A historical look into human resource development in Iran: from the Traditional to Stability Era

This study aims at surveying the history of human resource development in Iran. We, as the authors, believe that this area suffers from the dearth of historical awareness and this oblivion may culminate in absurd repetitions and failures. Hence, it is argued that historical awareness may help us learn from past successes and prevent us from making costly decisions.research

To collect the needed data, some related books, papers, documents were investigated deeply while 8 experts were also interviewed. To establish credibility, internal and external criticism strategies were adopted. The study uses an interpretive historical approach and steps are taken based on Johnson and Christensen framework.

According to the findings, the history of human resource development in Iran may be categorized into three phases namely the Traditional Era (from Medes Dynasty to Dar-al-Fonoon establishment), the Establishment Era (from Dar-al-Fonoon establishment to 2010), and the Stability Era (from the establishment of Iranian Society for Training and Development to now). What is more, any turning points at the eras are mentioned.

It is argued that the country is well far away from flourishment era because the companies (whether state-run or private) have little trust in how the training sector can bring about added-value for them. As a matter of fact, training departments have not been successful to prove themselves as strategic partners for their companies. On the other side, academics have been unable to produce contextualized knowledge for a country which is mostly ruled over by the state-run sector.