Introduction
Successful organisations always have provided timely training to their staff.
The definition of a training needs analysis is “an analysis of training, learning and
development needs of staff, volunteers and trustees in an organisation” (Skill third
sector, 2011). A training needs analysis can be a questionnaire which is completed
by individuals within an organization. Questionnaires can be useful in obtaining a big
picture of what a large number of employees think and feel, while they have had an
opportunity to participate in the need analysis process. The key advantage of a
questionnaire is that help considers the skills, knowledge and behaviours that your
staffs need, and also how to develop them effectively.
Another definition of a training needs analysis is “a process of series activities that
can conducted to identify problem or other issues in the workplace, and to determine
whether training is an appropriate response.” (Directory journal, 2011). A training
analysis usually is the first important step taken to cause a change because it can
specifically to define the gap between current competencies and the desired
competencies that the company expects.
Methodology
The GAP
The GAP analysis is the core basis for developing the training needs analysis. It is
an essential tool that most businesses use and what it does is it compares the actual
performance to the potential performance of the business. It is important that
businesses make use of its utilities effectively and maximise the use of its resources.
It is as easy as asking two simple questions: “Where are we now?” and “Where do
we want to be?”
Basically the first thing that needs to be done is to outline the objectives of your
company. The space that divides the two questions mentioned earlier is the socalled gap, and it needs to be closed. To do this you will need strategies, plans and
tactical approaches to implement in order to close the gap.
Developing Training Needs Analysis
Before training needs analysis it is very important to understand the problem. The
simple and often neglected solution is to conduct a training needs analysis.
Whether you are an experienced or inexperienced training professional or the person
responsible for ‘people’ issues, making your training count is the way to influence
the future success of your organization. In order to do this, you must be able to
match all training directly to the needs of the organization and the people in it.
TYPES OF TRAINING NEEDS
Training can involve the changing of employees' knowledge, skills, attitudes and
behaviour.:
o Knowledge - facts, procedures, principles and basic skills. Training which
involves improvement of knowledge is tending to move more towards the use
of self-instruction methods.
o Skills - aims to change the behaviour of the trainee, usually by seeing and
hearing the new skills, practising them and receiving feedback on progress.
o Attitudes - this is the hardest factor to alter, as it is affected by many variables
outside the training process, such as the manager's behaviour, company
policy, the peer group, etc. Examples of attempts to change attitudes could
include making employees more customer and service-oriented, gaining
acceptance of organisational change or improving loyalty and commitment
towards the organisation.
o Behaviour - replacing old work habits with new ones, by attempting to modify
employee behaviour. Behaviour is activity which can be seen and measured.
Note that training of this nature will require reinforcement once the employee
returns to the job.
Training needs can generally be classified as either individual or group needs.
Individual needs may relate to orientation (induction) training, initial (basic) training,
remedial training (to correct perceived faults - this situation is an alternative to
recruiting new staff), refresher training (such as in company policy, safety, fire drill)
or personal development.
Group needs refer to the need for a number of employees to change their behaviour
collectively. Examples include team-building exercises designed to increase group
cohesion or introducing new technical information to a group.
In addition, types of training needs can be reactive or proactive.
1. Reactive Training - identifies existing weaknesses and acts to remedy them.
These weaknesses take the form of barriers which prevent the achievement of set
objectives, and can be identified by various symptoms. Examples may include
production problems, poor quality control, labour turnover, absenteeism, accidents,
grievances, interpersonal conflicts, customer complaints, ineffective use of staff
specialists, poor supervision and management practices, unknown or misunderstood
objectives, and various others. (Note that the symptoms may require solutions other
than training - this will require further investigation.).
2. Proactive Training - prepares of employees to handle future changes, both within
and external to the organisation. This is a longer-term approach, oriented towards
development. Changes which may affect organisation plans include product type and
demand, work process, technology changes, legislation, financial factors, political
issues and business expansion/contraction.
TYPES OF TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
Determining training needs involves collecting data on both the current situation
within the organisation and its actual requirements. There are several techniques
available which can achieve this, including:
o
o
o
o
o
interviews of employees and managers/supervisors
performance appraisal data
observation and work study using consultants
outside assessment centres
analysis of other data from the workplace
The most common type of tna (training needs analysis) is really a combination of
reviewing both how well a job is performed in total, and how well the individual tasks
are performed within the job. i.e. a combination of performance and task analysis.
Recommendations
Based on the data and information gathered, the students have come up with the
following recommendations:
1. A variety of strategies be used to conduct a training needs analysis in the
SIMWEN environment. Trainers should make use of different approaches
such as interviews, survey questionnaires, interactive discussions, and
observation.
2. Conduct a regular assessment of training needs for employees.
3. Re-evaluate the goals and processes that the company undertakes to ensure
that employees (SIMWEN students) are meeting their full potential in regards
to the work that they do.
Identifying Training Needs
Question
Yes/No
1. Are we committed to providing
training and developing the
knowledge and skills of our
employees?
2. Is there an induction process in
place for new staff?
3. Are the managers competent in
supporting the learning and
development of their staff?
4. Is there a training strategy for
development of staff?
5. Do we have a training budget?
6. Is there an appraisal system in
place for employees?
7. Do we evaluate our training?
8. Do we have a system to support
employees in identifying their
learning needs?
9. Do we have up to date job
descriptions for all employees?
10. Do we want to work towards good
practise standards in managing
and developing our people?
S.W.O.T. Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
References
1. Skill third sector, 2011, What is training needs analysis, Retrieved: 12th
May
2011,
from:
http://www.skillsthirdsector.org.uk/training_needs_analysis/what_is_training_needs_analys
is/
2. Directory journal, 2011, How to conduct a training needs analysis,
Retrieved: 12th May 2011, from: http://www.dirjournal.com/guides/how-toconduct-a-training-needs-analysis/
3. The Marketing Teacher, 2011, The GAP Analysis, Retrieved: 19 th May
2011, from: http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-gapanalysis.html
4. Leopard-learning,n.d., http://www.leopard-learning.com/tna.html, Retrieved
from: 25th May 2011