Conceptions of Critical HRD: Dilemmas for Theory and Practice

Critical human resource development (HRD) appears to be a newly emerging interest in HR study. Informed by literatures in critical management studies and critical pedagogy, this article proposes foundations and practical implications towards further developing critical HRD as one stream among existing theories and practice of HRD. Precepts for critical HRD may include purposes of workplace reform aligned with equity, justice, and organizational democracy; knowledge treated as contested, political, and non-performative; inquiry focused on denaturalizing organizational power and knowledge relations, and methods of reflexivity and critical challenge to prevailing conditions. Both theoretical and practical dilemmas of critical HRD are explored. Finally, drawing from existing examples, possible configurations of a critical HRD are presented as these might play out in contexts of organizational practice, academic study, and professional education.