TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS

I
n a business,
Human Resource
is one of the
disciplines which
drives business for
competitiveness. To
achieve this training
is very important.
Competent
employees will not
remain competent forever. Their skills can deteriorate; technology may make their skills
obsolete; the organization may move into new areas, changing the type of jobs that exist
and the skills necessary to do them. This reality has not been overlooked by
management.

In order to train the employees the training need analysis is a must for enabling them
to provide quality services to the customers both inside and outside.

In order to assess the training needs, it is also necessary to derive the job contents and
job descriptions for each category and cadre in respect of Employees working in all the
Departments.
 Calendar of Events for Assessment of Training Needs

Sl. Phases Activities Duration Remarks

No
1 Organizatio- Establishing liaison teams and work groups
nal support that help facilitate the process becomes a
necessary part of the needs assessment by
consultant. 3 days at
2 Organizatio- Following the establishment of each
nal analysis organizational analysis, which begins with departm
an examination of the short and long term ent
goals of the organization, as well as of the
trends that are likely to affect these goals.

3 Requirements While organizational support and Sl. No. 3

analysis organizational analysis issues are being to 6 20
examined, information for a requirements working
analysis should also be collected. It is in days
this phase that the analyst focuses on
questions such as what jobs are being
examined? Who has information about the
jobs? What types of systems, such as job
observations, interviews, and surveys are
going to be used to collect information?
The analyst even has to ask very basic
questions such as what is the target job?
Actually, it would not be unusual for
important job components to change even
if the job is performed in different
geographical regions of the same state.
The job could differ if it is performed during
the winter summer or day or night
4 Task and The next part of the need assessment
knowledge, programme is a careful analysis of the job
skill and ability to be performed by the trainees upon
analysis completion of the training programme.
Often this process begins with specifying
the tasks required on the job. Then the
tasks are used to ask what skills,
knowledge and attitudes (KSAs) are
required to perform those tasks on the job.
For eg: a brief description of a bus
reservations clerk’s job might indicate that
the clerk makes and confirms reservations,
determines seat availability, and so on.
The analyst often asks questions such as
which KSAs are most critical to job
performance or which should be learned
before coming to the job, which in training,
or which are not learned until actually on
the job.

5 Person Here the emphasis is not on determining

analysis which tasks or KSAs are necessary but on
assessing how well the employee actually
performs the KSAs required by the job. To
perform person analysis, deriving
measures of job performance known as
criteria becomes necessary. A very
important aspect of person analysis is to
determine which necessary KSAs have
already been learned by the prospective
trainees so that precious training time is not
wasted repeating what has already been
acquired. For employees already on the
job, a critical aspect becomes determining
the current knowledge and skill level and
comparing this to standards for performing
the job.

6 Deriving Another way of looking at instructional

instructional objectives is to ask what, given a particular
Objectives task are the effective behaviours that will
tell you that the task is being performed
correctly?
Well-written instructional objectives, which
are based on tasks and KSAs specify what
the trainee can accomplish when
successfully completing the instructional
programme.
 7 Summary – Review, discussion, re-orientation and 10 days
with detailed submission.
need
assessment

After doing training need analysis, we can divert skills into three categories: technical,
interpersonal and problem solving. Most training activities seek to modify one or more of
these skills.

Technical: Most training is directed upgrading and improving an employee’s technical

skills.

Interpersonal: Almost all employees belong to a work unit. To some degree, their work
performance depends on their ability to effectively interact with their co-workers and their
boss. Some employees have excellent interpersonal skills. But others require training to
improve theirs.

Problem Solving: Managers, as well as many employees who perform nonroutine

tasks, have to solve problems on their job. When people require these skills, but are
deficient, they can participate in problem solving training.

Training methods: Most training takes place on the job. This can be attributed to the
simplicity of such methods and their usually lower cost. However, on-the-job training can
disrupt the workplace and result in an increase in errors as learning proceeds. Also,
some skill training is too complex to learn on the job. In such cases, it should take place
outside the work setting.

On-the-Job Training:
Popular on-the-job training
methods include job
rotation and understudy
assignments. Job rotation
involves lateral transfers
that enable employees to
work at different jobs.
Both job rotation and
understudy assignments
apply to the learning of technical skills. Interpersonal and problem-solving skills are
acquired more effectively by training that takes place off the job.

Off-the-Job Training: There are a number of off-the-Job training methods that

managers may want to make available to employees. The more popular are classroom
lectures, films, and simulation exercises. Classroom lectures are well suited for
conveying specific information. They can be used effectively for developing technical and
problem-solving skills. Films can also be used to explicitly demonstrate technical skills.
Interpersonal and problem-solving skills may be best learned through simulation
exercises. However, complex computer models, such as those used by airlines in the
training of pilots, are another kind of simulation exercise.
Training and development can sustain or increase its employees’ current productivity,
while, at the same time, prepare employees for a changing world.

In conclusion, if employees are to remain productive, career development and training

programs need to be available that can support an employee’s task and emotional needs
at each stage.

# H. V. Vasuki
Director
Chinmaya Institute of Management
#7, D'Costa Layout
1st Cross, Cooke Town
Bangalore - 84
Ph: 9845204013