Fundamentally, there are three distinct structures for corporate training. In a totally centralized environment, all training staff work from one location, and all training activity is managed and generated from that location. Where training is totally decentralized, all training is the responsibility of line divisions, and corporate training staff, if they exist at all, are small in number and almost always take on consulting and brokering responsibilities. There are advantages and disadvantages associated with both structural extremes. Centralization of training encourages con-sistency across the organization, ensures that training is aligned with corporate strategy and produces economies of scale.
Decentralization ensures that training is driven by the needs of individual line divisions.
This conclusion is consistent with comments made regarding the evolving role of training professionals. This may be a difficult task. External suppliers must also understand and analyse key processes in prospective client organizations. As noted, most respondents to the 1993 Conference Board training survey used external providers of education and training to help them meet their training needs. This survey validates those findings.