Needs Assessment and Evaluation - Essay Example

?NEEDS ASSESSMENT Needs assessment is defined as a systemic process to identify, analyze and acquire a complete picture of an organization’s strengthand weaknesses in order to evacuate the fault and improve the efficiency of the system. GameStop Stores which are the most exciting place for the young and adults all around the world selling video game and entertainment softwares. In this paper we will conduct needs assessment and try to evaluate and focus on some important factors which require the attention of the Human resource management at the level of crisis. Organizational analysis involves the study of Organization’s functionality and capabilities in order to increase its performance. Organizational analysis becomes necessary in some cases such as technology changes, environmental shift or when leadership changes For example in GameStop technology changes are frequent. Most important task in improving an organization’s efficiency is performance management which is basically clarifying job responsibilities and priorities to employees and indicating the performance expectations that are required from the employees. To improve the performance the best scenario is appropriate training for the employees in their own fields of work but before that any organization goes through the performance needs assessment in which the desired outcome that is required from the employees and the actual outcome are compared and analyzed. For this first of all the current situation of the present and future employee’s skills, knowledge, talents, capabilities are assessed including the organization’s internal climate provided to the employee (Rossetti,2009). Then the required state is analyzed and this includes the status of the work responsibilities and the skills, potential, efforts and knowledge required to achieve the desired position. In an efficient organization it is very necessary to focus on critical tasks to achieve the long range production goals and not just on current practices. Long range production goals are the desired destination point in future for a company which requires long range strategic interventions. This analysis will produce a list for training and career development but we must first confirm that are needs are actually real and there is a chance for proper and possible intervention. For example we will first asses that whether the problem is costing more then its solution. HR will follow the law during the possible solution and also the influence of this whole effort is analyzed. Now comes the part when we search for the reasons of the low or below desired income and the question faced is whether the employees are working hard enough or are they trained properly to do their jobs.(Goldstein,2005). If there are issues indicating and causing the low income then they may be unhappy people(customer, employee, investor) and their complaints are evident when customer satisfaction surveys, annual morale surveys are done ,poor productivity reports(too little work to be done using too many resources) show missed production schedule, poor financial report( cost of sales is too high and there is inadequate cash flow), insufficient communication( lack of feedback system, lack of coordination), lack of compliance having too many violations taking place within the system. Human resource department surveys the employee turn over rate, talent management, complaints etc. If all of this is not satisfactory then the cause are analyzed and then comes the solution part all of which cannot be mended by simple training. GameStop or any company hires already experienced employees so that the issue of training is less frequent but it is not possible all the time plus job requirements change with designation or nature of the job. Needs assessment saves time ensuring that time is not wasted in teaching which is already known. Needs does not refer to the things that are desired, it refers to the difference between the things that are “present” and those which are “required” (Rossetti,2009). There are many indicators for learning needs including the increased incident reports concerning an equipment, So needs assessment defines the gap which is present and whether that gap can be filled by training or it can be filled by the change of the equipment and it involves both organizational and individual performance. It means that the individual assessed has a defined job performance and organization has a defined goal and objectives and also the resources. And the task which has to be achieved requires those skills in which employees are trained. If the problem regarding an equipment or merchandise is affecting the customer then its proper intervention is required immediately. But the other possible reasons for the low outcome of an organization might be some equipment issue, lack of motivation, unclear instructions, poor attitude of officers etc, then that might be solved by organizational development which require strategic planning, organization reconstruction or performance management but if some knowledge or skill deficiency is present in the workers then the best option is training. The techniques for needs assessment are several which include interviews, questionnaires, consulting the officers, observing the workers, tests, records and report studies and work samples. Also analyze the employee turn over rate and the reasons behind their leaving the organization, which might be because of their inability to cope up with the work or expectations of the seniors or GameStop might have some less friendly policies towards employees which can be mended easily by implementing some flexible policies and in this case it would be a strategic planning change which will solve the problem but it also indicates problems with hiring process, orientation or employee training and for that matter management training is required for the supervisor. Generally training involves the improvement of knowledge, skill and attitude so it is the best medicine if the issues involved are “can’t do” problem. Training enables the person to improve their knowledge and shape their skills. Training is also necessary when legislation requirement are for new skills or the customer’s requirements are for newer products or services or just to improve the standards of the system. Training needs assessment involves three levels of analysis; the organizational analysis, peer analysis, task analysis. Conducting the training according to the business tactics and approaches simultaneously assessing the resources present for the accurate training is studied in organizational analysis program. To identify capabilities, skill, behaviors, proper attitude etc that are emphasized in the training for the employees to complete their task and developing measurable contents and methods to achieve this goal. It focuses mainly on the specificity of the job and job requirements and data is collected from the people who have knowledge and experience of the work and expected level of the performance so there is no order in doing the task and person analysis they both can be completed simultaneously or one after the other. Because it is the first step in any training process so if any mistake is done in assessing or gathering the accurate knowledge regarding task, organization or persons will directly effect the training process, it is the first step of instructional system design process so poorly conducted TNA will not achieve the required goals.(Barbazette,2006) So to be effective all the training programs must begin with proper training needs assessment. It also assists the issues related to competencies and performance of work teams, productivity issues; prepare the team to respond to the future challenges. If we don’t conduct needs assessment and we tend to solve the problem arising in front of us without the clear knowledge of the causative factor of the problem then it might not necessarily be the correct intervention. It is a tool to identify what learning strategies and capacity strengthening activities are required to enhance the productivity, performance and impact of individuals and organization on a larger scale which will include employee satisfaction as well. At the end of the training needs assessment the employ satisfaction reports are compared before and after the training to judge the difference between the performances of company. Post training evaluation should include a Data for the trainer in which areas for improvement are identified. Also to show the extent of participant’s learning and growth. Follow up training programs should be started so that knowledge and skills continue to develop and last but not the least consolidates in the minds of the participants how much they have learned from these programs. Bibliography:Top of Form Rossett, A., & Safari Books Online (Firme). (2009). First things fast: A handbook for performance analysis. San Francisco, Calif: Pfeiffer. Goldstein, A. P., Nense?n, R., Daleflod, B., Kalt, M., & Goldstein, AP. (2005). New Perspectives on Aggression Replacement Training: Practice, Research and Application. John Wiley & Sons. http://www.ispi.org/pdf/suggestedReading/Miller_Osinski.pdf/ Top of Form Barbazette, J. (2006). Training needs assessment: Methods, tools, and techniques. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More