HRD as an emergent and negotiated evolution: An ethnographic case study in the British National Health Service

Based on research conducted in the British National Health Service, this article describes how HRD is "becoming." One way of theorizing this evolution is to look for distinct periods in which training and development and HRD are talked about and practiced in different ways, and then to explore how the changes were negotiated. A contingency framework is presented as an analytical tool. It is suggested that the evolution to date has three distinct stages accompanied by three discourses: tell, sell, and gel. The framework helps analyze both the current state of HRD and how future roles and practice might evolve.