Abstract:
Two distinct academic areas, namely Human Resource Development and Entrepreneurship have been linked using the systems view of organisations (Katz and Kahn, 1966). The Entrepreneurial Orientation construct delineated by Lumpkin and Dess from entrepreneurship as a concept, has been useful to this purpose. Commitment and involvement of people in the internal context of organisation and the retention of customers in the external context of the organisation are concerns thrown up for empirical investigation, through this perspective. The systems perspective allows for comprehensive interpretation of two significant and mutually interdependent organisational processes, namely entrepreneurial orientation and human resource development. With the progress in management thought and literature it appears that the methods, practices and decision making styles affecting entrepreneurship is interpreted through an Entrepreneurial Orientation, and that progressive organisations would need appropriate Human Resource Development practices to enhance the EO competence. Accordingly, associated thought like strategic management and the management of change and learning would be affected. The competency approach also provokes a proper understanding of how the inherent resources represented by employees in terms of their knowledge, skills, and team capabilities can affect the design of organisations. Environmental concerns like social culture, organisational culture, and skills and competences available to the HRM subsystem of the organisation would then be interpreted in a more long-term and perhaps sustainable light. In Kets De Vries (1984) recall of a Chinese proverb lies the utility of the entrepreneurship perspective of Human Resource Development., "He who rides a tiger cannot dismount". True for individual entrepreneurs, true for Entrepreneurially Oriented firms.
