Role and competency profiles of human resource development practitioners in Vietnam

This study sought to develop role and competency profiles of human resource development practitioners in Vietnam, which will help understanding international human resource development (HRD) roles and competencies, and promoting the HRD profession in Vietnam. A two-phased research design was employed to reach the target population. The first phase used a structured questionnaire to investigate the level of integration between work and learning in companies, and identify HRD practitioner contacts. 189 companies in Vietnam responded to the first phase of the study and 130 HRD practitioners were identified. The second phase employed a structured questionnaire utilizing the model for describing HRD practitioners' roles and competencies established by the Training and Development Certificate Program of Texas A&M University in 2001, a model that adopted and updated the ASTD model. 108 HRD practitioners in Vietnam responded to the second phase of the study for the response rate .83.; The results of the study confirm previous studies that there are similarities and differences in HRD roles and competencies between countries, and cultural factors as well as specific conditions of country and organization affect the roles and the degrees of importance of competencies. Four additional findings resulted from this study. First, all identified HRD competencies appear to be important to HRD practitioners working in Vietnam, and the most important competencies are related to training for current business needs. Second, the levels of proficiency in competencies are below the expert level of proficiency, and HRD practitioners in Vietnam were relatively strong in the competencies related to business related practice, and weak in the competencies that require more frequently performed roles at the operational level that related to administrative work and training and development activities than roles related to strategic need for training and development in HRD competencies are not limited to people working in the HR or HRD area, but to all levels and areas of the organization as HRD practice integrates into all areas of organization.