ENVIRONMENT

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ost authorities in the strategic business planning field believe that strategy should be formulated only after an analysis is done of an organization’s present strengths and weaknesses and its future opportunities and threats. So-called strengths, weaknesses, opportu- nities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is a common strategic planning tool.

A similar process should be undertaken to look at talent. The chapters in Part Two focus on the elements of Strengths, Weak- nesses, Opportunities, and Threats for talent. Chapter 3, entitled

“Comprehensive Needs Assessment,” is about examining what needs (deficiencies) exist with the organization’s existing talent pool.

Of course, strengths should also be identified.

Chapter 4 is about environmental scanning, the process of iden- tifying the possible future opportunities and threats that may stem from future environmental change. This Chapter defines and describes environmental scanning as it is applied to SBP. It also dis- cusses how the same approach can be applied usefully to talent development.

PART II

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sk experienced WLP practitioners what they believe the starting point is for planning talent development and most will probably give the same answer: a needs assessment. (A few streetwise types might say management commitment, but let’s focus on the most common answer.) If needs assessment is the starting point for planning one talent development experience, what should be the starting point for planning all organized learning events in an organization? The answer is comprehensive needs assessment: a broad, systematic examination of conditions conducted for the purpose of identifying general differences between what people should know or do and what they actually know or do.

Comprehensive needs assessment is the second step in the model of SDT presented in Chapter 1. It naturally follows the first step in the model—determining the purpose of the Talent Development Effort. Managers and employees must be thoroughly familiar with present conditions before they can effectively plan for the future and consistently act in line with a predetermined purpose. Much strategy fails because managers are unaware of the present competitive positioning of their organization, as well as its present strengths, weaknesses, and core competencies. A map will not help you find your way if you do not know your present posi- tion, and the same basic principle applies whether attention is focused on organizational strategy or an organizational strategic learning plan.

CHAPTER 3

Comprehensive Needs Assessment: Definition and Description

Comprehensive needs assessment is similar to situation analysis in strategic business planning.Situation analysisis an examination of company performance.

Its focus is usually on present relationships between the organization and its com- petitors. Its purpose is to evaluate the status of the organization. Abels (2002) relates this internal appraisal step to external environmental scanning, noting that both amount to an environmental scan, but they focus on different environments.

In educational settings, instructional planners sometimes undertake a similar kind of analysis. When assessing needs for a “course,” they might focus on one discipline, issue, or problem. But when assessment is directed to say, a curriculum as an instructional plan spanning all learning experiences sponsored by a school, the focus is more general. Educators typically examine the full range of human needs, and consider which ones the school should try to meet and how well they should strive to meet them.

This broad philosophical question of which needs should be addressed is one that must be considered on many levels—not just on one level. First, which needs must be addressed in order to comply with public policy and legal man- date? Second, which needs must be addressed so that the school is responsible to the community and the society it serves? Third, which needs do learners and teachers feel should be addressed? Fourth, which needs result from economic and labor market conditions, technological change, and so on?

Unfortunately, educators seldom address all these issues. Tradition, not analy- sis, drives most educational planning at primary and secondary school levels. Nor do WLP practitioners handle the process much better in work settings: formal needs assessment is rarely carried out there, either. When it is, no attempt is made to plan for meeting long-term learning needs. Rather, the focus is typically on solving specific problems and delivering specific training to solve them. Yet strategic business plans clearly imply a need for human skills. A formal Talent Development Effort is one way to meet those learning needs through the develop- ment of skills within an organization over time.

Viewed in this context, comprehensive needs assessment is the process of specifying present but general gaps between what people should know or do

and what they actually know or do.It pinpoints not just needs (weaknesses), but also significant talents, skills, or competencies (strengths). It thus clarifies what people are doing well and not so well. Regarded another way, it assesses the strate- gists’ vision of what should be to what capabilities the organization and its people presently possess.

Needs Assessment: Background Issues

A learning need is traditionally considered to be a deficiency between what isand what should be, between present conditions and present criteria. An important point to stress is this: A need implies that the deficiency is caused by lack of learner knowledge or skill. It is a weakness in organizational talent. Of course, needs can stem from root causes within the work environment that, unlike individual needs, fall under management control (Rothwell and Sredl 2000). Examples would include lack of supervisory planning or lack of proper tools and equipment.

Needs stemming from such root causes, of course, cannot be appropriately met through instruction. They will require alternative management action.

The history of needs assessment in talent development begins with the work of McGehee and Thayer, who in 1967 suggested that needs should be identified by synthesizing the results of three different examinations: First, WLP practition- ers should analyze the organization and identify instructional needs stemming from production, legal, and other requirements. This is called organization analysis. Second, practitioners should direct attention to jobs and identify instructional needs stemming from work tasks. This is called operation orwork analysis. Third, practitioners should focus on people working in the organiza- tion, and identify instructional needs stemming from individual performance problems. This is called individual analysis. Each analysis should be separately performed and the results compared to yield instructional needs. Sources of information vary for each type of analysis.

Traditional needs assessment is thus based on problem-solving. When decision-makers perceive that a difference exists between their expectations and actual results, they are actually detecting a problem that warrants attention. Only if the problem is caused by a lack of knowledge or skill is it properly classified as

an instructional need. If the problem is caused by something other than a lack of knowledge or skill, such as poor motivation or morale, poor job structure, poor work incentives, or another cause, it is a noninstructional need requiring manage- ment action other than training, education, or development. Thomas Gilbert (1967) was among the first to draw this distinction between instructional and noninstructional needs. He contended that WLP practitioners should look beyond mere instructional solutions to any appropriate, cost-effective perform- ance improvement strategy for dealing with problems. Building on this idea, Geary Rummler (1976) proposed comprehensive performance audits to identify improvement programs yielding high payoffs by making jobs more efficient and effective. Audits of this kind examine (1) job context, (2) incumbents, (3) desired actions or decisions, (4) results, and (5) feedback to incumbents on results. There are three levels of analysis: (1) policy, focusing on identifying performance improvement programs that yield the highest payoff; (2) strategy, focusing on ways of defining and improving a job; and (3) tactics, focusing on specific ways to make people more efficient.

In another classic treatment, Dugan Laird (1985) distinguished between two types of instructional needs. The first type he called a microtraining need, arising from individuals: Whenever one person or a small group faces change of any kind requiring new knowledge or a new skill, a microtraining need exists. Whenever people are hired, promoted, transferred, or temporarily reassigned to a new job, they will likely require special instruction in order to perform effectively.

Microtraining needs can also be identified by reviewing individual performance appraisals, career contracts, a group’s production record, and quality control reports.

The second type is a macrotraining need, arising from change in the organi- zation: Whenever groups of people face change requiring new knowledge or skills, there is a macrotraining need. For example, macrotraining needs stem from changes in strategic business plans, personnel policies, organizational structure, production methods, sales policies, and government laws or regulations.

Laird’s distinction between micro and macro training needs is important for several reasons. First, it positions the WLP practitioner in a role somewhat like that of an air traffic controller. To speak figuratively, the practitioner monitors

a radar screen sweeping the environment (Rothwell and Sredl 2000). Changes occurring inside or outside the organization appear as blips on the screen. Some blips require action—that is, planned learning activities intended to help people cope with change. The second reason is that change differs by degree. Not all blips are the same size or are configured the same way. The scope of corrective action depends on the scope of the problem. Finally, Laird implies that some changes are predictable, even cyclical. They recur. No matter how stable the organization, some needs keep coming up. Newly hired, transferred, or promoted employees have to be oriented to new jobs, for instance. This need recurs every time an individual’s duties change. On the other hand, some changes are neither predictable nor recurrent. An industry’s deregulation might be apparent for years, but it will probably not unfold in any predictable way. This kind of trend might call for learning activities so that people build the competencies they need that are pertinent to the change.

From long tradition, WLP practitioners have thus viewed instruction as a means of rectifying deficiencies or solving performance problems. Needs assess- ment is really a form of deficiency analysis. It uncovers areas in which present conditions are not as good as desired conditions.

There is another side to performance, of course. In some areas, people excel:

the organization outperforms competitors; individuals do better than the mini- mum standards established for them; and job results turn out better than expected. In each case, condition is better than criteria. When the cause of this favorable discrepancy stems from human knowledge and skill, it is a special talent or core competency.

Steps in Comprehensive Needs Assessment

There are several appropriate ways to carry out a comprehensive needs assessment. However, at some point WLP practitioners and line managers should:

1. Identify learners to be served by the talent development effort over time.

More specifically, who are the learners and prospective learners? Where are they located? How many are there? How can the learners be reached?

How intense is their motivation to learn? When are they most interested in learning?

2. Classify learners into broad “market segments.”

3. Compare actual to desired competencies for each market segment of learners.

4. Identify present learning needs for each market and market segment of learners.

When actual knowledge and skills minus desired knowledge and skills equals a deficiency, then it is classified as a weakness. On the other hand, if actual knowl- edge and skills minus desired knowledge and skills equals a proficiency, then it is classified as a strength.

These steps are worth considering in more detail.

Identifying Learners

To assess instructional needs, WLP practitioners should collect as much infor- mation as possible about present and prospective learners and clients. A learneris one receiving and participating in planned learning activities. A client is one who wants and benefits directly from those activities. The distinction between learner and client is sometimes vague. There are several reasons why: (1) Learners benefit directly from instruction, and are sometimes the only clients. (2) Employees’ supe- riors at all levels are responsible for talent development activities, and are properly considered clients. (3) Superiors might participate in design and delivery of planned learning and might learn in the process, but they are not considered learners if learning strategies are intended to meet the needs of their subordinates.

WLP practitioners are always engaged in meeting the needs of at least two markets: the learners and their organizational superiors. The strategic implica- tions of this should not be ignored. WLP practitioners, like marketing specialists, have two basic options: (1) to satisfy perceived needs of both groups (learners and clients/supervisors) as much as possible, or (2) to concentrate on satisfying the needs of one group more than the needs of the other. Most practitioners try to satisfy the needs of both groups, while gearing their efforts to meeting the needs

that would be difficult for alternative sources of instruction (like external vendors, colleges, or universities) to supply. External providers of education or training are competitors to in-house WLP departments when instructional activities are not tailored to the learners’ precise working conditions.

WLP practitioners are well-positioned to detect learning needs and gather detailed information. In this respect, they enjoy a competitive advantage over external providers of instruction. In short, in-house instruction is more easily tai- lored to the employing firm.Specific instructionis useful only to the one organi- zation providing it; general instructionis readily transferable to other firms, and improves the employability of learners. Managers have an incentive to offer spe- cific instruction in-house because learners receiving it are far less likely to quit and thus take personal advantage of company-funded improvement of their skills. The learners also have an incentive to participate in such in-house learning experi- ences because participation in organizationally sponsored training is most likely to translate into higher pay.

To identify instructional needs, WLP practitioners have to research their markets—the learners and the clients. If the talent development effort is geared solely to employees, then information has to be collected about them. If it is geared solely to the external consumers of company products or services, then informa- tion has to be collected about them. If the talent development effort is comprehen- sive, then information has to be collected both about learners and clients.

A written purpose of the talent development effort provides direction to information-gathering by clarifying targeted learners, types of instructional activ- ities to be offered, methods of offering those services, and follow-up activities to ensure that learning is subsequently applied.

Classifying Learners by Market Segment

WLP practitioners have to assess learning needs and talents according to precise learner characteristics. Separate but comprehensive needs assessments can be focused on different learner markets and, within each market, on different seg- ments. A market is an identifiable group of people. A market segment is a subgroup that has unique needs.

There are at least four possible markets for a talent development effort: (1) the job market, (2) the individual/career market, (3) the work group market, and (4) the external market. The first three are found inside an organization; the fourth is outside.

The Job Market. One way to classify learners is by their job tasks, results, and responsibilities. Employee training, a short-term change effort, traditionally focuses on jobs (Nadler 1979). It is geared to producing immediate, observable results and to socializing individuals into an organization.

When examining the job market, WLP practitioners should be familiar with certain terminology. A task is a discrete unit of work; aposition is a group of related tasks performed by one person in one organization; a jobis a group of similar positions; ajob class is a group of related and/or unrelated jobs occu- pying the same level of responsibility and bearing certain similarities as a result; a job category or job family is a group of related jobs but at different levels of responsibility; and an occupationis a group of similar jobs existing in different organizations. A brief example will help clarify the meanings of these terms.

Harry Smith is an Accountant I in Acme Chemical Company. Harry occupies a position similar to other Accountant I jobs at Acme. Accountants IIs, IIIs, and IVs at Acme are in the same job family. Finance experts, personnel experts, and marketing experts are in the same job class. Accountants at other companies share a common occupationwith Harry.

All accountants at Acme have common training needs for as they are socialized into the organization. They are hired on the basis of qualifications. For instance, every new accountant has an accounting degree. But each newcomer has to learn “the Acme way” of performing the Accountant I’s job and of getting along with colleagues. The same principle holds true for all other job classes. Each job class has recurring needs arising from movement into, through, and out of the class. (See Exhibit 3–1 for a list of them.)

Job families have similarities. For example, all supervisors share common responsibilities: They oversee daily operations and are responsible for front-line activities. Similarly, professional employees are hired for their expertise, which they put to special use.

EExxhhiibbiitt 33–11:: Recurring Instructional Needs Stemming from Movements of People

To design a long-term learning plan to meet recurring instructional needs, WLP practitioners should look at all of them and impose a way of grouping together the needs. Although titles might differ, the groups are based on common duties. Training courses and/or experiences can then be focused on these responsibilities.

One way to create logical groupings is to classify job titles into the following categories and then assess recurring training needs for each group: (1) executives, (2) senior managers, (3) middle managers, (4) first-line supervisors, (5) sales per- sonnel, (6) professionals, (7) administrative employees, (8) clerical support, (9) skilled production or service workers, (10) unskilled production or service

Stages Key Issues Instructional Implications/Needs

Pre-socialization

Recruitment

Selection

Job/Group Orientation

Stable Performance

Advancement

What learning experiences can pre- pare an individual for occupational entry?

How can an organization attract quali- fied talent in line with its needs?

How can an organization select effec- tive performers?

How can an individual be oriented to the position? Job? Work group?

How can deficiencies in individual performance on the job be identified and corrected?

How can individuals be groomed for increased responsibility and/or for increased professional scope?

How well does formal schooling prepare individuals for occupational entry? Job? Job class? Employer?

What do applicants need to know about the organization and job that will help them “select themselves?”

What does the organization need to know about individuals applying for entry?

What training focused on job tasks should be given to newcomers? When?

What training will help correct problems in job performance? Help individuals keep their skills current as technology and other variables change the competencies essential for successful work performance?

What do individuals need to know or do to be competent for increased responsibility (vertical advancement) or a broader scope of professional responsibility (horizontal advancement)?