Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Distinguishing Between Organizational and Employee Training Needs
Distinguishing Between Organizational and Employee Training Needs
Organizational and
Employee Training Needs
Now that you have completed an analysis and review of your training function,
it is time to introduce the actual procedures and methods for identifying
training needs. A logical starting point is to consider the type of training need
identification procedures, if
any,thatarecurrentlybeingutilizedinyourorganization.
Since you are reading this book, you are interested in identify- ing training
needs, but perhaps your organization has identified training needs in the past
and initiated training courses to fulfill those needs. As a first step, answer the
following question: What percent of the training conducted in your organization
is based on identified training needs?
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half your training is being conducted for no specific identified need. This
raises the question of whether or not such training is required.
These are all questions for which you should know the an- swers. If you
were unable to answer any of them, you should dis- cover the answers
beforecontinuing.
HowDoesSomeoneInitiatetheIdentificationofTrainingNeeds?
There are many procedures for identifying training needs, and as mentioned
earlier, there is no best one for all situations. The pro- cedures used should be
selected to fit the situation, to bevalid and reliable, and to be implemented by
someone trained in their use.
If you can answer this question and the previous three ques- tions, you have
the basic knowledge on which to build an effective identification of training
needs process. The answers to all these questions are the basis for the balance
of this book.
First,let’stakeanoverallviewofexactlywhatthemajortypes of training
needsare.
Training Needs
For our purposes a training need is a gap between actual perfor- mance and
desired performance or between current abilitiesand job requirements that
can be closed bytraining.
Trainingneedsfallintotwobasiccategories:
Sometimes organizational training needs and employee train- ing needs are
identical, but not always. The training needs of the organization have to do with
the requirements to meet the organi- zation’s objectives. For example, a new
employee orientation pro- gram is something the company wants all new
employees to attend. It meets an organizational need of ensuring all employees
have similar and correct information about the organization, its policies, and
itsbenefits.
Theuniqueskillsrequiredforjobswithinacompanyareorga-
nizationaltrainingneeds.Forexample,providingnewemployees on a job with
the ability to operate the organization’s customized PC-
basedsystemisanorganizationaltrainingneed.Itisaspecial- ized ability—unique
to the job—that typical new employees can-
notbeassumedtohavelearnedelsewhere.However,thebasic
skills required of an individual employee (not all employees) in a
jobarenotusuallyclassifiedasorganizationaltrainingneeds.
Whenjobswererelativelyscarceandunemploymenthigh,a
NewYorkaccountingfirmwasabletoincreaserequirements for its
administrative assistant positions. When unemploy-
mentwasreducedandjobsbecamemoreplentiful,thefirm had to
decrease its requirements and hire people without some of the
skills previously demanded. The result wasthat its training
department had to initiate a training programin basic skills that
were formally possessed by people entering administrative
assistantpositions.
Recognized trainingneeds
Requested trainingneeds
These are the needs identified as required by all of the organiza- tion’s
employees, and all employees in specific jobs and depart- ments. Sometimes
they are called planned training needs since the organization knows that all
employees have them, and plans can be made in advance for fulfilling these
needs. They include such thingsas:
Most new employees require basic information about their new employer,
the structure of the organization, its policies, proce- dures, and conditions of
employment (benefits, general rules,
etc.).Sometypeofindividualorgrouporientationtrainingcourse
generallysuppliesthisduringthefirstfewdaysofemployment.At
othertimesorientationtrainingisdividedintoseveralunits.Each unit is
conducted at the time the employee has the greatest need of
itsinformation.
ANewYorkCitymutualfundscompanyidentifiedthreebasic areas of
its orientation program. A new employee needed
eachareaatadifferenttime.Generalinformationincluding payroll,
hours, and key personnel was needed immediately.
Benefitinformationincludinginsurancecoveragesandretire-
mentplanswasneededaboutonemonthlaterwhenmostof the
benefits went into effect, and developmentinformation on
promotions, educational assistance, and job posting was needed
about three months afterhire.
Again,thisisanaffirmationofimprovingtraining’seffective- ness by
meeting identifiedneeds.
These needs are similar to those of new employees, only here the
concerniswithindividualdepartmentrequirementsandworking conditions.
They represent what is required to be known by all employees in a
department (rules, operating procedures, sched- ules, personnel). The
sources for information are also similar— the supervisors and managers of a
department, employees, and recently added newemployees.
These are training needs required for specific jobs, and they are needs that
the majority, if not all, new employees in those jobs (hired, promoted, and
transferred) will probably possess. They are the activities and
responsibilities unique to a job.
AnIllinoispharmacythatbranchedoutintogeneralmerchan- dise
employed an average of ten people at each of its forty stores.
Individual stores could not afford a training profes- sional, but
operating personnel were never able to conduct effective
orientationtraining.
Now when new employees are hired, they complete the ap-
propriateself-studyunit,andaftertheunitmeetwiththestore
manager with any questions they may have. The self-study units
are also used when existing employees change jobs or stores.
Jobs that require skills with unique equipment are similar. For example, a
fast food company may utilize a pressure cooker devel- oped solely for its use. It
has to train all new employees in its safe operation. A metals fabricator may
have a piece of metal forming equipment designed for its own use. These are
training needs the organization knows all new employees will have, so there are
gen- erally planned courses that are conducted as people enter these positions.
Exit Interviews
Exitinterviewscanprovideinformationnototherwiseobtainable. Employees
leaving often feel freer to say things they might not say while employed.
However, since many times employees are
leavingbecausetheydidnotliketheirjobs,theinformationtends to be negative.
Even so, it can identify training needs as well as
otherworkingconditionproblems.Suchinformationcanyieldin- sights into
training needs that will contribute to employee reten- tion.
Someorganizationsdonotconductexitinterviewsbutinstead mail
questionnaires to employees after they have left. These also
canprovideusefulinformation,butpeopletendtobelessexplicit in writing than
they are inperson.
This is basically the same as a change in systems or jobs. The difference here
is that a new piece of physical equipment isbeing added. Often such
equipment comes from the equipment manu-
facturerwithrecommendedtrainingbutothertimes,theorganiza-
tionmustdeterminethetrainingrequiredforitsemployees.Even when a
manufacturer recommends training, the training usually requires some
degree of customization for theorganization.
New equipment may also require different levels and types of training. For
example, a new packing machine may require differ- ent training for groups such
as: repair personnel, department su-
pervisors, inspectors, and machine operators. This must be considered in
deciding from whom to obtain training need infor- mation.
Department Performance
Ifdepartmentperformanceisnotmeetingitsestablishedstandards or objectives,
there can be a number of factors responsible. The department may have a
high percentage of new employees. Its
employeesmayneedeitherretrainingortrainingonchangesthat
werenotrecognized.Employeesmaynotbeoperatinginthemost
efficientfashion,ortheproblemmaynotbesolvablebytraining.
Government Requirements
Revised or new government rules and regulations can require em- ployee
training. For example, when the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was
passed, many employers had to conduct training in the administration of the
act’s requirements and com- pliance by operating personnel with the
act’sregulations.
Inthe1960s,whentestingrequirementswereestablishedasa part of an
equal employment effort, many organizations were faced with the necessity
to redo their selection and evaluation programs and train employees in
thechanges.
Opinion Surveys, Organizational Studies, DepartmentMeetings, and
Focus Groups
Department meetings and focus groups called for other than the
identification of training needs can still uncover such needs. For example, a
meeting to introduce a new workflow may discover training is required to make
the changework.
It is important that all employees be aware that when such needs are
discovered through activities of this type that they be
broughttotheattentionofthetrainingdepartment.Thenaformal investigation
can be conducted to identify the specifics of the need.
Performance Reviews
These are probably the most common sources for identifying in- dividual
employee training needs. Most useful are performance reviews based on a
comparison of an employee’s actual job per-
formancewithpredeterminedstandardsorobjectives.Insuchre-
views,resultsbelowstandardcanbeidentifiedandinmostcases, quantified.
Thesupervisorcandealwithsomeperformancegaps,butoth-
ersmayrequiretheassistanceofthetrainingfunction.Manyorga-
nizationsrequirethetrainingdepartmenttobenotifiedwhenany performance
gaps are identified, so if a problem is widespread training can develop
courses to meet all similarneeds.
ATexaspetroleumfirmrequiresallidentifiedemployeeper-
formance gaps to be reported to the training departmentat the
time performance reviews are conducted. The training
department combines all such information and where there are
enough similar training needs, develops theappropriate
programs.
Selection Process
Sometimes the selection process can identify training needs that are more
organizational than individual employee needs.
Career Objectives
Employees with identified career objectives often approach train- ing or their
supervisors for assistance in meeting those objectives. The previously described
supervisor assessment program is par- tially conducted to assist employees with
management career ob- jectives.
Succession Plans
In our example, there is an internal replacement for the cus- tomer service
manager but none for the product manager. If the organization wants to ensure
internal replacements are available for all its management positions, it needs to
either hire someone or begin to develop Al Jones. Assuming it elects to develop
Al Jones, the succession plan has identified an employee with a train- ingneed.
There is one caution about using succession plans to identify training needs.
In some organizations, succession plans are pre- pared solely to ensure that
backups exist for management and key professional positions, but when a
management or professional position requires filling, the succession plan is
rarely used as a guide. If that is the situation in your organization, developing
and training an employee for another job the employee has little chance of
obtaining is not a good use of resources. It can also lower employee morale.
However, in organizations wheresucces-
sion plans serve as a guide for future transfers and promotions, they should
regularly be reviewed for training needs.
Now that the categories of training needs have been introduced, let’s consider
the methodology for identifying specific needs. Al- though there are differences
in the training needs of individual employees and the organizations, the
identification procedures are basically thesame: