Pathology of the Education and Human Resource Development System Based on a Meta-Synthesis Approach

Abstract

Education and human resource development are among the most critical investments, as they enhance employees' skills, knowledge, competencies, attitudes, and behaviors. The objective of this study is to design a model for diagnosing the pathology of the education and human resource development system based on a meta-synthesis approach. This study is applied-developmental in terms of its objective and employs a qualitative meta-synthesis method, following the seven-step approach of Sandelowski and Barroso (2003), for data collection. The research population consists of 177 scientific documents published between 2010 and 2023, obtained from eight international and three national databases. After examining the titles, abstracts, and content, 30 scientific documents were selected and analyzed. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis, synthesis, and reporting of the final meta-synthesis results. Based on a review of previous studies, the extracted codes were categorized into a five-stage process model: (1) Needs Assessment of Education and Development Programs (lack of clarity in needs assessment, planning and support deficiencies, adaptation and flexibility issues); (2) Educational Policy-Making and Leadership (factors related to human resource planning and development, financial and investment factors, cultural and motivational factors, managerial and leadership factors); (3) Implementation of Educational and Development Programs (support and cultural deficiencies, conflicts and inconsistencies, technical challenges and continuity in training, structural and infrastructural issues); (4) Design of Education and Development Programs (motivational and individual development challenges, communication and support deficiencies, design and structural challenges); and (5) Evaluation of Education and Development Programs (cultural and communication factors in the evaluation process, assessment and analysis of training effectiveness).