Needs Assessment (T&D II 1 of 4)

1. You have just been assigned as your organization’s training manager and must conduct a new needs assessment for a new project. Describe the method you would use. Your response should be at least 300 words in length. You are required to use at least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Explain why a needs assessment is necessary.
2. Discuss the three types of analyses involved in a needs assessment.
3. Compare and contrast the different methods used to conduct needs assessments.
4. Discuss the consequences of a poorly conducted needs assessment.
5. Discuss the factors that influence employee performance and learning.
6. Discuss how to maximize an employee's motivation to learn.
7. Describe the four steps involved in a task analysis.
8. Identify the tasks to be included in training using data from a task analysis.
9. Explain the process used to develop and validate a competency model. 10. Discuss how competency models are useful in training and
development.
Written Lecture
As stated in Unit I, the forces affecting the workplace make training a key ingredient to further enhance organizational effectiveness and value. The constantly changing environment causing organizations to change and adapt must include a strategy to meet the training needs of the organizations. As discussed in Chapter 1 of your textbook, this strategy involves the use of a training design process beginning with understanding the training needs.
As our organizational environment changes, training needs can change based on business growth, technology changes, and globalization. Once these needs have emerged, the next step in the process is to recognize the training need that has been created due to the need. A structured needs assessment can be key to successful training effort and design. Typically, training professionals must be firm in the necessity of this step of training as organizations want a training program quickly once a decision has been made that training is desired and may not want to take the time for a needs assessment.
There are various methods and tools that can be used to distinguish between the needs and wants when it comes to training. Remember, one product can give you everything you want, but if it does not take care of the needs, then it can become quite costly for your organization. For example, training may not be a solution to a problem, or the training program you develop may have the wrong objectives or methods. To accomplish an effective needs assessment, observations, interviews, surveys, and questionnaires should be conducted with subject-matter experts and focus groups. Since most organizations put much emphasis on Total Quality Management, benchmarking is an excellent method to determine training needs.