refer to attached document
EDU 535
According to your Strategic Training and Development text, “Conducting a needs analysis is an important step for organizations seeking to effectively implement training and development for their employees” (66).
Please address the following:
· Which considerations (organization, job, or person) do you feel should inform most of your analysis and decisions?
· Give at least two different examples that support your reasoning.
Conducting a needs analysis is an important step for organizations seeking to effectively implement training and development for their employees. The reason that a needs analysis is so important is that it answers questions about the training and development process. The most basic question it answers is whether a specific training or development program is appropriate for an individual employee. To answer this question, the needs analysis, at least in part, utilizes the information that comes before it in the framework that opens this chapter (i.e., environmental and strategic factors). A thorough analysis will clearly identify training needs and facilitate instructional design, which helps to ensure that the organization is making a good investment of its time and resources.
A needs assessment can be conducted at three different levels of analysis.1 This chapter will discuss each of these levels in descending order from the most macro to the most micro level. It is also useful to conduct the analyses in this descending order. The most macro level of analysis is the organization level. An organization needs analysis produces information about what type of training or development is required or appropriate for the organization to provide. The middle level of assessment is the job level. A job needs analysis provides information on the type and scope of training or development required for someone to be successful in a specific position. The most micro level is the person level. The person needs analysis focuses on the individual who will be participating in the training or development. This level of analysis lets managers know if a specific employee needs and/or is ready to participate in a specific training or development program.
|
Level of Analysis |
Reasons or Content |
Additional Considerations |
|
Organization |
• Strengths/internal drivers (i.e., reinforce existing advantages) • Weaknesses/internal drivers (e.g., customer complaints) • Opportunities/external drivers (e.g., train for growth) • Threats/external drivers (e.g., technological changes) |
• Consider consistency with the organization’s mission, strategy, and culture • Assess whether policies and procedures facilitate learning and transfer • Determine if the organization has sufficient resources to provide training |
|
Job |
• Results from organization-level analysis identify performance issues with a specific job • Job has changed or is expected to change in the near future |
• Determine whether a task-based or competency-based focus is appropriate • Pick an appropriate method to conduct the needs analysis • Identify appropriate person(s) to include in the needs analysis |
|
Person |
• Employee needs to acquire a specific skill or knowledge for current position or expected transfer • Employee’s performance is deficient • Employee needs to enhance knowledge, skills, or competencies for potential promotion |
• Determine if employee is trainable • Verify the method selected to conduct the needs analysis is appropriately focused on development |
Because a thorough needs analysis encompasses multiple levels, one can too easily forget a necessary component. To guard against this, and to provide structure to this chapter, Exhibit 3-1 provides a checklist of items that should be considered when conducting a needs analysis. As shown in the columns, two types of information should be collected and considered. First, the needs analysis should identify the reasons for or content of the training or development. Second, at each level, there are additional factors to consider regarding how to conduct the needs analysis and/or the appropriateness or readiness of conducting the training or development.
