About
Ronald L. Jacobs, Ph.D. is professor of human resource development at the Ohio State University. Dr. Jacobs has written over 100 journal articles and book chapters and four books on different areas of human resource development, including the systems theory foundations of human resource development, employee competence, and structured on-the-job training (S-OJT).
Dr. Jacobs is particularly known for his research and development work on structured on-the-job training, a term that he first introduced to the human resource development literature in 1987. He is the author of the book, Structured On-the-Job Training: Unleashing Employee Expertise in the Workplace (2003, 2nd edition), which has become the standard guide to help managers, quality engineers, and human resource staff implement this training approach in organizations. There are now Chinese-Complex, Chinese-Simplified, Korean, Arabic and Spanish editions of the book. Much of his research has been on determining the financial benefits of S-OJT, information that is critical for making more informed training investment decisions.
Since 1980, Dr. Jacobs has been responsible for the graduate training of over 300 HRD professionals. More than 12 of his Ph.D. graduates now teach HRD-related subjects in universities globally. Dr. Jacobs has been an invited professor at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, and was the Shaw Distinguished Professor at Nanyang University, Singapore.
In 1994, he received the instructional technology research award from ASTD and in 1995 he was recognized for his scholarly contributions to the HRD field by the Academy of Human Resource Development. From 1998-2001, Dr. Jacobs served as the editor of the Human Resource Development Quarterly, the major scholarly journal of the human resource development field. Dr. Jacobs has served on the advisory board of the Workplace Learning and Performance Certification Institute, ASTD.
Dr. Jacobs has extensive consulting experience working in global organizations including General Motors, KLM Airlines, Abbott Laboratories, Hyundai Motors, Seagate, Morton Salt, Rohm and Haas, and Kuwait National Petroleum Company, and BAPCO (Bahrain), among others. The core issue of concern is helping organizations develop systems that respond to changing demands for employee competence.