Many organizations are baffled about the success of
Southwest Airlines (SWA). According to the owner, Herb Kelleher many have
thought that he and his CEO Gary Kelly devised a special formula to create the
organization’s continued success. The fact of the matter is that the concept is
quite simple, they take care of their employees and the employees take care of
the customers. Kelleher (2013) describes the organization’s culture as a “huge
mosaic that one is always adding pieces to make it work” (Reigold, 2013). Hence, planning for a needs assessment
to maintain the mission of SWA, this is made of “dedication to the highest
quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness,
individual pride, and Company Spirit” (Southwest Airlines, 2014).
Therefore, to implement a plan for needs assessment for SWA,
it would be imperative for all levels of management and the employees involved
to be on board with the needs assessment process for the reason of the organization’s
culture. SWA’s commitment to its employees’ states,
“We are committed to provide our
Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and
personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the
effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the
same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they
are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer” (Southwest
Airlines, 2014).
In concert, Noe (2013) contends that “because the goal of
needs assessment is to be determine whether training needs exists, who it exists
for, and for what tasks training is needed, it is important to include managers,
trainers, and employees in the needs assessment process” (p.116).
However, during the investigation of a needs assessment I
would ask the SWA executive that initiated my visit these four questions; (1) can
you give more background information of the organization’s issue or concern? (2)
Can you describe the ideal state? (3) What is the state now? (4) Are these the
main goals and will they meet your needs? (Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer)
Stolovitch, Harold, 2012). Asking these questions will assist
with identifying the actual performance gap and the affecting factors that are
causing the gap. Thus, the answers provided by the key stakeholder would
determine the strategy of implementing the needs assessment.
Appropriately, I would probe deeper into the organizational,
person, and task analysis phases. The question I would ask in the SWA organizational
phase is, do they have experts who can help develop the program content and
ensure that everyone understands the needs of the business as the program is
developed? My question for the person analysis would be, do the employees have
the ability, attitudes, beliefs, and motivation to learn something new? And once
these questions are answered, I would proceed to the task analysis phase. Noe
(2013) tells us that the “task analysis is a time consuming, tedious process
that involves a large time commitment to gather and summarize data from many
different persons in the company, including managers, job incumbents, and
trainers” (p.135), therefore one can see why I would complete the
organizational and person analysis first.
Nonetheless, there are several techniques I would employ to get
the necessary information required for SWA’s needs assessment. For the reason
that SWA is a very large organization I would incrementally utilizes the
techniques of observation, questionnaires, interviews, and online technology. I
like using observation especially in situation where customer service is an
issue or concern. The only employees that know me and my professional status
are upper management, therefore I would be able to observe employees in their
work environment without them performing for me. Questionnaires are good because
employees can fill them out anonymously, thus providing more truthful answers
giving me a more realistic picture of the organization. Interviews are good for
uncovering details that may have been revealed through the questionnaires.
Finally, online technology has two purposes, the first being that I can conduct
surveys via internet and I can provide online training programs to implement the
determined task.
In sum, there are many variables that are considered when
one is planning for a needs assessment. Noe (2013) contends that a “need
assessment is a critical first step in designing new and revising current
training courses” (p.112). It dictates the what the “trainees need to learn,
what training methods are appropriate, the frequency of the training, how to
evaluate the training implemented, and how to facilitate the transfer of
training” (Noe 2013, p.115), therefore without a needs assessment organizations
such as SWA would lose millions of dollars on training that may not be needed,
training that would not be conducive to the business strategy, mission
statement, or vision, or training that would not be received positively by the employees
or management. Finally, without a needs assessment SWA’s CEO Gary Kelly would
not be able to boast, “Our people are our single greatest strength and most
enduring longterm competitive advantage” (Southwest Airlines, 2014).
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer)
Stolovitch, Harold. (2012). Introduction to Performance Improvement. Baltimore,
Maryland.
Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee Training and
Development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Reigold, J. (2013, January 14). Southwest Herb
Kelleher: Still crazy after all these years. Retrieved from Fortune :
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/14/kelleher-southwest-airlines/
Southwest Airlines. (2014, May 13). About Southwest
Airlines :The Mission of the Southwest Airlines. Retrieved from Southwest
Airlines: http://www.southwest.com/html/about-southwest/index.html?tab=5
