Conclusions and HRD Implications
Establishing a boundary or scope for HRD, and particularly IHRD, is controversial—with some arguing that a discipline must have well-established and accepted boundaries, while others argue that ambiguity is desirable in preventing a field from becoming stagnant. The authors of this paper each take one of these positions. Nevertheless, we are in agreement that having a definition, whether accepted or questioned, helps to build a dialogue that helps the field continue to develop. Exploring IHRD provokes HRD scholars to pay more attention to larger issues affecting countries and may have a significant impact on the future of HRD. Cho and McLean (2004) argued that “no longer can academics hold to narrow definitions of HRD; it is clear that around the world...the concept of HRD is much broader with much greater impact than has been acknowledged in many academic programs and much of the literature of the field” (p. 390). This paper, and its accompanying definition of IHRD, proposes to articulate more clearly than has been done in the past an aspect of HRD that extends and expands our understanding of HRD. Extensive effort has gone in to defining HRD at the individual, team, and organizational level. While less well explored, increasingly the scholarly literature is exploring community, local, regional, and national HRD. This paper moves to the third level, adding to the dialogue about IHRD. The literature thus views the HRD profession at three levels: individual and organizational (micro level), national (macro level), and international (global level). It is important for the field that dialogue continue at all three levels as the field seeks to become a mature discipline.
Recommendations for Future Research
We have just begun to scratch the service of the dilemmas faced in defining various aspects of HRD. We still do not have agreement on a basic definition of HRD, let alone NHRD, RHRD, Military HRD, and, now, International, Cross-Cultural, or Cross-National HRD. While we are not recommending that we need to have a standard definition for these terms, though that discussion needs to continue, we are recommending that the field and its scholars continue the exciting and ongoing debate related to its definitional characteristics. Further, as this paper has a crossnational team of authors, it is important for this dialogue to go on in a global context.