Mere nip and tuck? Training and development's changing role

Purpose – This paper seeks to study the changing role of training and development over a seven‐year period. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative analysis; comparative analysis of 763 training and development/HRD job advertisements featured over a seven month‐period in 1996‐1997 and in 2003‐2004. Findings – Change in the training and development role has been patchy and not as extensive as some of the literature has suggested. Research limitations/implications – The study was confined to training and development/HRD job advertisements from one, albeit leading, UK HR magazine and only allowed a seven‐year gap between the two sets of data gathered. It would have been interesting to have analysed job advertisements from multiple sources and over a longer period of time, and to have had a ten‐year gap between the two sets of data. However, the data gathering was a very time‐consuming process which limited the scope of the data gathered. Practical implications – Practitioners need to consider how the training and development/HRD role is represented to the external world and the implications this has for the perceived image of the profession. Further, given the amount of resources invested in the recruitment process, those compiling job advertisements need to take care to ensure that the final product accurately reflects what is required of the post and incorporates any changes to the role over time. Originality/value – First study to use training and development/HRD job advertisements to examine the ways in which the role of training and development has changed.