These ‘things’ are usually associated with the organisation, departmental or individual
performance. Some useful indicators for training needs analysis include the following:
- Legislation or policy changes – this puts new demands on the human resource in
terms of skills/competencies. - Lack of basic skills – an assessment of the skill level of staff vis-à-vis the job
requirements may be the evidence of a need. - Poor performance – appraisal may reveal gaps in the performance of an individual
or organisation - New technology – the emergence of new technology may render the skills of current
staff redundant and hence a human resource development need arises. - Customer requests – the enlightened consumer is putting demands on public
servants who may be ill equipped to provide the demanded service. - New products/services – the emergence of new products/services requires that the
human resources be adequately prepared to cope. - Higher performance standards – high performance standards have emerged due to
new technology, globalisation and an enlightened and demanding consumer. - New jobs – this may be due to promotion, recruitment or the creation of new
structures that lead to the emergence of new jobs. - Career progression requirements – where there is a defined career growth path that
calls for the acquisition of competencies as one develops a career.
Levels of training needs
Training needs analysis is done on three levels (Gomez-Mejia 2007). These are:
- Organisational level needs – changes of the mandate of state agency, and
expectations of consumers through surveys may reveal a need for organisations to
change the behaviour of service providers or retooling them. - Task analysis needs (job analysis) – skill required to perform a given task could help
to determine the needs of the current jobholders. - Person analysis needs – the competencies of current jobholders could also be
assessed to determine their suitability for their jobs.
Therefore, in principle no training should take place unless it is commercially justifiable
(the benefits exceed the costs), and it complements the strategy of the organisation.
Training should answer the following questions:
- What skill gaps are there in the organisation?
- Which problems can be solved by training?
- What are the appropriate non-training solutions?
- What will happen if no training is provided?
- What would be the best way to provide the training?
Carrying out a training needs analysis is a task for an experienced trainer, but it also
requires a good understanding of what goes on in the job and what the management is
thinking.
Training needs analysis also requires excellent listening and analytical skills. It is an
art, not a science to balance all the competing needs and interests.