HRM 592 all weeks 3,5&7 Course Project
HRM 592 all weeks 3,5&7 Course Project
The Course Project is designed to provide you
with real-life, practical experience in conducting a training and OD needs
assessment for a selected organization and in developing a training or
intervention strategy to address the needs that have been identified.
Guidelines The Course Project must be comprehensive and follow the analytical
stages below.
1.
Select an organization to be studied.
2.
Develop and conduct a needs
assessment.
3.
Analyze the data collected and
identify training needs.
4.
Develop a training or intervention strategy
to address the needs.
5.
Determine the training intervention
cost and quantify expected results.
6.
Develop an evaluation method.
Once the steps have been completed, a detailed
paper outlining your processes, methodologies, results, and recommendations
should be prepared. Although the length of the paper is not predetermined, a
paper of 10–15 pages in length, double-spaced, is customarily necessary to
cover the topic adequately. This does not include the title and reference
pages.
Note: There is an excellent guide online called
Human Capital: A Guide for Assessing Strategic Training and Development Efforts
in the Federal Government put out by the United States General Accounting
Office. Although this relates to the government and not the private sector, it
contains excellent information that can be applied anywhere.
Milestones: Project Phases—In Detail
Part 1: Select an Organization to Be Studied
There are a number of ways in which an
organization can be selected. One option is to look outside your organization
for companies that would be interested in participating in the project. Another
is to volunteer your own organization, or if you are not currently employed,
use a church, school, club, or other organization.
Once your organization has been selected, you
will need to learn a lot about it. It is essential for you to understand the
organization’s business, goals, objectives, and mission in order to complete
this project successfully.(Submit the information on your selected organization
to your Dropbox by the end of Week 1—this is an ungraded step but required and
essential to help you make sure you are on the right track.) Also note that you
will besubmitting a progress report for this project in Week 5 in the Minipaper
assignment—this is worth 100 points.
Part 2: Conduct a Needs Assessment
Training and development processes begin with
a needs assessment. Given the economic pressures that businesses face today, it
is imperative that those needs be connected to specific organizational
performance issues. There are three different forms of analysis you will need
to complete.
1.
Organizational
analysis involves
determining the appropriateness of training given the organization’s business
strategy, its resources available for training, and support by managers and
peers for training activities.
2.
Person analysis
involves (1) determining
whether performance deficiencies result from a lack of knowledge, skill, or
ability (a training issue) or from a motivational or work-design problem; (2)
identifying who needs training; and (3) determining employees’ readiness for
training.
3.
Task analysis identifies the important tasks and
knowledge, skill, and behaviors that need to be emphasized in training for
employees to complete their tasks.
Hints for a Successful Needs Assessment
As you conduct your needs assessment, you may
want to consider four potential sources of information that may help you in
your analysis. Information such as employee turnover analysis, incident
reports, long-range production goals, employee satisfaction studies, and
physical plant layout can tell us a lot. Examples of other documents you may
wish to consider include the following.
Business documents:
Key business documents can be used to
determine areas of poor performance and developmental needs. Such documents may
include
1.
unit productivity reports;
2.
customer satisfaction surveys;
3.
communication survey reports; and 4.
competitive analysis reports.
Organization survey:
Questionnaires can be created that probe for
areas in which systems, structures, or processes are not functioning as
intended. They can be used to look toward group, departmental, or individual
issues.(Submit your survey to be used for gathering data by the end of Week
3—70 points.)
Potential questions include the following.
Questionnaire Questions
1.
I am involved in decisions that
directly affect my job.
2.
My supervisor communicates with me on
a regular basis.
3.
I clearly understand what is expected
of me.
4.
I am rewarded for good performance.
5.
My opinion has been asked regarding
what needs to change in my work area.
6.
I understand why the decisions that
affect my job are made.
7.
My supervisor gives me information
that is important to me.
8.
I have the skills necessary to perform
my job properly.
9.
I am rewarded for working well with
others.
10.
I receive frequent feedback on my
performance.
11.
I believe the information that I
receive from my supervisor.
12.
I have the tools necessary to perform
my job properly.
13.
My job leaves me with a sense of
accomplishment.
14.
I understand the information that I
receive from my organization.
15.
I am encouraged to make decisions
that affect my job.
16.
I am encouraged to communicate with
my supervisor.
17.
Team goals are supported throughout
my organization.
18.
My organization treats all employees
well.
19.
I have the information necessary to
make decisions that affect my job.
20.
I am encouraged to communicate with
others.
21.
The feedback that I receive is
directly related to my job performance.
22.
My organization treats all employees
fairly.
23.
My supervisor allows me to
communicate my thoughts without fear of reprisal.
24.
The feedback that I receive is
constructive in nature.
25.
My organization is interested in the
growth and development of its employees.
26.
I believe the information that I
receive from my organization.
Observations: Individuals can be observed on the job, and their
interactions and activities can be noted for further analysis. Observations can
include the following.
Interviews: Interviews can be conducted in person or via a
distributed questionnaire that probes for areas where performance may be
improved. Potential interview questions include the following.
1.
What do you think the most important
part of your job is? What is least important?
2.
What would you like to learn to make
your job easier or better? What are the programs, processes, or resources
available for you to learn from?
3.
How have you developed the skills
that you have?
4.
Who brings problems to you and what
kind of problems are they? How do you usually solve them? Whom do you ask for
help?
5.
What do you find most frustrating
about your job?
6.
What would you like to be spending
your time doing? What would need to happen to let you do that?
It is up to you to determine the methodology
to be used in conducting the assessment. Considerations should include the
willingness of the organization and its employees to provide information, the
availability of information from the organization to be studied, and the availability
of individuals in the organization to be interviewed and observed.
The nature of the needs analysis, of course,
also should be based on the type of assessment desired. Given the broad
coverage of the course, assessment may include, but would not be limited to,
the following.
1.
Group processes and group
effectiveness
2.
Departmental effectiveness
3.
Decision-making process effectiveness
4.
Individual skills development
5.
Group skills development
6.
Career development
Part 3: Analyze the Data Collected and Identify Training Needs
Analyze the data you have collected and
identify one or more training needs for the organization. Be sure to fully
justify your recommendations and link your recommendations to the
organization’s business goals.
The data collected must be viewed in terms of
the initial intent of the project. Care must be taken to evaluate the data for
what they portray. Insufficient analysis or understanding of data, as well as
reading more into data than what they actually portray, are equally ineffective
activities.(Submit your course Minipaper that describes your needs assessment
findings and other relevant project information in Week 5—100 points.)
Part 4: Develop a Training or Intervention Strategy to Address
the Needs Creating a developmental strategy is the objective of the
investigative segment of the project. The strategy may include the following.
1.
Training Sessions
1.
Traditional classroom
2.
Simulations
3.
Self-managed strategies
4.
Opportunity to perform
2.
Career management systems
1.
Self-assessment programs
2.
Mentoring systems
3.
Action planning
3.
Organizational development
intervention activities
1.
Team building
2.
Intergroup activities
3.
Survey feedback activities
4.
Education and training activities
5.
Structural activities
6.
Process consultation
7.
Blake-Mouton grid activities
8.
Third-party peacemaking
9.
Coaching and counseling
10.
Career planning
11.
Goal setting
4.
System redesign
1.
Search conferences
2.
Confrontation meetings
3.
Strategic planning meetings
Part 5: Determine the Training or Intervention Cost and Quantify
Expected Results The fifth section of the Course Project is conducting a
cost-benefit analysis. Training costs must be evaluated against anticipated
results. This will only be palatable if, in the initial assessment, specific
behaviors and processes and their impacts on the performance of the
organization were determined. If so, conducting this final analytical segment
should be possible.
Part 6: Develop a Method of Training Evaluation Once you have completed the training, how will
you know whether it has been successful? There are a variety of ways to
evaluate training and development programs. Clearly identify the specific
outcomes you expect from the project. Then develop a method of evaluating the
effectiveness of your project.
Submit your assignment to the Dropbox, located
at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these
See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date
information.
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