Training & Development Needs Assessment Report - Masters Level

This report presents a training and development needs assessment conducted for Atlassian, a software application development company. The assessment identifies performance gaps related to customer satisfaction, including a lack of high-quality services, improper production, unawareness of changing client needs, and insufficient leadership skills. Various methods such as face-to-face interviews, customer feedback, observation, and focus group discussions were used to gather data. The evaluation of the assessment process highlights the necessity of a training program to improve customer service, enhance leadership skills, and align organizational goals with employee development. The report also discusses the potential negative outcomes of poorly planned needs assessments, such as increased job attrition and decreased customer trust, and offers recommendations for Atlassian to focus on proper planning and market research to address customer dissatisfaction effectively. Desklib provides access to similar assignments and study resources for students.

Running head: Need Assessment 1
Training and Development

Need Assessment 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Identification of performance gaps..................................................................................................4
Justification of chosen methods.......................................................................................................6
Evaluation of need assessment process...........................................................................................7
Possible outcomes if needs assessment is not properly planned or conducted..............................10
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Summary........................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The role of training and development program is vital in the organization as it helps to increase
the skills of the employees. A training program is a process that facilitates to improve the skills
of the employee while development program brings all employees to an upper level so that they
can perform in an efficient manner. It is vital for the organization to conduct need assessment to
find out the areas for which training is required (Ferreira & Abbad, 2013). Atlassian –software
application Development Company is taken to conduct the need assessment for finding the
performance gaps. There are various methods of need assessment such as interview, survey,
customer feedback, focus group discussion which aid to find out the performance gap within an
organization. It is necessary for the organization to conduct need assessment in an appropriate
manner otherwise it may lead an organization into adverse situation.

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Identification of performance gaps
The role of need assessment is wide in the organization because it is the systematic process for
determining needs between current conditions and desired conditions. It is necessary for the
organization to identify the performance gap otherwise it has to face huge losses due to collect
wrong information. Need assessment is the medium to provide the specific area of the
organization which require training program for developing the skills of the organization as well
as employees (Ford, 2014). It has been analyzed in the context of Atlassian that it is facing
challenges in customer satisfaction. The performance gaps regarding this challenge are
mentioned below:
Lack of high quality services
Customer satisfaction is directly or indirectly is connected with the quality of services and lack
of quality of products and services may break the chain of customers. It has been found that
Atlassian is facing concern about the dissatisfaction of customers towards services. It brings the
difficulty for the organization to retain the potential customers in the global market as well as it
is the major reason of not expanding the business worldwide. This performance gap shows that
the current condition of company is not compatible with desired outcomes which reflect the need
of training program.
Improper production of goods and services
Proper production of goods and services may lead the organization in to higher position because
it helps to increase the customer satisfaction. It has been analyzed that the main goal of the
company is to advance the humanity through the power of the software but due to lack of proper
production of goods and services, company is facing the challenges of customer dissatisfaction.
With the help of training program, Atlassian can get better improvement in this field which will
be helpful to enhance the customer satisfaction (Katzenbach & Smith, 2015).
Unaware about the changing needs
Changing needs of clients are the major point which should be known by each employee to
improve the productivity of the organization. It is the gigantic performance gap which requires

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training program because it has been stated by Noe & Winkler, (2012), that employees of the
company should be aware about the changing needs of the clients to make them satisfied.
Lack of leadership skills
Leadership skills can fill the gap between the current condition and desired condition of the
organization. It has been found that Atlassian has lack of leadership skills and employees of the
company are unaware about how to perform for increasing customer satisfaction. Improper
guidance from leader to followers may lead staff in to wrong track which being the cause of
customer dissatisfaction. There is a lack of understanding between groups that show the requisite
of need assessment.

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Justification of chosen methods
Need assessment has various methods which facilitate to make it perfect such as face to face
interviews, surveys, feedback from customers, focus groups and observation. These methods are
chosen to conduct the need assessment for Atlassian.
Face to face interview
Face to face interview is an effective approach to conduct the need assessment as it aids to get
instant answer of the asked questions about the concerns. The customer dissatisfaction is the
major concern of the company for which a questionnaire is being prepared. It is qualitative
method which perceives needs and indentifies individual learning needs. The selected employees
are called for interview in which Interviewers read the question which presented in the survey
questionnaire. It has been observed that customer dissatisfaction is enlarging the performance
gap.
Feedback from customers
It is vital for the company to identify the gaps which reduce the performance of the employees.
Feedback from the customer is another effective approach that helps to retain clients for a long
period. This method of need assessment is chosen for Atlassian Company because this company
is connected with large customers. It has been observed that many customers of this company are
unwilling to take services from the organization which affect on the goodwill as well as the
revenue of the company. This method is facilitated to evaluate the performance gap in a suitable
way in order that training program can be conducted.
Observation
Observation is the method in which managers of the company observe the various activities of
the employee to find out the performance gap. It has been found from the human resource
department of the company that the employees are unaware about the changing needs of the
clients which raise the concern of customer dissatisfaction (McCawley, 2009).
Focus groups discussion

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Focus group discussion covers the discussion about the topic by involving specific number of
people of the organization. To conduct this method, 10 employees are selected to discuss about
the lack of services of the company. This method has chosen for need assessment because it
entails the instant answer of responses of specific question (Wherry, Huey & Medford, 2015).
Evaluation of need assessment process
It is necessary for the company to evaluate the need assessment process after considering the
various methods. It has been evaluated through analysing the performance gaps that the need of
training program is higher for the organization. Different methods have been used in the
organization to conduct the need assessment which represents the requirement of training
program for increasing the customer satisfaction. It is the explicit need which should be
considered by an organization to improve the customer satisfaction for amplifying the revenues
of the company (Bergman & Klefsjö, 2010). Training program should be conducted to provide a
desired high quality customer services. The program of training should be entailed the way of
process in which employees of the company understand the value of customer service and need
for quality improvement. It would be facilitated for the organization to improve the quality
services and proper production of goods and services (Herington & Weaven, 2009). Leaders will
be able to understand their responsibility to provide the valuable guidance to the employees so
that they can move ahead with full of understanding. There is a need of improving the leadership
skills to encourage employees which can be determined by conducting training program.
Improvement in organization
Organizational analysis is the process of need assessment that facilitates to determine the
approach for achieving the goals of the company. There is a lack of high quality services which
reduce the customer satisfaction. The training program should be conducted in an adequate
manner to provide the better understanding about the customer services to the employees so that
the customer cannot get dissatisfied from the services (Silberman & Biech, 2015).
Performance improvement

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Performance evaluation is the major aspect for the company to analyze the growth of the
particular employee. It is essential for the company to conduct the high performance system to
improve the performance of the employees. Training program is the solution of increasing the
performance but it should be covered only those specific parts which are required to improve
(Ericsson, 2009). It has been found that Atlassian aligns its organizational goals with employee’s
individual goals and training program will be helpful to attain it a sophisticated manner.
Working environment
The role of working environment is huge in the performance of an employee. It has been
evaluated that the work analysis can gather the information about the individual job function.
The demand of people is changing as per the amendments in the technology and they are looking
for innovation and development in every product and services (Phillips, 2012). Training program
should be covered the entire aspects of changing demands of the people so that employees
understand the need of changing in the organization.
Person analysis
It has been evaluated that each employee has different skills and due to lack of leadership skills
they are influenced in negative manner. It is vital for the company to provide the training session
to each employee whether they are fresher or old ones (Herschell, Kolko, Baumann & Davis,
2010). It would be helpful to enhance the understanding about the customer satisfaction. 360
degree evaluation approach should be applied within the organization via training method as it is
able to identify the strength and weakness of the employees.

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Possible outcomes if needs assessment is not properly planned or conducted
Atlassian presently faces the huge challenges of customer dissatisfaction and it is essential for
the company to conduct the need assessment in proper way otherwise it may lead company in
problematic situation. The possible outcomes due to improper planning of need assessment are
increasing percentage of job attrition, high pressure of working, decreasing rate of customers and
lack of decision making (Naik, Gantasala, & Prabhakar, 2010). It has been found that the specific
need of increasing customer satisfaction in a sophisticated manner which can be resolved by
training program. Need assessment is the strategic process of finding the gap between the current
situation and desired situation of the company and improper planning of need assessment would
not be able to find out the area for improvement within the organization. However, the company
is facing challenges of customer dissatisfaction and improper planning of need assessment may
double this situation and the trust of the customer will disappeared which may affect the
revenues of the company. Need assessment is vital because the program of training might be
used in an incorrect manner as a resolution to a performance concern (Kim, Ng & Kim, 2009).
This process prevents unnecessary expenses on the training program of the company which is not
linked to the business strategy of the organization. Lack of planning may cause the unrequited
expenses. Improper planning of need assessment can increase the attrition rate within the
organization and increase the work pressure on them. Confidence of the employee may get
reduced due to lack of proper planning of it (Kim, 2011).
Recommendations
It is recommended to the Atlassian –software application Development Company to focus on
proper planning of need assessment as it facilitates to identify the difference in the performance
for which training program is required. It has been found that the awareness of the changing
demands of the customers is the major need of the company which affect the customer
satisfaction. The need assessment process should be conducted by considering the different skills
of the employees within an organization. Training need assessment should be conducted by
entailing every aspects of the changing demand of the customers about the software which can
be done by proper market research. The main focus of the need assessment on customer
dissatisfaction as it is the major area which should be improved to increase the goodwill of the

Need Assessment 10
company globally. Improper improvement can affect the other areas of the organization which
increase the more adverse situation for the company (Composition, n.d.).

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Summary
It has been summarized that the role of training program is vital in the organization as it helps to
increase the productivity of the employees in an adequate manner. The need assessment process
has been executed for Atlassian –software application Development Company to recognize the
performance gaps between the current situation and desired situation. Various methods have
been used to conduct the need assessment process and evaluation has been made by analysing
the organization, person, work and performance. It is apparent that company should conduct the
need assessment in an adequate manner otherwise it would increase more problematic situation
for the company.

Need Assessment 12
References
Bergman, B., & Klefsjö, B. (2010). Quality from customer needs to customer satisfaction.
Studentlitteratur AB.
Composition, (n.d.). What is Needs Assessment? Retrieved on 23rd April, 2018, from:
http://compositionawebb.pbworks.com/f/0787975257.pdf.
CTB. (2018). Conducting Needs Assessment Surveys. Retrieved from:
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-
resources/conducting-needs-assessment-surveys/main.
Ericsson, K. A. (Ed.). (2009). Development of professional expertise: Toward measurement of
expert performance and design of optimal learning environments. Cambridge University
Press.
Ferreira, R. R., & Abbad, G. (2013). Training needs assessment: where we are and where we
should go. BAR-Brazilian Administration Review, 10(1), 77-99.
Ford, J. K. (2014). Improving training effectiveness in work organizations. Psychology Press.
Herington, C., & Weaven, S. (2009). E-retailing by banks: e-service quality and its importance to
customer satisfaction. European Journal of Marketing, 43(9/10), 1220-1231.
Herschell, A. D., Kolko, D. J., Baumann, B. L., & Davis, A. C. (2010). The role of therapist
training in the implementation of psychosocial treatments: A review and critique with
recommendations. Clinical psychology review, 30(4), 448-466.
Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (2015). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance
organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
Kim, M. R. (2011). The importance of customer satisfaction and delight on loyalty in the tourism
and hospitality industry. European Journal of Tourism Research, 4(2), 226.