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This article takes a fresh and radical look at organizational talent management strategies. It offers a critique of some of the prevalent assumptions underpinning certain talent management practices, particularly those fuelled by the narratives of scarcity and metaphors of war. [The authors] argue that talent management programs based on these assumptions ignore important social and ethical dimensions, to the detriment of both organizations and individuals. [The authors] offer instead a set of principles proceeding from, and informed by, Sen's 'capability approach' (CA). Based on the idea of freedoms not resources, the CA circumvents discourses of scarcity and restores vital social and ethical considerations to ideas about talent management. [The authors] also emphasize its versatility and sensitivity to the particular circumstances of individual organizations such that corporate leaders and human resource practitioners might use the principles for a number of practical purposes.

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Information on the professional journey towards becoming an expert in Continuing Professional Education (CPE) is important to the novice who wants to venture on the same route. The objective of this paper is to explore the CPE journey of the experts and to identify the factors contributing to becoming an expert. Four expert teacher educators from two Malaysian Institutes of Teacher Education were interviewed using retrospective interview approach. Data were analysed and findings as themes were developed. Results showed that involvement with deliberate practice in CPE, individual values, leadership through experience and a positive environment to develop are the contributing factors in the CPE journey towards becoming an expert.

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The purpose of this study was to compare graduate human resource development (HRD) curricular content between the United States and Korean higher education institutions. Also, the perceived importance of each of the curricular content areas from these graduate HRD programs in the United States and in South Korea was assessed by the faculty members, graduate students and practitioners in the HRD field. Through web search of the United States and Korean institutions, 68 topical content areas were identified and used for comparison. Using an online survey, the ratings and ranking of the important content areas perceived by the HRD faculty members, graduate students and practitioners in the United States and in South Korea were collected. From the comparative data analysis, it was indicated that there were several different as well as similar curriculum topical content found between the two countries. Conclusions and implications for graduate HRD curriculum revision and development were discussed.

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Education reform has shifted to focus on these key competencies, particularly as they pertain to life and career skills. The move towards making people both college and career ready essentially amounts to finding ways to learn basic knowledge, and transforming these capabilities into deeper learning in order to create a flexible and adaptable individual with the appropriate skills to survive in the twenty-first century. We are only at the very beginning of the dialogue and experimentation on exactly how we should teach these skills. What we do know, however, is that the learning curve is gentlest when these skills are introduced to students within a practical framework and appropriate context.

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This article, which is based on research conducted at five Australian organisations, explores the role frontline managers play in promoting and facilitating learning at work, an area in the field of workplace learning and human resource development that has not been extensively researched. This article provides a brief review of the literature, outlines the theoretical framework and research methodology and design utilised, and presents the research findings and a brief discussion. The results of this study suggest that frontline managers, who were considered leaders of learning within their respective organisations, take an instrumental approach to leading employee learning, that is, learning is seen largely as a mechanism for getting work done. Additional evidence suggests that some frontline managers provide a more expansive learning environment through the purposeful creation of conditions for learning for their employees, beyond the immediate focus on learning, simply for the purpose of getting the work done. A further finding is that much of what frontline managers do in the promotion and facilitation of employee learning is deeply embedded in the idea and practice of being an effective manager. It is hoped that the findings will provide guidance to human resource development and frontline managers in shaping learning at work.

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This article examines the behaviours associated with managerial coaching and assesses the implications for leadership theory. Survey data from 521 line managers are analysed to: (i) identify the behaviours associated with managerial coaching; (ii) examine factors that affect the propensity of managers to undertake coaching; and (iii) discuss the implications of the manager as coach role for leadership theory and practice. First, the analysis indicates that workplace coaching is distinct from specialized coaching practices. Second, demographic characteristics of individual managers, such as their age, experience or level of management qualification are unlikely to affect their propensity to undertake managerial coaching. However, leader-team member relationships (leader-member exchange) and occupational self-efficacy (OSE) are predictive of managerial coaching behaviours. Third, managerial coaching challenges traditional leader-centric models of leadership and requires an acknowledgement of reciprocity, collaborative 'meaning-making' and a diminished 'distance' between leaders and team members.

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This paper presents the results of a participatory research project undertaken with Hungarian [Master of Science] MSc students specializing in human resource management and development about the employment of people with disabilities. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is very high in Hungary and [human resource] HR practitioners have a key role in maintaining or reducing barriers to their employment. Following the tradition of critical pedagogy, the aim of the research project was twofold. Firstly, we aimed to reveal the mental patterns, attitudes and beliefs of future HR practitioners to the employment of people with disabilities (which might be root causes of domination, discrimination or exploitation). Secondly, through using a radical methodological approach - cooperative inquiry - the researchers wished to emancipate students and challenge their frozen beliefs about disability as well as the positivist value system which usually dominates business education. The main result of the research project was to challenge the medical approach to disability which formerly dominated the belief systems of our student co-researchers, thereby engendering a more critical worldview.

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Despite the prevalence and significance of regulating emotions in the workplace, there is a major gap in the literature on the training and work-based application of emotion regulation strategies. This study seeks to fill this gap by investigating how emotion regulation strategies are taught to managers on three emotional intelligence training courses, the events associated with their use in the workplace and any constraints. Drawing on qualitative data from participant observations and interviews with managers and trainers, the study identifies the use of eight emotion regulation strategies that are classified as attention deployment, cognitive change and response modulation. Managers use a variety of the strategies at work, sometimes combining and adapting them. These strategies were reportedly used during situations of interpersonal conflict, interpersonal interactions, organisational change, to relieve boredom and cope with work overload. Managers described constraints as dispositional, physical, time, effort, status and unfeasibility/lack of realism of tools.

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Learning from incidents (LFI) is perceived as a key mechanism for improving safety and preventing future mishaps in the workplace. Employees' active engagement in the LFI process is viewed as essential for effective and deep LFI. This article explores the role of the employee in LFI by examining individual agency within LFI initiatives and the factors that impact such agency in organizational learning. Individual agency refers to one's perception of the extent to which one can make decisions and judgements related to one's job including active participation in organizational safety practices. The article reports results of a qualitative study conducted within two multinational companies in the energy sector. The findings indicate that both individual (safety values, experience, confidence, proactivity and individual gains) and organizational (pathways for participation encouraging participation and feedback) factors contribute to fostering individual agency in LFI. Moreover, the article considers the interplay of these two sets of factors and the role individual agency plays in organizational learning from incidents.

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A qualitative case study approach was taken to identify what factors were perceived to influence learning for mentees and mentors during a pilot formal mentoring programme, within a West Midlands Healthcare Trust. Both sides of five dyads were interviewed at regular intervals over a 17-month period (October 2009 to February 2011). The results from this longitudinal study show how learning was expected and achieved by both parties, over time. Factors influencing learning were categorized and later compared to pre-existing theory in relation to sharing experiences, sharing information, discussing politics, reflection, observation and support. Additional categories emerged in relation to questioning and listening skills, and similarity and difference between both parties. A change of emphasis was clear in relation to some factors which influenced learning, as the relationships matured. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for human resource development (HRD) professionals in relation to how formal mentoring programmes are designed and supported over time.

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