Overview

Program Director's Letter

Dear Candidate,

Boston University's Human Resource Education Program is quintessentially about leadership, performance, and change. For me, these are much more than simply "buzzwords." From experience researching and analyzing organizations, I have found that the best organizations depend on the performance and commitment of every one of their members to succeed. Leadership has emerged as an important organizational characteristic, not simply a personal trait. Additionally, performance improvement is a must for all first-rate organizations. As Jim Collins reminds us, "good" can often be the enemy of "great." Good is not good enough. Change is always on the agenda of great organizations and those seeking greatness.

The Human Resource Education Program was established in the Boston University School of Education twenty-five years ago. Over time, the program has graduated nearly four hundred human resource development practitioners. Our graduates work mainly in corporations, hospitals, and other health care organizations. Some work in schools, universities, and other agencies.

Clearly, the HR labor market has significantly changed in the last quarter century. In a globally competitive, electronically connected world, an HR profession that was mostly "transactional" in 1980 is now predominantly "transformational." Routine data-centric activities continue to be outsourced. Although HR, Learning, and Organizational Development professionals continue to be accountable for recruiting and retaining the right people, they are also being asked to stimulate and draw on their ideas and to communicate the core values that shape a high performing culture. Now and in the future, performance and change management are the crucial characteristics of competitive organizations. The emphasis is on Organizational Effectiveness, on human performance improvement that demonstrates added value to firms, in terms, for example, of productivity, profitability, market share, and the efficient execution of the firm's business strategy. Moreover, a continuing challenge is to develop leadership throughout organizations. Effective leaders consistently position their organizations to recognize, create, and take advantage of opportunities. However, their courses of action must always be those that others trust and are willing to own.

The faculty and leadership of the program have always worked to keep course content on the cutting edge of a field that has undergone dramatic changes. Program emphasis is on applying research methods and learning theories to improve human performance in the workplace. Course content integrates knowledge from the discipline of psychology and the broad fields of management and education. The goal is to graduate students who understand human resource development conceptually, know the relevant research, and have the hands-on experience in their courses to apply what they learn effectively in their professional practices.

I welcome your interest in what we are seeking to do and invite those of you who are committed to better careers in better organizations to come and study with us.

Sincerely,

Alan Kibbe Gaynor, PhD
Program Director
Associate Professor