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Tacit beliefs of human resource developers: Producing unintended consequences
Author(s) -
Watkins Karen E.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
human resource development quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1532-1096
pISSN - 1044-8004
DOI - 10.1002/hrdq.3920010308
Subject(s) - human resources , terminology , unintended consequences , resource (disambiguation) , knowledge management , sociology , tacit knowledge , psychology , agency (philosophy) , corporation , action (physics) , perspective (graphical) , public relations , social psychology , management , business , epistemology , social science , political science , computer science , computer network , linguistics , philosophy , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , economics
The tacit beliefs of human resource developers about their own learning and training practices are examined using Argyris's theory‐of‐action perspective and mapping technique. The potentially dysfunctional, unintended consequences of these beliefs are identified and compared using interviews with fifty‐seven human resource developers at a government agency, a high technology corporation, and a research hospital. Similar beliefs among participants were found in the study. This article describes the subjects' belief that training is magical or political, defines these terms according to Argyris's and Freire's terminology, and discusses the findings from the interviews. Human resource developers should explore the nature and validity of the beliefs that guide their practice.