The Coming Paradigm Shift: Synthesis and Future Directions for Virtual HRD

Virtual human resource development (VHRD) is beginning to be viewed in other fields as the next generation of knowledge management. This article synthesizes the discussions of the contributing authors for this issue of Advances, describes future trends, and serves as a call to the field of HRD to develop and study VHRD. VHRD symbolizes a paradigm shift that will grow in a chaotic fashion at first as it integrates with present practices and systems, but it will become increasingly central to organizational life because of its ability to foster creativity and maximize knowledge flow. This article presents a heuristic for transferring learning that occurs in virtual environments outside organizational boundaries to professional work and organizational processes. Future directions for research and practice in VHRD include new roles for HRD professionals, particularly that of architects of virtual learning environments, the need to build theory for VHRD and to study the impact of new technologies.