Human Resource Development International welcomes scholarship that examines the group and organizational as well as the individual basis of learning. However, despite the ever-growing research into organizational learning, the constraints upon organizational commitment to HRD in the first place are often overlooked. Organizational learning assumes that organizational management is aware of the benefits of investment in training and development and is prepared to support this. However, we often forget that these assumptions do not always hold for all types of organization, may be alien to different business cultures and, in any case, presume a close correspondence between labour market and vocational education policy at a sectoral and national as well as the organizational level. A number of papers in this issue of Human Resource Development International illuminate these issues. In the first place Debby Bonnin and colleagues examine the challenges facing employers in the provision of initial skill training within the South African maritime industry. They show how the relationship between the business system and the provision of vocational education and training is further complicated by the legacy of apartheid, external and internal labour market strategies and compliance with international maritime law. In consequence, South African trade unions and the state have become allies in enforcing employer compliance with both national training policy and international maritime law. In this sense, government and trade union involvement is essential to building organizational level commitment to HRD.
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