ABSTRACT
The chapter is co-authored between HRD practitioner, Dawn Robinson, Head of Learning and Development, Sage UK Ltd. and academic, Professor Sharon Mavin, Dean of Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK. Sharon was Chair and host of the 10th International Conference UFHRD & AHRD (10th-12th June 2009), HRD Research and Practice across Europe, Complexity and Imperfection in Practice. The specific format of the conference, reflecting the interests of UFHRD and AHRD and growing research debates, was structured around the practice-theory nexus. Dawn Robinson was a keynote speaker at the conference and Sharon Mavin, was Dawn’s academic respondent. Within the chapter Sharon presents the introduction, an academic response to the keynote, and the conclusion of the chapter. Dawn outlines the Sage approach to Strategic HRD and illustrates a particular HRD intervention as a case study. Dawn outlines the exciting ‘cultural’ journey of change with Sage, with a particular focus on the Enable management development program. Dawn highlights how as Head of Learning and Development she drew upon organizational culture research and diagnostics and Authentic Leader Development theory to underpin the Sage approach. Sharon provides the bridge between research and practice and outlines the Sage HRD journey through the HRD dualisms, offers an additional aspect of the approach, skills and competence of the individual HRD practitioner to the theoretical framework of exploring strategic maturity in HRD and identifies areas for future research in Authentic Leader Development Theory.
