training can be described as the acquisition of skills, concepts or attitudes that result in improved performance within the job

environment. Training analysis looks at each aspect of an operational domain so that the initial skills, concepts and attitudes of the human elements of a system can be effectively identified and appropriate training can be specified.
Features of training 1) Increases knowledge and skills for doing a particular job; it bridges the gap between job needs and employee skills, knowledge and behavior. 2) Focuses attention on the current job specific and addresses particular performance deficits or problems. 3) Concentrate on individual employees changing what employers know, how they work, attitudes toward their work or their interactions with their co-workers or supervisors. 4) Tends to be more narrowly focused and oriented towards short term performance concerns.

Training analysis as a process often covers:

Training Analysis is most often used as part of the system development process. Due to the close tie between the design of the system and the training required, in most cases it runs alongside the development to capture the training requirements.

Training Analysis (sometimes called Training Needs Analysis (TNA)) is the formal process of identifying the training gap and its related training need. Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is defined as the Identification of training requirements and the most cost effective means of meeting those requirements. A TNA should always be performed where a major new development in policy, equipment acquisition or procedures is deemed to have potential impact upon the current training regime. Training needs analysis is a systematic process of understanding training
requirements. It is conducted at three stages - at the level of organisation, individual and the job, each of which is called as the organisational, individual and job 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.

s mentioned earlier, the needs analysis / assessment is carried out at three levels - organisational, Individual and Job. We now take up each one of them in detail.

Organisational Analysis
The organisational analysis is aimed at short listing the focus areas for training within the organisation and the factors that may affect the same. Organisational mission, vision, goals, people inventories, processes, performance data are all studied. The study gives cues about the kind of learning environment required for the training. Motorola and IBM for example, conduct surveys every year keeping in view the short term and long term goals of the organisation.

Job Analysis
The job analysis of the needs assessment survey aims at understanding the what of the training development stage. The kind of intervention needed is what is decided upon in the job analysis. It is an objective assessment of the job wherein both the worker oriented - approach as well as the task - oriented approach is taken into consideration. The worker approach identifies key behaviours and ASK for a certain job and the task - oriented

approach identifies the activities to be performed in a certain job. The former is useful in deciding the intervention and the latter in content development and program evaluation.

Individual Analysis
As evident from the name itself, the individual analysis is concerned with who in the organisation needs the training and in which particular area. Here performance is taken out from the performance appraisal data and the same is compared with the expected level or standard of performance. The individual analysis is also conducted through questionnaires, 360 feedback, personal interviews etc. Likewise, many organisation use competency ratings to rate their managers; these ratings may come from their subordinates, customers, peers, bosses etc. Apart from the above mentioned organisations also make use of attitude surveys, critical Incidents and Assessment surveys to understand training needs which will be discussed in detail in other

Corporate need and training need are interdependent because the organization performance ultimately depends on the performance of its individual employee and its sub group. Organizational Level Training need analysis at organizational level focuses on strategic planning, business need, and goals. It starts with the assessment of internal environment of the organization such as, procedures, structures, policies, strengths, and weaknesses and external

environment such as opportunities and threats. After doing the SWOT analysis, weaknesses can be dealt with the training interventions, while strengths can further be strengthened with continued training. Threats can be reduced by identifying the areas where training is required. And, opportunities can be exploited by balancing it against costs. For this approach to be successful, the HR department of the company requires to be involved in strategic planning. In this planning, HR develops strategies to be sure that the employees in the organization have the required Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes (KSAs) based on the future KSAs requirements at each level. Individual Level Training need analysis at individual level focuses on each and every individual in the organization. At this level, the organization checks whether an employee is performing at desired level or the performance is below expectation. If the difference between the expected performance and actual performance comes out to be positive, then certainly there is a need of training. However, individual competence can also be linked to individual need. The methods that are used to analyze the individual need are:

Appraisal and performance review Peer appraisal Competency assessments Subordinate appraisal Client feedback Customer feedback Self-assessment or self-appraisal

Operational Level Training Need analysis at operational level focuses on the work that is being assigned to the employees. The job analyst gathers the information on whether the job is clearly understood by an employee or not. He gathers this information through technical interview, observation, psychological test; questionnaires asking the closed ended as well as open ended questions, etc. Today, jobs are dynamic and keep changing over the time. Employees need to prepare for these changes. The job analyst also gathers information on the tasks needs to be done plus the tasks that will be required in the future. Based on the information collected, training Need analysis (TNA) is done.

Training is needed to serve the following purpose: 1) Newly recruited employees require training so as to perform their tasks

effectively. Instructions guidance and coaching help them to handle jobs competently without any wastage. 2) Training is necessary to prepare existing employees for higher level jobs (promotion) 3) Existing employees require refresher training so as to keep abreast of the latest development in job operations. In the face of rapid technological changes, this is an absolute necessity. 4) Training is necessary when a person moves from one job to another (transfer). After training the employee can change job quickly, improve his performance levels and achieve career goals comfortably. 5) Training is necessary to make employees mobile and versatile. They can be placed on various jobs depending on organizational needs. 6) Training is needed to bridge the gap between what the employees has and what the job demands. Training is needed to make employees more productive and useful in the long run. 7) Training is needed for employees to again acceptance from peers (learning a job quickly and being able to pull their weight is one of the best ways for them to gain acceptance. Training often has been referred to as teaching specific skills and behavior. Examples of training are learning to fire a rifle to shoot foul shots in basketball and to type. It is usually reserved for people who have to be brought up to performing level in some specific skills. The skills are almost always behavioral and distinct from conceptual