The over aching goal of Human Resource Development interventions is to assist employees and organizations in attaining their goals. While this might, a first glance, seem relatively straightforward and uncontroversial, the work out of multiple stakeholder approach is not easy, and it is definitely not without controversy. HRD professionals can help employees meet their personal goals by providing programs and interventions that promote individual development, for example, career development activities, mentoring, and formal training and educational opportunities. Concerning organizational goals, the ultimate objective of most, if not all, HRD programs is to improve organizational performance ;however, they are increasing recognized as critical component of organizational success. Further, a major focus of must HRD intervention ids an effort to change employee behavior. That is, the hope is that providing employee with the skill and behaviors they need to perform successfully should lead to the greatest accomplishment of both employee and organizational goal. Thus, the field of HRD has always has a strong focus on employee behavior. However, to change any behavior, we must first understand the factors that cause employees to behavior the way they do . Armed with this knowledge, we can more accurately diagnose performance problems, understand what makes effective performance possible, and design HRD program to foster the behavior we want.
Identifying the causes of employee behavior is no easy task. The factors contributing to any behavior are numerous, complex/ and difficult to ascertain. But, however difficult this may be, a through understanding of employee behavior and its cause is for critical for any HRD program to be effective. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce readers to the major factors influencing employee behavior and their implication for HRD. Students with backgrounds in organizational behavior or applied psychology will find that this chapter provides an important review and an opportunity to these topic to issues within HRD.