Planning a Needs Assessment

Whole Foods Market is a global grocery store chain and an organization of interest for a needs assessment.  Started in 1980, the chain is a world leader in natural and organic foods, with 62,000 employees in over 330 locations throughout North America, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The locations include retail stores, distribution centers, bake houses, commissary kitchens, seafood processing facilities, a coffee roasting operation, and global and regional support offices.  In addition to “in-store educators” and team trainers, Whole Foods Market has regional trainers who are responsible for orientation and training of all new and existing team members. (Whole Foods, 2012)

Prior to conducting a needs assessment, I would make contact with regional trainers, regional team leaders, store team leaders and facility leaders to ensure that I received collaborative input.  In the meeting, I would inquire about current training programs as they relate to the overall organizational strategic direction.  This would allow me to determine if training is supporting the strategic goals.  In order to obtain this information, I would ask the following questions:

·    How might the training content affect our employees’ relationship with our customers?

·    How does this program align with the strategic needs of the business?

·    Do we have experts who can help us develop the program content and ensure that we understand the needs of the business as we develop the program?

·    Will employees perceive the training as an opportunity? Reward? Punishment? Waste of time? (Noe, 2010)

Throughout Whole Foods Market various learning techniques are utilized for training, including personal one-on-one, group, video, computer-based and printed study materials (Whole Foods Market, 2012).  Along those lines, I would ask to see lesson plans, training manuals, training records.   The size of Whole Foods organization and its vast locations demand that I employ various methods in order to gather information.  The following techniques would be used:  questionnaires, interviews, observations, focus groups and online technology.   

Noe, R. (2010). Employee training and development. (Fifth ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. 

          Whole foods market. (2012). Retrieved from    http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/careers/paths.php

Elevator Speech

Elevator Speech

Your insight to training within your organization is quite interesting.  Incorporating training into the organizational environment is a worthwhile investment strategy. According to Noe, training can help a company to gain competitive advantage.  I invite you to consider the following aspects of business that are affected by training:  investors, employees, and customers. 

1.      For investors, training demonstrates a commitment to your organization’s mission because it involves developing marketable skills that will help to generate more income.  More skillfully trained employees influence the amount and degree of competitiveness of organizational products.

2.      For employees, training demonstrates a commitment to including them in the company’s vision.  This, in turn reaffirms the employees’ confidence and encourages loyalty to the organization.  Top management believes that the largest benefit of learning is that employees have opportunities to network, creating more knowledge, reinforcing continuous learning, and creating committed employees (Noe, 2010).

3.       For customers, training and development activities demonstrate the organization’s commitment to producing quality products.

Thanks for your time.

Noe. (R.). Employee training and development. (Fifth ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.