Needs Assessment
There are three levels of needs assessment: organizational analysis, task analysis and individual analysis. Organizational analysis looks at the effectiveness of the organization and determines where training is needed and under what conditions it will be conducted. The organizational analysis should identify:
Environmental impacts (new laws such as ADA, FMLA, OSHA, etc.). State of the economy and the impact on operating costs. Changing work force demographics and the need to address cultural or language barriers. Changing technology and automation. Increasing global/world market places. Political trends such as sexual harassment and workplace violence. Organizational goals (how effective is the organization in meetings its goals), resources
available (money, facilities; materials on hand and current, available expertise within the organization).
Climate and support for training (top management support, employee willingness to participate,
responsibility for outcomes). The information needed to conduct an organizational analysis can be obtained from a variety of sources including:
Organizational goals and objectives, mission statements, strategic plans. Staffing inventory, succession planning, long and short term staffing needs. Skills inventory: both currently available and short and long term needs, organizational climate
indices: labor/management relationships, grievances, turnover rates, absenteeism, suggestions, productivity, accidents, short term sickness, observations of employee behavior, attitude surveys, customer complaints.
Analysis of efficiency indices: costs of labor, costs of materials, quality of products, equipment
utilization, production rates, costs of distribution, waste, down time, late deliveries, repairs.
Changes in equipment, technology or automation. Annual report. Plans for reorganization or job restructuring. Audit exceptions; reward systems. Planning systems. Delegation and control systems. Employee attitudes and satisfaction.
Task analysis provides data about a job or a group of jobs and the knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities needed to achieve optimum performance. There are a variety of sources for collecting data for a task analysis:
Job description-- A narrative statement of the major activities involved in performing the job
and the conditions under which these activities are performed. If an accurate job description is not available or is out of date, one should be prepared using job analysis techniques.
KSA analysis-- A more detailed list of specified tasks for each job including Knowledge, Skills,
Attitudes and Abilities required of incumbents.
Performance standards-- Objectives of the tasks of the job and the standards by which they
will be judged. This is needed to identify performance discrepancies.
Observe the job/sample the work. Perform the job. Job inventory questionnaire-- Evaluate tasks in terms of importance and time spent
performing.
Review literature about the job-- Research the "best practices" from other companies, review
professional journals.
Ask questions about the job-- Of the incumbents, of the supervisor, of upper management. Analysis of operating problems-- Down time, waste, repairs, late deliveries, quality control.
Individual analysis analyzes how well the individual employee is doing the job and determines which employees need training and what kind. Sources of information available for a individual analysis include:
Performance evaluation -- Identifies weaknesses and areas of improvement. Performance problems -- Productivity, absenteeism or tardiness, accidents, grievances, waste,
product quality, down time, repairs, equipment utilization, customer complaints.
Observation -- Observe both behavior and the results of the behavior. Work samples -- Observe products generated. Interviews -- Talk to manager, supervisor and employee. Ask employee about what he/she
believes he/she needs to learn.
Questionnaires -- Written form of the interview, tests, must measure job-related qualities such as
job knowledge and skills.
Attitude surveys -- Measures morale, motivation, satisfaction. Checklists or training progress charts -- Up-to-date listing of current skills.
