Similarities and differences between org diagnosis and training

There are some similarities between Organization Diagnosis and Assessment and Traning Needs Assessment (TNA) Needs as well as some differences. The main differences are that TNA looks to fill the gaps between the current knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) of the workforce and where they want to be. Organization diagnosis looks at where the organization is and what it needs to get to where it wants to be.

My client organization is eager to implement a recognition program, but when I asked how managers would be supported and educated on the ways in which to offer recognition, they looked at me with a blank face- as if it was something that everyone knows how to do. But we don’t. We’re not all good at recognition. We know it’s important, but we don’t know how to do it.

The need for an employee recognition program came from looking at two years of the Gallup Engagement Survey. We found that recognition ranked lower than our peers. A bit of analysis was done to get a sense of the type of recognition that would be acceptable and easy to manage. An initial recommendation was presented, but it fell short because, as a former leader said: “not everyone puts the same emphasis on the importance of recognition”. So the program was put aside.

This comment falls within the definition that Sifford-Myers presents when comparing TNA to organization diagnosis where scope of organization diagnosis is “any area related to an organization including but not limited to environment, purpose, strategy, technology, systems, tasks, motivation, culture, atmosphere, leadership style, people, human relations, physical conditions, performance, and business processes”

Now, if the case had been presented in a way that included, not only the systems, as that would be used to implement the program (award program, written documentation, collection of types of ways people want to be recognized…) but trainings that would close the gap between where people are in the way they feel about recognition (not enough time, feel awkward recognizing people, could make others feel left out, don’t believe in the need for it) then perhaps it would have been better received. This example provides a way to see how TSA falls within organizational diagnosis- it’s just a part.

Reference

Sifford-Myers, J. (n.d.). Lesson 2, Fundamentals of Organizational Diagnosis/Assessment and Feedback Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2024252/modules/items/28021114.