Introduction
Subway Sandwich Shop is a catering organization that deals with the provision of products such as sandwiches, salad, drinks and other kinds of snacks. The company focuses on the provision of nutritious products. Subway Sandwich also provides catering services and planning. The company has several restaurants and shops all over the world such as in the USA, Portugal and several other countries. The company has expanded rapidly and increased its presences and services all over USA. Most towns in the USA have a Subway Sandwich restaurant or shop. The restaurant has become popular because of its quality products and services to clients. It also offers competitive and fair prices for its products.
However, Subway Sandwich has been experiencing organizational problems that have affected its productivity and efficiency. This would require the organization to undergo training needs analysis to establish the organizational problems and find ways of dealing with them. The circumstances under which the Subway Sandwich organization could be undergoing may vary depending on the prevailing conditions.
Performance problems
Performance problems are a major cause of carrying out training needs analysis in many companies. The performance of the organization is always expected to be smooth and incremental. However, due to organizational processes such as poor management and lack of financial support, the organization may record poor performance. This makes the organization’s management to carry out training needs analysis to establish the needs of the organization and solve the problem. However, the training needs analysis can only be conducted if the findings indicate that the problems identified can be solved through the suggested solutions.
Subway Sandwich is a multinational corporation that operates in the catering industry. Some of the possible causes of performance problems may include poor labor force, shortage of labor, and lack of proper investment in some of the subsidiaries or poor management. To solve performance problems, the organization must ensure that everyone improves on their input into the organization to improve its performance.
Expected introduction of new tasks, systems or technology
This is also a major circumstance that could lead the Subway Sandwich organization to conduct training needs analysis. When the organization wants to introduce new technology, it must conduct training needs analysis to ensure that the new technology is really necessary and that it will contribute towards the improvement of the organization’s productivity and performance. The technology must also be compatible with the organization to ensure it improves the level of production.
New tasks such as new posts for new employees or managers designed to fulfill new tasks in the organization also require training needs analysis. The organization must establish the roles that the new employees would fulfill to help the organization improve its performance whether financially or in terms of output. The training needs analysis establishes the problems the organization is facing without the employees and the tasks they fulfill. It then establishes the need to have extra employees who will carry out some tasks that will help the organization improve its performance.
The introduction of a new system into the company may also require training needs analysis. The process is carried out to establish the need of the new system to help alleviate inefficiencies in the organization’s operations. This is done to justify the need to introduce a new system into the organization and the benefits it will contribute towards the success of the organization.
Organization’s desire to benefit from a certain opportunity
Subway Sandwich organization can undertake training needs analysis procedure if it wants to gain from available business opportunities. The company management will decide to conduct training needs analysis to establish the feasibility of the new opportunity and how it would improve or benefit the organization. If the opportunity will help reduce inefficiencies or it would boost the productivity of the firm, the training needs analysis will indicate the manner in which the opportunity will help improve the state of the organization.
Subway Sandwich Plan of conducting the training needs analysis
Purpose of the TNA
The TNA plan will seek to empower employees of Subway Sandwich with skills in customer service and marketing management. These skills are important because they enable employees to use their ability to help the company’s online marketing campaign and ensure that the clients in the shops get high quality treatment. The training will be conducted among all the junior employees of Subway Sandwich in their respective restaurants, catering shops and offices. This will be conducted via seminars to impart good customer service and marketing management skills in them.
Mode of conducting
The needs assessment process will be carried out with the main objective of ensuring that there is customer satisfaction with the service they get and employees have sufficient knowledge in marketing management. The assessment process will be done with the specific objective of achieving the main objective. The TNA will be conducted in all subsidiaries of Subway Sandwich. It will be conducted by the company’s top marketing personnel in the form of seminars. The sources of data used will be interviews and questionnaires.
Training Needs Analysis methods
These are the scenarios under which the organization conducts the Training Needs Analysis. The methods used provide management with tips and directions on how best to conduct the TNA process.
Employee performance appraisal
The managers conducting the TNA process have to meet with the individual workers and appraise their previous performance. This will help the managers determine the comprehensiveness of the TNA. The appraised employees will also be made aware of their performance levels and the desired levels of performance in customer service and marketing management they are expected to uphold. This method of TNA incorporates the organization’s strategies, objectives, employee performance results, role description of employees, employees’ career aspirations and feedback from within and outside the organization. The performance development plans should note the areas that need improvement, resource requirement, agreed time frames, expected outcomes and actual development activity.
Improvement project
This section of the TNA method focuses on the achievement of the desired results. Subway Sandwich desires to have a work force that is well trained in customer service provision and marketing management. The organization carries out a program that seeks to impart knowledge and skills in its employees. Subway Sandwich would be hoping the employees to become empathic listeners to complaints from clients. The employees would also learn about complaint resolution. Marketing skills in online marketing and management would also be provided through the training program.
Traditional training methods
There are several traditional training methods that Subway Sandwich would be willing to use when conducting the TNA process.
Audiovisual techniques
These are instructions given to employees during the learning process through slides, overheads, and video. This is a common traditional learning method today because it incorporates the use of technology which makes it interactive. The use of videos is the learning process that can effectively improve communication skills, customer service skills, interviewing and illustration related activities. Subway Sandwich can use this method because learners will be able to see how good customer service provision is conducted first hand and practice on how to replicate it. This learning technique is also cheap and can be used to teach a large number of people in a big company like Subway Sandwich.
Lectures and seminars
This mode of training involves holding meetings with employees and communicating to them through spoken word. The method is mostly a one way method where the trainers pass their knowledge on to the learners. This method of conducting training is not efficient because lack of trainee participation reduces the level of knowledge gained. However, Subway Sandwich would use this method of training because it is cheap and popular.
Computer based training methods
Computer-based training methods would be appropriate in the training process at Subway Sandwich. This is because the main aim of the training process is to improve the marketing prowess of the employees in online marketing. The employees must use computer based training to study the best customer service practices. Computers are a necessity in this training process because the company wants to take advantage of online marketing and improve its customer service provision in online orders. The employees must undertake the training using computer-based mechanisms to ensure that they are conversant with online marketing. It is like an on-the-job training process where employees learn as they work. They move from inexperienced workers to specialists because they are guided by their experienced peers or managers.
Conclusion
Subway Sandwich can undertake training needs analysis under three circumstances. They include when there are performance problems, expected introduction of new tasks, systems or technology and when the organization desires to benefit from a certain opportunity. The company wants to improve its employees’ knowledge and experience in customer service provision and marketing management. The plan of conducting the TNA process must address the purpose, mode of conducting and the appropriate methods of conducting the TNA. Finally, there are several traditional training methods the company can employ in its training process. They include lectures and seminars, audiovisual techniques and case studies. Computer-based training will be important for the employees because the company wants to increase its efficiency in online service provision and enhance its online marketing efficiency.
References
Drummond, K. (2007). How To Conduct A Training Needs Analysis. New York: Gull Publishing.
Marshall, K. (1999). Beyond Traditional Training: Develop Your Skills to Maximize Training Impact (illustrated ed.). New York: Kogan Page Publishers.
Rossett, A. (1987). Training Needs Assessment (7, illustrated ed.). New York: Educational Technology.
