GB520 Unit 6 Training Needs Analysis and Academy Example

Nine of Twenty-Four Crew Leads Ready for CO2: A Unit 6 Training Needs Analysis and Academy Design

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

GB520: Strategic Human Resource Management

Unit 6 Training Needs Analysis

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The contractor, its crew leads and every figure are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.

Part 1: Organizational Analysis

Kestrel Refrigeration Services plans to triple its installations of transcritical carbon dioxide (CO2) systems in three years. The workforce plan in Unit 3 found that the binding role is the lead technician who can run a CO2 job from rough-in to startup. Kestrel has 24 crew leads, counting the senior journeymen who lead service crews on older systems, but only nine can commission a CO2 system alone. Every other CO2 startup now needs a project manager or the rack manufacturer's field engineer on site, which costs about $1,400 a day and is often booked weeks ahead.

The strategy therefore demands six capabilities of every crew lead:

Reading drawings: mechanical, piping and controls drawings for CO2 racks.

High-pressure safety: leading a crew safely on racks whose high side runs at several times the pressure of older systems.

Controls setup: configuring the high-pressure valve, gas cooler and rack controller.

Commissioning: pressure testing, evacuation, charging and seasonal tuning.

Managing subcontractors: directing electricians and the grocer's other trades on site.

Client reporting: explaining the system and its status to store managers and the grocer's facilities staff.

Goldstein and Ford (2002) describe training needs assessment as moving from the organization's goals to the tasks those goals require and then to the people who must perform them, and the analysis follows that order.

Part 2: Person Analysis

All 24 crew leads were assessed against the six capabilities using three sources: project records for the last two years, ratings from the project managers who supervised them, and a two-hour practical check on a training rack at the shop. A lead met the standard only if all three sources agreed.

Exhibit 1: Leads meeting the standard, by capability

High-pressure safety: 19 of 24 (79 percent).

Reading drawings: 15 of 24 (63 percent).

Managing subcontractors: 12 of 24 (50 percent).

Controls setup: 11 of 24 (46 percent).

Commissioning: 9 of 24 (38 percent).

Client reporting: 8 of 24 (33 percent).

Shown as a heat map with leads in rows and capabilities in columns, the pattern is clear. The nine qualified leads are strong in every column. Among the other fifteen, safety is mostly in place, while commissioning and client reporting are the widest gaps.

The widest gaps are commissioning and client reporting, the two capabilities that decide whether a store opens on time and whether the grocer calls Kestrel again.

The assessment also showed what training cannot fix. Two of the fifteen leads said in interviews that they do not want CO2 work and prefer service routes. They should not be pushed into the academy, and the plan assumes thirteen participants plus two journeymen nominated by project managers, for fifteen.

Part 3: Academy Design

The CO2 Lead Academy runs sixteen four-hour sessions every other week for eight months, with field coaching between them.

Modules mapped to the gaps:

Sessions 1 to 3, drawings and system design: reading CO2 piping and controls drawings, with exercises on Kestrel's own past jobs.

Sessions 4 and 5, high-pressure safety leadership: a refresher for most participants, focused on leading a crew rather than on personal practice.

Sessions 6 to 9, controls: rack controller setup on the shop's training rack, taught with the manufacturer's engineer.

Sessions 10 to 13, commissioning: pressure testing, evacuation, charging and seasonal tuning, practiced on the training rack.

Session 14, managing subcontractors: sequencing electricians and other trades, with case studies from delayed jobs.

Sessions 15 and 16, client reporting: explaining status and problems to a store manager, practiced in recorded role plays.

Field coaching: each participant assists on three supervised CO2 startups, with a qualified lead or the manufacturer's engineer as coach, and leads the third under observation.

Noe (2020) notes that transfer of training depends on the chance to practice on the job soon after learning, which is why the startups are scheduled between sessions rather than after the academy ends.

Cost of the Academy Against Hiring

Curriculum design: $40,000.

Instruction: 16 sessions at $1,800, or $28,800.

Participants' time: 15 people, 64 hours each, at a loaded $48 an hour, or $46,080.

Field coaching: 45 startups at 24 coaching hours each, at $60 an hour, or $64,800.

Manufacturer certification courses: 15 at $2,400, or $36,000.

Total: about $215,700, or about $14,400 per participant. If eleven of fifteen reach the standard within a year, the cost is about $19,600 per qualified lead.

Hiring an experienced CO2 lead costs about $44,400 in the first year: a recruiter's fee near $19,600, a $15,000 sign-on bonus and a pay premium near $9,800. Fifteen hires would cost about $666,000, and the market offers perhaps two or three such people a year. Hiring cannot fill the gap at any price within the plan's timeline; the academy can fill most of it at less than half the cost per qualified lead.

Evaluation

Kestrel will judge the academy on the four levels Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) describe, each with its own evidence:

Reaction: participants' ratings of each module's usefulness.

Learning: scores on the practical check, repeated at the end of the academy.

Behavior: observed performance leading the third supervised startup, scored against the commissioning checklist.

Results: the number of CO2 startups needing a project manager or the manufacturer's engineer on site, callbacks within 90 days of startup, and the store's opening date met or missed.

Risks

Trained leads become more valuable to competitors. The pay strategy in Unit 8 and the retention analysis in Unit 9 must recognize the new qualification, or the academy will train leads for other firms. Field coaching depends on the nine qualified leads, who are already stretched, so their coaching time should be counted in their own goals.

References

Goldstein, I. L., & Ford, J. K. (2002). Training in organizations: Needs assessment, development, and evaluation (4th ed.). Wadsworth.

Kirkpatrick, J. D., & Kirkpatrick, W. K. (2016). Kirkpatrick's four levels of training evaluation. ATD Press.

Noe, R. A. (2020). Employee training and development (8th ed.). McGraw Hill.