Human and Social Capital

Dr Anna Wach-Kąkolewicz
Department of Education and Personnel
Development
University of Economics

Human Resources
Development in Organisation

What is human resource?



People are not human resource,
people are human beings and have
resources and manage them



Employees have different features
useful in developmental process on
the individual and organisational level

Human resources

...?

Attitudes

Values

Health

Interper-

sonal

skills

Capacities

Skills

Experience

Knowledge

Human

Resources

Human Capital Theory and HRD



Human capital theory has been
regarded as an important foundation
of human resource development



Human capital theory was developed
by the neoclassic economic school
(Becker, Mincer, Schultz)

Human Capital Theory



The essence of human capital theory is that

people invest in themselves according to

their own self-interest, for the sake of future

gains lifetime earnings



Higher productivity results in increased

earnings



Investing in people and enhancing their

knowledge, skills and qualifications should

be an interest of different groups:



Employees (individual level)



Employers (organizational level)



Government (national level)

Why investing in people is
important nowadays?



Human resource is treated as the
most important factor which strongly
influence on productivity, which
makes the organisation better
prepared in competition with other
organisations on the free market

Who pays for? Who benefits from?



Human capital investment activities include both:



Formal education



Firm sponsored training and other forms of human

resource development



General skills and knowledge needed and used in

different organisations and other social situations

should be delivered by formal education (schooling

system)



Specific skills needed to increase productivity should

be trained by employees within organisation



Today’s, it is observed in organisations that both

general and specific skills training are offered to

employees

What is human resource
development?



HRD is a framework for the expansion
of human capital within an organisation or

(in new approaches) a region, or nation



HRD is a combination of training and

education that ensures the continual

improvement and growth of both individual,

the organisation, and the national human

resourcefulness



HRD states according to Adam Smith „the

capacities (competences) of individuals

depend on their access to education”

What is human resource
development?



HRD is more than providing education
and includes such factors like:



Motivating people and teams



Flexible time of work



Career development

The basic tools of HRD

Formal

education

Informal

education

Working

on projects

Mentoring

coaching

Motivating

Career

development

Distance

education

Training

(lectures)

HRD

Formal education



Formal education is taken to get the
proper knowledge and skills
confirmed by certificate



Formal education includes:



Studies on bachelor, master and doctoral
level



Post graduated studies – in case of
changing the qualifications



e.g. Master of Business Administration

Informal education



Nowadays informal education is becoming a
necessity…



According to life long learning theory
people should be open to new information
and take different learning activities like
reading newspapers, watching TV,
discussing, searching the web to expend
both general knowledge and specific skills
needed in work they do

Training and development



The most popular tool of HRD



Used to maintain, upgrade and update skills

throughout working life



Concerned with organizational activity

aimed at bettering the performance of

individual and groups in organizational

setting



Workplace learning which uses methods:



On-the-job



Off-the-job

Training

On-the-job Off-the-job



Takes place in a

normal working

situation, using the

actual tools,

equipment,

documents or

materials trainees

will use when fully

trained



It is most effective

for vocational work



Takes place away

from normal work



It allows people to

concentrate more

on the training

itself



It is more effective

in learning and

developing new

concepts and ideas

Mentoring



It is kind of training method which
refers to a developmental relationship
in which more experienced and more
knowledgeable person helps a person
who develop his/her skills



Mentoring involves communication
and is relationship based

Mentoring



"Mentoring is a process for the informal

transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the

psychosocial support perceived by the recipient

as relevant to work, career, or professional

development”;



„Mentoring entails informal communication,

usually face-to-face and during a sustained period

of time, between a person who is perceived to

have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or

experience (the mentor) and a person who is

perceived to have less" (Bozeman, Feeney, 2007).

Coaching



„Is a method of directing, instructing

and training a person or group of

people, with the aim to achieve some

goals or specific skills”



Training may include:



Seminars



Workshops



Supervised practice



Motivational behaviour and speaking

Coaching



Coaching bases on the relationship
coach – trainee



„the coaches job is to help clients
articulate their dreams, desires and
aspirations, help them clarify their
mission, purpose and goals, to help
them achieve that outcome”
(Whithworth, 1998)

Coaching



Coaching is the practice of providing
positive support and positive
feedback while offering occasional
advice to an individual or group in order
to help them recognize ways in which
they can improve the effectiveness of
their business

Coaching



Coaching is a method which usually is used
to improve:



Leadership



Teamwork



Sales



Communication



Goal setting



Strategic planning



Motivation



Etc.

Coaching and mentoring



Mentoring is not a form of coaching, but

coach can act as a mentor



A good coach needn’t have specific

business expertise and experience in the

same field as the person receiving the

coaching in order to provide quality

business coaching services



Coaching needs to be more structured

and formal than mentoring

Working on projects



project in business and science is a
collaborative enterprise, frequently
involving research or design, that is
carefully planned to achieve a particular
aim

(Oxford English Dictionary)

Working on projects



Peer tutoring



Working on projects require:



Brain storming



Exchanging ideas, thoughts



Rising questions and doubts



Analyzing the issue and new ideas, comparing

with others



Discussing and looking for the best solution



Cooperating; helping each other

All together make people learn from each other

Distance education



Distance education/learning is an alternative

way of delivering instruction to the students



It is an educational strategy which uses media

and new technology in learning/teaching

process



The forms of distance education:



Correspondence learning



Educational television



Audio and Video Conference



Distance education over the Internet

Distance education
over the Internet and e-learning



E-learning – electronic learning is a term which

is commonly used, but does not have a

universally accepted definition



E-learning - most frequently it seems to be used

for web-based and distance education, which

may also involve face-to-face interaction

(mediated forms)



However, it may include all types of technology-

enhanced learning, where technology is used to

support the learning process



Distance learning over the Internet is a kind of

e-learning, but not every type of e-learning can

be called distance learning over the Internet

Distance education
over the Internet



Students/Trainees and the teacher may
communicate using:



synchronous (in a real time)



asynchronous tools (late feedback)



Nowadays distance education uses
Internet resources and tools like:



e-mail, listserv, text, audio and video chat,
web pages, telnet, ftp, blogs, wikis and
others

Distance education
over the Internet



It is a popular method of adults education
and very useful one from individual and
organisational perspective



The main features and advantages:



Flexibility – time, place, methods, content



Mobile learning



Economic (saving time and money)



Effective time management



Interaction based model of learning



Feedback learning

Career development



Career development looks at



how individuals manage their careers

within and between organisations



how organisations plan and structure the

career progress of their members



It concerns the individual goals and

positions employee intends to

achieve, but also career development

is strongly connected with

organisational interest

Motivating people and teams



Motivating can be used as a tool to

develop human resource by creating

special environment and delivering

such impulses which are needed to

make somebody active



Because people are different it is

necessary to know what needs and

values they respect and what is the

most important for them

Motivating people and teams



Motivation is the activation of a goal

oriented behaviour – people do different

things because of some reasons or goals

they want to achieve



There are a lot of theories which try to

explain and describe human beings’

behaviour. Some of them point that

motivation may include specific needs:



Eating, safety, pleasure, resting, hobby,

love/belonging, respect of others, self-

actualization and others

Motivation

internal external



People work or
study because like
it and the process
gives them the
pleasure and
enjoyment; they
take an activity
because they want
to develop



People work or
enhance they skills
because of some
external reasons
like: money,
respect of others,
position, grades,
rewards, etc.

Summary



There are a lot of possibilities to develop
human resource in a context of human and
social theory – understood as human
beings’ knowledge, skills, memory,
motivation, values, but also health and the
will of being active and open for new things
in a development personal process



Some of the tools/possibilities were
presented and discussed

Thank you for your attention!