2.1 Organizational Needs

To be fully effective, any analysis of training needs must start with the needs of the whole organization. Some of the key questions of corporate strategy that occupy the minds of the top management of any organization are:

• What are the aims of our business?

• What are our strengths and weaknesses?

One of the major strengths or weaknesses of an organization is its workforce. This leads to questions of personnel planning such as:

• How well matched is our workforce to the needs of the business?

• What levels of expertise do we have now, and will we need in the future, to achieve our corporate plans?

Organizational needs tend to be defined in broad terms. Many of the objectives need to be broken down and further augmented at a more detailed level before they can be carried out. For many organizational needs this means that they have to be identified at the workteam level.

2.2 Workteam Needs

EXTENSION 3 A useful book for developing and training strategy is Creating a Training and Development Strategy, by Andrew Mayo.

Each of the levels below top management will normally be expected to participate in corporate strategy at a departmental or workteam level.

Managers of particular departmental functions such as production, marketing, finance and personnel will often call upon section heads...