Training and Development: A Needs Analysis of People’s Credit Union

This report presents a needs analysis conducted for The People’s Credit Union, an Edmonton-based credit union facing customer service challenges. The analysis identifies a gap between the desired state of exceptional customer service and the current reality of customer complaints regarding call center agents. The report explores training as a potential solution, emphasizing the importance of aligning training with organizational goals. It examines gaps and solutions at organizational, task, and person levels, considering factors like customer satisfaction surveys, task analysis interviews, and employee feedback. Obstacles to conducting a thorough needs analysis, such as budget constraints and resistance to change, are also discussed. The report concludes that improving customer service requires aligning training practices with organizational objectives.

Running head: A NEEDS ANALYSIS
Training and Development
[A Needs Analysis]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1A NEEDS ANALYSIS
Executive summary
The main purpose of this report is to conduct ‘a needs analysis’ of the case study company ‘The
People’s Credit Union’. The purpose is being served through different stages such as identifying
the gap and analyzing whether training is an answer to it. It follows the ways need to be adopted
to identify gaps at various levels such as organizational, task and person levels. Moreover, it
discusses the obstacles, which the team conducting ‘a needs assessment’ generally face.

2A NEEDS ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
2. Gaps between the current and the desired state...........................................................................4
3. Training as an answer to the gap.................................................................................................4
4. Finding gaps and determining solutions at each ‘level of analysis’............................................5
4.1 Organizational Analysis.........................................................................................................5
4.2 Task Analysis.........................................................................................................................6
4.3 Person Analysis.....................................................................................................................7
5. Obstacles in conducting a thorough needs analysis.....................................................................8
6. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

3A NEEDS ANALYSIS
1. Introduction
‘The People’s Credit Union’ is an Edmonton based credit union that provides different
types of banking services such as Co-operative, Commercial, Community development and
others. The company has both a physical and an online presence. Credit Union assumes that it
provides a high-level customer service; however, facts are different than what is being assumed.
It is because there are complaints being raised against their customer service agents. Customers
have claimed that service agents in call centers are rude over the phone and do not appropriately
provide any assistance on their day-to-day banking queries. In addition, the training and
development policy in the ‘Credit Union’ is of a sub-optimal level. The training process is not
even aligned with the organizational goal and objectives. These scenarios just suggest that the
training policy in ‘The People’s Credit Union’ needs to be realigned with the organizational goal
to provide exceptional customer service. However, the needs could only be identified only after
performing ‘A Needs Analysis’ of the ‘Credit Union’.
2. Gaps between the current and the desired state
The desired state of ‘The People’s Credit Union’ is to provide an exceptional customer
service. However, it is not being able to deliver even a satisfactory service. Customers have
raised complaints against the level of customer service. Customers are not receiving a proper
answer whenever they have their day-to-day banking queries. Call center agents are expected to
deliver the highest standard of customer service (Nguyen et al., 2014). Despite the fact, service
agents working for the ‘Credit Union’ have performed averagely. There is an evident gap
between the desired and the current state for the ‘Credit Union’.
3. Training as an answer to the gap

4A NEEDS ANALYSIS
As opined by Dhar, (2015), there is a strong relationship between employee training and
the quality of services offered to customers. It means that a well-organized training positively
impacts the performance. As argued by Saini et al., (2017), customer-oriented organizations are
most likely to meet their organizational goal of attaining customer satisfaction. However, the
‘Credit Union’ being also a customer-oriented company does not seem like making it. They have
rather been in troubles for their quality of service.
Kum, Cowden and Karodia, (2014) suggest that training and development is not alone a
solution to an affected quality of service. There are rather more areas that need to be improved
along with focusing on training and development. Those areas include working conditions, the
provision for feedback for employees and the management support. Kum, Cowden and Karodia
also say that a lack of resources affects the training outcomes. As opined by Obi-Anike and
Ekwe, (2014), effective training is an investment that management do to attain both immediate
and long-range returns. However, authors feel that only a mere investment will not yield the
expected result but an effectively planned and organized training. Authors recommend that the
training and development program should be conducted on a regular basis. Additionally, it
should not just focus the skills development but also cover a wider area like the quality of
customer service.
These all articles more or less revolves around the similar thing such as that training and
development is like a tool that influences the quality of service and employee performance. It
also means that training is conducted to repair the gaps provided that it is well managed and
supported from the management.
4. Finding gaps and determining solutions at each ‘level of analysis’

5A NEEDS ANALYSIS
4.1 Organizational Analysis
Gaps at the organizational level can be related to many business functions such as
customer service, leadership, working conditions and TechRepublic resources. This report is just
confined to gaps in the level of customer service in the case study firm the ‘Credit Union’.
A gap at the organizational level such as in customer service can be identified by doing a
survey. The survey will produce the result and indicate how much customers are satisfied.
Moreover, the survey will produce the data, which could be compared against competitors.
Hence, by comparing with competitors, the gap could be identified. This will create the necessity
to close the gap by setting up a higher target level (Vatanartiran & Karadeniz, 2015).
The possible solution will be to improve the customer service, which would require a
plan to be made to do the repairing work. The new plan will have clear objectives, which will be
aligned with the organizational policy for the training. The management will have a role to play
to make the training a successful event. It needs to be ensured that training is held on a regular
basis. Additionally, everything related to a training needs to be appropriately planned to avoid
wastage of investment (Vatanartiran & Karadeniz, 2015).
4.2 Task Analysis
A gap in tasks can be analyzed in a number of ways such as by interviewing high
performing employees and subject matter experts (SMEs). They will deliver a good overview of
the level of tasks and its feasibility with the organizational capability. Interviewing the
supervisors and managers will also produce the valuable set of data. Job descriptions and
occupational information need also be checked to analyze an understanding of the level of needs
and understanding employees require to perform their tasks (Bishop et al., 2015). Few important

6A NEEDS ANALYSIS
questions could also be posed to conduct a task analysis. These questions are (Bishop et al.,
2015):
 What kinds of tasks are normally performed?
 How often are these tasks performed?
 What difficulties you normally face?
 What set of knowledge is required to perform the task?
 What training means are available to treat these challenges?
The gap can be reduced and future targets of providing the feasible tasks only could also be
attained provided that a model is being developed to guide and support the development of
training programs and a curriculum for tasks. The training will be designed in such a way that it
aligns with job tasks. Hence, training will become easier for trainees.
4.3 Person Analysis
This can be done by interviewing the chosen person or employee. The interview will
have a set of questions ranging from the job satisfaction to challenges being faced. This will
produce ample data regarding various thing. They are (Arslan & Coskun, 2014):
 How is the working condition?
 Do you enjoy working here or else?
 What do you like the most about your work?
 Do you have any challenges working here in this company?
 What those challenges are?
 Do you feel that the management is supportive if not what else you would suggest as an
improvement?

7A NEEDS ANALYSIS
 What opportunities you have working for the company?
 Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
These are a few questions, which will produce a variety of data regarding the various thing. The
data will not be taken as evidence for any issue until and unless the managers and supervisors are
also interviewed. In some cases, it is also advisable to have a brief talk with the person's
colleagues. This will shed more light on the various thing because colleagues will know that
person much better than anybody else can. Whatever be the data is that the person needs to be
given a proper care such as an effective mentoring. In addition, managers and supervisors should
also be approached to let them understand the situation and request for their support given to that
person.
5. Obstacles in conducting a thorough needs analysis
There are numerous obstacles, which the team conducting ‘a needs analysis’ faces. One
of the biggest obstacles is the implementation. Recommendations are generally delayed due to
the unavailability of the adequate budget. It happens because a few members of the management
team do not find these recommendations as valuable things to continue with. Organizational
factors do also pose the challenge as some of the factors tend to stay with the existing
performance levels. It becomes very difficult then to make them convinced with the plan. These
factors are actually the resisting forces available within the organization. Another major block is
applying a process, which is systematic and is also able to align learning solutions with business
outcomes. Determining the organizational goals is another obstacle to ‘a needs analysis’. If there
is no determined goal, how a gap could then be identified. It is also challenging to identify the
level of individual performance, which is actually necessary to meet the organizational goal.

8A NEEDS ANALYSIS
Perhaps, the most vital part of ‘a needs assessment’ is to align the business goal and objectives
with the organizational mission (Esmaeili, 2016).
6. Conclusion
In summary, this can be concluded that ‘The People’s Credit Union’ has a gap at the
organizational level. The quality of service is being affected due to the uncompetitive and less
motivated employees. ‘A needs analysis’ finds that there is a gap between the current state of the
company and its desired state. Customer service will only improve if the organizational goal and
objectives are aligned with the practice. Hence, there is a need to align training practices with the
organizational goal to provide exceptional customer service to its customers.

9A NEEDS ANALYSIS
References
Arslan, A., & Coskun, A. (2014). A needs analysis study for the English curriculum of the
teaching staff training program in a Turkish university. Modern Journal of Language
Teaching Methods, 4(1), 283.
Bishop, C., Brazier, J., Cree, J., & Turner, A. (2015). A needs analysis and testing battery for
field hockey. Professional Strength & Conditioning, 36, 15-26.
Dhar, R. L. (2015). Service quality and the training of employees: The mediating role of
organizational commitment. Tourism Management, 46, 419-430.
Esmaeili, A. (2016). Needs Analysis in EAP of Computer and Mechanical Engineering English
Courses The Case of Islamic Azad university of Shiraz. International Research Journal
of Applied and Basic Sciences, 10(5), 513-522.
Kum, F. D., Cowden, R., & Karodia, A. M. (2014). The impact of training and development on
employee performance: A case study of ESCON Consulting. Singaporean Journal of
Business Economics and Management Studies, 3(3), 72-105.
Nguyen, H., Groth, M., Walsh, G., & Hennig‐Thurau, T. (2014). The impact of service scripts on
customer citizenship behavior and the moderating role of employee customer
orientation. Psychology & Marketing, 31(12), 1096-1109.
Obi-Anike, H. O., & Ekwe, M. C. (2014). Impact of training and development on organizational
effectiveness: evidence from selected public sector organizations in Nigeria. European
Journal of Business and Management, 6(29), 66-75.

10A NEEDS ANALYSIS
Saini, G. K., Pandey, S. K., Singh, A., & Kalyanaram, G. (2017). Role of Empathy and Customer
Orientation in Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment. NMIMS
MANAGEMENT REVIEW, 34(2), 12-28.
Vatanartiran, S., & Karadeniz, S. (2015). A Needs Analysis for Technology Integration Plan:
Challenges and Needs of Teachers. Contemporary Educational Technology, 6(3), 206-
220.