MSG Team's other articles

10390 Motivation and Financial and Non-Financial Rewards

Motivation All of us need to be motivated to get work done. We might be motivated by the lure of financial rewards like bonuses, pay hikes, and other monetary benefits. We also might be motivated by recognition, reward, fame, and glory. Thirdly, there are some of us who are motivated by the fulfillment that comes […]

11305 Skills that the HR Professionals Need to have to be Successful in the Present Times

The Key Trends that are Upending the Old Order and Resulting in Future Shock The field of Human Resource Management (HRM) is in a flux. With the old ways of doing things becoming obsolete and the new means of success yet to be crystallized, Human Resource (HR) professionals everywhere are feeling the need to reinvent […]

11446 Talent Management and Succession Planning

In one our write ups we mentioned the problem of succession planning in organizations. The basis was the SHRM survey of 2003 that found out that 60% of organizations have no succession planning at all. We discuss the phenomenon in detail here. What is succession planning and when did it emerge as a problem? What […]

10264 The HRM Challenge: Managing Opinionated Employees in Polarized and Divisive Times

How Workplaces can Become Toxic in These Polarised Times We live in extremely polarized and divisive times. With passions about politics and other topics running high and tempers flaring on social media and other online platforms, corporates and HR (Human Resource) Managers too have to deal with managing workforces that bring such passions to the […]

10351 Methods/Ways of Participation of Employees in Decision-Making

Participation of workers in decision-making process has resulted in successful value creation in many organizations. Though the extent to which employees should participate in organizational decision making is still a matter of debate. Some say that workers’ union should participate with management as equal partners while some believe in restricted or bounded participation, that is, […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Training is an expensive process not only in terms of the money spent on it but also the time and the other resources spent on the same.

The most important question therefore is determining whether or not a need for training actually exists and whether the intervention will contribute to the achievement of organisational goal directly or indirectly?

The answer to the above mentioned question lies in ‘training needs analysis’ which is the first step in the entire process of training and development.

Training needs analysis is a systematic process of understanding training requirements.

It is conducted at three stages -

  1. at the level of organisation,
  2. at the level of individual, and
  3. at the level of job,

Each of which is called as the organisational, individual and job analysis. Once these analyses are over, the results are collated to arrive upon the objectives of the training program.

Another view of the training need is that, it is the discrepancy between ‘what is’ and ‘what should be’. Taking cues from this the world bank conducted a needs analysis and arrived upon the conclusion that many of its units in eastern regions of Europe required transformation from state owned business to self sustaining organisations. A number of universities were then contacted to develop the necessary modules and conduct the training upon the same.

Although each step in the entire training process is unique in its own, needs analysis is special in that it lays the foundation for the kind of training required.

The assessment gives insight into what kind of intervention is required, knowledge or skill or both. In certain cases where both of these are present and the performance is still missing then the problem may be motivational in nature. It thus highlights the need and the appropriate intervention which is essential to make the training effective.

As mentioned earlier, the needs analysis/assessment is carried out at three levels - organisational, Individual and Job. We now take up each one of them in detail.

  1. Organisational Analysis

    The organisational analysis is aimed at short listing the focus areas for training within the organisation and the factors that may affect the same.

    Organisational mission, vision, goals, people inventories, processes, performance data are all studied. The study gives cues about the kind of learning environment required for the training. Motorola and IBM for example, conduct surveys every year keeping in view the short term and long term goals of the organisation.

  2. Job Analysis

    The job analysis of the needs assessment survey aims at understanding the ‘what’ of the training development stage. The kind of intervention needed is what is decided upon in the job analysis.

    It is an objective assessment of the job wherein both the worker-oriented approach as well as the task-oriented approach is taken into consideration. The worker approach identifies key behaviours and ASK for a certain job and the task-oriented approach identifies the activities to be performed in a certain job. The former is useful in deciding the intervention and the latter in content development and program evaluation.

  3. Individual Analysis

    As evident from the name itself, the individual analysis is concerned with who in the organisation needs the training and in which particular area. Here performance is taken out from the performance appraisal data and the same is compared with the expected level or standard of performance.

    The individual analysis is also conducted through questionnaires, 360 feedback, personal interviews etc. Likewise, many organisation use competency ratings to rate their managers; these ratings may come from their subordinates, customers, peers, bosses etc.

    Apart from the above mentioned organisations also make use of attitude surveys, critical Incidents and Assessment surveys to understand training needs which will be discussed in detail in other articles.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Cost Benefit Analysis for Training

MSG Team

Techniques for Collecting Data for Training Needs Assessment

MSG Team