In the midst of new year's resolutions many people choose to "improve" themselves by undertaking courses and gaining new qualifications. If it involves work-related training or study, however, you might find that whether you do a course may be more in the hands of your boss than at your own discretion.

In recent years there has been a growing focus on the influence of so-called "line managers" on learning and development at work. Line managers are essentially what used to be called supervisors, gangers, team leaders, section heads, front-end managers or, in parts of the US, "third-line managers" to distinguish them from "middle managers" and "senior managers".

Technically, line managers can be at any level and they earn the title from having at least one person reporting to them. Under that loose definition, the head janitor and the managing director can both be described as line managers. As far as most employees are concerned, their line manager is the man or woman to whom they report and who has a large influence on their working lives.

Whatever they may be called, line managers are the people who set your work agenda. They are also among the most put-upon people in the workforce, increasingly having to combine good human resources practices with the day-to-day task of getting the job done.

Most line managers are in their current role because they used to do the job that you now do and they did it rather well in the eyes of more senior management. But, in general, they will have received little dedicated management training and, in many cases, they may not have aspired to manage you or anyone else.

It can be a strange relationship. Good line managers identify closely with the aspirations, skills, commitment and problems faced by those who report to them. Yet they are also trying to implement policies decided at higher levels and often within tight budgets.

They can be the person who provides you with your "induction" - showing you around on your first day and setting the tone of your relationship with the person who may tell you they have nominated you for redundancy when times turn tough.

They can also have a great influence, as either facilitators or blockers, on how you perceive change. A trusted line manager who decrees that some new-year initiative is "just another mad-cap idea from the Mercedes brigade on the top floor" is enough to kill acceptance of the strategic approach mapped out over long hours at some management institute.

Likewise, a line manager can decide whether you can undertake training for extra qualifications. For the past five years, Prof John Purcell at the University of Bath's Work and Employment Research Centre has been working on line managers' roles in learning.

He found that line managers can be decisive in whether an employee gains wider experience, is selected to participate in a project team and enjoys job rotation. They can also be crucial for arranging secondment to another department, getting time off and having fees paid to undertake further study.

Research during the past year by the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that 23 per cent of respondents felt their line managers did not take learning and development responsibilities seriously.

The focus on "personal development plans" is one of the latest functions to be filtered down from the traditional personnel department to line managers. Some are even expected to be "life coaches" to those whom they manage, even though more than 80 per cent do not receive training in coaching.

The CIPD research showed that these roles were performed more frequently and effectively by older line managers who perhaps have a "parental" concern for their team members and are less focused on their own career advancement.

Others now use training and development as a reward system to give good performers a "leg-up". However, this may result in the employees who actually need more training to improve their contribution losing out and being left behind.

Purcell's research found that line managers react badly to "management speak" and are turned off by phrases such as "developing core competencies" and "talent management analysis".

It is clear that if you want to get your organisation to support, and possibly fund, training, then you need to initiate it yourself. You need to prove that it will contribute to your performance and that it will not eat too much into your working time. You should also point out that, with higher skills or qualifications, you might be able to take on extra roles or replace a key person when they are promoted or leave (as long as that is not the person you are talking to!).

You will also need to look at the organisation where you work and decide objectively whether it operates on a "build or buy" basis. The former type of organisation usually develops talent internally while the latter often prefers to hire from outside rather that promote existing employees.

If it is the "buy-in" model, then you probably have a greater need for training or "up-skilling", if only to escape and secure a better job somewhere else.

Gerald Flynn is an employment specialist with Align Management Solutions in Dublin

• gflynn@alignmanagement.net