Chapter 4 Part 2 Need Assessment

Werner
HUMAN RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT, 7E
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license
distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
Assessing HRD Needs
Chapter 4
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain
product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
Table 4-3: Sources for Task Needs
Analysis (cont. 3)
Technique for HRD/Training Need Implications
Obtaining Job Data
3. Performance Objectives of the tasks of job and
Standards standards by which they are judged; this
may include baseline data as well
ISO 9001
SOURCE: Academy of Management Review by M. L. Moore, P. Dutton. Copyright 2005 by ACAD OF MGMT.
Reproduced with permission of ACAD OF MGMT in the format Textbook via Copyright Clearance Center
Analysis (cont. 4)
Obtaining Job Data
4. Perform the Job Most effective way of determining
specific tasks but has serious limitations
the higher the level of the job in that
performance requirements typically have
longer gaps between performance and
resulting outcomes
Analysis (cont. 5)
Obtaining Job Data
5. Observe Job-Work Effective way of determining specific
Sampling tasks but has serious limitations in that
only samples are analyzed
Analysis (cont. 6)
Obtaining Job Data
6. Review Literature Possibly useful in comparison analyses
Concerning the Job of job structures but far removed from
Research in other either unique aspects of the job structure
Industries, within any specific organization or
Professional Journals, specific performance requirements
Documents,
Government sources,
Ph.D. and master’s
theses Annual report
Analysis (cont. 7)
Obtaining Job Data
7. Ask Questions Direct responses but limited to
About the Job respondents expertise, experience and
• Of the job holder range of knowledge
• Of the supervisor
• Of higher
management
Analysis (cont. 8)
Obtaining Job Data
8. Training Inputs from several viewpoints can often
Committees or reveal training needs or HRD/training
Conferences desires
Analysis (cont. 9)
Obtaining Job Data
9. Analysis of Indications of task interference,
Operating Problems: environmental factors, etc.
• Downtime reports
• Waste
• Repairs
• Late deliveries
• Quality control
Analysis (cont. 10)
Obtaining Job Data
10. Card Sort “How to” statements sorted by training
importance
Step 3: Task Identification
Task identification focuses on the behaviors
performed within the job
• The major tasks within the job
• How each task should be performed (i.e.,
performance standards)
• The variability of performance (how the tasks
are actually performed in day-to-day
operations)
Methods for Task Identification
1. Stimulus-response-feedback
2. Time sampling
3. Critical incident technique
4. Job inventories
5. Job-duty-task method
Stimulus-Response-Feedback
Method
Method breaks down each task into three
parts
• Stimulus or cue
When to start task
• Response or behavior
What to do
• Feedback
How well task was done
Time Sampling
Trained observed watches and notes nature
and frequency of activities
Critical Incident Technique (CIT)
 Record incidences of particularly effective
and particularly ineffective performance
over a set period
 Helps identify why behavior was effective
or ineffective
CH-4
Job Inventory Questionnaire
 Identify all tasks in a job
 Supervisors and incumbents evaluate
• Each task in terms of importance
• Time spent performing it
 Develops data that can be analyzed with
statistics
 Involves many people, so minimizes
individual opinions
Job-Duty-Task Method
Job divided into sub-parts identifying
• Job title
• Each duty performed
Includes tasks and subtasks
• KSAOs needed to perform each sub-task
Figure 4-2:
Job-Duty-Task Method
Appraise individual Determine source of
Identify discrepancies Select intervention
employee’s performance discrepancies
Compare individual’s Integrate information from

behavior and traits to organization, job, and
others’ behaviors and traits person analyses
or to an ideal
Internal factors External factors
Knowledge, skill, or ability Inadequate equipment,

Motivational deficiency
deficiency adverse conditions
SOURCE: From G. E. Mills, R.W. Pace, & B. D Peterson. (1988). Analysis in human resource training and
organizational development (p. 57). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Reprinted by permission.
Table 4-4: Definitions of KSA and
Other Characteristics
Knowledge An understanding of a body of
information, usually of a factual or
procedural nature, that makes or
successful performance of a task
Skill An individual’s level of proficiency or

competency in performing a specific task
Level of competency is usually expressed
in numerical terms
SOURCE: From Human Resource Selection, 6th edition by Gatewood/Field/Barrick. Copyright 2008. Reprinted with
permission of South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning: Permissionrequests@cengage.com. Fax 800-730-2215.
Table 4-4: Definitions of KSA and
Other Characteristics (cont.)
Ability A more general, enduring trait or
capability an individual possesses when
he or she first begins to perform a task,
e.g., the power to perform a physical or
mental function.
Other Characteristics Includes personality, interests, and

attitudes
SOURCE: From Human Resource Selection, 6th edition by Gatewood/Field/Barrick. Copyright 2008. Reprinted with
permission of South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning: Permissionrequests@cengage.com. Fax 800-730-2215.
Step 4: Identify Areas that
HRD/Training Can Help the Most
 Focus is on determining which tasks and
capabilities should be included in HRD
programs
 Ratings of tasks as well as KSAOs
should be examined
 Also must look at importance of task
Step 5: Prioritize Training Needs
 Needs to be realistic
 Try to avoid “pet projects”
 Get management and supervisors to
agree with priorities
Achieve “buy-in”
Points About Task Analysis
 Input from managers, supervisors,
and employees can ensure support for
needs analysis and pave the way for
support for training
 Multiple methods not only provide
unique information but also enable the
analyst to confirm findings and identify
and resolve discrepancies
Points About Task Analysis
(cont.)
 Ratings of tasks allow for quantitative
analysis of which tasks may benefit from
training and which should be addressed
 Viewing needs from a broad perspective,
rather than focusing only on performance
deficiencies, results in a better
understanding of training needs and can
build support for training programs
LEVEL 3
(PERSON ANALYSIS)
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license
distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
Person Analysis
 Directed at determining the training
needs of the individual employee
 Focus is typically on how well each
employee is performing key job or
task
Components of Person Analysis
 Summary Person Analysis
Involves determining the overall success of
individual employee performance
 Diagnostic Person Analysis
Tries to discover the reasons for an employee’s
performance
Table 4-5: Data Sources for Person
Needs Assessment
Technique or Data Obtained HRD/Training Need
Implications
1. Performance Data or • Include weaknesses and
Appraisals as Indicators of areas of improvement as well
Problems or Weaknesses: as strong points
Productivity, Absenteeism or • Easy to analyze and quantify
Tardiness, Accidents, Short- for purposes of determining
term Sickness, Grievances, subjects and kinds of training
Waste, Late Deliveries, Product needed
Quality, Downtime, Repairs, • These data can be used to
Equipment Utilization, identify performance
Customer Complaints discrepancies
Reproduced with permission of ACAD OF MGMT in the format Textbook via Copyright Clearance Center.
Needs Assessment (cont. 2)
Implications
2. Observation Work Sampling More subjective technique but
provides both employee
behavior and results of the
behavior
Implications
3. Interviews • Individual is only one who
knows what he(she) believes
he (she) needs to learn
• Involvement in need analysis
can also motivate employees
to make an effort to learn
Implications
4. Questionnaires • Same approach as the
interview
• Easily tailored to specific
characteristics of the
organization.
• May produce bias through
the necessity of prestructured
categories
Implications
5. Tests • Can be tailor-made or

• Job knowledge standardized
• Skills • Care must be taken so that
• Achievement they measure job-related
qualities
Implications
6. Attitude Surveys • Useful in determining morale,
motivation, or satisfaction of
each employee
Implications
7. Checklists or Training • Up-to-date listing of each
Progress Charts employee’s skills
• Indicates future training
requirements for each job
Implications
8. Rating Scales • Care must be taken to ensure
relevant, reliable, and
objective employee ratings
9. Critical Incidents • Observed actions that are

critical to the successful or
unsuccessful performance of
the job
Implications
10. Diaries / Man-hour report • Individual employee records
details of his (her) job
11. Devised Situations • Certain knowledge, skills,
• Role play and attitudes are
demonstrated in these
• Case study techniques
• Conference leadership
• Training sessions
• Business games
Implications
12. Diagnostic Rating • Checklists are factor
analyzed to yield diagnostic
ratings
13. Assessment Centers
• Combination of several of the
above techniques into an
intensive assessment
program
Implications
14. Coaching • Similar to interview one-to-
one
15. MBO or Work Planning and • Provides actual performance
Review Systems data on a recurring basis
related to organizational (and
individually or group-
negotiated standards) so that
baseline measurements may
be known and subsequent
improvement or deterioration
of performance may be
identified and analyzed
Performance Appraisal
 Perform or have access to a complete,
accurate performance appraisal
 Identify discrepancies between the employee’s
behavior and/or traits and those required for
effective performance
 Identify the source of the discrepancies
 Select the intervention appropriate to resolve
the discrepancies
Person Analysis Process
Components
 Summary Person Analysis
• A global analysis; it is an overall evaluation of
an individual employee’s performance
• A classification of an individual as a successful
versus unsuccessful performer
Person Analysis Process
Components (cont.)
 Diagnostic Person Analysis
• Determine why results of individual employee’s
behavior occur
• Determine how individual’s knowledge, skills, abilities,
and other characteristics (KSAOs), effort, and
environmental factors combine to yield the summary
person analysis
 Together, the summary and diagnostic person
analyses combine to determine who is
performing successfully/unsuccessfully and why
the individual is performing successfully or
unsuccessfully
Figure 4-2: Model of Performance Appraisal
in Person Analysis Process
Appraise individual Determine source of
Identify discrepancies Select intervention
employee’s performance discrepancies
Compare individual’s Integrate information from

behavior and traits to organization, job, and
others ’ behaviors and traits person analyses
or to an ideal
Internal factors External factors
Knowledge, skill, or ability Inadequate equipment,

Motivational deficiency
deficiency adverse conditions
SOURCE: From Herbert, G. R., & Doverspike, D. (1990). Performance appraisal in the training needs analysis
process: A review and critique. Public Personnel Management, 19(3), 255255. Reprinted by permission.
360-Degree Performance Appraisal
 Using multiple sources to gather performance
information
 Can be internal and external to organization
 Main Advantage
 Using peer, subordinate, and consumer input
provides different perspective of individual and
performance
Prioritizing HRD Needs
 Limited resources available for HRD
effort
 What are potential gains on return on
investment (ROI) for various options?
Participation in Prioritization
Involving others gets support for HRD
• Area representatives
• Supervisors
• Employees
• HR personnel
The HRD Advisory Committee
 Members are a cross-section of the
organization
 Meets regularly
 Reviews needs assessment and evaluation
data
 Offers advise on type and content of
HRD offerings
The HRD Process Model Debate
The ISD Process is being criticized
• Too slow and clumsy to meet today’s training
needs
• Emphasis sometimes is on following all ISD
steps, rather than solving the problem
• Used as directed, it produces poor
(incomplete) results
• Relies on specific, laid out work, whereas
increasing amount of work is not laid out in
advance but must be figured out by worker
Questions to Ask to Identify
Issues
 What are the operation problems? (Not
the training needs)
 Does human behavior contribute to the
operating problem?
 Is the manager requiring the desired
performance from the employees?
 What evidence shows the operating
problem?
Questions to Ask to Identify
Issues (cont.)
 What other issues are contributing to
operation problem?
 If training is needed, what skills should be
addressed?
 Will manager commit to active
involvement before, during and after
training effort?
How Technology Changes Needs
Assessment
Two glaring problems noted:
• The failure to identify a real problem or need
for e-learning
• A failure to fully analyze the problem or need,
even when it was identified
 Technology can speed up data gathering
and analysis
 e-learning requires needs analysis too

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Werner

Compare individual’s Integrate information from

Internal factors External factors

Knowledge, skill, or ability Inadequate equipment,

Skill An individual’s level of proficiency or

Other Characteristics Includes personality, interests, and

5. Tests • Can be tailor-made or

9. Critical Incidents • Observed actions that are

Compare individual’s Integrate information from

Internal factors External factors

Knowledge, skill, or ability Inadequate equipment,

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