efforts. In the Hungarian public administration there has been a shift from the prevalence of law enforcement practices to functional competence development and practical problem-solving, which requires HRD solutions similar to those that have proved successful in the American context. The convergence of the training objectives necessarily results in the convergence of the learning environment regarded as favorable for the attainment of these objectives. Table 1 below illustrates those meta-theories that reflect the most typical orientations and their implications for adult learning. Laird defines behaviorism, cognitivism, humanism, social learning and constructivism as learning theories having the primary contribution to HRD. (Laird, 2003) A deeper insight into their methodological impacts reveals that the common features are the attitudes to personal experience, practical skill development, interaction with peers in the training group or social interaction in the organization, reflection on real-life situations, and the facilitation of the learning process by the trainer instead of direct knowledge transfer.