Unit I Discussion Boards

Part One: Introduce yourself to your fellow students and instructor. Share your college degree plans, briefly explain what degree you are pursuing, why, and how you think taking this course will assist you in achieving your personal or professional goals in life.

Part Two:  Dowling, Festing, and Engle, SR (2013) define Human Resources Management (HRM) as "those activities undertaken by an organization to effectively utilize its human resources. These activities would include at least the following: human resource planning, staffing (recruitment, selection, placement), performance management, training and development, compensation (remuneration) and benefits, and Industrial relations" (Dowling, Festing & Engle, SR, 2013).

This course focuses on the Training and Development (T&D) facet of HRM. Since its creation, HRM (formerly known as personnel management) was geared towards administrative work with no seat at the executive table and little to no influence in organizational strategy. Present day, however, HRM has gained traction in organizations and more specifically, training and development has become a defined career for many. For this discussion forum, explain why there is now a need for training and development professionals, how training and development fits into organizational strategy, and whether training and development should be centralized or decentralized in an organization.