Roads to Success: The Career Attainment Experiences of Lawyers With Visual Impairments in South Korea

Problem: Disability issues have long been a topic at the margins of HRD research and have rarely been examined outside the United States context or with a focus on a specific disability type. Additionally, largely due to a homogeneous national culture, people with disabilities in South Korea experience unique barriers in career development. Solution: The authors report the findings of a multiple case study on the career attainment experiences of lawyers with visual impairments in South Korea. Data analyzed from interviews with five participants showed that various individual (perseverance, identity as a person with a visual impairment, self-advocacy, and strategic mindset) and social (family and peer support, reasonable accommodation, precedent, and having a leader with a vision for inclusion) factors contributed to their career attainment. Stakeholders: The findings of this study can aid organizational leaders, hiring managers, HRD practitioners in charge of providing reasonable accommodations, and educators of people with disabilities.

Engaging Employees Through a Virtuous Environment! Does Positive Affect Mediate in the Relationship?

The Problem The high rate of disengagement among the workforce affects the overall functioning of the organizations as disengaged employees are not only dissatisfied but can also spread negativity among their fellows. Therefore, there is an emerging need to ascertain how organizations can contribute in reducing such disengagement. The Solution Findings from this study suggests that an organizational environment of respect, trust, forgiveness, and care and concern can solve the problem of disengagement. Such an environment requires management support in creating a culture that recognizes the role of empathy in boosting positive emotions and reducing employees’ negativity. The Stakeholders Human resource development practitioners, researchers, scholars, managers, and others who are interested in pursuing research in this area.

Re-examining the History of Human Resource Development Policy in China: From Local Indigenous Phenomena to Global Human Resource Development Knowledge

Problem The NHRD conception claimed to be based on multiple country-cases through a constructive/interpretive process. However, four of cases focusing on HRD policy in China presented incomplete history of China’s HRD policies, which may have misled the NHRD conception. Solution We re-examine China’s history of HRD policy as indigenous phenomena in comparison to the four China-cases. Adopting a similar historical method, we fail to identify the policy pattern reported by the previous cases, thus challenge the NHRD’s constructivist embeddedness. We question the credibility and trustworthiness of the country-based studies as well as the sense-making constructive base of the NHRD ideation. From China’s local phenomenon, we derived a set of HRD assumptions contrary to the existing western-centric assumptions to enrich the global HRD knowledge. Stakeholders Theory-minded HRD scholars intended for rigorous and relevant theory development inquiries; practice-oriented HRD practitioners, especially those from western context and working in a non-western HRD context.

Black Male Executives in Higher Education: The Experience of Ascending the Academic Leadership Ladder

The Problem The current pipeline supplying qualified and competent leaders to the upper ranks of higher education appears to prelimit the number of Black males who reach executive status. Even though many universities and colleges remain resolute in increasing diversity, social, and structural barriers block access and restrict executive development. This study focuses on the leadership and career advancement of Black male executive leaders in predominantly White institutions (PWI’s) of higher education. The Solution This qualitative, phenomenological examination of the lived experiences of 10 Black male, executive leaders in predominantly White institutions of higher education describes what it is like for them to persist in their leadership roles despite negative experiences that are related to their social identity. The findings reveal how their existence in racialized environments has impacted their leadership approach and the trajectory of their careers. The Stakeholders The stakeholders are Black academics seeking or holding executive leadership roles in higher education; HRD scholars and practitioners.

On Black Male Leadership: A Study of Leadership Efficacy, Servant Leadership, and Engagement Mediated by Microaggressions

The Problem Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and other Black men (and women) successfully used servant leadership to advance U.S. civil rights. Yet, the value of these leadership practices among Black men in contemporary workplaces is not known. The decision to lead may be based upon one’s leadership self-efficacy and influenced by community and as Black men prioritize social justice and developing others, they may be servant leaders. While engaged, the role of microaggression on engagement has not been studied. Thus, research is needed on Black male leadership. The Solution This study examined whether Black men possess the antecedent of leadership efficacy, demonstrate servant leadership, experience the outcome of engagement, and microaggressions, whether microaggressions mediated and decreased their engagement, and did socio-identities function as a moderator. Using cross-sectional survey methodology, a confirmatory factor analysis and a causal model was conducted along with a post hoc ANOVA. Black men leaders were about a third of the sample ( n = 364). The structural equation modeling revealed the significant findings that leadership efficacy predicted servant leadership, servant leadership predicted engagement, and, microaggressions partially mediated engagement. Socio-identities did moderate leadership efficacy, engagement, and microaggressions but not servant leadership and the overall measurement model. The Stakeholders This study benefits HRD and other scholars and practitioners who study leadership including those with intersecting identities—African American men.

Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Social Architecture, and Black Male Leadership

The Problem The leadership of Black male leaders is an under-studied topic in the leadership literature and more so in the field of human resource development. Moreover, traditional and contemporary leadership theories are universalized and have not adequately captured social and emotional issues encountered by leaders within their social identity location. A closer examination of this phenomenon is needed to close the gap in the human resource development literature as well as contemporary leadership theory. The Solution A qualitative study was used to examine the experiences of Black male leaders in an organizational setting using the frameworks of emotional intelligence and social architecture. Findings suggest that emotional intelligence explains why Black male leaders desire mentorship, need increased organizational support for psychological safety, use specialized strategies to deal with social and emotional distress, face barriers to acculturation into the workplace culture, draw on authentic leadership skills to face obstructions to leadership, and use code switching to navigate multiple identities. Recommendations are made for more inclusive mentoring programs that consider the needs of this underrepresented group. The Stakeholders HRD researchers, scholars, educators, practitioners, organizational leaders and others involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion work.

The Trenches and Valleys of Corporate America: A Black Male Human Resource Leader’s Autoethnographic Account

The Problem In predominantly White organizational contexts and professions, such as human resources, that are significantly occupied by non-Blacks, Black male leaders struggle with achieving career success due to a lack of organizational support. Although existing research in human resource development (HRD) and career development provides a holistic representation of minoritized groups, there is a dearth of research that addresses the professional development of Black males. The Solution This article is an autoethnographic exploration of my experiences as a Black male leader in a predominantly White organization and profession (human resources). This article leverages autoethnography and critical race theory (CRT) as appropriate lenses to view my experiences as a Black male leader in this organizational/professional context. I utilize a layered account approach to position and deconstruct my experiences to provide an insider perspective of power structures that impede the leadership development of Black males. The Stakeholders HRD scholars, practitioners, organizational leaders, and Black males who are embarking upon and/or establishing their professional careers in predominantly White organizations.