Cedefop initiated this study, which had its origins in the Ciretoq thematic network, to provide a global picture of in-company human resource development strategies and trends in qualification and competence development. The study shows that even within multinational companies active in Europe little agreement about working cultures exists, and that uncertainty regarding the priorities remains, despite the prevailing and even increasing consensus on the basic need to invest more and better in employees and their training. The exact form this investment should take, and when, where and especially how it should be implemented are questions which remain largely unanswered, although the topic of staff development itself has acquired much greater importance for management in recent years.

This Handbook draws on a global team of distinguished Human Resource Development and IHRD scholars to provide research and practice insights on a range of contemporary IHRD issues and challenges. The Handbook reviews a number of critical contextual dimensions that: shape the IHRD goals that organisations pursue; impact the IHRD systems, policies and practices that are implemented; and influence the types of IHRD research questions that are investigated. The Handbook examines the processes or actions taken by organisations to globalise IHRD practices and discusses important people development practices that come within the scope of IHRD.

This text is an important addition to the ongoing discourse on strategic management, particularly, strategic human resource management. It is a result of research carried out in the agricultural sector, in general, and on multinational tea firms, in particular. The author’s hands-on and conceptual insights gained through nineteen years of experience across African countries make the text a useful tool for company boards of directors and strategic level managers charged with the formulation and implementation of business and human resource strategies. In addition, it provides justification to HR managers of the need to shift focus from primarily being concerned with routine transactional HR activities to dealing with transformational ones, which are contingent on the circumstances of the organization. Scholars, management consultants and management students will also find the contents of this book to be of great interest and benefit. It is now sufficiently recognised that management has to be concerned with deliverables, rather than abstractions. Therefore, many firms formulate and implement one form of business strategy or the other. However, strategies cannot be conceived, let alone realised, without human resource input. The question that HR continues to grapple with, therefore, is how it can demonstrate the contribution of each employee to the bottom line and business sustainability. How this question is to be answered has not always been explained and is even more crucial for the agricultural firms which are characterized by great instability in terms of weather patterns, commodity prices, currency exchange rates and wage levels. HR planning, in these circumstances, cannot be a simple exercise, but getting it right is more important than for organizations in more predictable environments. This book moves away from the romanticization of the role of HRM in such organizations, and instead provides empirical evidence of the types of business and human resource strategies employed, strategic integration between these strategies and the strategic human resource management processes and practices used. Finally, it considers the concomitant synergies achieved by strategic fit between business and human resource strategies and their role in achieving sustainable competitive advantage.

Ensuring the sustainability of early stage companies and increasing awareness of the need for balancing targets against different stakeholder groups among young companies are not well developed. Young companies, in the first place, want to achieve financial success very often without regard for aspects such as the environment, positive relationships with employees, suppliers or other stakeholder groups, fulfilling requirements of labor law, etc. Another issue is that of companies whose business models are based on actuarially-preferred concepts, such as sharing economy, sustainable development, e-comers, e-commerce, renewable energy, social media, and others. A key issue is the resignation of companies from an approach to business, based on the foundations of classical economics to the sharing economy. Theory and practice seek new solutions in the sphere of value sharing in these new areas of sharing, and innovative forms of its implementation. Intriguing is the relationship of these business models with sustainability issues, as well as wondering how technology can influence sustainability. A contemporary approach to consumer value fits in with the assumption of a shared economy. It is interesting how it affects the assumptions of sustainability of business. The ongoing changes in the value system of potential consumers create new conditions for the design of sustainability business models and creation of innovation.

The energy and fuel industries represent an extensive field for the development and implementation of solutions aimed at improving the technological, environmental, and economic performance of technological cycles. In recent years, the issues of ecology and energy security have become especially important. Energy is firmly connected with all spheres of human economic life but, unfortunately, it also has an extremely negative (often fatal) effect on the environment and public health. Depletion of energy resources, the complexity of their extraction, and transportation are also problems of a global scale. Therefore, it is especially important nowadays to try to take care of nature and think about the resources that are necessary for future generations. For scientific teams in different countries, the development of sustainable and safe technologies for the use of fuels in the energy sector will be a challenge in the coming decades

The increasing number of cross-border alliances and mergers both within Europe and between Europe and other parts of the world have made it imperative for students of management to have a thorough understanding of the European context for human resource management (HRM). This book enables managers and students to become "fluent" in the many various environments, approaches and practices that exist across Europe for managing human resources. The text employs comprehensive comparable representative data collected longitudinally during the last decade and it also draws directly on the expertise of leading HRM scholars. Entirely fresh analyses of HRM in Europe, based on new and hitherto unpublished data are presented and this analysis is critically important for students, researchers and also for practitioners. The book is divided into three parts: concepts and theoretical issues , trends in relation to these issues and comparisons between individual countries, and summaries and conclusions on the issue of convergence and divergence.

This document details the work program of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) for 2002. The following are among the topics discussed in Chapters 1-5: (1) developing research (the Cedefop research arena; the report on vocational training research in Europe; the "European Journal Vocational Training"; and Agora Thessaloniki; (2) reporting and facilitating a concerted approach (reporting on developments in vocational education and training; reporting on lifelong learning; policy support for new initiatives at the European Community level; the training of trainers network; the information and computer technology learning platform; the European form on transparency of vocational qualifications; the European quality forum); (3) exchange and supporting partners (the community study visits program; familiarization of candidate countries); (4) information, communication, and dissemination; and (5) Cedefop's directorate and administration, facilities, and resources. The following items are appended: Cedefop's medium-term priorities and operational guidelines (for 2000-2003); Cedefop's activity-based budget for 2002; Cedefop's organizational chart; discussions of cooperation between Cedefop and the European Training Foundation (ETF) and among Cedefop, the ETF, and Eurydice; a list of new Cedefop publications for 2002; and a table detailing the relationship between Cedefop's operational guidelines and medium-term priorities for 2000-2003 and Cedefop's activities in 2002. (MN)

"The book will provide both thought-provoking questions and stimulating answers to the key factors in HR development today." IT Training Human Resource Development is the ideal handbook for all professional trainers and provides core information needed by all professional students of this subject. This new second edition has been fully updated and revised, with the inclusion of three new chapters making this the most topical book in this field: *Design, Development and Application of E-learning; *Knowledge Management & Transfer; *Human & Intellectual Capital. Clearly structured with detailed sections covering each aspect of the training cycle, the book also includes sections on: *The Role of Learning Training and Development in Organisations *Learning and Competitive Strategy * The Identification of Learning, Training and Development Needs * The Planning and Designing of Learning, Training and Development *Delivering Learning, Training and Development *Assessment and Evaluation of Learning, Training and development *Managing the Human Resource Development Function Co-ordinated and edited by Dr John P. Wilson, individual contributors include Professor Geoff Chivers, Professor of Continuing Education, Sheffield University, Joan Keogh OBE and Colin Beard both senior lecturers, Sheffield Hallam University, Alan Cattall, University of Bradford plus many more leading academics in the field of Human Resource Development.