Phase I - Assessment (Analyze)

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the purpose of a needs assessment.
2. Describe the difference between a proactive and reactive approach to needs assessment.
3. Describe the three levels of needs assessment and the general outcome of each level.
4. Discuss five approaches that can be used in conducting a task analysis.
5. Be able to identify appropriate information from the task analysis to write training objectives.
6. Explain the importance of identifying individual's performance deficiencies and developmental needs in planning and developing training and HRD programs.
7. Explain the importance of prioritizing training and HRD needs.

 Why Conduct a Needs Assessment?

 The following discussion is based on the general approach to needs assessment articulated in and Chapter 4 “Needs Analysis,” Effective Training, by Blanchard and Thacker, Prentice Hall, (1999)

 The primary objective of training and human resource development is to improve the performance of individuals and organizations.  The needs assessment is a systematic way of determining what needs to be done to bring performance to the expected level.  The need can be a current deficiency, such as poor performance, or a future challenge that demands new KSA in current employees.  In some cases the needs assessment will determine that employees lack the KSAs to do the job. In other cases we will find that the employees have the required KSAs, but there are other obstacles that must be removed to enable performance.

 The needs assessment can be proactive or reactive.  A proactive approach would be in the implementation of a strategic plan.  A strategic plan requires the assessment of the organization's human resource capability.  This is done through a needs assessment.  In this case the identification of performance discrepancies occur during the person analysis. A reactive needs assessment is conducted when a performance discrepancy is identified and the needs assessment is conducted to design the training program.  In this course we start with a reactive approach.

 There are times when the conduct of a complete needs assessment may not be necessary. As an example, when the organization determines that all employees must be educated on a certain policy or an attitude change. An example of this would be an organization's concern regarding sexual harassment. Sending everyone to a seminar on sexual harassment could demonstrate to the courts the organization's position should a harassment suit be filed. However in most instances the conduct of a needs assessment will increase the relevance and effectiveness of the training.

The following preliminary steps should be taken prior to conducting the assessment:

1. Establish communication with top management to insure they understand the goals and strategies of the needs assessment.  Top management should be briefed on:

a)      The purpose of the assessment.

b)      The persons in the organization that can provide the critical support.

c)      Expectations regarding the role of the assessor and participation of members.

d)      The type of results desired and actions to implement as a result of the assessment.

2. Similar communications should be established with other levels of management within the organization.

3. Clarify the expectations.  This is primarily done to insure that unrealistic expectations are not present. In addition, this will give the assessor an opportunity to state expectations regarding support, time, costs, and outcomes.

4. Obtain the involvement of all key employees.  The assessor should involve, advise and inform all key persons (those affected by the needs assessment) about the procedure and obtain their commitment to the process.

 Organizational Analysis

 The organizational analysis focuses on the system wide components of factors relevant to training such as goals and objectives, internal and external constraints, and organizational climate.  At this point, an organization should determine whether or not training is an appropriate strategy for resolving its human resource issues. The organizational analysis that is done in support of a strategic planning exercise is comprehensive, while the analysis to support an identified performance discrepancy can be limited to the issues related to the particular function under review. 

Harris and DeSimone (1994) (pp.95-97) discuss four factors that should be identified:

1. Organizational goals.  Areas where goals are being met, might serve as models.  Areas were goals are not being met should be targeted for training and development or appropriate management actions.

2. Organizational resources.  Knowledge of resources such as funds available for training, facilities, training materials, and levels of expertise will influence how training and development will be conducted.

3. Organizational climate.  If the climate in the organization is not conducive to training, such as conflict between levels of management, the effectiveness of training may be compromised.

4. Constraints in the environment.  These could be legal, economic, social or political issues. 

Wexley and Latham (2002) (page 44) add another factor:

5. Numbers needing training.  The number of people that need to be trained immediately and in the future should be estimated.

 Task Analysis

 The task analysis, which is also referred to as an operational analysis), is a systematic process of collecting data about a particular job or set of jobs.  It examines the tasks required to do a particular job effectively.  Blanchard and Thacker (1999) (page 137) identify five sets of information that need to be collected in the task analysis: 

1. The set of task required to do the job. (performance)
2. The level to which the tasks must be performed. (standards or criteria)
3. The environment in which the tasks must be performed. (conditions)
4. The requisite KSAs to perform the tasks.
5. Obstacles encounter in performing the tasks.

 The Task Analysis Process

 The task analysis process used by Harris and DeSimone (1999) (pages 100 - 108) and discussed by Wexley and Latham (2002) (pages 50 - 64) covers the following steps:

1. Develop an accurate job description.  In some organizations job descriptions are accurate and up-to-date, in others they inadequately describe the job or are non-existent.  In cases where the job description needs major revision or needs to be written, a job analysis needs to be conducted.  A job analysis is a systematic way to gather and analyze information about its major components.  It identifies the tasks, duties and responsibilities of a job, to include the KSAs, working conditions and expected outcomes. A considerable amount of information is available on the details of conducting a job analysis at the above references.

2.   Identify the required tasks.  From the job description or other assessment techniques obtain and describe the following information:

·        The major tasks within the job.

·        The performance standards for each task. (What should be done)

·        The variability of the performance. (What is actually done)

Several different methods can be used to identifying tasks. The Noe text (pages 92-95) describes two – interviewing and observing; while Wexley and Latham (2002) (pages 52-59) describe six different procedures:

• Stimulus-response-feedback

•  Time sampling

• Linear sequencing

• Critical incident technique

• Job inventories

• Future-oriented job analysis

    3.  Identify what it takes to do the job.  Write clear KSA statements for each task. These should then be evaluated as to their  importance to job performance, learning difficulty and the opportunity to obtain them on the job. (Goldstein, et al., 1981)

    4.  Identify the areas that can benefit from training or development.  The outcome of this step is to determine which tasks or sub-tasks will be included in the training or development program. Some possible criteria to uses is time spent performing the task, difficulty in learning the task and opportunity to learn the task on the job.

5.      Prioritize the training needs.  This should be clear at the end of step 4.  As time and fiscal constraints may limit the training program, some prioritization is necessary to give guidance to the person developing the training program.

The steps listed above can be viewed as the standard process for conducting job or task analysis.  However it may be necessary to supplement these steps with other methods to gather the required data sets.  In some instances there may not be a job incumbent, or it may be a future job, or a job that will be impacted by technology.  In these instances a variation from the five steps may be in order. There are a variety of methods that can be used to collect the information required in the task analysis. The assessor may need to use a combination of techniques.  Each method has advantages and disadvantages that must be weighed by the assessor. The assessment method used should included detailed documentation as the information will come from a variety of sources and over different time periods.  For practical and legal reasons, information should be documented in a highly organized fashion.

Needs Assessment Methods and Techniques

This table is adapted from the information contained in Chapter 5.2 ”Needs Assessment” by Goldstein, et. al. in “Developing Human Resources” Kenneth N. Wexley, Ed. The Bureau of National Affairs, Wash. D.C. (1991)

Task analysis focuses on the job and not on the persons doing the job. The information gathered from the organization and task analysis is the foundation for planning and HR development.  The question of who needs the training and the type of training required is answered in the person analysis.

Person Analysis

The person or individual analysis focuses on determining the training needs of individual employees. The person analysis should be performed by an individual who observes the employees performance on a regular basis. Usually this would be the supervisor or the individual employee. The Noe text (pages 84 to 92) does a good job of explaining the components of a person’s readiness for training.  The authors also go on to explain the need to have the trainee motivated to learn.  They identify cognitive ability and readability as two important components of a person analysis.  But they also factor in the need for self-efficacy to be successful in the job.  Thus person characteristics, as well as input, outputs, consequences and feedback data are necessary to determine whether training is, or is not, the best solution.

 Outcomes of the Needs Assessment

 As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, there are two approaches to needs assessment.  The pro-active approach focuses on future human resource requirements and supports the strategic planning process. Based on the organizational strategy and resulting objectives, HR must develop strategies and tactics to be sure the organization has the required KSAs in each of the critical jobs based on future KSA requirements.  This can be done by preparing employees for promotions or transfers to different jobs or by preparing employees for changes to their present jobs.

The reactive training needs assessment begins with an existing discrepancy in job performance.  In the reactive approach you need to determine whether the problem is worth fixing and an assessment of both training and non-training needs.

 Both approaches require a summary of the needs assessment highlighting the non-training needs and the training needs.

• Non-training needs.  Some of the non-training needs will relate to the initial performance discrepancy model.  Topics include management actions such as reward-punishment incongruence, feedback, and obstacles in the system.  Some of the KSA deficiency easy fixes would also be included in this section such as the use of job aids, practice, changing the job and if necessary, transfer or termination.

• Training needs.  For the training needs a list of tasks and KSAs requiring training should be summarized. The comprehensive list of task and KSAs will be covered in the training objectives section under Training Design - Phase II.

Resources used for this discussion:

Blanchard, P. Naick and James W. Thacker, Effective Training: Systems, Strategies and Practices, Prentice Hall, Englewoods Cliffs, NU 07458 (1999)

DeSimone, Randy L. and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, 2nd Ed. The Dryden Press, hartcourt Brace College Publishers, Ft. Worth, TX 76102 (1998)

Noe, Raymond, Employee Training and Development, 3rd ed. McGraw Hill, Irwin. New York, NY 10020 (2005)

Wexley, Kenneth Ed. Developing Human Resources, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. Washington, D.C. (1991)

Wexley, Kenneth N. and Gary P.. Latham, Developing and Training Human Resources in Organizations, 3rd Ed., Prentice hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 (2002)

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