Recognizing Eli Ginzberg and Human Resources: The Wealth of a Nation (1958): where are the seeds of (national) HRD?

Abstract

This paper introduces Eli Ginzberg’s work, titled Human Resources: The Wealth of a Nation. In particular, in this paper I posit that Ginzberg’s publication, which appears to be ‘undiscovered’ in the Academy of HRD, deserves recognition as one of the earliest inquiries into National HRD, preceding a well known book by Harbison and Myers published in 1964. The paper sheds light on the history of the manuscript creation, provides an overview of the book’s content, and discusses how Ginzberg’s perspective relates to contemporary National HRD scholarship and strengthens its foundations.

Keywords:

• National HRD
• NHRD
• HRD
• Eli Ginzberg

Notes

1. According to Ginzberg (1993), he came up with the title of the project, while reading a book about T. Roosevelt and his idea of conserving nation’s natural resources. As Ginzberg discovered, Roosevelt’s original formulation encompassed both human and national resources. When Ginzberg suggested using Roosevelt’s term for the project’s title, The Conservation of Human Resources, Eisenhower accepted it.

2. For a complete list of works, see Ginzberg (1958, 175–176).

3. The chapters’ titles are purposefully left in the review, for the reader to follow the structure of the book.

4. See McLean et al. (2008) for an elaborate discussion on both perspectives in relation to the NHRD concept.