TRAINING PROCESS AND TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS

Introduction

Training can be described as “the acquisition of skills, concepts or attitudes that result in
improved performance within the job environment”. Training analysis looks at each
aspect of an operational domain so that the initial skills, concepts and attitudes of the
human elements of a system can be effectively identified and appropriate training can be
specified.

Training analysis as a process often covers:

* Review of current training

* Task analysis (of new or modified system)
* Identification of training gap
* Statement of training requirement
* Assessment of training options
* Cost benefit analysis of training options

Training Analysis is most often used as part of the system development process. Due to
the close tie between the design of the system and the training required, in most cases it
runs alongside the development to capture the training requirements.

Design Integrated Training Analysis

K Tara Smith proposed and developed tools and methods for an integrated approach
Design Integrated Training Analysis, where the trade-offs between design and training
are both assessed in the light of the understanding of the operational tasks.

This approach also used information regarding recorded critical incidents to review
proposed training and to provide traceability between hazards and training.

This single integrated approach to human factors and training analysis has been
successfully used on a number of defence projects.
Training Analysis Process

Over the last 20 years the critical nature of the man-in-the-loop has changed from simply
manual dexterity and procedural operation to a state in which their decision making,
cognitive abilities, data assimilation, communication skills, and attitude are all crucial. In
addition the job structure of the personnel operationally involved with modern systems
has diversified in direct proportion to the complexity of the technology. This has fuelled
the need for a formal approach.
The task of training can be broken down into a number of discrete components, each
addressing a different part of the overall learning process. This breakdown is as follows:-

* Psycho-motor Skills
* Procedural Skills
* Knowledge Transfer
* Communication Skills
* Colossal Thinking
* Attitude Learning
* Performance Training.

The role of training analysis is to build a formal bridge between the available design data
and the training media and training objectives, in order to facilitate the transfer of training
elements into the operational environment.

For complex multi-user system a user-to-task map is often constructed to present the
relationship between the tasks and the identified team structure and also to identify new
groups of users that would need to have an understanding of the system. The training gap
is assessed by a comparison between the goals and tasks undertaken by the individuals
and the existing training.

There is a wide variety of training media that can be used, ranging from traditional
lecture-based teaching to sophisticated simulators. Different media will be more or less
appropriate for different activities. It is necessary to determine the most suitable and cost-
effective training media for the different areas.

There have been many different approaches defined however the system approach to
training has been the most successful.

Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is defined as the “Identification of training requirements

and the most cost effective means of meeting those requirements”.

A TNA should always be performed where a major new development in policy,

equipment acquisition or procedures is deemed to have potential impact upon the current
training regime.

TST has considerable experience of successfully employing the accepted techniques

applied to the development of training systems, including the Systems Approach to
Training (SAT) in both the defence and civilian domains using customer specific
standards such as JSP 822 where required.

Carrying out all TNA activates in accordance with SAT principles ensures rigorous
visibility in each design stage with clear audit trails from the initial Scoping Study
through to the recommended solution.
Training Needs Analysis: The First Step in the Training Process
Performing a training needs analysis is the first step in the training process and is critical
for a successful program. The purpose of a needs analysis is to determine that training is
the best solution and identify what training is needed to fill the skill gap. This step is
often disregarded for reasons such as time constraints or lack of perceived value by
management. However, skipping the training needs analysis can cause major problems.
Time, resources and dollars may be wasted on training that was unnecessary or
ineffective.

A training need exists when there is a gap between what is required of a person to
perform their job proficiently and what they actually know.

The reasons for conducting a training needs analysis are:

• To determine whether training is needed

• To determine causes of poor performance
• To determine content and scope of training
• To determine desired training outcomes
• To provide a basis of measurement
• To gain management support

Performing a training needs analysis is most appropriate when training is requested for a
performance issue, when new information systems or business processes are introduced,
and when your organization mandates training.

The analysis process can be as detailed or as simple as the situation requires. For details
on the various needs analysis types, please view our Needs Analysis Study Types
diagram. The type of needs analysis you use should ultimately be based on your goal,
however, you should consider other factors such as time, available resources, money, etc.
Regardless of the complexity of your analysis, there are six steps fundamental to all
effective training needs analysis.

Step One – Identify Problem Needs

• Determine circumstance for training request
• Identify potential skill gap
• Set objectives

Step Two – Determine Design of Needs Analysis

• Establish method selection criteria
• Assess advantages and disadvantages for methods

Step Three – Collect Data

• Conduct interviews
• Administer surveys and questionnaires
• Conduct focus groups
 • Observe people at work
• Review documents

Step Four – Analyze Data

• Conduct qualitative or quantitative analysis
• Determine solutions and recommendations

Step Five – Provide Feedback

• Write report and make oral presentation
• Determine next step – training needed?

Step Six – Develop Action Plan

• Use results as the basis for training design, development and evaluation.

Although conducting a step-by-step training needs analysis is recommended, the reality is

that time and resources are not always available for this type of effort. In these situations,
don’t simply write off the analysis completely – do the best you can with what you have.
Try to, at least:

• Clarify the performance issue

• Evaluate and define what the target audience is doing versus what they should be
doing
• Establish the causes of the performance issue
• Determine solutions that will solve the issue

Keep in mind – good training doesn’t just happen. It is the result of much preparation and
forethought.

What Training is Right for Your Business?

Begin with a Training Needs Analysis

Choosing the correct training solution for your business is not a simple process. Should
you focus on e-learning, instructor-led courses, distance learning—or should you choose
a mixture of these offerings? Does training need to be customized to your company’s
specific needs? A training needs analysis can help you clarify the project's goals and
evaluate possible solutions. This phase allows project leaders, subject matter experts, and
training specialists to evaluate the situation and make informed decisions.
Here are five basic steps and examine them in depth which can help you analyze your
current environment and make an informed and sound needs assessment decision.

* Analyze Your Situation

* Evaluate the Training in Place
* Identify Gaps
* Assess Your Options
* Choose Your Solutions

What is on-the-job training?

On-the job training is an important way in which people acquire relevant knowledge and
skills at work. Here it is important to make the distinction between training and learning –
this is critical to the effective design and delivery of training in organisations. In our
Training to learning Change Agenda, the terms were defined as follows:

* Training is an instructor-led, content based intervention, leading to desired changes

in behaviour.
* Learning is a self-directed, work-based process, leading to increased adaptive
potential - for fuller details see our Helping people learn web area.
o Go to our Helping People Learn web area
o Go to our Training to learning Change Agenda

In a sense therefore, we are more interested in promoting on-the-job learning than on-the-
job training. However, using the well-established term, on-the-job training (OJT) can be
defined as an activity undertaken at the workplace which is designed to improve an
individual’s skills or knowledge. OJT is a well-established and well-used intervention
designed to enhance individual skills and capabilities with the characteristics of:

* being delivered on a one-to-one basis and taking place at the trainee’s place of work
* requiring time to take place, including potential periods when there is little or no
useful output of products or services
* being specified, planned and structured activity.

OJT used to be colloquially called ‘sitting next to Nellie’ – learning through watching
and observing someone with more experience performing a task.
Who uses OJT?

It is difficult to be precise on the extent or incidence of OJT in the modern economy as

different definitions are used in different surveys. Fine distinctions (for example, between
OJT and informal learning) may not be immediately recognised, or seem important, in
the workplace. Additionally much OJT, taking place as it does as part of day-to-day
activity at the trainee’s workplace, is not recorded centrally.

OJT is dependent upon the trainer having sufficient knowledge and expertise to impart to
the trainee. OJT is important and the quality of OJT can be considerably improved
through effective design.

The advantages of using OJT

* Training can be delivered at the optimum time: for example immediately before a job
is to be performed ‘for real’ in the workplace.
* The trainee will have opportunities to practice immediately.
* The trainee will have immediate feedback.
* Training is delivered by colleagues and can go someway to integrate the trainee into
the team.

The disadvantages of using OJT

* There is a tendency to fit OJT in when it is convenient for office routine rather than
at the optimum time for learning.
* The training may be given piecemeal and not properly planned, and the trainee gains
a fragmented picture of the organisation.
* Too much training can be delivered in one session leading to ‘information overload’
and trainee fatigue.
* The trainer may not have sufficient knowledge of the process or expertise in
instructional techniques (a ‘train the trainer’ course may be appropriate).
* If immediate practice is not accompanied by feedback the trainee can feel abandoned
after the initial experience.

The elements of OJT

* Preparation: there is nothing worse than trying to demonstrate how to use equipment
where the OJT trainer has forgotten the password that gives access to the computer
programme or the key to the equipment cupboard. Good preparation is essential, and the
best OJT trainers have useful examples or practice exercises ready in advance.
* Start with the learner: begin by assessing how much the learner knows already. The
most straightforward questions will elicit the answers and save time. ‘Have you used
spreadsheets in previous jobs?’ can save a lot of both persons' time when OJT training in
MS-Excel.
* Pick the best time: it can be very frustrating to spend Monday afternoon having the
procedure for completing time-sheets outlined to you when you will fill them in on
Friday (by which time you will have forgotten).

A case study: Piccadilly Supermarkets, Bulgaria

Most case studies on OJT describe situations where training is delivered by the trainee’s
immediate line manager. This case study is describes how a new organisation undergoing
rapid expansion needed to develop workforce skills against a tight timetable. The term
they used was ‘coaching’ but, using our definition, it is recognisably about effective OJT.
The business challenge

In 1994, the Boliari Limited, the holding company for Piccadilly Supermarkets, was
incorporated. The first supermarket was established the following year in Varna, a resort
town on the Black Sea coast. Subsequent growth has been rapid. By mid 2006 Piccadilly
operated six supermarkets in Varna and two in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, together with
six separate smaller format ‘Mambo’ convenience stores. Plans are in hand for expansion
across Bulgaria with another two stores due to open shortly in different towns in the
country.

Piccadilly’s size and growth makes it a significant force in the local economy and the
company intends to be the leading supermarket in Bulgaria. Its emphasis is on quality and
it seeks to offer a wide range of goods in an attractive shopping environment (to provide
shopping experience). The company motto is ‘load high spirits’ and the aim is to sustain
the high level of service achieved throughout the chain.

Currently some 1,500 staff are employed by Piccadilly and all but 100 work in the
supermarkets. A very flat management structure is in place, with three levels: store
managers, supervisors and operatives (cashiers, warehouse workers, storage workers and
sales assistants). The largest supermarket employs some 180 people and most employ on
average 120.

The average age of the staff is under 30 and the company targets the recruitment of young
people and students – over 50 per cent of the current workforce are engaged in some form
of university or college studies. Bulgarian higher education allows students to study for a
limited number of hours in the day and to live at home. Inevitably this approach to
recruitment produces some challenges: for some of the staff it is their first real job and
some of them face difficulties adapting to a pattern of regular work. Some have the
option of seeking parental support for their studies, so attrition rates can be high,
especially in the early stages. Moreover the company has a policy of growing its
management from within so the management staff have not always gained the breadth of
experience that comes with a mature workforce. Set against this the staff are intelligent
and many are willing to commit if the organisation treats them fairly and offers them
promotion opportunities.
In-store coaching

One key element of Piccadilly’s policies has been the development of a cohort of in-store
coaches – experienced, excellent work performers, ready to pass their knowledge to the
large number of newly selected company employees.
Coaches were nominated by the store manager in agreement with the managers
responsible for purchasing goods. They were then trained by the central HR team in two
critical aspects of induction:

* How to pass to the new people the hard skills and product knowledge: the company
standards and the basic procedures – for example, how to cut cheese or operate a till.
* The softer skills of selling and the psychology of customer relationships.

This training took the form of one day courses spread over intervals.

The trained coaches were then responsible for managing the induction and on-the-job
training of new joiners at store level. Using material designed by the HR department and
by the Company Standards department, procedures for OJT were put in place. For one
week the new joiners worked along side the coach, shadowing the job. In the next week
the trainee worked by themselves but was observed by the coach. At the end of this
second week there would be an evaluation or assessment meeting between a
representative of the HR department, the coach and the trainee. At this meeting any
problems were discussed and the coach would offer recommendations for improvement.
The trainee then worked closely with the coach for a further week and this would be
followed by a final week of almost independent work and assessment. This whole process
was seen as the only effective way of ensuring that the large number of new staff could
meet organisational requirements. In Piccadilly’s Head of Human Resources view:

‘This coaching project was necessary because our goal was not only to train quickly and
efficiently this large number of new people, but also make them part of Piccadilly culture.
We wanted to transfer the specific atmosphere Piccadilly has in our new supermarkets.
This project worked because it gave a chance to many employees at all levels to be
personally involved in the company growth and success. The joined utmost efforts of our
best people, both management and staff made it work.’

In a supermarket employing 150 people there can be as many as 25 trained coaches.

Following internal discussions, in recognition of their importance to the company, it was
decided that the coaches should receive extra bonus to their salary on a regular basis.

An effort to improve the effectiveness of OJT will always be worthwhile. Training and
learning professionals should ask themselves the following questions:

* Where is effective OJT likely to be of particular benefit to the organisation?

* Who delivers the OJT; who are the trainers?
* Have these OJT trainers received appropriate training themselves?
* How, otherwise, can the effectiveness of OJT within the organisation be improved?