Assignment: Assume that you have been asked to perform a needs assessment for Men’s Wearhouse (www.menswearhouse.com). How might you specifically approach the needs assessment? Conclude with your thoughts on the importance of the analysis phase in designing a training program.

A Needs Assessment of Men's Warehouse

Men's Wearhouse is a clothing company that sells dress clothes for men that are less than formal, yet more than casual. On their website, George Zimmer, Founder and CEO, states “Since we opened the doors more than 30 years ago, The Men's Wearhouse mission has been to maximize sales, provide value to our customers, and deliver top-quality customer service while still having fun and maintaining our values” (http://www.menswearhouse.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentAttachmentView_-1_10601_10051__10709_10684_AbtCorporateGovernance.html). A needs assessment for this company would be highly efficient to ensure the strategic objectives effectively address, adhere to, and support the management philosophy.

Getting Stakeholder Buy-In

“Because the goal of needs assessment is to determine whether a training need exists, who it exists for, and for what tasks training is needed, it is important to include managers, trainers, and employees in the needs assessment process” (Noe, 2010, p. 105). To approach a needs assessment of Men’s Wearhouse, it is pertinent that I get buy-in from upper and mid-level managers, as well as the trainers, and trainees or employees. All of these stakeholders must understand the important role a needs assessment plays in their business’ achievement of strategic goals. Furthermore, getting their buy-in will mean that they are supportive of the training, development, and learning opportunities that may be a result of the findings in the needs assessment.

The Process

“Needs assessment refers to the process used to determine whether training is necessary” (Noe, 2010, p. 103). If I were placed in a position to design a training program for Men’s Wearhouse, the first and most important step would be to examine the three elements of needs assessment: organizational analysis, person analysis, and task analysis. “While any one analysis can indicate the need for training, companies need to consider the information from all three types of analysis before the decision is made to devote time and money to training” (Noe, 2010, p. 110).

Organizational Analysis

“Organizational analysis involves determining the appropriateness of training, given the company’s business strategy, its resources available for training, and support by managers and peers for training activities” (Noe, 2010, p. 103). In this phase, questions would be addressed to the trainers, employees, managers, and vendors. I would ask the trainers questions that provide a clear plan for the training program to support the company’s strategic direction. The questions I would ask the employees would pertain to their level of support for training activities. Furthermore, I would ask the managers questions that pertain to their support of and resources available for training. Finally, if it is decided that a consultant or vendor is needed to conduct the training, I would ask questions of them as well.

Questions Asked of...

Trainers	Employees	Managers	Consultants/Vendors
*How will this program align to the company's strategic needs? *What might suppliers, customers, or partners need to know about the training program? *How might the training content affect the employees’ relationship with our customers?	*How do you perceive training programs? An opportunity? Rewarding? Punishing? Waste of time? *Do you feel that training activities will enhance your knowledge, skills, and behaviors, which will help contribute to your business upholding its mission and values?	*Should organizational resources be devoted to this program? *Are there budget and time resources for training? *Do you have internal experts that could be used to train employees? *Should a consultant or vendor be considered for training instead?	*How much and what type of experience do you have in designing and delivering training? *How qualified and experienced is your staff? *How will your training program fit the company's strategic needs? *How do I view examples of your previously developed training programs? * What evidence can you provide as proof that your programs work? *Can you provide references of your previous clients?

Person Analysis

“Person analysis focuses on identifying whether there is evidence that training is the solution, who needs training, and whether employees have the prerequisite skills, attitudes, and beliefs needed to ensure they master the content of training programs” (Noe, 2010, p. 132). In this phase of the needs assessment process, questioning of the managers and trainers would take place. These questions would analyze the factors that influence performance and learning such as: person characteristics, input, output, consequences, and feedback. “Managers and trainers need to be concerned about employees’ basic skill levels, attitudes, and the work environment in determining if performance problems can be solved using training” (Noe, 2010, p. 132).

Questions About Influencing Factors

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your employees? Do they have the basic skills (cognitive ability and appropriate reading level) needed before entering the training program? What other skills must they acquire before entering the program? Do your employees have self-efficacy, that is, do they feel that they can perform or learn the content of the program? Are your employees aware of their skill strengths and weaknesses? Are they motivated to learn skills from the program to improve their weaknesses? Are their situational constraints that affect your employees’ performance and motivation to learn such as materials, budgetary support, and time? Is your work environment socially supportive, that is, are your employees provided feedback and reinforcement? Do your employees know at what level they are expected to perform? Are rewards for performance adequate? Are there norms that may encourage non-performance of employees? Are the benefits of attending training clearly communicated? Are employees provided adequate and timely feedback in their performance of meeting standards?

Task Analysis

“Task analysis results in a description of work activities, including tasks performed by the employee and the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to complete tasks” (Noe, 2010, p. 123). In this phase, conducted only after the organizational analysis has determined the company wants to commit to training, expert employees and managers will be observed and interviewed to get answers for the questions that will be used as the focus of the training. Identifying the tasks and the training that employees will need for effective job performance is very critical in developing a training program that meets the business needs of Men’s Wearhouse, or any other organization.

Questions Asked

What tasks are the employees required to perform? What knowledge and skills are needed to perform each task? How frequently is each task performed? What level of importance is the task for successful job performance? How difficult is each task to perform? How much time is spent performing each task?

Documentation

To further add to the information I would collect in the organization, person, and task analysis phases, there are some documents I would ask to see. First, I would like to see the Code Conduct that guides the company and its employees in portraying and meeting the standards outlined by the company’s mission, values, and philosophy. This would be a great asset to measure against their strategic objectives. A breakdown of employees’ sales might also be something I may want to view to help pinpoint the employees that generate the most sales. Furthermore, employees’ schedules over a period of time might be helpful to generalize whether work hours may be a factor in the amount of each employee’s sales. Another document that might be helpful might be a randomly generated list of customer contact numbers. Contacting these customers and asking them for feedback about the employees and services provided at Men’s Wearhouse, is critically important. The needs of the customers are of utmost importance. Finally, I would want to view documentation about staff size, staff turnover rates, rewards and incentives, the company’s profits and losses, etc. All of these listed documents, in addition to any other documentation the company may provide will be very instrumental in determining the needs of the company, their ability to provide products and services that adhere to the company’s mission, and their ability to retain highly effective employees.

Techniques

“Several methods are used to conduct needs assessment” (Noe, 2010, p. 107). For a needs assessment conducted for Men’s Wearhouse, observations, questionnaires, interviews, and documentation would be the techniques I would use. Observations would be conducted to monitor and generate information about the work environment. They would focus on the feel of the working atmosphere, interaction between employees, interaction between managers, interaction between employees and managers, interaction between employees and customers, as well as the level of expertise the employees possess about the products and services provided by the company. Questionnaires would cover questions that provide insight from a large number of employees at once, in a manner that is easily summarized. Interviews will be used to uncover details of training needs, unanticipated issues, and modifications of questions throughout the process. Furthermore, interviews will be used to access the attitudes and beliefs of the shareholders of Men’s Wearhouse as pertains to training being needed to enhance the company’s ability to live up to customer’s satisfaction. Finally, documentation will be used because of its objectiveness and low level of human involvement.

Conclusion

Rossett and Sheldon (2001) stated “Analysis is the study we do in order to figure out what to do” (as cited in Clark, 2010). The analysis phase, or needs assessment in designing a training program for Men’s Wearhouse is critically needed and very important, if it is committed to devoting time and money to training activities that will aid in meeting their strategic objectives.

References:

Clark, D. R. (2010). Introduction to ISD Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/sat2.html.

Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5^th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.