A focus on strategic human resource development (HRD) has been emphasised as a key contributor to ensuring organisational effectiveness and the maximum return from their most important asset; the people in the organisation. It has been argued that effective management and innovative approaches to the development of employees will enable organisations to capture and embed knowledge and skills. This paper examines differences in learning and improvement activities in manufacturing firms that have involved the HR function compared to firms that have not involved HR professionals. The findings in this paper support the view that in manufacturing firms seeking to achieve improved performance through systematic change processes such as continuous improvement (CI), it is important that the human resource development function plays a role in the CI process. Organisations seeking to maximise the benefits of CI are better placed when they have involved HR professionals and CI is more widespread and learning behaviours are more deeply embedded.