The historical development of human resource development in the United Kingdom

We construct the historical development of the term “human resource development” (HRD) within the United Kingdom. We argue that HRD has been introduced and employed extensively by academics but not taken up with such enthusiasm by professionals and governments. We trace the development of the term and evaluate its use in these three distinct domains. This includes reference to multiple stakeholders, such as governments, employing organizations, academics, and professional bodies, and their influences including national policy interventions and legislation shaping academic and professional practices and qualifications. We conclude that HRD as a concept and a term to describe an area of academic study and professional practice has had variable impact in different sites of practice.