Jack Stauber 1

MGT 380

April 03, 2022

Needs Assessment

First, a performance review should be conducted to assess the individual's performance of

completing job tasks, competencies, and to make improvements in gaps when they are needed. If
it’s shown that an employee needs some additional training, then a Training Needs Assessment
should be conducted during or after a performance review to identify an individuals’ current
level of competency, skill or knowledge in one or more areas and compare that competency level
to the required competency standard established for their positions within an organization such as
a waiter, bus boy, or chef at a small restaurant. Rather than assume that all employees need
training or even the same training, informed decisions should be made about the best ways to
address competency gaps among individual employees, specific job categories or groups/teams.
Sometimes training is not the answer and so there may be other organizational issues that need to
be addressed through a job analysis, clarifying goals, or reorganizing a department to improve
employee engagement. The 2nd step is to perform a gap analysis.

A gap analysis involves assessing the current state of a department’s or employee’s

performance or skills and then comparing their performance and output to desired levels.
Depending on the situation that occurred within the organization, it may be helpful to use one or
more gap analysis methods which can include HR records, focus groups, surveys and
questionnaires, and or observations of job tasks and work samples. For example, if a restaurant
sees an increase in accidents occurring over the span of a few weeks, then it would be important
to review accident reports as part of the gap analysis prior to conducting safety training.
Individual interviews are another method that can be used to conduct further analysis with
employees, supervisors, and even sometimes clients/customers to provide meaningful feedback
and to help improve processes that may otherwise be lacking in certain areas. This can help to
identify the gaps that an organization needs to address whether that be improving customer
service, or safety standards and provide new training opportunities to create a better environment
for everyone involved. In a focus group, people within a similar department can collaborate and
work together to create certain training needs that they believe are instrumental for the job and
then come up with solutions in order to be successful. Surveys, questionnaires, and
self-assessments are also great methods for involving customers and employees and it can be
used to improve system processes which can be done electronically, by phone, or in writing.

All of these steps that I just mentioned are important when conducting a customer service
training needs assessment. The employers should ask employees what would help them provide
better customer service, and employers should also obtain opinions from customers about their
experiences with employees and assess what they liked about the service and what could be
improved upon. Performance reviews are also important for employees because when they get
direct feedback on how they performed and receive meaningful input on how they could
improve, it makes it easier to train employees with the right skills and abilities to improve on the
job. If the employee starts incorporating these new competencies and abilities that they learned
into their tasks, and become more productive, and their overall performance steadily increases,
then you know that the intervention techniques that were used were successful.