Human Resource Development Review

Despite being viewed as a major construct at the heart of human resource development (HRD), considerable complexity, confusion, and ambiguity exists regarding the conceptualization of development. The notion of development has attracted interest from a wide array of fields including HRD, adult education, psychology, management studies, and organization theory. As a result, there is little consistency in how development is understood, conceptualized, or tested. This article examines the current body of knowledge and understanding on development to develop a typology to focus future research and investigations. A typology of development is proposed, and four development types are identified. The article then articulates the underlying theories, primary antecedents, and outcomes associated with each of the four development types. Finally, recommendations and avenues for future research arising from the typology are specified.

This article responds to the call for the identification of a core essence of organizational commitment. Since this call 14 years ago, scholars studying organizational commitment have not come to an agreement as to the nature of organizational commitment, and how it develops. The research’s fragmentation creates a problem in a time when practitioners are looking toward organizational commitment interventions to attract, retain, and develop talent and enhance employee performance. With organizational commitment research remaining confounding and fragmented, further clarification of what commitment is and how it develops is warranted and important to guide future research and evidence-based practice. Through a review of the competing and overlapping organizational commitment theoretical frameworks and the empirical research on the consequences of affective organizational commitment, this article proposes a conceptual framework in which affective commitment, or the emotional attachment to the organization, is an important core essence of organizational commitment.

Masculinized industries encompass many work contexts described as masculine, male-dominated, and/or gendered. However, the use of any of those three latter designations hinges on the gender binary (men and women) and the inequitable distribution of power in favor of men. Describing an industry or group of industries as “masculinized” is more political, inferring the stance that male privilege applies only to certain men working in these industries. The purpose of this structured literature review was to systematically examine the literature on masculine, male-dominated, gendered, and masculinized work contexts. Findings indicated that masculinized industries create metaphorical barricades that serve to sustain long-standing traditions, customs, policies, and practices potentially detrimental to many, including gay men. Overall, this article moves the conversation about inequality in these industries beyond that of the gender binary.

Although learning from experience is recognized as important for the development of managers, there is no systematic model regarding how to facilitate experiential learning. This study was designed to develop a theoretical framework for the ability to learn from experience. Drawing on the literature, I have developed a model in which five facilitators (seeking challenging tasks, critical reflection, enjoyment of work, learning goal orientation, and developmental network) directly and indirectly facilitate performance of the four steps of Kolb’s experiential learning process. The central contribution of this study is to propose a framework that integrates factors that facilitate experiential learning in various fields. The present research compensates for the shortcomings of Kolb’s experiential learning cycle.

Using Giddens’s Structuration Theory as a lens, this article theorizes an organizational change perspective that emphasizes the role of the marginalized. The context for this work is the current changes within the Roman Catholic Church, with respect to its teaching and norms around homosexuality. The change perspective proposes the emergence of “Legitimate Alternative Structural Configurations” (LASC) from which organizational actors find guidance for enacting behaviors that promote greater inclusion of the marginalized in a global organization. Six propositions are offered for considering the ways in which marginal actors facilitate the emergence of LASC. This conceptualization of change provides a useful lens for recognizing, understanding, and promoting the transformation of oppressive organizational structures (in this case, the Roman Catholic Church), while emphasizing the role of marginal actors in the process of change.

We take empowerment from tasks to relationships by introducing the construct of psychological empowerment in the context of mentoring episodes. We introduce a new perspective for examining psychological empowerment, derived from a protégé’s perceptions of relational impact, developmental meaning, interpersonal competence, and relational self-determination arising out of relational mentoring episodes. Empowered protégés are expected to be more proactive in their careers. By applying an empowerment perspective to relational mentoring, we propose a conceptual model to investigate critical interpersonal processes and to discover more about how developmental relationships work. Finally, our aim is also to further our theoretical understanding of relational mentoring episodes. This new direction holds exciting implications for career scholarship, human resource development (HRD) practitioners, and employees.