★In association with the Irish Institute of Training and Development and aims to set the agenda for L&D professionals in the future.
★Succinct and concise explanations of Key Concepts found within the field of L&D.
★Critical Reflection exercises that help the reader to engage with key concepts and debates within the field.
★Best Available Evidence to Inform Practice feature to summarise the results of meta-analysis and systematic / integrative reviews in a manner that is accessible to practitioners.

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT in ORGANISATIONS: STRATEGY, EVIDENCE and PRACTICE provides a comprehensive and thematic overview of the thinking, research evidence and practice of strategic L&D in organisations. It covers both strategic and operational practice dimensions, to help students of L&D and HRM to acquire a deep understanding of the field and to inform the practice of L&D professionals by identifying the best available evidence on L&D practices and by providing them with guidelines for action. It builds on the core operational building blocks of L&D and goes beyond these to take a strategic perspective, emphasising the contribution of L&D to organisational and financial performance and the need to align formal and informal L&D with business objectives.

Each chapter incorporates pedagogical features to enable the student or practitioner to apply the concepts to organisational life, link theory to practice and signpost readers to the best available evidence on L&D practices. Specially:

Two Case Studies as examples of application to practice relevant to the chapter’s content – and, the end of each chapter, a longer case study with questions that provide an opportunity for classroom-based and practitioner discussion;
Recommended Further Reading to allow the reader to enhance their understanding of the chapter content;
A Glossary to provide students and practitioners with easy access to definitions of the key concepts used throughout the book, as well as other important L&D terms.

The three key sections of the book cover different aspects of L&D:

• Section One: Concepts and Context of L&D in Organisations: The concepts of L&D, the external and internal context of L&D and the key dimensions of strategic L&D in organisations, including the key theoretical and conceptual foundations of strategic L&D;

• Section Two: Theory and Practice of L&D: The main theories, concepts, models and practices that underpin strategic L&D in organisations;

• Section Three: Developing the L&D Professional and the Future Role of L&D: The changing roles of L&D practitioners in organisations, their competence development, professional ethics and the future of strategic L&D.

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT in ORGANISATIONS: STRATEGY, EVIDENCE and PRACTICE is published in association with the Irish Institute of Training and Development and aims to set the agenda for L&D professionals in the future.

Thomas Garavan
is Research Professor, Leadership, specialising in leadership development, HRD and leadership, CSR and leadership and cross-cultural leadership. Thomas graduated from the University of Limerick, Ireland with a Bachelor of Business Studies and completed a Doctorate of Education at the University of Bristol. He is Editor of the European Journal of Training and Development and Associate Editor of Personnel Review. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Human Resource Management Journal, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Human Resource Development Review, Advances in Developing Human Resources and Human Resource Development International. He is the recipient of the Academy of Human Resource Development, Outstanding HRD Scholar Award 2013.

His research interests include: CSR and transformational leadership, cross-cultural dimensions of diversity training, tacit knowledge in manufacturing, International Human resource management standards and Human resource management in MNCs.

He is currently involved in two major research projects on tacit knowledge in manufacturing firms in the Pharmaceutical and Health Care industries and the role of CSR in the tourism sectors.



Dr Claire Gubbins

Claire is a Senior Lecturer of Organisational Behaviour & HRM at DCU, Director of DCU’s Executive MBA Programme, Associate Editor for Human Resource Development Quarterly (an SSCI listed journal) and Deputy Director of LINK Research Institute (Knowledge and Learning).

She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), the US Academy of Management, the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) and the University Forum for HRD (UFHRD). Prior to this, Claire was a Fulbright Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University USA, Senior Research Fellow on the Irish Centre for Manufacturing Research (ICMR) project on Tacit Knowledge Management, Learning and Systems, a Senior Research Fellow at the Enterprise Research Centre with the University of Limerick working in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin on the ICMR project on Training and Training Information Support.

She was a Lecturer in Management and HRM at University College Cork and a Lecturer of HRM and Organisational Behaviour with the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick. She received the DCU Presidents award for Excellence in Teaching (Assessment & feedback) in 2013 and was a nominee in 2011/2012/2015. She was awarded her Ph.D. from the University of Limerick; her research was at the interface of organisational behaviour and human resource development and focused on the influence of social networks on career, professional development and work outcomes.

She is a former Government of Ireland Scholar, awarded the Government of Ireland Research Scholarship (IRCHSS) and the University of Limerick Registrars scholarship to conduct her PhD. She has presented at numerous academic and professional conferences and published book chapters and articles in such journals as Organization Studies, Journal of Management Inquiry, Advances in Developing Human Resources, Human Resource Development Review, Journal of European Industrial Training, among others.

Awards for her work include: a Fulbright Award, a Career Enhancement Award, US Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) finalist award for her dissertation; BEST paper runner-up for the Alan Moon Memorial prize at the International Conference on HRD Research & Practice; and Best paper in track at the Irish Academy of Management. She is on the editorial board for the Journal of European Industrial Training. She is an experienced Consultant, Coach and Trainer to a range of industries in such areas as knowledge management through people and organisational systems, leadership assessment and development centres, human resource management skills, auditing training, training design, delivery and development programme evaluation. She is a facilitator on the Enterprise Ireland Management4Growth programme for SME’s at DCU.