This document contains three papers from a symposium on designing effective human resource development (HRD) programs that was conducted as part of a conference on HRD. "Leveraging System Factors for Increased Training Effectiveness" (David Ripley) is a conceptual paper that critiques current training design models and the lack of attention to system factors and shows how attention to system factors can be integrated with a popular instructional system design model. "Establishing Internal Quality Benchmarks for the South Carolina Fire Academy" (John H. Abraham, Jr., Melissa H. Marcus, Dennis G. Tesolowski, Clinton H. Isbell) reports on a survey of a random sample of 150 of the 3,482 students who had attended the South Carolina Fire Academy during its first 5 months that was conducted to establish a baseline of student satisfaction against which future comparisons can be made. "Implementing a New Model for on-the-Job Training: Critical Success Factors" (Simone J. van Zolingen, Jan N. Streumer, Rolinda de Jong, Marcel R. van der Klink) reports on a study of the effectiveness of a new instructional model for training desk employees that was developed by Post Offices, Inc. in the Netherlands. Two papers contain reference sections. (MN)