A study examined the training provided to workers by 20 firms across the Nation. In the 12 years between 1969 and 1981, American firms increased their expenditures on employee training from $2.4 to $3.5 million according to an analysis of data gathered by Current Population Surveys. In the same period, members of the American Society for Training and Development nearly tripled from 8,600 to 22,600. Nevertheless, the extent of firm-sponsored training appears to be related to business cycles since a temporary decrease in such training was noted during the 1981-1983 recession. Less than one-fifth of those trainers interviewed as part of this research project had been trainers in 1972. In general, the larger a firm and the more complex its services, the more likely it is to have a management development program with a built-in strategy for developing and teaching the company culture. As corporations have changed their attitudes toward affirmative action, and as the new generation of trainers has needed to establish their profession, present-day trainers interviewed in the study tended to see themselves as part of a larger movement in which the personnel function within their firms provides an integrated approach to human resource development. (An inventory for firms to use in assessing their own training programs is included in this report.) (MN)