Business Services Industry

The learned profession - continuing education for human resource practitioners

HR Magazine, Sept, 1999 by Mark Boardman

A recent edition of Human Resource Management focused on HR training and educational opportunities. It wasn't a complete picture of the future of HR and education; most of the articles looked at current university programs and approaches. But it's evident that the number and variety of such offerings is growing and that the tie between business and HR practices is being recognized by some of the foremost institutions of higher education in the United States.

Robert Heneman was the guest editor for this edition of the magazine. He has a history in the HR area - many of his family members are HR educators. But the younger Heneman, who is the director of graduate programs in labor and human resources in the Max M. Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, is looking more to the future than the past. That future, he says, must include more efforts in HR professional development and growth.

Heneman is the first to admit that this is quite a challenge. The information explosion has made it difficult for even academics to keep up with the changes, let alone HR professionals who have day-to-day responsibilities.

It's even more difficult because the various learning activities are not well-integrated or coordinated. As Heneman says, "They seem to be kind of piecemeal and rather sporadic, and one side doesn't know what the other side is doing." Some of that seems to be intentional; Heneman believes that various organizations, business as well as educational, have parochial interests that keep them from sharing important information. As such, some materials fail to reach the HR practitioner.

On the bright side, Heneman believes at least some of that is breaking down because of the common needs of the various organizations. He predicts that this break down will continue as we enter the new millennium. Other partnerships involving academia and business will become commonplace.

Heneman believes that HR needs an annual gathering that would match the practical aspects of the Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference and Exposition with the ivory tower approach of various academic meetings. This, too, would offer cutting-edge ideas to HR folks from across the country - or, perhaps, from around the world.

Heneman also recommends the creation of what he calls a "human resource university," an institution that would begin to work with HR professionals at an early point in their careers. They would be immediately exposed to some of the basic concepts of HR practices, legal concerns, etc. Through the years, they would be educated in more and more areas, kept up to date by the latest research and thinking, all the while practicing what they learned on the job. From an educational standpoint, it would be a symbiotic relationship; the educators would learn a great deal from the experiences of their HR students. In fact, this concept is not far-fetched; Heneman says Ohio State's Fisher School of Business is already in the process of designing a human resource university.

Heneman, of course, is not alone in believing that learning is the key to the future success of organizations in general and HR in particular. Increased cooperation between business and academia will make possible a learning process that is ongoing, practical and yet forward-looking - one that not only collects information but disseminates it in a measured and useful manner.

For more information on emerging issues, please visit the Issues Management web site at www.shrm.org/issues.> Mark Boardman is the editor of HR Newsscan, a monthly audio news source produced by SHRM.