Purpose and Methods of TNA

Purpose of TNA

(i) The purpose of Training Need Analysis (TNA) is to help an organization discern the actual needs in training of its employees so that the available resources are directed to training programs that will be most beneficial to the development of the employees and improve the performance of the organization.

(ii) It is always necessary for an organization to carry out Training Need Analysis since it is an avenue of making sure that employees are equipped with the right skills that they need to be effective and competent in their areas of work. When there exists a gap between the expected performance and how the employees are performing presently, the main cause could be lack of the necessary skills or knowledge.

(iii) Training Need Analysis also helps a company to avoid doing training just for the sake of doing it since it is targeted to particular needs. Training is therefore cost effective since the needs are identified and resources channeled to address these needs.

(iv) Training Need Analysis also helps to Increases the chances that the time and money spent on training is spent wisely.

(v) Training Need Analysis also helps to Determines the benchmark for evaluation of training

(vi) Training Need Analysis also helps to Increases the motivation of participants.

(vii) Training Need Analysis also helps to Aligns training activities with the company’s strategic plan.

Methods of TNA

Identifying training needs is a process of information gathering. Data collection is instrumental in understanding how each employee’s knowledge, skills, and abilities can formulate varied performances.

1. Surveys

You can conduct surveys or polls with a sample pool or all the employees of your organization. Surveys help find out performance deficiencies in specific areas. To conduct a survey, you can prepare a questionnaire and circulate among your employees. The questions in the survey should focus on the specific tasks and needs of the employees and organization. You can use different question formats such as open-ended, closed ended, projective, and priority ranking. Allowing employees to answer anonymously will increase the credibility and you will get genuine answers.

2. Observations

Training managers watch the work of employees in regular working situations. This observation, in turn, provides enough information on performance gaps. You need to consider technical, functional, and behavioral aspects while observing. This gives qualitative and quantitative feedback on the existing performance.

In a workplace scenario observation is a good way to gather information for the ONA because the employee is able to be observed in their working environment and observing the employee is a good way to gather data.

In observation, it should be done in a manner that should be done in an inconspicuous manner where the person being observed does not see the observer directly observing them for more accurate analysis.

3. Interviews

Interviews allow you to collect data on performance gaps while talking with each employee or a group of employees. It can be formal or informal. You can conduct interviews in person or by phone, at work locations, or anywhere. Sometimes, you can interview the representative of the work group.

4. Customer Feedback

You will come to know performance deficiencies with customers’ feedback. They specifically indicate improvement areas. However, you need to formulate each question in the feedback form so that it is directed toward a specific service or performance.

5. The Delphi Technique

The Delphi technique is a group decision-making technique designed to provide group members with each other’s ideas and feedback, while avoiding some of the problems associated with interacting groups. The members of the group do not have to be face-to-face but are asked to respond to a questionnaire and send their responses to a coordinator. Once all the questionnaires have been received from the members the coordinator then sends them to every member for review. Each member is allowed to comment and analyse the others comments and then participants either vote for the best solution or the coordinator comes up with a consensus of opinion based on all comments received from the participants. This technique is not that easy to administrator and it can be time consuming trying to gather and then resend all the information for review but it is a good qualitative data gathering information which can be used to make relevant decisions with regard to training needed in an organization.

6. Nominal Groups

Nominal groups are a group of individuals who are well versed about a particular subject and with an assistance of a convenor are asked to respond to various questions on a subject. The participants are asked to prioritise the ideas and suggestions by the group — in a ranking order. The convenor gathers the information and it allows all answers to represent the group’s preferences and the group is also allowed to vote to rank or rate the responses.

Nominal groups can be asked to give their perspective on problems in an organization, solutions to a given problem, job requirements or tasks, key competencies for a job, or issues facing the target population or organization.