Systematic Training Cycle

Introduction

“Change was the story of the 20th century and will inevitable be the story of the 21st”…This implies that existing and new staff will need to acquire new knowledge, skills, attitudes and perspectives on a continual basis.” Training is “a planned and systematic effort to modify or develop knowledge/skill/attitude through learning experience, to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to enable an individual to acquire abilities in order that he or she can perform adequately a given task or job” (Buckley and Caple, 2000, p.xiii-1). Cowling and Mailer (1998:65) point out that without a well-planned systematic approach to training, what is learned may not be what is best for the organization. The �systematic training cycle’ (Figure 1) shows “a circular process of identifying and analyzing a spectrum of training needs, planning and designing training, delivering training events, monitoring and evaluating their outcomes and effectiveness, and feeding the results of that evaluation into ongoing identification of needs (Harrison,1997:39).”

Figure 1 Systematic Training Cycle

Armstrong (2001:548) described “a systematic training is training which is specifically designed to meet defined needs. It is planned and provided by people who know how to train and the impact of training is carefully evaluated.” According to Figure 1, the aim of this essay is to evaluate the relevance of training needs analysis to the other three stages. The associated implications for stakeholders, managers and individuals will be discussed as well.

Training Needs Analysis

While a variety of terms for training needs analysis have been used by many authors, such as identifying training needs, training needs identification, training needs assessment and so on, in this essay, the term training needs analysis will be used.

As the first stage of the �systematic training cycle’, training needs analysis is defined as “the whole process of identifying the range and extent of training needs from business needs, specifying those training needs very precisely, and analysing how best the training needs might be met” by Bee and Bee (1994, p. xii). Moreover, Reay (1994:9) described it is “all about asking the right questions and then making sense of the answers.”

Pro and Cons of Training Needs Analysis

Training needs analysis is “the process of measuring the organisation’s needs and identifying training goals which, when reached, will equip learner's with knowledge and skills to meet the organisation's needs” (Prior et al., 1991:210). This is supported by Bartam and Gibson (1997:3-4) who suggestedanalysing training needs provides a focus and direction for the investment an organisation has to make in its people”. Then they concluded the benefits of an effective training needs analysis as below

• Investment in training and development will have a focus and direction.

• Priority training needs throughout the organisation will become apparent.

• Appropriate methods for meeting these needs will be identified.

• Training will be systematic and planned but flexible enough to cope with ad hoc requests.

• The benefits of training will be measured against the initial costs.

• The contribution training makes to or organisational growth and success will be recognised.

However, despite the benefits of training needs analysis contributes to organisations, there are barriers (e.g. time, cost, source, commitment) some authors pointed out. Wills (1998:27) highlighted that “a proper needs analysis is both difficult and time consuming…Identifying training needs is not just a matter of finding the need and then simply satisfying it. There are often conflicting requirements from different interests within the company.” Beardwell and Holden (2001) added identifying and establishing the needs for training takes time. The needs assessment process, as Goldstein (2002:37) stated, can be thought of as a type of organisational intervention. He indicates that “An intervention, such as a needs assessment or training program, is a procedure that interrupts organisational