TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS

LDR 616
Baheejah Lumumba
Siena Heights University

A training needs assessment identifies individuals current level of competence, skill or knowledge in one or more areas and
compares that competence level to the level required for their position or another position with the organization ( SHRM.2012)

. The difference between the current and required

competencies can help determine training needs.
. Dont assume that all employees need training or even the
same training.
. It is beneficial to perform assessments to measure changes
in employees knowledge and skills and also training
effectiveness.
According to (Aamodt 2010) the functional job analysis
was designed by Fine (1955) that rates the extent to which a
job incumbent is involved with functions in the categories of
data, people, and things. (p.58)

Identify the business need.

Conducting this analysis allows an organization to follow its efforts on areas of training
that are necessary for employees to successfully carry-out the goals.

1. Make optimum use of the companys training dollars.

2. Motivate employees by contributing to their career development.

3. The person conducting the training must clearly understand the overall organization
and departments.

According to (McCabe, 2001) A properly conducted organizational analysis will focus on

the goals the organization wants to achieve, the extent to which training will help achieve
those goals, the organizations ability to conduct training (e.g., finances, physical space,
time ) and the extent to which employees are willing and able to be trained ( e.g., ability,
commitment, motivation, stress.)

Sometimes Training is not the answer.

There maybe other organizational issues that would be best addressed

through another means.

. Job analysis.

. Employee engagement.

. Aligning work force strategies with business objectives.

Gap Analysis

Performing a gap analysis involves assessing the current

state of a department or employees performance or skills
and then compares this to the desired level. ( SHRM.2012)

.Individual interviews.

. Focus groups.

. Surveys, questionnaires and self assessments.

Assess Training options.

Based on the goals and priorities both current and in the

future. A scale of 1 to 3 is used as a criteria for rating the
level of importance for training.

. Being critical.

. Being important.

.Being not important at all.

Neiman Marcus Customer Service.

Customer Service Score Board. com Neiman Marcus results.

Neiman Marcus ranked # 176 out of the 791 companies that
have a scoreboard rating with an overall of 47.85% out of a
possible 200, based upon 82 rating. This score rates Neiman
Marcus customer service and customer support as
disappointing. Positive comments 13 out of 82 Total
comments is 15.85%) Issue resolution 1.8% Reach ability
3.7% Cancellation 2.6% Friendless 4.% and product
knowledge 3.9% overall 47.85.

Training needs and recommendations.

Because of the number and location of the employees training
material should be given at the time of being hired.
1.

Designate a person from each facility to provide training.

2.

How to build strong customer relationships.

3.

How to prevent customers from walking away with a

problem.

4.

How to be tactful.

On-Line Customer support

Training should be conducted every 6 months.

. Monitor wait time, and solicit customers.

. Able to track merchandize with feedback and accuracy.

.Take action to solve problems.

. Follow up on customer complaints.

Training effects to measure.

The desired behavior must be worded clearly and

unambiguously. ( Blanchard & Thacker 2010) p. 161.

. Evaluate trainees reaction to the process.

. Learning, test to be determined whether the principles,

skills and factors they were supposed to learn.

. Was the goal achieved in terms of training? did the number

of customer complaints about employees drop?

Conclusion

The overall objective should be to improve the employee

performance, and improve the individuals effectiveness. This
can be achieved by improving in training and development.
By more open communication, and employee engagement.

Reference

Aamodt, G. M. (2010) Industrial Organizational Psychology: An Applied

Approach (7th ed.) Belmont, CA CENGAGE Learning
Blanchard , & Thacker (2010) Effective training: Systems, Strategies,
And Practices (4th ed.) Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River NJ
Fine, S. A. ( 1955) What is occupational Information? Personal Journal
83 And Guidance Journal, 33, 504-509
Society Of Human Resource (2012) Permissions: How to conduct a
Job Analysis Retrieve from www.shrm.org/templatestools/toolkit/
Neiman Marcus Score Board http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Nei