Dynamics of transformation and change in actual practice: examples and insights for transforming HRD

Human Resource Development (HRD) is first and foremost a field of practice, and efforts to transform the field must arise and prove themselves out in actual practice. Practice is always in motion and, thus, its transformation is not static or ever finished, but open-ended, searching, and evolving. This article in the special issue on transforming HRD is written in a personal and narrative style, offering wide-ranging accounts of specific transformation initiatives taken from our professional practice as two white, western HRD people, senior in experience and age. The goal is to tell the stories of particular transformation efforts in different contexts, cultures, and times and to draw out insights for the dynamics of transformation. We suggest that the value of the tales in this article, even in the limited space of a journal article, lies in offering the reader glimpses of the intricacies and dynamics of HRD transformation as it actually unfolds. We invite the readers to reflect on their own projects and draw their own conclusions on the fit between our portrayals of the matter at hand and their own experiences as calls for the need to transform HRD arise loud and clear in many different parts of the HRD ecosystem.