Enhancing workplace learning through collaborative HRD

Human resource development (HRD) has evolved a great deal over the past 20 years. Indeed, developments in HRD theory, research and practice have helped transform HRD from a reactive function focusing on administrative and bureaucratic issues to a proactive function focusing on creating learning and development opportunities for employees that not only allow them to achieve their potential but also make a substantial contribution to the longterm survival and sustainability of the organisation. HRD is now seen as an investment in the future of an organisation. This investment perspective is based on the recognition that HRD is linked to business strategy and the achievement of competitive advantage (Caravan et al. 2002). One reason for the shift in emphasis is that many of the traditional sources of competitive advantage (technology, economies of scale) have diminished in value. Nowadays it is the workforce that has come to be seen as an important source of competitive advantage for the organisation. However, not too long ago employees were viewed by management as a disposable resource rather than an asset to an organisation.

Exploring the contribution of workplace learning to an HRD strategy in the Scottish legal profession.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of human resource development (HRD) for law firms in the UK. It examines how the characteristics of legal professional practice in the UK, including the partnership structure, long established methods of targeting solicitors and the law society, may act as barriers to the implementation of HRD. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses an exploratory case study research approach to investigate characteristics and issues influencing the adoption of HRD in a Scottish legal firm. Primary data are collected via semi-structured interviews with a cross-section of representatives. Findings – Despite recognition of the importance of learning, the characteristic elements of law firms, including the partnership structure; the pervasiveness of time-billed targets in the solicitor community; and HR’s profile and acceptance among the solicitor community, remain as barriers to the applicability of HRD. The research also exposes variability on the level and scope of development opportunities, an emphasis on technical skills development, and a lack of solicitors’ self-managed learning ability. Research limitations/implications – While the research findings provide a useful insight into the barriers to HRD in one legal firm, this does not allow for any generalisations being drawn from the study. Practical implications – The paper explores the suitability of workplace learning to support legal professional development. Originality/value – There is a dearth of research into HRD in legal practices in the UK. The paper contributes to the contextual influences that limit the applicability of HRD to legal professional practices.

Serving Multiple Masters: Exploring HRD in the Context of Third Sector Partnerships for Public Service Delivery

Organisations in the Non-Profit and Voluntary (NPV) sector increasingly face challenging and uncertain times with an increasing shift from public grant funding towards contract funding. As a result many of these changes employees in such organisations have often found themselves working more closely under contract with colleagues in public sector organisations in order to provide public services. Using a multiple case study methodology and in-depth interviewing of a range of stakeholders form two large Northern Irish based Non Profit Organisations in the social care sector, the purpose of this research was to
investigate HRD and people management issues and how a turbulent environment can affect how organisations approach HRD strategy and implementation.

The research identifies the importance placed upon NPOs adopting HRD strategies and addressing the development of unique and specialised skills in order to claw back power within the relationships they serve with statutory funding bodies. However this research also notes that the manner in which HRD and its associated issues are considered within NPOs can have an impact on the loyalty and commitment of the workforce which serves them. What is of concern is that the context for the delivery of public services under contract is putting increasing strain on NPOs and this has been felt markedly by their respective workforces, and unless strong values-led leadership and managerial practice is in
place in NPOs, the voluntary-centred ethos of those who work in the sector may be significantly damaged.

Efecto de la calidad química del fierro esponja (HRD) sobre su mecanismo de fusión por Marco Antonio Herrera García

Tesis (Maestría en Ingeniería Química) U.A.N.L.

Samarbete mellan konkurrenter - en undersökning av österbottniska sm-företag

Under senare tid har förekomsten av samarbete mellan konkurrerande sm-företag ökat. Forskningen kring ämnet har dock bedrivits i mindre skala, framför allt om man beaktar finländska (nordiska) förhållanden. Syftet med denna undersökning är att kartlägga förekomsten av samarbete mellan konkurrerande sm-företag i Österbotten (Finland), samt beskriva dessa. Gällande demografiska variabler jämförs dessa företag även med sm-företag som inte samarbetar. Data insamlades genom en enkät utskickad i november 2001 till 345 sm-företag i Österbotten. Svarsprocenten var 35.1. Av de respondenter som besvarade enkäten, var 47.9 procent involverade i ett eller flera samarbeten med ett eller flera företag som var deras konkurrenter. Samarbete mellan konkurrenter är således inte ett ovanligt fenomen, utan innefattar allt från informella, operativa samarbeten till formella, strategiskt viktiga samarbeten. Samarbete inom produktion var den mest vanligt förekommande formen av samarbete. Partnern kom från Finland, även om målmarknaderna för samarbetet fanns både i Finland och i utlandet. Denna undersökning kunde inte identifiera någon större skillnad mellan de sm-företag som samarbetade med konkurrenter och de sm-företag som inte samarbetade. Det intressanta är således att det inte verkar finnas några skillnader vad gäller ålder, omsättning, omsättningsökning, underleverans- och exportverksamhet mellan de samarbetande och de icke samarbetande företagen. Skillnaderna bör således sökas i andra variabler. Den enda signifikanta skillnaden kunde upptäckas i upplevelsen av konkurrens. Tidigare forskning har identifierat att osäkerhet i konkurrensen är ett incitament till att börja samarbeta med konkurrenter. Denna undersökning förstärker detta antagande. De samarbetande företagen upplevde att konkurrensen var hårdare än de icke samarbetande företagen. Bland de samarbetande företagen var det speciellt de mindre (med en personalstyrka mellan 10 och 50 arbetstagare) som upplevde att konkurrensen var hård. Undersökningen har finansierats med stipendiemedel från Sparbanksstiftelsen i Vasa och Handlande Gustav Svanljungs fond.

Conditionally One of 'Us' : A Study of Print Media, Minorities and Positioning Practices

This study deals with how ethnic minorities and immigrants are portrayed in the Finnish print media. The study also asks how media users of various ethnocultural backgrounds make sense of these mediated stories. A more general objective is to elucidate negotiations of belonging and positioning practices in an increasingly complex society. The empirical part of the study is based on content analysis and qualitative close reading of 1,782 articles in five newspapers (Hufvudstadsbladet, Vasabladet, Helsingin Sanomat, Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat) during various research periods between 1999 and 2007. Four case studies on print media content are followed up by a focus group study involving 33 newspaper readers of Bosnian, Somalian, Russian, and 'native' Finnish backgrounds. The study draws from different academic and intellectual traditions; mainly media and communication studies, sociology and social psychology. The main theoretical framework employed is positioning theory, as developed by Rom Harré and others. Building on this perspective, situational self-positioning, positioning by others, and media positioning are seen as central practices in the negotiation of belonging. In support of contemporary developments in social sciences, some of these negotiations are seen as occurring in a network type of communicative space. In this space, the media form one of the most powerful institutions in constructing, distributing and legitimising values and ideas of who belongs to 'us', and who does not. The notion of positioning always involves an exclusionary potential. This thesis joins scholars who assert that in order to understand inclusionary and exclusionary mechanisms, the theoretical starting point must be a recognition of a decent and non-humiliating society. When key insights are distilled from the five empirical cases and related to the main theories, one of the major arguments put forward is that the media were first and foremost concerned with a minority actor's rightful or unlawful belonging to the Finnish welfare system. However, in some cases persistent stereotypes concerning some immigrant groups' motivation to work, pay taxes and therefore contribute are so strong that a general idea of individualism is forgotten in favour of racialised and stagnated views. Discussants of immigrant background also claim that the positions provided for minority actors in the media are not easy to identify with; categories are too narrow, journalists are biased, the reporting is simplifying and carries labelling potential. Hence, although the will for the communicative space to be more diverse and inclusive exists — and has also in many cases been articulated in charters, acts and codes — the positioning of ethnic minorities and immigrants differs significantly from the ideal.

New twelve node serendipity quadrilateral plate bending element based on Mindlin-Reissner theory using Integrated Force Method

The Integrated Force Method (IFM) is a novel matrix formulation developed for analyzing the civil, mechanical and aerospace engineering structures. In this method all independent/internal forces are treated as unknown variables which are calculated by simultaneously imposing equations of equilibrium and compatibility conditions. This paper presents a new 12-node serendipity quadrilateral plate bending element MQP12 for the analysis of thin and thick plate problems using IFM. The Mindlin-Reissner plate theory has been employed in the formulation which accounts the effect of shear deformation. The performance of this new element with respect to accuracy and convergence is studied by analyzing many standard benchmark plate bending problems. The results of the new element MQP12 are compared with those of displacement-based 12-node plate bending elements available in the literature. The results are also compared with exact solutions. The new element MQP12 is free from shear locking and performs excellent for both thin and moderately thick plate bending situations.

Application of an evolutionary fuzzy system for the estimation of workforce deployment and cross-training in an assembly environment

Owing to the increased customer demands for make-to-order products and smaller product life-cycles, today assembly lines are designed to ensure a quick switch-over from one product model to another for companies' survival in market place. The complexity associated with the decisions pertaining to the type of training and number of workers and their exposition to the different tasks especially in the current era of customized production is a serious problem that the managers and the HRD gurus are facing in industry. This paper aims to determine the amount of cross-training and dynamic deployment policy caused by workforce flexibility for a make-to-order assembly. The aforementioned issues have been dealt with by adopting the concept of evolutionary fuzzy system because of the linguistic nature of the attributes associated with product variety and task complexity. A fuzzy system-based methodology is proposed to determine the amount of cross-training and dynamic deployment policy. The proposed methodology is tested on 10 sample products of varying complexities and the results obtained are in line with the conclusions drawn by previous researchers.

Human Resources Development for Sustainable Aquaculture in Bangladesh

The ennoblement of human resources has become a prime issue in the philosophy of sustainable aquaculture development in the new millennium.Being the planners, designers, conductors and philosophers of sustainable aquaculture, human beings always demand their further improvement at level best from their current positions to bring supreme success in the sector. As sustainable aquaculture is socio-economic –cum-environmental in concept, its operation and management requires constant interplay of various human knowledge for ensuring its smooth direction and for achieving its goal. So, the arrangement of different types and levels of training and education are the great need for the development of personnel involved in sustainable aquaculture route and also for growing awareness of environmental issues. The modus operandi of training and education has to be changed systematically to answer the calls of the needs of the new millennium. In the developing and developed countries where aquaculture plays a vital role in promoting production of aquatic organisms, alleviating of poverty, ensuring environmental compatibility, replenishing and improving the natural stocks, increasing socio-economic upliftment through integrated development approach, developing and managing the aquatic resources, maintaining gene banks and preserving the diversity of fish stocks, it has been already proved that Human resources development (HRD) is inevitable to bring sustainable aquaculture and plays a great role in the flourishment of the system . Different types and levels of training of personnel required for sustainable aquaculture in the new millennium are brought forward in the study. The importance of human resources development (HRD) through specialized training to the personnel is also depicted.

快速凝固 Ti-Zr-Ni 合金的电化学贮氢性能

采用铜辊快速凝固方法制备了Ti45Zr30Ni25和Ti50Zr25Ni25合金,并对合金作为镍-氢二次电池负极的动力学和电化学性能进行了研究。结果表明,Ti45Zr30Ni25为非晶相合金,Ti50Zr25Ni25合金由准晶相和非晶相组成。两合金电极的最大放电容量分别为129和132mAh/g。在240mA/g电流密度下,高倍率放电性能(HRD)分别为62.7%和63.3%。合金电极的交换电流密度分别为205.1和375.6mA/g,氢在合金中的扩散系数分别为5.4×10-11和5.8×10-11cm2·s-1

Effect of La/Ce ratio on the structure and electrochemical characteristics of La0.7-xCexMg0.3Ni2.8Co0.5 (x=0. 1-0.5) hydrogen storage alloys

The effect of La/Ce ratio on the structure and electrochemical characteristics of the La0.7-xCexMg0.3Ni2.8Co0.5 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) alloys has been studied systematically. The result of the Rietveld analyses shows that, except for small amount of impurity phases including LaNi and LaNi2, all these alloys mainly consist of two phases: the La(La, Mg)(2)Ni-9 phase with the rhombohedral PuNi3-type structure and the LaNi5 phase with the hexagonal CaCU5-type structure. The abundance of the La(La, Mg)(2)Ni-9 phase decreases with increasing cerium content whereas the LaNi5 phase increases with increasing Ce content, moreover, both the a and cell volumes of the two phases decrease with the increase of Ce content. The maximum discharge capacity decreases from 367.5 mAh g(-1) (x = 0.1) to 68.3 mAh g(-1) (x = 0.5) but the cycling life gradually improve. As the discharge current density is 1200 mA g(-1), the HRD increases from 55.4% (x = 0.1) to 67.5% (x = 0.3) and then decreases to 52.1% (x = 0.5). The cell volume reduction with increasing x is detrimental to hydrogen diffusion D and accordingly decreases the low temperature dischargeability of the La0.7-xCexMg0.3Ni2.8Co0.5 (x = 0.1-0.5) alloy electrodes.