ABSTRACT
HRD has a long history, but it is generally embedded in other fields under a variety of other names (Knowles 1970). A brief overview of the history of HRD will be presented here; however, there are several sources which include a more detailed history of HRD (Craig 1996; Nadler 1984; Swanson 2009; Werner and DeSimone 2011). In the United States and the United Kingdom, HRD is generally accepted to have developed out of the merchant and craft guilds and then through to the apprenticeship programmes of the Middle Ages. Formal technical and engineering training programmes as well as manual training programmes were introduced in the eighteenth century. Technical and corporate training continued to evolve and the rapid advancements in technology through the twentieth century, bolstered by war efforts, resulted in a large increase in the HRD body of knowledge. Professional societies, such as American Vocational Association (AVA), American Association of Adult Education, American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) and many others made many contributions. Researchers such as Maslow, Dooley, Lewin, Drucker, Skinner, Herzberg, Kirkpatrick, Mager, Becker and Knowles are just a few who extended the knowledge base surrounding HRD. According to Swanson (2009) the term human resource development is first used by Harbison and Myers (1964) in their book Education, Manpower and Economic Development: Strategies of Human Resource Development . In 1969 Leonard Nadler is generally credited with first promoting the term human resource development for the profession.
