Assistant Professor Oliver Crocco Represents LSU in Thailand

Baton Rouge - The School of Leadership and Human Resource Development at LSU is a truly international program with student and faculty connections around the world. One of those connections is with new Assistant Professor Dr. Oliver Crocco in Southeast Asia.

Last month, Dr. Crocco presented at two international conferences and gave two university lectures in Thailand. First, Dr. Crocco presented a paper with practitioner and school leader, Emily Hoefling, on “Transformational leadership for the 21st century: A school leadership approach to address the sustainable development goals” at the 19th UNESCO-APEID International Conference. The study systematically reviewed articles on transformational leadership in schools in Asia and the Pacific. Spanning over 50 countries and territories, this study sought to understand how the Western-conceived theory of transformational Leadership has been applied and tested in contexts throughout Asia and the Pacific. Findings showed that the Transformational Leadership is generally more effective than transactional leadership and had positive direct effects on school outcomes throughout the region where data was available.

Then, at the 17th International Asian Conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development, Dr. Crocco presented three papers:

• “Human resource development in ASEAN: Are we ready to discuss the concept of Regional Human Resource Development?” coauthored with Dr. Oleksandr Tkencko of the University of New Mexico. This working paper is a content analysis of over 250 publications published by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with the purpose of understanding how human resource development (HRD) is conceptualized in the region of Southeast Asia. It focuses on definitions of HRD as well as policies and activities associated with HRD at the regional level. Findings show that there is, in fact, a regional conceptualization of HRD in Southeast Asia which fills a conceptual gap in the literature between National HRD and Global HRD.
• “The quest for indigenous knowledge, theory, and practice: Implications for global human resource development” along with Dr. Maria Cseh and Chilanay Safarli of the George Washington University.  This conceptual paper analyzed the ways in which the concept of “indigenous” is used in HRD discourse. Today, HRD scholars and practitioners largely rely on theories and concepts developed in the West, which likely have limited explanatory power across cultures. It reflected on the need for HRD scholars to seek out indigenous knowledge, research, and practice in their work research, teaching, and theory development.
• “Critical reflection in leadership development: An integrative literature review” with Yingting Wu of the George Washington University. This integrative literature review sought to synthesize existing literature on the role of critical reflection in leadership development. To do so, 54 peer-reviewed journal articles were reviewed - both empirical and non-empirical - that demonstrated a link between these two constructs. A new integrative model was proposed for how practitioners can integrate critical reflection into leadership development.

In addition, Dr. Crocco participated in a panel discussion with Dr. Gary McLean, Dr. Ken Bartlett, Dr. Darlene Russ-Eft, Dr. Jia Wang, and Dr. Maria Cseh on “Preparing HRD professionals for the global workplace: A holistic learning and development approach.” This integrative literature review sought to synthesize existing literature on the role of critical reflection in leadership development. To do so, 54 peer-reviewed journal articles were reviewed - both empirical and non-empirical - that demonstrated a link between these two constructs. A new integrative model was proposed for how practitioners can integrate critical reflection into leadership development.

After a busy week of conference presentations and meetings with local scholars and business leaders, Dr. Crocco headed to Chiang Mai and presented two university lectures: “Publishing in Academic Journals and Presenting at International Conferences” at the International College of Payap University and “Cross-cultural Communication in Business Environments and Global Competence Development” at the Far Eastern University.

 

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About Dr. Oliver Crocco

Dr. Crocco is an Assistant Professor of Leadership and Human Resource Development at Louisiana State University (LSU). Before coming to LSU, Dr. Crocco was a Lecturer of Human and Organizational Learning at the George Washington University (GW) in Washington, D.C. where he began working with the American National Standards Institute on a project that examines the impact of recertification across a variety of occupations and industries.  Dr. Crocco’s research focuses on evaluation in HRD, HRD in Southeast Asia, strengthening human resource development research and education through higher education, and enhancing cultural competence in university and work contexts. He is on the Steering Committee of the Leadership Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Association of Human Resource Development.

About the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development

The LSU School of Leadership & Human Resource Development (SLHRD) offers programs dedicated to producing world-class practitioners, leaders, and instructors in human resource and leadership development. The BS, MS, PhD, and certificate programs are designed to develop the leadership, planning, analytical, problem solving, and change management capabilities that today's globalized organizations need to be successful. SLHRD also offers a 100% online master’s program and is a school within the College of Human Sciences & Education.  

About the College of Human Sciences & Education

The College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE) is a nationally accredited division of Louisiana State University. The college is comprised of the School of Education, the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development, the School of Kinesiology, the School of Library & Information Science, the School of Social Work, and the University Laboratory School. These combined schools offer 8 undergraduate degree programs, 18 graduate programs, and 7 online graduate degree programs, enrolling more than 2,020 undergraduate and 879 graduate students. The College is committed to achieving the highest standards in teaching, research, and service and is committed to improving quality of life across the lifespan.

 

Contact: Jeffery S. Portier
SLHRD Public Relations Coordinator
(225) 578-5750
jportier@lsu.edu