TRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Training Needs Assessment



Training Needs Assessment

Introduction

Training refers to activities designed to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes relevant to performance in an occupation. Training is a major investment for many organizations, with developmental activities occurring at all levels of the organization and at various career stages. A major goal of training is often to improve organizational outcomes (e.g., efficiency, costs, turnover) (Colquitt, LePine & Noe, 2000), but individuals engaged in these developmental opportunities also experience benefits that may extend beyond their current positions. Thus, workplace training can play an important role in individual career development.

Discussion: Training Needs Assessment:

Goldstein & Ford (2002) mention that training programs are more likely to be successful when developed, implemented, and evaluated using a systematic approach. Although a number of systematic approaches to training may be useful, a well-established general framework that often serves as the basis for formal employee development is the instructional systems design approach. This approach specifies an integrated set of processes for the systematic development, delivery, evaluation, and continuous improvement of instructional programs. Thus, the major components of this model consist of needs assessment, training design and delivery, and evaluation.

Advantages & Disadvantages Implementing Ideas/Points/Concepts & How The Various Viewpoints Might Be Applied In An Actual Company

There are several advantages and disadvantages of implementing these key points. I will discuss these key points in the light of the practices at IBM. During the needs assessment phase, training developers identify the goals and objectives of the training program. The needs assessment process should consider needs at the organization, job, and person level. At the organization level in IBM, short- and long-term goals should be examined along with management expectations and support for the training initiative. Without support from top management at IBM, it may be difficult to obtain the resources required to develop and implement an effective training program. At the job level, needs assessment involves identifying the jobs targeted for training and specifying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform the essential functions of these jobs (Goldstein & Ford, 2002).

Various job analysis methods may be applied at this step at IBM. At the person level, individuals are assessed in terms of how well they perform essential job functions and where they stand on the required capabilities underlying task performance established in the job analysis. This individual-level assessment is primarily intended to identify those most likely to benefit from training. The needs assessment phase results in the specification of instructional objectives that serve as input to both training program design and later evaluation of the program. There are four main reasons why needs analysis must be done before training programs are developed.

1. To identify specific problem areas in the organization. HR and management must know what the problems are so that the most appropriate training (if training is the answer) will be directed to those organizational problems. For example, if a manager approached the HR department with a request for a communications program, too often the trainer's response (eager ...