Human Resource Development and the Internet of Things

Since the launch of the world-wide web in the early 1990s, the Internet has impacted the way we live and work with the ‘speed of light.’ Society is facing yet another wave of Internet technologies that will have a big impact on the way we live and work. This phenomenon known popularly as the Internet of Things (IoT) presents a situation where data generation is the order of the day – every human interaction whether with living or non-living things generate some form of data making the workplace a data-driven environment. The changing phase of technology presents a challenge to predictions of human interaction and how work is conducted. The IoT has the potential to make a fundamental shift in the way we interact with our surroundings. “It is suggested that we can see the Internet as enabling the human social environment, as well as an ever-increasing array of Internet-enabled devices, to function as literal body parts” (Smart, 2017, p. 360).
Human Resource Development (HRD) is in a distinctive position to prepare the workforce for this new way of working and to utilize the big data generated by the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT has the potential to fundamentally shift the way we interact with our surroundings (Manyika et al., 2015). The capability to monitor and manage objects in the physical world electronically makes it promising to bring data-driven decision-making to new realms of human resource development—to augment the performance of systems and processes, save time for people and businesses, and improve quality of life (Manyika et al., 2015).
Human Resource Development (HRD) involves developing people with a focus on improving knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to guide organizations, create a long-term vision, develop strategy, staff the organization, communicate, motivate people toward the vision, and to support improved productivity. HRD is targeted across levels of abstraction of individuals, teams, organizations, communities, and fields of policy and practice (Yawson, 2017). All these levels and focus of HRD are being impacted by the emergence of the IoT. As Bennett, (2014) aptly described:
The field of HRD is at a historic point in which we can demonstrate value and relevance to the modern, technology-enabled organization. Many in the field of HRD have sought a balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of the collective for learning and performance. Both management and HRD needs are often embedded in the same virtual systems, but HRD has been late to incorporate technology strategically in practice and in academic preparation programs (p.275).
It is no longer business as usual for HRD professionals. As a result of the emergence of IoT, the world is experiencing significant, largely economic and sociotechnical, induced changes. These changes are more than jargon, cliché, and hyperbole, and they are effecting major transformations (Yawson & Greiman, 2014). These transformations will impact on how human resources are developed and we need to be able to forecast its effects (Yawson & Greiman, 2017). To produce such forecasts, HRD needs to become more predictive and adaptable - to develop the ability to understand how human capital systems, organizations, and the national innovation ecosystems will behave in the future that IoT brings. The Classical Internet has radically altered the way we access information, profoundly transformed the way we think, act and remember (Smart, Heersmink, & Clowes, 2017). With the IoT, every aspect of our cognitive and epistemic endeavors, either individual or collective, will be undertaken with some involvement of the Internet (Smart et al., 2017). Relative to this influence, it makes sense, to see the IoT as fully becoming an important part of the “cognitively-potent extra-organismic environment in which our biological brains are now situated.” (Smart et al., 2017, p. 255). The IoT can, therefore, be seen as a form of cognitive ecology that shapes our thinking and other socially transmitted ideas. Given the emergence, momentum, and the prospects of IoT, the objective of this research is to discuss the impact the advances in IoT will have on HRD research and practice and the role HRD should play in addressing the impact of IoT on the human resource in organizations.

Research Question

There is the need for optimal balance in modern core skills, like agility, collaboration, cognitive flexibility, creativity and organizational development. It all comes down to educating and preparing the human resource across levels of abstraction of individuals, teams, organizations, communities, and fields of policy and practice to absorb the big data that comes from IoT. Given this need as a result of the momentum and emergence of IoT, what role is there for HRD as a field of study and practice to ensure success and relevance in this new era ?