Article Preview
TopIntroduction
In the current volatile economy, new businesses and technologies are emerging in an endless stream, while increasing diversity in the workforce has exacerbated the requirement for firms and workers to be adaptable to change (Karel, Knight, Duffy, Hinrichsen, & Zeiss, 2010). Large numbers of employees, while on the job or when shifting to new positions, need efficient training to gain new knowledge and skills for new work. Accordingly, a training needs assessment is required to be more efficient and accurate in matching the rapid changes in work practice.
Needs assessment and reassessment are two aspects of assessing training needs to improve training programs. Needs assessment initiates a crucial step towards training design and development: it can thereby substantially influence the overall effectiveness of training programs ( Desul, Venkatesh, Gunta, & Baba, 2019; Kang, Haghighi, & Burstein, 2014; Kaufman & Bowers, 1990; Teachout, Sego, & Ford, 1997). In addition, needs assessment can lead to a critical instructional design process (Kaufman, Oakley-Browne, Watkins, & Leigh, 2003; Kimiloglu, Ozturan, & Kutlu, 2017), promising appropriate routes towards well-targeted performance enhancement. However, if the needs assessment is not adequate or effective, any training intended to increase employees’ knowledge and skills may not resolve prevailing problems or improve on-the-job performance (Arp, Smith, & Spear, 2015; Sorenson, 2002). Unfortunately, companies often observe that information arising from needs assessments are rarely collated, a problem that may arise from dispersed working locations and the large number of employees involved.
Briefly, needs assessment is a process of collecting information to determine what and how training should be delivered to help an organization accomplish its objectives before training commences (Brown, 2002; Murtha, 1994). The identification of needs is accomplished by a discrepancy analysis that considers the gap between what is desired in the future and what prevails at present (Kaufman & Bowers, 1990; Kimiloglu et al., 2017; Kirkpatrick, 1979). Meanwhile, needs reassessment is a process of gathering data regarding the needs in both ongoing and completed training programs in order to clarify matters of overtraining versus under training (Tessmer, McCann, & Ludvigsen, 1999). It aims to identify the type and degree of training needs and how to allocate training resources for the purpose of some new round of instructional design (Goldstein & Buxton, 2014; Murtha, 1994). Needs reassessment identifies both the type and degree of training needs and how to allocate training resources in the service of some new round of instructional design (Teachout et al., 1997).