HRD Program: Phase 1; Needs Assessment

The main objective of HRD programs is to address various issues and problems in an organization. HRD aims to improve the efficiency of the organizations by solving the current problems and preventing the expected complaints. 

HRD programs are used to provide orientation for employees, to train on skills and knowledge, and to help them to be more effective. To achieve these goals proper planning, designing, preparation and evaluation are needed before, during and after implementing HRD programs.

Phases of HRD Intervention:

Phase I	Phase II	Phase III	Phase IV
Assessment	Design	Implementation	Evaluation
Assess Needs	Define Objectives	Deliver the HRD program /Intervention	Select evaluation Criteria
Prioritize Needs	Develop Lesson Plan		Determine Evaluation
	Acquire Materials		Conduct Evaluation of the program
	Select Trainer		Interpret the results
	Select Methods and Techniques
	Schedule the Program

Phase 1: Needs Assessment Phase

HRD interventions address the needs or gaps within the organization. The gap can be a deficiency which affects the current operations of the organization, or a deficiency for facing future challenges. Needs assessment is defined as the initial stage of the HRD process which identifies and articulates the HRD needs of an organization. The need assessment focus on:

• To understand the goals of an organization and its effectiveness to achieve these goals
• To understand gaps between the skills of employees and the skills needed for efficiency in the current job
• To understand gaps between the skills of employees and the skills needed for efficiency in a future job

Levels of Needs Analysis

The Needs can be categorized into three levels, they are the organizational level, the job/task level, and the individual level. It is important that the needs must be analysed at each level to ensure an effective HRD effort. Three types of assessments are known organizational analysis, task analysis, and person analysis.

1. Strategic/organizational analysis

Strategic/organizational analysis focuses on where the organization's training is needed and under what conditions it will occur.

According to Irwin Goldstein, “an organizational analysis should identify (a) Organizational goals, (b) Organizational resources, (c) Organizational climate, and (d) Environment constraints.

The task analysis focus on what must be done to perform a job or complete a process successfully. Person analysis focuses on who needs to be trained, and what kind of training he/she needs.

Methods of Strategic/Organizational Analysis

There are a number of data sources which are used for determining training and HRD needs.  They are human resource inventories, organizational climate measures, skills inventories, efficiency indexes, Labor-Management data strikes, lockouts, etc., Grievances, Turnover, Absenteeism, Suggestions, Productivity, Accidents, Short-term sickness, Observation of employee be­havior, Attitude surveys, Customer complaints, Analysis of efficiency index­es, Costs of labour, Costs of materials, Quality of product, Equipment utilization, Costs of distribution, Waste, Downtime, Late deliveries, Repairs, Changes in the system of the sub-system, Management requests or Management interrogation, Exit interviews, MBO or Work planning and review systems.

2. Task Analysis

Task analysis is defined as the “systematic collection of data about a specific job or group of jobs to determine what an employee should be taught to achieve optimal performance”. Task analysis is also called operation analysis, whose results include the understanding of appropriate standards of performance, describing the methods for performing the tasks to meet these standards, and defining the knowledge, abilities, skills, and other characteristics required to meet these standards.

Process of Task Analysis

• Prepare the complete job description.
• Identify the task.
• Describe expected method of the task.
• Describe actual method of the task.
• Describe Knowldege, Skill, Abilities and other characteristics (KSAOs) needed to perform the job.
• Identify areas that can be improved from training.
• Prioritize areas that can be improved from training.

Techniques for collecting data for task analysis include:

• Job descriptions
• Job specifications
• Observe job-work sam­pling
• Performance standards
• Perform the job
• Research in other indus­tries
• Review literature con­cerning the job
• Government sources
• Professional journals
• Ask questions about the job of the job holder, of the supervisor and of higher management
• Ph.D. and master’s theses

3. Person Analysis

Person analysis is the process of determining the training needs of the individual employees. The person analysis focuses on the standard of the performance of each employee on key job tasks.

Components of Person Analysis

• Summary person analysis: Summary person analysis determines the overall success of individual employee performance.
• Diagnostic person analysis: Diagnostic person analysis examines the reasons for an employee’s performance. The reasons of effective performers may be used as a source for ideas to improve employee performance, whereas the reasons of ineffective performers are used for defining needed interventions to improve performance.