an individual endeavor, which has left the interdependent focus of development less emphasized.
The idea of development from an interdependent lens can be seen clearly, though, through developmental relationships in HRD, which is the focus of this book. HRD Perspectives on Developmental Relationships, edited by Rajashi Ghosh and Holly M. Hutchins, presents a collection of 20 chapters articulating the many perspectives, contexts, and mechanisms of developmental relationships and their role in organizations of all kinds. The editors cast a wide net in describing developmental relationships as those that “promote interdependent generative connections that result in growth and learning among individuals” (p. 1). Chapters are organized into six groups of perspectives, including those on talent development, knowledge management and organization development (OD), inclusion and social justice, online and virtual relating, globalization and national capacity building, and evaluation and assessment.
A central offering of the book is the connection of the idea of developmental relationships to common HRD topics in a way that enhances those topics and opens new avenues for research and practice. For example, Mull et al. write about employee engagement, Byrd writes about employee resource groups, Githens and Verbeten write about OD, and Muduli and others write about National HRD. Some of these connections come across as compelling and exciting while others feel slightly forced. Either way, there is wide appeal of this book across the range of interests in the HRD academic community. The diverse group of chapter authors represent a Who’s Who in HRD scholarship, including five inductees in the Academy of HRD Scholar Hall of Fame (i.e., Laura L. Bierema, Victoria J. Marsick, Gary N. McLean, Darlene F. Russ-Eft, and Karen E. Watkins) (Academy of Human Resource Development, n.d.), and an array of rising stars in the field (e.g., Angela D. Carter, Tomika W. Greer, and Ague Mae Manongsong).
Evaluation
A strength of the book is its many approaches. Many of the chapters use compelling methods such as descriptive vignettes in Greer and Minnis’ chapter on developmental relationships and career transition and the use of diverse case examples by Githens and Verbeten. While most of the chapters are conceptual, some are empirical such as Carter et al.’s use of mixed methods to explore coaching as a developmental intervention and Haddock-Millar et al.’s case study evaluation of a mentoring program. Chapter 19 on the “optimal structure, content, antecedents, and outcomes of developmental networks” (p. 467) is particularly cutting edge in how it illuminates the many factors that shape the “constellations of relationships” in organizations (p. 490).
There were a few areas I was surprised to see receive little attention in the book. As each chapter passed, I kept looking for more engagement with the well-established theory of leader-member exchange (LMX) (Anand et al., 2011; Dienesch & Linden, 1986). The theory of LMX spotlights the “dyadic relationship between leaders and followers” (Northouse, 2013, p. 161), the quality of which has been demonstrated empirically to affect numerous organizational outcomes, such as “in-role performance, citizenship behaviors, overall job satisfaction, and turnover intentions” (Anand et al., 2011, p. 311). Despite the fact that almost every chapter mentions leadership and that leadership development is a core aspect of HRD research (Yoo et al., 2019), the terms “leader-member exchange” or “LMX” did not appear in the book. This would have added a connection to the robust leadership literature on dyadic relationships and situated developmental relationships within this scholarship.
The second area that begged for more attention was the role and potential of developmental relationships in international and cross-cultural contexts. While Part V of the book is devoted to three chapters on globalization and national capacity building, this section only skims the surface of the challenges and opportunities associated with these areas. In chapter 14, Shen and Kim conduct a review of 56 empirical studies related to developmental relationships and expatriation and repatriation, which elucidate the types of developers and supports in these relationships as well as the outcomes of developmental relationships in these contexts. In chapter 15, Waight and Egan give a rich introduction to cultural value dimensions and some of the research and theory informing cross-cultural work and include a selection of intercultural learning tools. However, the chapter tended to hover in the abstract and lacked more practical and specific strategies based on empirical evidence that HRD students and practitioners could incorporate in their work. Furthermore, I was surprised to see only one chapter (by Faller et al.) mention Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s work on adult development and Constructive Developmental Theory (e.g., Kegan, 2000; Kegan & Lahey, 2009). I think this would have added an additional cognitive developmental lens to this work, which I have argued has a lot to offer HRD (Crocco & Grenier, 2021). And while adult education broadly was not within the scope of the book, there were likely places to make this connection, especially given how many of the authors have expertise in adult education. Clearly, addressing these areas in more depth would have added to the already lengthy nature of the book, and it is understandable that not everything can be covered in such a volume.
Recommendation
As one of the book’s endorsements rightly points out, this book will surely become a go-to reference for scholars and practitioners interested in studying and applying developmental relationships in their work. In higher education, I hope this book pushes faculty in HRD programs to consider offering courses on the role of developmental relationships in HRD, for which this book would be an ideal textbook. Even if not offered as a standalone course, HRD professors could easily create modules on developmental relationships in many of their courses and use chapters from this book to add a developmental lens to their content. For example, a course on Virtual HRD could use Chapters 11 to 13 on “Online and Virtual Relating Perspectives” (p. 239). After 500 pages and 19 chapters, the book concludes with an innovative 20th chapter where one leading scholar and one leading scholar-practitioner in the field (Ellinger and Ruona) reflect on the book as a whole and do the work of tying the disparate pieces together into a cohesive conclusion. Their message? While an important contribution, the book has opened even more doors to research and practice worth future investigation.
