ASTD, SHRM and CIPD in Merger Talks – Shock news in the world of HR

Secret talks are taking place today in Virginia between the ASTD, SHRM and CIPD with regards to a future merger.

The team at RapidBI heard late last night that talks scheduled for later today are taking place hosted by SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) in Virginia, USA. If this happens, and the three organisations combine forces it will make the worlds largest professional body with in excess of  400, 000 members (after duplicate memberships are deducted).

Not new…
It is understood that talks have been on going since Jackie Orme took over as chief executive of the CIPD in April 2008. Regular travel between these two UK and US organisations have been taking place over the last two years with and agreement getting closer and closer. A Google of the term “ASTD CIPD SHRM merger” gives little away, but drop SHRM from the search and there are clues to this series of talks. It appears that this has been on the table for some time. It is not clear if the SHRM are included in the talks or if they are the mediator for the discussions.

Cheryl Myles CIPD Branch Development Manager said that the plans were originally to announce the merger at the ASTD International Conference and EXPO May 16 – 19, 2010 in Chicago, IL, however due to pressures within the executives within the SHRM (whose conference is due to take place on June 27 – 30, 2010, San Diego Convention Center, Calf) it was agreed that the CIPDs HRD Conference and Exhibition, 21-22 April 2010, Olympia London would be a better place to announce the new venture, and be the starting point for a road show at each of these events sharing the strategy prior to asking members to vote later in the year.

Johanna Ratcliffe, Digital Communications Manager, who is responsible for all web and intranet structures in the CIPD said ” there are a lot of new developments which we have been working on for some time which will provide a 21st century service to an ever growing and distributed membership, I am very excited about a forthcoming announcement”. It has been known that Ratcliff has been working on an updated website platform with the ability for the CIPD to offer virtual branches for some time, enabling geographically dispersed members to attend groups together virtually using state of the art technology.

What this will mean for the profession is not clear. Certainly the three organisations have a wide and diverse membership across the globe and it does provide the opportunity for an international set of standard qualifications in HR, L&D and OD.

This does leave open what the organisation will be called, as there is little overlap in the organisations names, does this also mean the UK organisation will have to drop its valued charted status – or will the riggor of this be retained and offered world wide?

Time will tell how this news is taken. What are your thoughts – good or bad news for members of all organisations? Talk to colleagues and share your thoughts here or on the sites respective forums and community spaces (or their LinkedIn groups)

The SHRM

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 250,000 members in over 140 countries, the Society serves the needs of HR professionals and advances the interests of the HR profession. Founded in 1948, SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China and India.

The ASTD

The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) is the world’s leading association of workplace learning and performance professionals. Founded in 1944 ASTD’s membership includes more than 70000 people, working in the field of workplace performance in 100 countries worldwide

The CIPD

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is Europe’s largest HR development professional body. A globally recognised brand with over 135,000 members, who support and develop those responsible for the management and development of people within organisations.