This exploratory study uses the learning‐network theory as a framework to investigate how managers and employees differ in their preference for the human resource development (HRD) activities of employees and in the functions they attribute to HRD. The research design was quantitative and cross‐sectional. Data collection took place in six countries in Europe, Asia and North America. A new instrument was used, which views work improvement (WI), career development (CD) and personal development (PD) as three main functions of HRD that can serve managers and employees. Results show that managers and employees prefer different HRD activities for employees to undertake; respectively, formal courses and programs over job experiences, and vice versa. The two groups also differ in the scores they give to WI and PD as relevant functions that employee participation in HRD can provide. It is concluded, therefore, that differences between managers and employees in their views of the relevance of HRD activities should be taken into account in theory and practice when organizing employees’ HRD activities.

中文翻译：

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首选的人力资源开发活动及其职能：经理和员工之间的观点差异

这项探索性研究使用学习网络理论作为框架，以调查经理和员工在员工的人力资源开发（HRD）活动偏好和归因于HRD的职能方面的偏好差异。研究设计是定量和横断面的。数据收集在欧洲，亚洲和北美的六个国家进行。使用了一种新工具，该工具将工作改进（WI），职业发展（CD）和个人发展（PD）视为HRD的三个主要功能，可以为经理和员工提供服务。结果表明，经理和员工更喜欢HRD开展不同的活动。分别针对工作经验的正规课程和计划，反之亦然。两组在给WI和PD的评分上也有所不同，这是员工参与HRD可以提供的相关职能。因此得出的结论是，在组织员工的人力资源开发活动时，应在理论和实践中考虑经理和员工在人力资源开发活动相关性方面的差异。