In this week of the course Training and Development, we were
asked to complete a needs assessment for an organization. A needs assessment is a “process used to
determine whether training is necessary” (Noe, 2013, P. 114). Conducting a needs assessment for a workplace
is an opportunity to examine an organization, its employees and whether
training would be an effective solution for any possible organizational issues
(Noe, 2013). To better develop a better
understanding for how to effectively plan a needs assessment, we were given the
task to examine an organization. I
selected Whole Foods Market as the organization to create a needs
assessment.
Whole Foods Market is a grocer that focuses on selling
natural and organic products. It values
supporting the well-being of its employees through providing benefit packages
and a supportive working environment (Whole Foods Market, n.d.). The organization shares a message that their
goal is to better the global community through environmental initiatives and a
focus on healthy living. From visiting
the website, I determine that the stakeholders that would be necessary for
buy-in for the needs assessment would be the executive leadership team,
employees in management roles, individual site team members as well as
consumers. At the executive leadership level,
those individuals are the decision makers.
It will be imperative to have their buy-in since they most likely will
determine the extent of any funding for organizational training. Leaders at the executive level would also be
a resource to determine how training will support their business strategies
(Noe, 2013). Managers are also a key
buy-in group as they would be the individuals most likely responsible for
implementing any training initiatives.
Finally, consumers and Whole Foods team members would also be listed as
stakeholders. The consumer would provide
key information about overall satisfaction with the service and products of the
organization. Team members are a primary
source of information for determining needs.
As part of the needs assessment, it would be important to
conduct an analysis of the organization, the employees and the tasks performed
by the employees. This would require
asking questions of stakeholders as well as gathering information from other
sources. It will be essential to ask
questions that focus on eliciting factual information (Stolovitch & Keeps,
2004). Other resources and documents
that exist within the organization will also be sources of information when
completing the needs assessment. The
items that follows includes questions and examples of possible documents that
could be used to gain information.
Organization
·
Analysis Questions & Stakeholders
o
Executive Leadership
§
What are your business goals and objectives?
§
What are factors driving your business?
o
Managers
§
What are you willing to invest in training and
development?
o
Consumers
§
Why do you elect to shop at Whole Foods Market
over other grocers?
·
Documentation
o
Organization mission and values statement
o
Budgets for training and development
o
Feedback surveys for consumers
Person
·
Analysis Questions & Stakeholders
o
Executive Leadership
§
What are the necessary skills a manager needs to
effectively support the business goals?
o
Managers
§
What are the needs of employees within the organization
that will help to support goals?
§
What are current challenges that might inhibit
employees from supporting these goals?
o
Employees
§
Share some of the positive and negative aspects
of working for this organization.
§
Have you been able to participate in a growth
opportunity within the organization?
·
Documentation
o
Employee satisfaction surveys
Tasks
·
Analysis Questions and Stakeholders
o
Managers
§
What is the current state of performance and
productivity?
o
Employees
§
What challenges exist that may inhibit the
quality of service?
·
Documentation
o
Current performance levels
o
Workplace occurrences of quality and safety
checks
o
Consumer complaints
The questions will be asked directly to the stakeholders
through interviews. The interviews will
be limited to the executive leadership team, managers and a random sample group
of employees. Questionnaires will also
be employed to gather information from consumers and employees. This will be more cost and time
effective. It would also be beneficial
to look over historical data of the organization such as previous surveys,
information on products and profits and competitor comparisons (Noe,
2013). By taking a mixed method approach
would be useful. The use of
triangulation will ensure validity and accuracy of data. It will also provide a broader scope of the
organizational needs.
References
Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th
ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (2004). Training
ain’t performance. Alexandira,
VA: ASTD Press.
Whole Foods Market.
(n.d.). Mission & values. Retrieved from
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values
Dear Jocelyn
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. While you have asked what are you willing to invest in training and development, do you also want to ask why, and what is the ideal state of operation that you are aiming for? How does training align with your business objectives (Noe, 2017)? You may also want to ask about knowledge and competencies, entry level qualifications or skill levels, and the provision of the right tool for the right job in your task analysis (Noe, 2017).
Neville
Sorry I forgot to mention my references.
DeleteReferences:
Noe, R. A. (2017). Employee training and development (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Stolovitch, H. D. (2011).
Neville,
DeleteYou present a valid point. While I plan to determine some of those things through documentation retrieval, it would also be beneficial to include them in the interviews, too. Thanks for you insight.
Hi Joce,
ReplyDeleteI like your summary, very organized and logical. I like the use of employee satisfaction surveys to gather data. The subjective nature of the responses to these surveys should also be considered when reviewing the results.
Camille