How can unlearning help HRD provide better support for organisational change?

Purpose Change management poses significant and persistent challenges as employees refrain from abandoning current approaches and adopt new ones. This article proposes a conceptual framework for leveraging unlearning to enhance human resource development (HRD) support for change management efforts. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper discusses current literature on unlearning to explore intersections between an unlearning-based approach to HRD and change management. Findings A framework of three models is presented. The first presents unlearning as decommissioning, proposing that learning and unlearning are intertwined processes for adjusting organisational behaviour. The second presents a three-category typology of unlearning: replacive, unsettling and pure unlearning, which illustrate integrations of unlearning in change management processes. The third illustrates a laminated approach to understanding unlearning and change management as organisationally embedded processes of comparisons and sources of resistance. Research limitations/implications Being a conceptual paper based on current literature, the proposed model needs empirical testing. Practical implications The proposed model is expected to promote HRD support to facilitate the abandonment of current practices, consequently easing change and reducing resistance. Originality/value The article introduces a framework for approaching change as the combined management of learning and unlearning processes, leveraging HRD processes to facilitate change rather than just contributing to training.