NEEDS ASSESSMENT

GROUP 2
Ronie Sardemio
Neil Andrew Supala
Arnel Gallego
Allen Mae Garcia
John Kenny Honda Salazar
• Needs Assessment – refers to the process used to
determine whether training is necessary.
• It typically involves:
• Organizational Analysis – involves determining the
appropriateness of training, given the company’s business
strategy, its resources available for training, and support by
managers and peers for training activities.
• Person Analysis – involves (1) determining whether
performance deficiencies result from a lack of knowledge,
skill, or ability or from a motivational or work-design
problem, (2) identifying who needs training, and (3)
determining employees’ readiness for training.
• Task Analysis – identifies the important tasks and
knowledge, skills, and behaviors that need to be
emphasized in training for employees to complete their
tasks.
WHY IS NEEDS ASSESSMENT NECESSARY?
Needs assessment is the first step in the instructional design
process, and if it is not properly conducted any one or more of the
following situations could occur:
• Training may be incorrectly used as a solution to a performance
problem.
• Training programs may have the wrong content, objectives, or
methods.
• Trainees may be sent to training programs for which they do not
have the basic prerequisite skills, or confidence needed to learn.
• Training will not deliver the expected learning, behavior change,
or financial results that the company expects.
• Money will be spent on training programs that are unnecessary
because they are unrelated to the company’s business strategy.
WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN NEEDS ASSESSMENT?
The goal of needs assessment is to determine
whether a training need exists, who it exists for, and
for what tasks training is needed, it is important to
include managers, trainers, and employees in the
needs assessment process. Traditionally, only trainers
were concerned with the needs of the assessment
process.
ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS - It involves identifying whether
training supports the company’s strategic direction; whether
managers, peers, and employees support training activity; and what
training resources are available.
• Company’s Strategic Direction – the strategic role of training
influences the frequency and type of training and how the
training function is organized in the company.
• Support of Managers, Peers, and Employees for Training Activities
– the key factors for success are a positive attitude among peers,
managers, and employees about participation in training
activities; manager’s and peers’ willingness to provide information
to trainees about how they can more effectively use knowledge,
skill, or behaviors learned in training on the job; and opportunities
for trainees to use training content in their jobs.
• Training Resources – It is necessary to identify whether the
company has the budget, time, and expertise for training.
• PERSON ANALYSIS - Helps to identify employees
who need training, that is, whether employee’s
current performance or expected performance
indicates a need for training. The need for training
may result from the pressure points including
performance problems, changes in the job, or use
of new technology.
Process for Person Analysis
Person Characteristics – refer to the employees’ knowledge, skill,
ability, and attitudes.
1. Basic Skills – refer to skills that are necessary for employees to
successfully perform on the job and learn the content of
training programs.
2. Cognitive ability - research shows that cognitive ability
influences learning and job performance.
3. Reading ability – refers to the difficulty level of written
materials.
4. Self-efficacy - is employee’s belief that they can successfully
perform their job to learn the content of the training program.
5. Awareness of training needs career interest and goals - to be
motivated to learn in training program employees must be
aware of their skills strength and weaknesses.
Input – relates to the instructions that tell employees what, how, and
when to perform. It also refers to the resources that the employees are
given to help them perform, these may include equipment, time, or
budget.
1. Situational constraints include lack of proper tools and equipment,
materials and supplies, budgetary support, and time.
2. Social support refers to managers’ and peers’ willing ness to
provide feedback and reinforcement.
Output – refers to the job’s performance standards.
Consequences – refer to the type of incentives that employees receive
for performing well.
Norms refer to accepted standards of behavior for work-group
members.
Feedback – refers to the information that employees receive while they
are performing.
DETERMINING WHETHER TRAINING IS THE BEST
SOLUTION
To determine whether training is needed to solve a
performance problem, managers need to analyze
characteristics of the performer, input, output,
consequences, and feedback. How might this be
done?
1. Is the performance problem important? Does it have the potential to
cost the company a significant amount of money from lost
productivity or customers?
2. Do the employees know how to perform effectively? Perhaps they
received little or no previous training or the training was ineffective.
(This problem is a characteristic of the person.)
3. Can the employees demonstrate the correct knowledge or behavior?
Perhaps employees were trained but they infrequently or never used
the training content (knowledge, skills, etc.) on the job. (This is an
input problem.)
4. Were performance expectations clear (input)? Were there any
obstacles to performance such as faulty tools or equipment?
5. Were positive consequences offered for good performance? Was good
performance not rewarded? For example, if employees are dissatisfied
with their compensation, their peers or a union may encourage them
to slow down their pace of work. (This involves consequences.)
6. Did employees receive timely, relevant, accurate, constructive, and
specific feedback about their performance (a feedback issue)?
7. Were other solutions such as job redesign or transferring employees
to other jobs- too expensive or unrealistic?
TASK ANALYSIS - results in a description of work activities, including
tasks performed by the employee and the knowledge, skills, and
abilities required to complete the tasks.
a. Job is a specific position requiring the completion of certain tasks.
b. Task is the employee’s work activity in a specific job. To complete
tasks, employees must have specific levels of knowledge, skill,
ability, and other considerations (KSAOS).
c. Knowledge includes facts or procedures (e.g., the chemical
properties of gold).
d. Skill indicates competency in performing a task (e.g., negotiation
skill, a skill in getting another person to agree to take a certain
course of action).
e. Ability includes the physical and mental capacities to perform a
task (e.g., spatial ability, the ability to see the relation- ship
between objects in physical space).
f. Other refers to the conditions under which tasks are performed.
STEPS IN A TASK ANALYSIS
A task analysis involves four steps
1. Select the job or jobs to be analyzed.
2. Develop a preliminary list of tasks performed on the job by (1)
interviewing and observing expert employees and their managers
and (2) talking with others who have performed a task analysis.
3. Validate or confirm the preliminary list of tasks. This step involves
having a group of SMES (job incumbents, managers, etc.) answer in a
meeting or on a written survey several questions regarding the tasks.
The types of questions that may be asked include the following: How
frequently is the task performed? How much time is spent
performing each task?
4. Once the tasks have been identified, it is important to identify the
knowledge, skills, or abilities necessary to successfully perform each
task. This information can be collected through interviews and
questionnaires.
A task analysis should identify both what employees are
actually doing and what they should be doing on the job.
Task analysis begins by breaking the job into duties and
tasks. Use more than two methods for collecting task
information to increase the validity of the analysis. For
task analysis to be useful, information needs to be
collected from subject-matter experts (SMEs), SMEs
include job incumbents, managers, and employees
familiar with the job. In deciding how to evaluate tasks,
the focus should be on tasks necessary to accomplish the
company’s goals and objectives. These may not be the
tasks that are the most difficult or take the most time.
COMPETENCY MODEL
A competency model is a guideline developed by a
Human Resource department that sets out the
specific skills, knowledge and behavioral
requirements that enable an employee to perform
their job successfully. It is also useful for ensuring
that training and development systems are
contributing to the development of such knowledge,
skills, and personal characteristics.
Competency refers to an area of personal capability
that enables employees to successfully perform their
jobs by achieving outcomes or accomplishing tasks.
Competency models are useful for training and development in
several ways.
• They identify behaviors needed for effective job performance.
These models ensure that feedback given to employees as part of
a development program (such as 360-degree feedback) relate
specifically to individual and organizational success.
• They provide a tool for determining what skills are necessary to
meet today’s needs as well as the company’s future skill needs.
They can be used to evaluate the relationship between the
company’s current training programs and present needs. That is,
they help align training and development activities with the
company’s business goals. They can be used to evaluate how well
the offerings relate to anticipated future skill needs.
• They help to determine what skills are needed at different career
points.
• They provide a framework for ongoing coaching and
feedback to develop employees for current and future
roles. By comparing their current personal
competencies to those required for a job, employees
can identify competencies that need development and
choose actions to develop those competencies. These
actions may include courses, job experiences, and other
types of development. (Development methods are
detailed in Chapter 9.)
• They create a “road map” for identifying and
developing employees who may be candidates for
managerial positions (succession planning).
SCOPE OF NEEDS ASSESSMENT
The scope of a needs assessment can vary immensely. A small
needs assessment may be used to inform the activities of a
single program for the next year, or a larger needs assessment
may be used to inform regional or national service delivery or
the activities of a whole agency over a period of years.
This involves interviews, observations, and potentially even
surveying employees that appears to be a very elaborate
process that takes time.
Rapid needs assessment refers to a needs assessment that is
done quickly and accurately, but without sacrificing the
quality of the process or the outcome.