Invitation to Inter-College Lecture - College of Education

Date: 
Thursday, March 3, 2022 - 16:30
Venue: 
Smart Classroom (SCDE)

 

Members of the University community are hereby invited to an Inter-College Lecture being organized by the College of Education as follows: 

Topic:  

“Theorising “Emergent” HRD Identity During Covid-19 Pandemic in Ghana: A Gioia Approach”

Presenter:  

Dr. Samuel Howard Quartey, Head, Koforidua Learning Center, School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, Legon   

 

Date: March 3, 2022 

Time: 4.30 pm 

Venue: Smart Classroom (SCDE) 

 

Chairman:  

Prof. Martin Oteng-Ababio (Provost, College of Education)

 

Abstract

This lecture theorises about the emergent identity of human resource development (HRD) during the Covid-19 pandemic in Ghana. The rapid change of human resource development (HRD) practices due to the Covid-19 pandemic is a welcoming sign for HRD scholars. However, it raises questions about the core identity and boundary of the field and desirable future directions. As a field of practice and study, HRD is known by its domain and identity as a driver of individual and organisational performance through workplace education, training, learning, and development.

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to have enormous consequences for HRD as a field of practice and study. Consciously or unconsciously, the practices and activities that define HRD identity have been metamorphosed during the pandemic. Despite this change, relatively less explanation has been offered on the processes leading to the changed HRD identity by scholars in the field. This lecture seeks to provide an empirical explanation of the processes leading to the changed HRD identity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In exploring the processes that have led to the change of HRD identity, this lecture adopts the Gioia approach, which has its root from a qualitative, interpretive, inductive, and grounded theory tradition. This approach has been recognised as a unique method of theorisation that can offer a rigorous methodological foundation and reinforces philosophical stances in HRD research and practice. This approach also provides a great opportunity to merge multiple realities which are socially constructed from diverse practitioners living in the same context. The approach relies heavily on an inductive analysis of informant-centric views and less on deductive literature review.

Data was gathered from interviewing 32 HRD professionals working in diverse sectors of the Ghanaian economy. The data were analysed using the open and axial coding techniques, which produced emergent 2nd-order themes. The emergent 2nd-order themes were further distilled into aggregate dimensions for abstraction and model building. The analysis showed that four distinctive 2nd-order themes emerged such as the context of HRD identity change, threats to HRD identity, enablers of HRD identity change, and “emergent” HRD identity. The context of HRD identity change, threats to HRD identity, and enablers of HRD identity change fostered emergent HRD identity during the pandemic. The observed dynamic relationships among these emergent themes explain the “emergent” HRD identity theory and model. The HRD identity change was driven by some psychological parameters including virtual learning and development, virtual workplace education, and virtual training. It is argued that the emergent HRD identity perspective reinforces the psychological theory of HRD.

 

Profile

Dr. Samuel Howard Quartey obtained his Bachelor of Arts (Honors) Degree in Psychology, with Political Science from the University of Ghana in 2007. He served as a Business Development and Corporate Affairs Officer at the ReadWide Limited from 2007 to 2008. Subsequently, he pursued and completed a Master of Philosophy Degree in Human Resource Management at the Department of Organisation and Human Resource Management (OHRM) of the University of Ghana Business School from 2008 to 2010. During his master’s programme, he was affiliated to Psycon.HR as an HR Consultant/Advisor and provided psychological HR consulting services to governmental and non-governmental organisations operating in diverse sectors of the Ghanaian economy, including Oil and Gas, Shipping, Service, Security and Social Work. From January 2011 to September 2011, Dr. Quartey worked as an Assistant Research Fellow at the then Institute of Professional Studies (IPS/UPSA), where he taught and provided research services at the Institute’s Business

Consultancy Unit and its School of Graduate Studies. From September 2011 to September 2017, he was a Lecturer at Central University-Ghana, where he taught human resource development and management courses on their undergraduate and graduate (MBA) programmes. He also served as an Exam Officer for the Department of HRM at the Central University, Ghana from 2013 to 2014. He later served as a Senior Lecturer and Chief Invigilator at the same University from 2017 to 2020, and 2018 to 2020, respectively.

Dr. Quartey received a prestigious University of Adelaide’s International Scholarship Award that enabled him to spend three years pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Adelaide-Australia. While at the University of Adelaide, he served as a Casual or Sessional Lecturer between July 2014 and August 2017.

Dr. Quartey joined the University of Ghana as Lecturer in January 2020 at the Department of Adult Education & HR Studies of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies. He occasionally serves as an Adjunct International Online Instructor at Webster University-USA. He is also a Programme Assessor for the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and has helped shaped several human resource development and management programmes at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Dr. Quartey has considerable experience in teaching, research, community service, and outreach activities. He was the Co-Rapporteur for the 72nd Annual New Year School and the “Commandant/Chief Whip” for the 73rd Annual New Year School. He has over 20 peer-reviewed articles and 17 Scopus indexed articles to his credit and also serves as an Editorial Board Member of the Business Strategy and Development Journal-Wiley, a reviewer for several quality peer-reviewed journals, including International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Business Strategy and Development, Knowledge and Process Management, and Australasian Journal of Regional Studies. He is also a member of the Academy of Human Resource Development – USA. His research interests are in the area of human resource and organisational development.

Dr. Samuel Howard Quartey is currently the Coordinator of the University of Ghana Learning Centre at Koforidua. He is a devoted Charismatic Christian and a Founding President of the Graduate Christian Fellowship at the University of Ghana Campuses. Dr. Quartey loves soccer and is an avid supporter of FC Barcelona. He is married to Mrs. Edwina Howard Quartey, a University Administrator, and an entrepreneur. The couple is blessed with three kids: Geoffrey, Joel and Jemimah-Gwen.