HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE - Fichier PDF

610 ❚ Human resource developmentIDENTIFYING LEARNING NEEDSAll learning activities need to be based on an understanding of what needs to be doneand why. The purpose of the activities must be defined and this is only possible if thelearning needs of the organization and the groups and individuals within it havebeen identified and analysed.The basis of learning needs analysisLearning needs analysis is sometimes assumed to be concerned only with definingthe gap between what is happening and what should happen, ie the differencebetween what people know and can do and what they should know and be able to do.This gap is what has to be filled by training.But this ‘deficiency’ model of training – only putting things right that have gonewrong – is limited. Learning is much more positive than that. It is more concernedwith identifying and satisfying development needs – fitting people to take on extraresponsibilities, increasing all-round competence, equipping people to deal with newwork demands, multiskilling, and preparing people to take on higher levels ofresponsibility in the future.Areas for learning needs analysisLearning needs should be analysed, first, for the organization as a whole – corporateneeds; second, for departments, teams, functions or occupations within the organization– group needs; and third, for individual employees – individual needs. Thesethree areas are interconnected, as shown in Figure 41.1. The analysis of corporateneeds will lead to the identification of learning needs in different departments oroccupations, while these in turn will indicate what individual employees need tolearn. The process operates in reverse. As the needs of individual employees areanalysed separately, common needs emerge that can be dealt with on a group basis.The sum of group and individual needs will help to define corporate needs, althoughthere may be some superordinate learning requirements that can be related only tothe company as a whole to meet its business development needs – the whole learningplan may be greater than the sum of its parts.These areas of analysis are discussed below.Analysis of business and human resource plansBusiness and HR plans should indicate in general terms the types of skills andcompetencies that may be required in the future and the numbers of people with