The creation of a management function responsible for ALT within the firm is a recent phenomenon in Quebec. Over the last five years and for longer in large companies, this function has increasingly appeared in companies' organizational charts.
One of the surprises in the study by Bélanger et al. (2004) was how very recent this creation of a specific ALT function in companies really is. As was noted in part 2.3.2, this phenomenon cannot be separated from the enactment in Quebec during the same period of the Act to foster the development of manpower training (Bill 90) and the duty it imposes to report ALT activities accounting for 1% of the total payroll. In fact, there are very few large or medium-sized companies in that study that have not yet created a position dedicated in whole or in part to developing and managing ALT in their organization.
In some companies, the individual who assumes this position was already working in the organization. In others, someone was chosen from the outside, a person who was specialized in human resources management and/or adult learning and training. Of course, prior to or without the integration of such a position into a company's organization chart, education and training were provided — and continue to be provided. If function creates organization, in this case it also precedes it. Before the position was created, the analysis of needs, expression of demand and organization of ALT activities tended to occur spontaneously and were not part of a process of systematic analysis.
Based on what has been observed, the creation of a management function dedicated to ALT tends to make the organization's responsibility in this area more visible and more legitimate. In more concrete terms, it enables companies to better design and co–ordinate the increasingly numerous ALT activities or activities supporting informal learning and team-based learning. This also makes it possible to systematize needs diagnoses, the planning of activities, and accountability and monitoring of training. Typically, the first two activities are carried out by a newly-appointed ALT manager (see survey by Bélanger et al. (2004)), especially if the person comes from outside the organization, are to conduct a needs assessment and prepare an annual ALT plan. For example, in a retail operation, the ALT manager plans staff education and training with in-house and outside resources, participates in the management committee, recruits outside trainers and negotiates the budget share allocated to ALT — the latter an important task .