Perception of Software Employees towards Human Resource Development Roles, Functions, and Professionals

The purpose of this research was to explore the perception of employees working in the software industry towards Human Resource Development (HRD) roles, functions, and professionals. This research adopted a quantitative methodology and administered a survey to understand how the employees perceive the different HRD roles and their importance in the organization. The research also studied the different perceptions employees may have towards the HRD professionals and their competencies. The participants in this study belonged to the software industry and have been working in their current technical job roles for atleast a year. A survey was used to collect data and was designed on an online platform – Google Forms. The survey was designed in a way to include all the roles and functions described in the competency model designed by The Association of Talent Development in 2014. The participants ranked Learning and Knowledge Management as the most important HRD function. The participants also perceived that HRD professionals possess a business acumen and are capable of accommodating cultural differences in the organization. The results of the study indicated a general amiable perception towards the HRD roles, functions, and professionals

Nonprofit organizations and volunteer leadership development: A narrative review with implications for human resource development

Despite the growing support for the importance of volunteer leadership development activities across nonprofit organizations, little is known about volunteer leadership development in the field of human resource development. This narrative literature review highlighted the main challenges in running a nonprofit organization, emphasized the value of volunteer leadership development, and stressed the important role of HRD to develop more capable and trained volunteers. Due to the shortage of skilled volunteers, special efforts are needed to concentrate on volunteers' development; proper guidance and assistance are required to do this effectively and efficiently. This study opens discussion on this topic and offers overall implications for volunteer leadership development. Our findings can help professionals design thoughtful leadership development programs for volunteers and may provide a foundation for future research in the field of HRD

Hr Undergraduate Students As Mobile Learners

While more and more organizations are taking the step toward digitalized training programs for employees (gamification, mobile learning, MicroLearning, etc.), little is known about how the future HRD scholars and practitioners are being prepared to face HR dynamics transformation. It seems there is a need to introduce digitally enabled pedagogy in Higher Education (Anderson, 2020) to allow undergraduate HR students to expand their knowledge and develop their digital skills using the learning-by-doing approach (Bedenlier et al., 2020). Additionally, the recent literature shows a positive relation between mobile learning and student behavioral engagement in Higher Education (Elbabour & Head, 2020), as well as in terms of high-quality education and learning process (Sung et al., 2016). In this study we present the analysis of a pilot experience in which we quantitatively evaluated a digital learning experience in the distance higher education. Thus, we applied mobile learning through Telegram in two HR undergraduate courses and evaluated academic engagement, satisfaction with training, personal transfer of training and knowledge acquired. The two courses were Staff Recruiting and Development, and Human Resource Audit. The main objective of the study is to better understand the area of HRD teaching and learning processes in Higher Education through the use of digital methodology. We proposed four research questions (RQ): Do we have indications that mobile learning produces an increase in (RQ1) academic engagement, (RQ2) satisfaction with training, (RQ3) personal transfer of training, and (RQ4) the knowledge acquired by the students? Based on the post-positivist research principles (Hill, 2017), pre and post-measurements were taken for academic engagement, satisfaction with training, personal transfer of training and the students’ knowledge of the taught subjects. As a pilot experience design, we don’t use a control group. Treatment consisted of two MicroLearning (Taylor & Hung, 2022) activities applied through mobile learning via Telegram for smartphones. Through this application, a teacher briefly explained theoretical concepts in a voice message no longer than 10 minutes following the pedagogical criteria of MicroLearning. Thus, each activity was focused on a topic (e.g., personnel recruiting) and fragmented into nine small units. A voice message was sent by the teacher every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during three consecutive weeks The students had to respond to the teacher's comments through audio and written messages. They were encouraged to discuss and comment on personal experiences from their professional experience. In the end, the students compiled the teacher's voice messages and their own through out the duration of the activity and sent them in writing through the corresponding delivery mailbox of the virtual classroom. The participants were 46 students of Universidad a Distancia de Madrid (Udima, Spain). We applied the Spanish version of the academic engagement questionnaire (Schaufeli et al., 2002), which was validated in Spain by Belando et al. (2012). Regarding satisfaction with training, we used the satisfaction dimension from the Factors Predicting Transfer questionnaire (FPT) (González-Ortiz-de-Zárate et al., 2020). It measures the degree of satisfaction with the training and the trainer and the degree of perceived learning. The personal transfer of training was measured through a recently created instrument based on the latest theoretical developments in the multidimensional measurement of transference (Ford et al., 2019; Stewart et al., 2020). Finally, we used a knowledge test composed of five short questions or concepts to be described (e.g., recruitment strategy). The same questions have been asked as pre and post measurement. Non-parametric tests will be used to analyze the data. Yuen’s robust test is considered, for its capacity of detecting significant differences between related groups. These analyses are the most appropriate because of the reduced size of the participant group. This study will yield preliminary results for evaluating the application of mobile phones in distance university education. It is expected to get to helpful insights regarding the overall perception of applying digital methodology in this context. Mobile phone is perceived as a indispensable accessory for most of the students nowadays and its use out of the educational context is extensive. Findings of the present study might suggest if mobile learning could be used to enhance learning processes in terms of academic engagement and satisfaction with training. The findings may be used by teachers in educational institutions, particularly in the knowledge area of HRD, to design learning activities and also take a step forward in learning by doing methodology. It is recommended to increase the sample in different contexts and use experimental designs that allow for establishing causal relationships.II Convocatoria de Ayudas a Proyectos de Innovación Educativa de la Universidad a Distancia de Madrid2022-2

Career Aspirations of Generation Z in India’s Information Technology Industry: A Grounded Theory Exploration

The purpose of this dissertation study is to explore the career aspirations of Generation Z (individuals born between the years 1995 and 2012) within India’s information technology (IT) industry’s context. Career aspirations are an individual’s career-related goals and expectations. As of today, researchers have widely studied generation Z in the western context and posited that this newest generation in the workforce aspire to be highly achievement-oriented, want meaningful and interesting work, have a highly evolved self-concept, and expect to use technology on an everyday basis. However, there are no current career development theories that explain generation Z’s career aspirations fully. A constructivist grounded theory research is flexible and when conducted rigorously, allows for transferability of findings aiding researcher’s attempts to understand a phenomenon in one context and applying it in other. Data were collected from 16 participants through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and analytical memos. Data were analyzed using three analytical procedures: (a) initial coding, (b) focused coding, and (c) advanced coding or theoretical coding The findings from this study indicate that participants had low self-awareness and self-efficacy beliefs when they first form their career aspirations. External factors such as the culture, society, and individual economic background influenced participants to pursue engineering education and begin a career in the IT industry. During their time in the IT industry, participant’s work experiences led them adjust their career aspirations and engage in improving their self-awareness and self-efficacy beliefs. Participants were thus able to re-form their career aspirations for the future. The findings from this study led to developing a substantive theory explaining that Gen Z in the Indian IT industry develop career aspirations by: (a) forming career aspirations, (b) developing self-awareness, (c) adjusting career aspirations, (d) developing self-efficacy, (e) re-forming career aspirations. The implications to theory, research, and practice are presented