JH 601

1. JH 601 WEEK 3 HRD needs identification

2. 5.3 The importance of HRDNI • Should not be dismissed as an unnecessary and time-consuming activity. • Learning programs must be designed to achieve goals that meet certain learning outcomes. • A conventional HRDNI allows the legitimate system to manage the day-to-day activities and to audit the new ideas discovered by the shadow system.

3. HRDNI Defined • An HRDNI is a process that identifies the gap between what is currently happening and what should be occurring. • CATEGORIES • a performance deficiency • a diagnostic audit • a democratic preference • a pro-active analysis CAUTION! A HRDNI is part of a general needs analysis. HRD will not fix everything.

4. Needs Analysis • Identify specific job performance skills needed to improve performance and productivity • Analyse the audience to ensure that the program will be suited to their specific levels of education, experience, and skills, as well as their attitudes and personal motivations • Use research to develop specific measurable knowledge and performance objectives

5. Training Needs Analysis • Identifying gaps in skills/knowledge • Identifying what will be required for new role versus that required in current role New employees • Position description - job requirements • Contrast employee skills/knowledge with job requirements Current employees • Identify performance deficiencies • Determine whether training would remove/reduce deficiency

6. Skills Analysis • Identifies skills possessed, even if not used in current role • May eliminate/reduce need for training when new machinery, processes are introduced • May reduce training, recruitment and selection costs

7. Training/Learning Objectives • Describes what you want learners to be able to do on completion of the training • May require learners to develop several new skills (or knowledge), building to the objective of the training program • Three components • Performance • Standard • Conditions

8. Purpose of a HRDNI : A HRDNI can identify: • an organisation’s goals and its effectiveness • discrepancies between employees’ skills and the skills required • discrepancies between current and future skills • conditions under which the HRD activity will occur.

9. Questions such as: • What is going well? What needs improvement? • Who needs to be developed? How do they prefer to learn? • What resources are needed? What is the overall time frame? • What are the organisational political ramifications?

10. 5.9 Organisational Awareness The surveillance stage — constantly scanning the internal and external environment. This provides early indicators of HRD requirements. The external environment is monitored via the organisational strategic planning process.

11. The internal environment is monitored by tapping into the organisational information systems, such as: • the quality control system • the financial system • staff turnover and sick leave figures • safety reports • the performance appraisal system.

12. 5.11 The Investigation Stage • Once the early warning of an opportunity or problem is received, the HR developer then commences a specific investigation. • The investigation stage is in two parts: • gathering the data and then • analysing the data.

13. 5.12 Data Gathering • Three of the most common data gathering methods for the investigation stage are interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. These will be discussed in more detail later in the semester. • Other data gathering techniques include: • organisational records • observation • assessment centers • critical incident technique.

14. 5.13 Data Analysis Once the data has been gathered, the information has to be analysed. The analytic technique used depends on the type of data gathered — whether it is qualitative or quantitative. This will be discussed further later in the semester: qualitative data analysis after discussing interviews and focus groups, and quantitative data analysis after discussing questionnaires.

15. However, the overall aim of the data analysis stage is to identify the key outcomes expected of the HRD intervention. These key outcomes have been called, variously, learning objectives, competencies and learning outcomes. Learning objectives, competencies and learning outcomes have a pivotal role in the other three stages of HRD.

16. 5.14 Key Outcomes • Learning objectives (training objectives) are the oldest form of key outcomes. They consist of: • a terminal behaviour statement, which describes the observable behaviour the learner must demonstrate at the end of the learning period • a statement of standards, which describes how well the learner should perform the terminal behaviour • a statement of conditions under which the test will take place. • “Repair a Barthon-Lewis press drill in 20 minutes using only hand tools.”

17. 5.15 Key Outcomes Competencies have become more popular in the workplace over the last decade. A competency statement was originally intended to cover a combination of skills, knowledge, abilities and attitudes. It was also expected to be tested in the workplace several times. More recently, there have been a number of concerns raised about competencies. Both learning objectives and competencies are more useful in instrumental learning.

18. 5.16 Key Outcomes When communicative and emancipatory learning are involved it has become customary to describe the results of the learning as learning outcomes. Learning outcomes subsume a number of highly interactive and complex skills, knowledge and abilities. Accordingly, they are sometimes called integrative competencies. “Positively handle conflict situations in the workplace.”

19. 5.18 The Investigation Plan • Before an investigation is undertaken, a realistic action plan should be formulated. This plan should consider: • an operational base • an authority base • identification of the key role players • the initiator • the decider • the loose connections

20. identification of other sources of information • review of appropriate investigation methods • establishing appropriate time frames • allowing time for the analysis of data and writing the report.

21. 5.20 Selecting an HRDNI Method • Selecting an HRDNI method is a complex decision. However, two parameters can provide some initial logic to the choice: • the strategic orientation of the organisation (see Chapter 4). • the advantages and disadvantages of the HRDNI methods (see Table 5.2 on page 123 of the text).

22. 5.22 FACE VALUE ? • Particularly when gathering data in an HRDNI, the investigator should be wary of initial impressions of both the data and the people involved. There are three forces to be aware of: • organisational politics • espoused theory vs theory-in-action • organisational defence mechanisms • Remember, there are old investigators and there are bold investigators, but there are no old, bold investigators! Good judgement and good investigative skills are needed.

23. 5.24 The HRDNI Report • The end result of gathering and analysing the data is the HRDNI report. The HRDNI report should include: • an explanation of the reason for the HRDNI • a description of the investigator • a description of the investigative processes used • a definition of the identified learner population

24. a definition of the learning outcomes and learning objectives • a justification for the need for the learning experience • information to assist with the later design of the learning experience (e.g. the curriculum, the type of HR developers needed, the locations, the required resources) • a plan for the evaluation.

25. 5.26 The need for HRDNI • Some reasons offered for NOT doing HRDNI include: • it is a difficult and time-consuming process • action is valued over research • fads appear to be a more attractive option • it is perceived as costly.

26. These are fallacious arguments. HRDNIs should be conducted because: • it is a dynamic and continuous process • the investigation stage is a means to an end • it is an investment of resources to increase efficiency and effectiveness • it decreases the risk of inappropriate action.

27. Thanks for your attention!