Module 4 - SLP Training and Appraisals - Essay Example

Skills Gapping How it is Applied in Organizations “Skills Gapping How it is Applied in Organizations Dessler (2008) defined “Skills Gapping” as the process whereby employers in an organization determine the skills each job specification requires and the skills of the job’s current or prospective employees, after which training is designed so as to eliminate the skills gap. Like other profit making institutions, skills gapping is not a new term in the medical industry. There are many ways in which skills gapping is applied in both health and commercial organizations.

Whether it is called “skills matching” or skills gapping, the underlying reasons for which it is conducted is the same (Dessler, 2008).Skills gapping starts right from the recruitment stage in an organization, when the administrators compare the skills of prospective employees with the skills an organization lacks or needs. When the skills a job candidate posseses is of dire need to an organization, the candidate may be considered. Applicants with a higher degree of match between skills desired and skills acquired therefore have an upper hand in being recruited by the training authorities (Jones, 2000).

The traning administrators then move further to establish if there exists a deficiency between the skills employees have and what they ought to have. Should they detect insufficiency in the desired skills, the immediate managers of the employees or their training administrators check if there is a set of courses in their training programs that can adress the staff’s challenges. Another thing that they look into is the possible events in that given organization which can offer training to its employees.

In the process, organizations iron out their employees’ challenges in a personalised precision training program (Jones, 2000).In today’s business environment, both philanthropic and profit making organizations such as commercial banks are in dire need of employees who are computer literate. For banking institutions having employees deficient of computer skills, skills gapping must be conducted if an organization’s efficiency is to be improved (Jones, 2000). Conventionally, the program starts with examining job candidates for computer skills.

What is sought by organizations with regard to computer skills may not be extreme technical skills possesion, but basic knowledge in operating computer applications, especially softwares that most befits the running of that given organization. Standardized tests may be administered on these prospective staffs. Mostly, candidates are often required to practically prove their assertions that they are computer literate during the interview phase of recruitment exercise (Jones, 2000).It is imperative that the employees’ training needs be assesed.

This is often done by way of skills testing. This stage is not only administered to new employees. It is also done to continuing employees of an organization. It is in this stage that a firm ought to come up with an indepth and effective training program which best adresses the deficient needs of its employees (Chandra, 2006). This undertaking has the effect of boosting the employees’ morale as well as reducing by a great margin the costs involved in having to operate in a manual and amateur business environment (Jones, 2000).

Upon completion of the assesment of employees’ training needs, an organization must move a notch higher by embarking on the administration of post-training testing to its employees. In so doing, an organization will have established to what degree the employees have ammased knowledge. The firm will have also known if employeees need to be redeployed to the training programs so as to sharpen their skills. The outcome of such an endeavor is reduced turnover rates and lowered operational expenditures.

ReferencesChandra, A. (2006). Employee Evaluation Strategies for Healthcare Organizations-A General Guide. Hospital Topics, 84(2), 34-38. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from http://www.proquest.comDessler, G. (2008). A framework for human Resource management. Pearson: Prentice. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from http://www.proquest.comJones, L. (2000). Use your head when identifying skill gaps. Workforce, 79 (3), 118-119. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from http://www.proquest.com