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ANALYSIS

PurposeAudienceSkills/
Expectations

The purpose of building that perfect course often gets over looked by assumptions made during the pintail request or idea. The assumption that a problem exists and that you have the perfect solution to fix it is a temptation experienced by many instructional designers. Yet, analyzing the real problem can save you time and money. Before you can build that perfect course, you must understand the "real" purpose for the instructions. Consider the following:

Management vs. Training Issues: For many managers in the corporate or small business world, training is often considered as the first solution to all issues. If an employee is not meeting his or her quota, then training must be the issue. If an employee is not completing a process like they are suppose to then it must be a training issue. The problem with this approach is that training does not solve every problem. Training is a performance improvement tool for processes within the work environment. What training cannot do is compensate for attitudes, incentives, or in competencies. All the training in the world will not guarantee an employee to achieve goals or quotas. However, applying training concepts or tools can greatly assist the employee to achieve goals or quotas. Consider the following differences to help you determine if it is a training or management issue:

Training Issues:

1. A lack of knowledge
2. New tasks are being introduced into the work environment
3. Employees lack the skills to perform a task
4. Management is adding additional requirements
5. Lack of confidence in the products or systems used in the work environment

Management Issues:

1. Lack of motivation or incentive
2. Expectations are not clearly understood between employees and managers/supervisors
3. Processes are too complex to meet expectations of the work environment
4. Goals or quotas are unrealistic for the work environment/situation
5. Systems or products fail to meet the work environment expectations/needs

Understanding the differences between training and management issues will help you create that perfect training solution. Knowing the differences can help you identify critical components of the training that you create.