Customer Reviews

Human Resource Development Research Handbook: Linking Research and Practice (A Publication in the Berrett-Koehler Organizational Performanc)

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If you work in human resources, the manual put together by editors Richard A. Swanson and Elwood F. Holton III will probably find its way onto a shelf close by your desk, where it can be easily reached as a reference tool. The chapters of this book, which were written by different authors but have been organized into a logical whole, help span the gap between theory and practice in the human resources field. You'll likely find yourself reaching for this dense, informative book every time your start planning a survey, training program or research project. If you're not in HR, this book is more likely to find its way into cardboard box on a dusty shelf at the back of a dark closet. The content, although quite innovative and detailed, is simply too specialized for a general readership. Therefore, we recommend this book to human resource professionals at all levels, and strongly encourage students of the discipline to study these pages before setting out in the real world of business.

This text sets itself apart by outlining the first, basic steps in conducting research for those who are frightened or ill-equipped to conduct the structured research that is so clearly needed by the OD and HRD field. Structured research's outcome, the editors argue, "is new knowledge, obtained through an orderly, investigative process" (Swanson, p. 10). The process they ascribe to includes a theory-research-development-practice cycle, which the authors describe as a vital cycle that allows ideas to be progressively refined as they evolve from concepts to practices and from practices to concepts. The book details steps in conducting both qualitative and quantitative research. It is a practical, hands-on reference manual created by those who are well-experienced. A must for any graduate student!

In response to the research and practice focus of the book-- the "Human Resource Development Research Handbook" was honored by The Executive Program as one of their book club selections.