Identification of perception and preferences of behavior relative to philosophy, implementation, and design of workforce education in Korea: a provider and participant comparison

Abstract

Throughout the industrial age, organizations in Korea succeed in creating a massive production system. However, on the verge of transition from industrial age to information age, organizations in Korea failed to establish systematic HRD education programs only by focusing on improving technical abilities through utilization of training and adoption of numerous well-known foreign methods without considering a fundamental issue such as development of a fundamental philosophical base of HRD education, a systematic implementation of HRD education, and development of a HRD education design in regards to unique characteristics of organization culture. An examination is provided that identifies similarities and differences in perceptions and preferences between and among HRD practitioners and labor forces in organizations of Korea. Especially, the study focused on investigating and comparing the perceptions and the preferences on philosophy, design and implementation of HRD education to create most optimal HRD education program in and among age, gender, tenure, work position and work type. The findings suggest that there are relative weak relationships to predict taxonomies on philosophy, implementation and design of HRD education in regards to three categories of the six predictor variables: (1) category that is consisted of workforce and HRD practitioner of sub-levels, (2) gender that is composed of male and female sublevels, and (3) generation, which is consisted of age, tenure, work position, and work type sub-level elements. The findings, however, reconfirm the literature review, which indicates the negligence of HRD practices in Korean businesses in relation to creating a study of philosophies as a basis of developing a better education program. Furthermore, the findings also indicate non-strategic implementation of the HRD education in business organizations in Korea by utilizing foreign developed models or theories without constructing own education designs in regards to implications of the unique Korean business cultures, gender and generation elements.