Planning for a Needs Assessment

In preparing a needs assessment for a company, I chose Southwest Airlines.  Within recent months, the airline industry has been under enormous criticism because of employee actions towards passengers. At one time, airlines took great pride in servicing their passengers and the standard should continue to preserve the quality of flying. Southwest Airlines started in 1971 servicing three Texas cities. Currently, they are servicing 101 cities within 48 states and abroad. How would I prepare a needs assessment for Southwest Airlines make improvements to adhere to the needs of all their stakeholders?  The first task is to get feedback from flyers. The passengers are the key stakeholders in this industry. If passenger sales decrease, the airline would not be able to stand.  Feedback on flight service is important. Qualitative and qualitative results should be examined to see what areas of the airline need the most improvement. It can be ticket prices, baggage, flight delays, or anything that passengers feel need improvement.

The next step, if possible, would be to interview employees from these areas from different areas. Services from smaller, less populated areas may be better than those flights from major cities, like Chicago, Dallas or Atlanta. An employee focus group consisting of flight crews and ticket agents can be a critical component because they have direct interaction with the passengers and they have more insight of passenger needs.  There are numerous questions that can be asked, but it will depend on what feedback is pulled from the passengers.  One area that every airline can improve on is flight delays and how can they improve in this area to avoid passengers missing scheduled deadlines.   Once those areas are identified, and employees and passengers have expressed their views on what policies should be reviewed;  a professional development session should be designed and required for all employees to attend.  The sessions should be an update on daily operating procedures and changes that will improve the quality of flights for their passengers.

Techniques used are focus groups, questionnaires, and interviews. These techniques would provide credible feedback on issues that would directly affect the passengers and their experiences.  These types of assessments are needed to make sure that consumers (passengers) are getting quality service. The airline industry is making billions of dollars each year and the airline will suffer if the overall flying experience is not good for the customer.

Not only in the airline industry, but in any area that goods or services are rendered, the primary stakeholder is the consumer.  Assessments are needed to often visit if the services and goods rendered are aligned with the overall mission of the company. 

References

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Southwest Airlines (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://www.southwest.com/

Elevator Speech

I want to talk a little about training and what I learned this week. Training for me from an educator’s perspective has been enlightening.  As I’ve Studied for a while adult education and learning, the dots are finally connecting as to how it all relates to training and development. Training trends for adult learners as I gathered in this week’s resources, has evolved. Professionals who have to chosen to increase their knowledge in their chosen careers are choosing to seek their own professional development so to speak. Talking from personal experience, this is what I’ve done. I know that my agency is limited to who receives training and what they’re willing to pay for and how will it be an asset to our agency, so I’ve sought to take classes on my own that will help me become more diverse in teaching my learners. And of course, the expense is on me. I can bring adult learning concepts to learners that will be able to reach every learner and not just inclusive to a few.  Another thing that is important is that more and more people are willing to learn, but it has to be at their convenience.  I want to design curriculums that are convenient and are willing to be flexible in their learning environment.  So, this is the first week, and I’m very intrigued about learning more about training and development that will allow me to better serve my learners.

Week 1 Audio

This is my audio of my elevator speech. Check it out:


https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0Bw_bl-a9NvC2ZzdmeVJKMkd2NlU&export=download&title=Week1%20ASpann.wav