I have just joined a Fortune 500 company in the human resources department and realise that the company spends huge amounts of money sending managers to business school, effectively as a very expensive perk. There is no attempt to justify the cost or measure the impact of the courses on the way the company operates. What, if anything, can I do to change this?

First, you need to understand how the company views HR. If you are seen as a tiresome meddler by the top brass, then I suggest you lie low. Questioning perks handed out to senior people is going to do no good at all and will only harm you.

There will come a time when the company will probably decide to send people on online courses instead. That won’t come from a careful weighing of pros and cons but from a cost-cutting edict. Until such a time, I suggest you devote your efforts to asking to be sent on such a course yourself — and then you’ll be better placed to judge what value, if any, they really have.