Change Capacity and Sustainable ROI Implementation in HRD Practice

The demand for accountability through measurement continues to heighten application and use of the ROI (return-on-investment) Methodology™ as an essential part of human resource development (HRD) practice in both private and public sector organizations. Despite progress in its adoption and use, sustaining a viable results-based focus in the face of accelerating change is an aspect of ROI implementation that is often overlooked and under-estimated. If not properly addressed, change turbulence can derail ROI implementation efforts, exhaust critical HRD resources, and impede HR's capacity to create and sustain credible measures of its value and utility. A mixed methods study tested the relationship between sustainability and the use of a planned change process in ROI implementation. Data collected from 140 HRD professionals confirmed that the more a planned change process is applied to ROI implementation, the more sustainable the implementation is likely to be. A framework for ROI process maturity is offered, along with implications for practice and future research.