Stakeholder Approach - Essay Example

Stakeholder Approach Stakeholder Approach Introduction The training of the employees is important in terms of ensuring that their knowledge and skills are improved. However, the training may not be able to meet the desired results if need assessment is not carried out. Need assessment involves the process of determining the needs of the employees in terms of training. The needs assessment plays an important role in terms of identifying the specific weaknesses on the part of the employees or the processes that are involved when carrying out their operation. The training of the employees may not be effective if the needs assessment is not carried (Elkins, Bell & Einhorn, 2012). An evaluation of the training is alos important for the purposes of determining whether it has met the objectives. The evaluation of the training is alos useful in terms of determining the efficiency of the process. The paper thus discusses the concepts of needs assessment and training evaluation in relation to a case study of an organization with customer service representatives. Discussion Importance of conducting a needs assessment The needs assessment is important to the organization in terms of facilitating the learning and development plan. This is useful to the organization as in terms of putting in place measures that are aimed at ensuring that there is adequate preparedness. According to Phillips (2010), the needs assessment is alos important to the organization in terms of developing the budget for the training process. The budget for the training process is important to the organization as lack of planning may lead to wastage of funds. The training calendar within an organization can be developed after the needs assessment has been carried out. The administrative issues with regards to the training can therefore be carried out by carrying out a proper needs assessment. Other critical issues can alos be addressed through the assessment needs. The needs assessment at the organization is able to identify the specific problems that the employees are faced with when carrying out their duties (Phillips, 2010). It is through the needs assessment that the manager was able to identify the specific problems that the customer care representatives were facing. The deficiencies at the organizational level can alos be identified through the process of needs assent. The manager at the company found that the customer care representatives were not able to carry out their duties effectively due. The technology used was quite slow and a lot of time was being taken for the purposes of loading and hence making it difficult for the customer care representatives to provide adequate information to the customers. According to Elkins et al., (2012), the challenges associated with the job tasks can also be identified through the use of the needs assessment. The process plays an important role in terms of ensuring that the needs of the stakeholders are identified. The process of identifying the needs of the stakeholders ensures that the intended goals of the stakeholders are met. This is useful in ensuring that the training targets the specific needs of the stakeholders. Carrying out the training process without proper identification of the needs of the stakeholders may make the training process irrelevant (Elkins, Bell & Einhorn, 2012). Opportunities can alos be identified through the process of carrying out the needs assessment. It is alos important to note that the needs assessment can be used for the purposes of developing the targets that have to be met during the training process. Addressing the specific needs of the employees makes the training process easier (Nickols, 2003). Stakeholder strategy for the program The stakeholder strategy is important for the purposes of ensuring that the process is able to achieve its intended goals and objectives. The first step will involve gathering information about what is needed. This process may involve a lot of consultations with the employees. The consultations are mainly for the purposes of enabling the managers to fully understand the needs of the employees (Phillips, 2010). The tools, resources and technology that will be needed should also be identified at this point. Identifying the problems that needs to be addressed will be the second step. The identification of the problems will be carried out through the use of the data collected. The risks assessment should also be carried out at this point in order to identify the possible risks that the process may end up facing. The third step involves establishing the solutions in case of unexpected problems (Nickols, 2003). The unexpected problems may occur and it may impact negatively on the process (Gupta, 2011). The potential costs may alos be determined at this point as the training may end up being too costly for the organization depending on the needs of the employees. The company may end up spending too much cost in case the needs of the employees are not clearly understood. The last step will involve gaining consensus in order to determine the needs that will be addressed. A lot of consultations with the senior managers will be carried out at this point. The consultations will alos play an important role in ensuring that adequate preparations are carried out in order to facilitate the process. The entire process will have to be carried out for a period of up to one month (Elkins et al., 2012). Measures and outcomes to be evaluated Evaluation involves the process of making judgments based on the measurement outcomes. Measurement on the other hand involves the process of obtaining information as a result of comparing against a given standard. The evaluation of the training will be carried out through ascertaining the value of the training program on the employees. Various stakeholders will have to undergo the evaluation process in order to obtain the required information. The trainers as well as the vendors who will be involved in the supply of different materials will also be evaluated. The Kirkpatrick model will be used for the process of carrying out the evaluation process. This model involves the use of four main concepts which are reactions, learning, behavior and results (Nickols, 2003). The financial return on investment will alos form part of evaluation process. The reaction of the employees with regards to the process is alos important in determining whether the process is positive or negative. According to Elkins et al. (2012), the learning process will be important in terms of determining the ability of the training to meet the needs of the employees. The behavior of the employees is useful in evaluating the reception of the employees. The results will mainly be the outcome of the process and its ability to meet the needs of the employees. The return on investments will mainly be concerned with the performance of the employees after the training. The performance of the employees must add value to organization for the return on investment to be positive (Nickols, 2003). Rationale for recommendations The recommendations will be based on the performance of the employees after the training process. It is recommended that a follow up should be carried out with regards to the process in order to determine its efficiency. The employees should show some positive changes after the training program is completed. The recommendations will also be based on the ability of the organization to make changes with regards to its processes. It is recommended that the organization should provide adequate and effective facilities that can enable the employees to fully utilize the knowledge gained. It is recommended that the company should also ensure that adequate resources are provided top the employees. The provision of adequate resources is useful in enabling the employees to carry out their duties effectively. The evaluation should however consider the resources and the employees have to ensure that none of the resources is wasted. The wastage of resources may have negative impacts on the ability of the organization to meet its goals and objectives (Elkins et al., 2012). Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the needs assessment is important for an organization. It enables the organization to put in places measures that creates the value for the training. It is evident that the procedures should be carried out in an orderly Manner in order to identify all the needs of the employees. The evaluation of the training process should be carried out in order to determine the outcomes of the training. It is evident that different models can be used for the purposes of carrying out the evaluation process. References Elkins, R., Bell, R., & Einhorn, T. (2012). Needs assessment for future US pear rootstock research directions based on the current state of pear production and rootstock research. Journal of the American Pomological Society, Volume 69, Issue No. 1. Gupta, K. (2011). A practical guide to needs assessment. London: John Wiley & Sons. Nickols, F. (2003). A stakeholder approach to evaluating training. Retrieved on April 24, 2015 from < http://www.nickols.us/stakeholder.pdf> Phillips, P. P. (2010). ASTD handbook of measuring and evaluating training. New York: American Society for Training and Development. Read More