Employee training refers to the teaching of specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) to an employee. It is any effort to improve current or future employee performance by enhancing an employee’s ability to perform through learning, usually by altering the employee’s attitude or increasing his or her skills and knowledge. The need for training is determined by an employee’s performance deficiency, or a performance gap.
Training Needs Analysis
Training needs analysis has different characterizations depending on the objective of the situation. First of all, it is the evaluation of a situation to determine whether or not training will enhance the performance of an employee or employees, or close or significantly narrow a performance gap. Secondly, it is the assessment of the training results and training that takes place in order to remove the gap in the mastery and actual performance. The training need is equivalent to the mastery performance minus the actual performance (Training need=Mastery performance-Actual performance).
Training needs analysis is the method of determining the organization’s training needs and determines whether the organization’s needs, objectives, and problems can be met or managed by training. Within this framework, needs analysis is a three-step practice:
- Organizational analysis – a determination of which organizational goals can be gained through employee training and where in the organization the training is needed;
- Task analysis – a determination of knowledge, skills, or attitudes must the employee learn in order to perform his or her job at the mastery performance level, and the content of the training; and
- Employee analysis – a determination of which individual need training and for which knowledge, skills, or attitudes.
Training needs analysis plays a significant part in planning the use of available training and development resources. It ensures that resources are spent on essential training and development that will help move the organization toward meeting its goals and objectives. In the same manner, it can help identify occasions where training might not be the best solution to the given situation.
Conducting a training needs analysis is a vital preliminary step to training design and development and can considerably persuade the overall effectiveness of employee training programs. It serves as the foundation for the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the employee training program.
Summary
The existence and comprehensiveness of training needs analysis should be related to the overall effectiveness of employee training because it provides the method whereby the questions essential to successful employee training programs can be resolved. In the design and development of employee training programs, methodical efforts to assess the training needs of the organization, determine the job requirements, and determine which employees need training and the type of training to be delivered, result in more effective employee training. Training needs analysis results in the specification of the training objectives that, in turn, identifies or determines the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be trained.
By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A., Human Resource Development
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It is great to know that training may not always be the answer to performance gaps. Some companies have trouble figuring that out and always implement training when there is a problem and nothing is solved. This may be due to not taking enough time to thoroughly conduct training needs analysis.
This article dealt exactly with what I just interview my friend for with our assignment for Monday. Companies have to have some type of template to determine what type of resources they need for their particular tasks. Many times these resources can be met with employee training, but they have to be able to identify which employees that this particular training with most be suited to. If they find that the perfomance gap is too great to be met from within, then they are more inclined to recruit from outside sources.
Training Needs Analysis provide organizations about why they are not reaching necessary goals. To improve an employee knowledge, skill, and attitude training is not always the answer. The analysis provides a solution to a problem within organizations methods to its human resources. It can be morale or lack of knowledge were an individual’s job performance lies within the organization.
Analysis of a company as a whole as well as a training analysis programs help in trying to get to the root of the issues at hand. At times there are many misconceptions as to why training fails or why employee’s performance levels are so low. There maybe many other factors that come in to play and one will not know until the appropriate questions are asked and analyzed. Once those things are done the plan for training is more focused on the areas that need to be worked on first, creating a prioritization plan is more beneficial in seeing the changes a company is looking for.
I liked the assessment of training results equation, Training need=Mastery performance-Actual performance. By putting it in an equation it made it more visual and easier to comprehend for me. Also, I liked that the article started three areas of analysis; organizational, employee and task. It interested me how task was evaluated separately from the employee and organization, I believe that by analyzing all three it would significantly help any analyst determine what a company needs in regard to training. Overall, it was a very interesting and informative article.
This was an interesting article about training analysis. It gave me a moment to reflect and question my past experiences. I believe every person needs a foundation to begin working successfully. I think it is a great tool to utilize to correct gaps within an organization not only for new hires but current employees as well in order to determine everyone needs.
I found this article very informative. It explains in detail how a Training Needs analysis can help a company find the level of KSA that an employee possesses. Great information.
It is a very informative article. Sometimes employers do not see where the real problem exists in their organization. Training need=Mastery performance-Actual performance is a really helpful equation.
this article was very interesting in giving examples of what should be the proper way to train an employee it says employees need training and the type of training to be delivered, result in more effective employee training. I agree sometimes employer train for a week and expect some one to learn everything in that amount of time. I think there are different types of training that employer should use in order for the employer to properly complete each task.
Training Needs Analysis gives the information to different companies to know what it is necessary for them to acquire their goals within the company. I found this article very informative and it makes me also understand the different ways that the company I work for has.
Training needs analysis is so important regardless of the field you working. It ensures that a company is doing what is necessary to make sure that their employees are all performing to the best of their abilities. For example, I work in the salon and spa industry. Within these fields, if an employee does not have the proper training, they do not perform the service properly and the guest is dissatisfied. It is a bad refelction of the company when a guest is dissatisfied with their service. That technician must then be sent back to training to be re-educated so that their performance gap is minimized.
Conducting a training needs analysis is a vital preliminary step to training design and development and can considerably persuade the overall effectiveness of employee training programs.
So true, the more effective the training for any program through analysis can either make employees better or worse. Really having the power to make an employee more successful is what it is all about.
I agree with this article. I wish more organiztions would realize this because if they did, this would benefit their employees as well as themselves.