1. Conducting a Work/Task Analysis

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Conducting an Organizational Analysis

Determine what resources are available for training. What are the mission and goals of the organization in regard to employee development? What support will the senior management and managers give toward training? Is the organization supportive and on board with this process? Are there adequate resources (financial and personnel)?

Conducting a Work/Task Analysis

Interview subject matter experts (SMEs) and high-performing employees. Interview the supervisors and managers in charge. Review job descriptions and occupational information. Develop an understanding of what employees need to know in order to perform their jobs.

Important questions to ask when conducting a Task Analysis:

1. What tasks are performed?
2. How frequently are they performed?
3. How important is each task?
4. What knowledge is needed to perform the task?
5. How difficult is each task?
6. What kinds of training are available?

Observe the employee performing the job. Document the tasks being performed. When documenting the tasks, make sure each task starts with an action verb. How does this task analysis compare to existing job descriptions? Did the task analysis miss any important parts of the job description? Were there tasks performed that were omitted from the job description?

Organize the identified tasks. Develop a sequence of tasks. Or list the tasks by importance.

Are there differences between high and low-performing employees on specific work tasks? Are there differences between Experts and Novices? Would providing training on those tasks improve employee job performance?

Most employees are required to make decisions based on information. How does the employee gather information? What does the employee do with the information? Can this process be trained? Or, can training improve this process?