Welcome back everyone, this week’s blog post assignment asked us to look at or explore an organization and discuss how we might approach a needs assessment for this organization. I decided to look at Steelcase. I did this for a couple of reasons. For one, of all of the organizations listed, it was the one that I truly had no experience with so I thought it would be nice to check it out. And secondly, it has a cool name, kind of sounds like a band or something so it had to be cool.
Steelcase was founded more than 100 years ago, when they filed a patent for a metal garbage can, now 100 years later they are an innovative creator of steel workplace products, furnishing and services. “Steelcase was founded in 1912 by a few people with a strong commitment to integrity and doing the right thing for their customers, employees, business partners, associates and neighbors. At Steelcase they believe to act with integrity, always tell the truth, keep commitments, treat people with dignity and respect, promote positive relationships, protect the environment, and of course, excel”(Steelcase). Steelcase has a global footprint and promotes cultural acceptance through; “Fair recruiting and hiring processes, raising awareness among employees of diversity issues, and creating partnerships with other companies that support diversity”(Steelcase)
“Needs assessments refer to the process used to determine whether training is necessary and typically involves organizational analysis, person analysis, and task analysis”(Noe). For these to work and be successful in an organization, a company needs stakeholders who have bought into the plan. Even though they are are global organization, their principles and values are still connected to where they originated from, the staff. “Their principles became the foundation of our company, passed on from decade to decade. Our employees are our greatest asset and living these values is at the core of all that we do, just as it was in the past. (Steelcase) Any change to the company not only needs support from leadership like their Director of WorkSpace Donna Flynn and Nurture General Manager Rob Heitmeier, but needs the support of all Steelcase employees, regardless of job or title.
In order to meet the needs of their employees, I would recommend that we implement a focus group and use collaboration tools. Even though it may be more time consuming, by using a focus group we are able to answer “more complex or controversial issues that one person may be unable or unwilling to explore and questions can be modified to explore unanticipated issues”(Noe)
About Steelcase (Sept 2015) Steelcase, Retrieved from
Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Adam,
ReplyDeleteNice post. I like the reason why you chose Steelcase. It does sound like a 80's hairband..."Ladies and Gentlemen, STEELCASE!" lol!
Alright back on track here. Your statement, " For these to work and be successful in an organization, a company needs stakeholders who have bought into the plan." This is the foundation of how a successful organization works. Without a buy-in from stakeholders, the needs assessment could be a wasted effort resulting in organizational failure. Again, nice post.
Keith
Adam,
ReplyDeleteIn order to get a sense of where an organization is and where they want to go, the trainer and/or instructional designer must understand the its performance history, which would allow the trainer and/or ID to develop, design, and implement the most appropriate training solution. Therefore, what historical data would you request and how would go about gathering this data in order to create the appropriate training solution for Steelcase?
Adam,
ReplyDeleteLike Keith, I found your reasons to go with Steelcase fun. I think focus groups can be awesome if facilitated well. What questions would you use to facilitate your focus group meetings?
Yvonne