TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS (TNA) – AS 

A
BASE FOR TAINING IN IT INDUSTRIES

Training:
 needs analysis process is a series of activities conducted to identify
problems or other issues in the workplace, and to determine whether
training is an appropriate response. The needs analysis is usually the first
step taken to cause a change. This is mainly because a needs analysis
specifically defines the gap between the current and the desired individual
and organizational performances.
A needs analysis is a wise investment for the organization. It saves time,
money and effort by working on the right problems. Organizations that fail
to support needs analysis make costly mistakes; they use training when
another method would have been more effective; they use too much or too
little training, or they use training but fail to follow up on it. A well-
performed analysis provides the information that can lead to solutions that
focus on the areas of greatest need.

TNA:
A Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is used to assess an organization’s training
needs. The root of the TNA is the gap analysis. This is an assessment of the
gap between the knowledge, skills and attitudes that the people in the
organization currently possess and the knowledge, skills and attitudes that
they require to meet the organization’s objectives
An analysis of training need is an essential requirement to the design of
effective training. The purpose of training need analysis is to determine
whether there is a gap between what is required for effective performance
and present level of performance.
The Indian IT sector is growing at a very fast pace and is expected to earn a
revenue of US $87 billion by 2008. In 2006, it has earned revenue of about
US $ 40 billion with a growth rate of 30%. IT sector is expected to generate
2.3 million jobs by 2010, according to NASSCOM (National Association of
Software and Service Companies) 
With this rapid expansion of IT sector and coming up of major players and
new technologies like SAP, the need of human resource development has
increased
The BPO industry develops good domain expertise in people and gives them
the exposure to the global markets. With a few years of work experience,
one can graduate from a telecalling executive position to a managerial
position in the industry. If an individual starts his career, as a customer
service representative, he can easily become a team-leader within a year if
he / she perform in his / her job. Here, he / she have to lead a team of 10-
 25 members and shoulder the responsibility for key deliverables, client
satisfaction and the profit / loss of the process.
After gaining experience as a team leader, the individual can move to the
next step of career growth ladder as the manager of a process or training. A
manager can further rise by becoming a head of the process and later as a
head of overall operations

Why training need analysis?

Training need analysis is conducted to determine whether resources required
are available or not. It helps to plan the budget of the company, areas
where training is required, and also highlights the occasions where training
might not be appropriate but requires alternate action Who Conducts

Needs Analysis & Why?

A needs analysis often reveals the need for well-targeted training areas.
However, we must keep in mind that training is not always the best way to
try to close a particular gap between an organization’s goals and its actual
performance. Those conducting the needs analysis must get a clear idea of
the problem, look at all possible remedies and report on their findings to
management before deciding on the best solution.
When properly done, Process of conducting a training needs analysis is a
systematic one based on specific information-gathering techniques.  Needs
analysis proceeds in stages, with the findings of one stage affecting and
helping to shape the next one. There is no easy or short-cut formula for
carrying out this process. Each particular situation requires its own mix of
observing, probing, analyzing and deducting.
In many ways, the needs analysis is like detective work; you follow up on
every lead, check every piece of information and examine every alternative
before drawing any solid conclusions. Only then you can e sure of having the
evidence on which to base a sound strategy for problem solving.
A needs analysis is not a one-time event. Professional organizations
administer needs analysis at regular intervals, usually every year or two.

Who attend Training:

Training needs will differ with the backgrounds of the employees to be
trained, and their present status in the organization. Basically, a candidate
for training may come from any one of three groups :
1. New hires
2. Veteran workforce
3. Employee already in training pipeline

NEW HIRES:
 Addition of new employees creates high and low peaks in placing new
persons into the training program. This problem may be solved by a
program where progression is made in different sequences. It will eliminate
a jam that will occur if all phases of the program must be taken in a definite
sequence.
The new employees will normally be of somewhat different backgrounds.
Being new, they are not familiar with their new employers. As a result, the
earliest phases of the training must concentrate on company orientation.
During these phases, the organization, organization policies and
administrative details should be covered. It is also a suitable time to
acquaint the trainees with what will be expected of him, and how he will be
evaluated throughout the phase of training.

• Veteran Employees
The people in this category offer a real challenge to the training
department. There- fore, the number and amount of training required by
this category should be carefully considered. Often the retraining and
upgrading of former employees can be very rewarding for training
instructors. At least two schools of thought exist as to how these employees
should be rekindled. There are advantages in keeping this group intact and
tailoring the program to their needs. On the other hand, this category of
employees can also make significant contribution to training if they are co-
mingled with the new hires.

• Pipeline Employee
A good training program will normally have participants in various
phases of comp- letion. An awareness of completion dates and how the
potential employee will be employed should be the concern of the training
staff and also the employee’s supervisor. A trainee should have a challenge
in all phases of his training. All these challenges should not be confined to
those phases where the pipeline employee is sitting in a classroom.
Therefore, it is recommended that thorough interim test-work be given to
pipeline employees in periods between formal classes. This may take the
form of solidifying what he learned in the prior phase and serve as
preparation for the coming phases.

Approaches/Methods of Identifying TNA:

Person needs analysis can be either broad or narrow in scope. The
broader approach compares actual performance with the minimum
acceptable standards of performance. The narrower approach compares an
evaluation of employee proficiency on each required skill dimension with the
proficiency level required for each skill. The first method is based on the
actual, current job performance of an employee; therefore, it can be used to
determine training needs for the current job. The second method, on the
other hand, can be used to identify development needs for future jobs.
Whether the focus is on performance of the job as a whole or on particular
aspects of the job, several approaches can be used to identify the training
needs of individuals:

ü  Output Measures.
Performance data (e.g., productivity, accidents, customer complaints),
as well as performance appraisal ratings, can provide evidence of
performance deficiencies. Person needs analysis can also consist of work
sample and job knowledge tests that measure performance capability and
knowledge.
ü  Self-Assessed Training Needs.
The self-assessment of training needs is growing in popularity. Here
top managers require the employee and his or her supervisor to identify
what the business needs are for the department and the business, as well as
the skill needs and deficiencies of the individual. Self-assessment is
premised on the assumption that employees, more than anyone else, are
aware of their weaknesses and performance deficiencies. Therefore, they're
in the best position to identify their own training needs.

ü  Attitude Surveys.
Attitude surveys completed by a supervisor's subordinates or by
customers or by both also can provide information on training needs. For
example, when one supervisor receives low scores regarding her or his
fairness in treating subordinates, compared with other supervisors in the
organization, the supervisor may need training in that area. Similarly, if the
customers of a particular unit seem to be particularly dissatisfied com¬pared
with other customers, training may be needed in that unit. Thus, customer
surveys can serve a dual role: providing information to management about
service and pinpointing employee deficiencies