1. Overall context
    1. Overview of the difference between ‘outer’ (or external) and ‘inner’ (or internal) contexts
    2. Where is the boundary between internal and external in my organisation?
    3. How permeable are these boundaries?
    4. How do I draw a line around the external context so that I only consider those issues of relevance to me and my organisation?
    5. What time periods will be relevant to consider in relation to context? How far back and how far forward do I need to go?
  2. Video 3.2:
    1. Emerging issues for HRD
      1. Video transcript
  3. HRD Strategy in context
    1. Important to understand the relationships between the different elements.
    2. Outer (External) Context
      1. STEEPLE for HRD strategy
        1. Table 3.1: Elements of STEEPLE analysis (Farnham, 2010, p.20)
      2. Potential implications for HRD strategy
        1. key trends
    3. Inner context
    4. HR Strategy
    5. HRD Strategy
  4. Activity 3.1
    1. Key trends impacting HR strategy include a need to accommodate flexible working of all kinds, to combine and recombine teams from across the globe on a regular basis, and to manage at a distance
    2. Environments may be volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (summarised in the acronym VUCA).
    3. There are challenges in dealing with these trends in contemporary organisations. If you would like to review these ideas further, you might read Horney et al. (2010) – see Suggested additional resources.
    4. One particular aspect that is of concern to HR and HRD practitioners is the increasingly wide range of types of employment contract that might be in place within one organisation.
    5. This can impact the ways in which different employees are regarded within the context of HRD strategy.
    6. For example, Kalleberg (2009) suggests it is useful to compare the idea of the ‘standard’ employee who works full-time at the employer’s site on an open-ended employment contract, with all other forms of ‘non-standard’ employment.
    7. Non-standard employment contracts would then include all part-time and temporary arrangements.
    8. It would also include what are regarded as ‘precarious work’ arrangements, for example zero-hours contracts (Berg et al., 2014).
    9. All of these various forms of employment are now common in many contemporary organisations, to the extent that in some cases ‘standard’ contracts become the exception rather than the rule (Lambert, 2008).
    10. The 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) (van Wanrooy et al., 2011) notes significant increases within the UK in shift working, annual hours and zero-hours contracts, particularly in the hospitality and education sectors.
    11. HRD professionals therefore need to be aware of the implications for HRD strategy of the variety of employment forms that are present or will be used in the future.