Recognition of the importance of Human Resources has increased in recent years; this is a result of competition from overseas economies. In countries, for example Japan, Germany and Sweden, investment in employee development is higher than the UK. This has led to some organisations reviewing their policies on training, introducing continuous investment in their employees.
The latest recession's impact on business is the credit crunch and whether this will have an impact on training and development. It is well discussed within literature that the "training budget is first budget cut during hard times", although theorist do not believe in general that this is the best action for the Human Resources department, and the long term benefits of training outweigh the short term monetary savings. With the credit crunch a year old, an organisation, for example in financial services, could be studied to see the effect on their training budget. To add context two organisations could be compared, with a small section on their financial performance to test the statement above. Below are some suggestions as to how to narrow your human resources management dissertation on training and development down to a specific topic.
How do organisations survive economic crisis (from the training and development perspective)? Does training and development really impact on the bottom line? What skills are needed for today's turbulent climate? Who trains the trainers? Is training a Panacea? Soft skills, who needs them? Training on a budget. Where now, post disaster survival? Soft versus hard skills. Can poor selection processes be remedied through training and