The role of 'silence' in Human Resource Development

This paper is concerned with the epistemology of ‘silence’ and its relevance to human resource development (HRD) theory and practice. Education, training and HRD have largely been concerned with learning that is explicit, with the consequence that HRD has tended to privilege explicit forms of knowledge and explicit learning processes over tacit forms of knowledge and knowing. In this paper we present a typology of silence based upon the dimensions of silent/nonsilent, voluntary/non-voluntary and individual/collective. The epistemology of ‘silence’ is an important issue for HRD because: firstly, recognition of the distinctive nature of silence and the related notion of ‘tacitness’ is important for the ways in which learning itself is conceptualised (inclusive rather than exclusive, and tacit as well as explicit); and secondly a better understanding of silence and the ways in which it manifests is likely to have relevance for how HRD is planned, facilitated and managed.