Needs Assessment: Why Necessary?

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Needs Assessment: Why Necessary?

Abstract

Needs assessment is considered a very important activity for the development and training function. It is fundamental for any human resource specialist or generalist to be proficient at carrying out a needs assessment. Thus, this research paper I'll start with a general idea of the development and training function and also how the needs assessment plays a significant part this procedure, followed by a thorough and comprehensive view of the core ideas involved in carrying out a training needs assessment.

Needs Assessment: Why Necessary?

Introduction

Planning a development and training program is a process that involves a number of steps that can be divided into 5 segments which are: needs assessment, instructional goals or purpose, planning, implementation and appraisal or evaluation (Gent & Dell'Omo, 1989). In order to be efficient and effective, each and every training program ought to begin with a needs assessment. Earlier than any genuine training takes place, it is the duty of the training manager to settle on the who, when, what, why, where and how of training (Gent & Dell'Omo, 1989). And for this purpose, the training manager ought to examine an adequate amount of information regarding the following:

Organization and its aims and objectives.

People who are to be trained.

Jobs and associated things that need to be gain knowledge of.

Skills and competencies that are required to carry out the job (Gent & Dell'Omo, 1989).

Discussion

A General Idea of Development and Training

The initial step in planning a development and training program is to perform a needs assessment (Tobey, 2005). This assessment starts with a "need" which can be recognized in more than a few ways however is usually depicted as a gap between what is at present in position and what is required, currently and in the future (Ford, 2002). The gap can take account of differences/discrepancies between:

Present and preferred skills and competencies.

Present and preferred job performance.

What the organization anticipates coming to pass and what in fact takes place.

A needs assessment can also be employed to help out with:

Performance and competencies of work teams.

Productivity issues or problem solving.

The need to reckon with and rise to upcoming amendments in the job duties or organization (Tobey, 2005).

The outcomes of the needs assessment facilitate the training manager to specify the objectives of training by responding to the two very crucial queries: who is in need of the training and what kind of training is needed. At times training is not the way out. There are certain performance gaps that can be eliminated or reduced by means of other management solutions for instance, communicating anticipations or beliefs, offering a helpful and accommodating work environment, putting together consequences, getting rid of obstacles and examining job strength.

When the needs assessment is done and the goals or purpose of training are visibly recognized, the planning phase of the development and training procedure is started:

Choose the external or internal individual or resource to plan and build up the ...
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