NEEDS ASSESSMENT NEEDS ASSESSMENT PHASE I Getting Started James W. Altschuld J. N. Eastmond, Jr. TheOhioStateUniversity UtahStateUniversity SeriesEditor: JamesW. Altschuld NEEDSASSESSMENT KIT 2 Copyright2010bySAGEPublications,Inc. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedorutilizedinany form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permissioninwritingfromthepublisher. Forinformation: SAGEPublications,Inc. SAGEPublicationsIndiaPvt.Ltd. 2455TellerRoad B1/I1MohanCooperative ThousandOaks, IndustrialArea California91320 MathuraRoad,NewDelhi110044 E-mail:[email protected] India SAGEPublicationsLtd. SAGEPublications 1Oliver’sYard Asia-PacificPte.Ltd. 55CityRoad 33PekinStreet#02-01 LondonEC1Y1SP FarEastSquare UnitedKingdom Singapore048763 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Altschuld,JamesW. NeedsassessmentPhaseI:gettingstarted(book2)/JamesW.Altschuld, J.N.Eastmond,Jr. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-1-4129-7872-9(pbk.) 1. Strategicplanning. 2. Needsassessment. I. Eastmond,J.Nicholls. II. Title. HD30.28.A388532010 658.4′012—dc22 2009027646 Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper. 09 10 11 12 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 AcquisitionsEditor: VickiKnight AssociateEditor: LaurenHabib EditorialAssistant: AshleyDodd ProductionEditor: BrittanyBauhaus CopyEditor: MelindaMasson Typesetter: C&MDigitals(P)Ltd. Proofreader: VictoriaReed-Castro Indexer: DiggsPublicationsServices,Inc. CoverDesigner: CandiceHarman MarketingManager: StephanieAdams Brief Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi AbouttheAuthors xiii 1. Overview 1 2. WhatPrecipitatesNeedsAssessmentand GettingtheProcessStarted? 15 3. SomeInitialPhaseINeedsAssessmentActivities 37 4. CollectingandAnalyzingInitialSourcesofData 69 5. TheSpecialCaseofCollaborative (Cooperative)NeedsAssessments 91 6. SomeofThoseNaggingLeftoverPiecesofPhaseI 113 References 129 Index 133 Detailed Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi AbouttheAuthors xiii 1. Overview 1 WhyaWholeBookDevotedtoGettinga NeedsAssessmentGoing? 1 HowDoesaNeedsAssessmentStart? 4 Concerns,Top-DownorBottom-Up? 4 AnInvitationtoSystematicPlanning 5 SomePreliminaryThoughtsonGetting theNeedsAssessmentUnderway 6 1.Carefulhomework 6 2.Thoughtfulnegotiation 7 InstitutionalBuy-In 8 SkillfulConductandFollow-Through oftheNeedsAssessment 9 TheThreeDecisionsRevisited 10 Option1:Theneedidentifiedisnot significantenoughtotakeaction 10 Option2:Theneedisthereand warrantsgoingtoPhaseII 11 Option3:Theneedisthere,butweknowenough nowtoproceedtocarryoutanactionplan 11 OneAdditionalFeature 12 HighlightsoftheChapter 12 OrganizationofThisBook 12 2. WhatPrecipitatesNeedsAssessmentand GettingtheProcessStarted? 15 SomeFormofSystematicPlanningIsBest 15 RealityRearsItsHead 16 ADecisionIsMadetoDigIntoNeeds 17 Leadership:TheRoleoftheNeedsAssessmentFacilitator 17 TheNeedsAssessmentCommittee 19 Purposes 19 Membership 20 ConsiderationsinSelectingMembers 20 MoreSpecificsAboutGroupSize 22 NotifyingProspectiveMembers 27 TheInitialMeeting:OrientingtheNACtotheTotalTask 28 ProvidinganOverviewofthe NeedsAssessmentProcess 28 FunctionsoftheNAC 30 NextMeeting(s) 31 AnExampleofWhatMightTakePlace EarlyintheAssessmentProcess 33 HighlightsoftheChapter 35 3. SomeInitialPhaseINeedsAssessmentActivities 37 Activity1:InvestigatingWithanEthnographicEye 38 PrinciplesofEthnography 38 TheCulturalAudit 40 Activity2:SurveyingtheNAC 49 OtherActivities 54 WhentheNACisnotveryknowledgeable aboutneedsandneedsassessment,use existingdescriptionsorcreatevignettes 54 WhentheNACconfusesneedsand/orneeds assessmentwithevaluation,usetheWatkins andGuerra(2002)survey 56 WhentheNACisnotveryknowledgeableabout needsandneedsassessment,usefunactivities 58 WhentheNACisgettingclosertoPhaseII,usethe planningandmanagementworksheet 62 OtherThingsThatHavetoBeAttendedtoat ThisPointinPhaseI 66 LimitingtheScopeoftheNeedsAssessment 66 CollaborativeNeedsAssessments 68 HighlightsoftheChapter 68 4. CollectingandAnalyzingInitialSourcesofData 69 BeforeGettingMoreFullyIntoCollectingPhaseIData 69 TheAuditTrail 71 FormatsforPhaseIFindings 74 GettingIntotheArrayofPhaseIMethods 76 InstitutionalData 78 NewspapersandRelatedSources 80 PastWorkDoneintheOrganization 81 UnobtrusiveMeasures 83 CreatingData 85 APotpourriofOtherConsiderations 86 HighlightsoftheChapter 90 5. TheSpecialCaseofCollaborative(Cooperative) NeedsAssessments 91 CollaborationandCooperation 93 ProsandConsofCollaborativeNeedsAssessments 94 SomePrinciplesforWorkingTogether 96 ChoosingCollaboratingOrganizations 98 SomeOtherCollaborationConsiderations 108 TheRunningExampleFromPreviousChapters 110 HighlightsoftheChapter 111 6. SomeofThoseNaggingLeftoverPiecesofPhaseI 113 HowMuchTimeShouldBeAllottedforPhaseI? 113 WhoShouldLeadtheGroup? 114 HowDoWePuttheDataTogether? 118 HowCanAdequateCommunicationBeMaintained? 121 SomeFinalThoughtsAboutPhaseI 124 ALastPieceofUnfinishedBusiness: OurRunningExample 125 HighlightsoftheChapter 127 References 129 Index 133 Preface Anyone who has done any type of study knows that starting the endeavorisalmostalwaysthemostdifficultpartoftheprocess.Going furtheritisoftenhardertothinkaboutquestionsandfindinganswers tothemthanitistoactuallydotheinvestigation.Thisisequallytrueof needsassessments,especiallyastheyareconductedbyorganizations. What kinds of thinking occur in organizations, agencies, and busi- nesses that eventually lead to doing assessments? How do they start, andwhatactivitiesshouldfacilitatorsandneedsassessmentcommittees (NACs)beimplementingtogettheendeavoroffthegroundinapositive manner? While there is now a fair amount of literature on needs and theirassessment,thereisfarlessabouthowsuchanimportantactivity beginsandwhatactionsenhancethepromiseofafruitfuloutcome. Tothatend,thisbookintheKITdealswithPhaseI(preassessment) of needs assessment. What about the organizational culture and the likelihood of key decision makers being willing to shift their energies tofocusonnewproblemsandwaysofoperating?Howopenorclosed istheorganization?Whataresomerelativelyeasymechanismsforcol- lecting existing data and for utilizing the skills and experiences of the individuals on the NAC to do so? If there are many potential need areas, how should the committee decide which ones to pursue? How should members sort through things? How might politics and local conditions affect what should be done? What values are there, and whatrolemighttheyplay? We have provided procedures and activities that could be done in this phase. The underlying goal, once the dynamics of the setting are understood,istorelyasmuchaspossibleoninformationinreports,data archives,andthelike.Byutilizingwhatisavailable,alotcanbelearned without the costs and efforts associated with getting new data. The assumption is that much information is there and ripe for the picking; ix