Issues in Introducing Training Needs Analysis in Slovenia's Public Administration

Abstract

A modern public administration requires professional, skilled, and well-trained civil servants. Training is an important development component of a modern civil service and its employees. As a basic method of human resources development, training should be adjusted to the administrative requirements and should be conducted continuously and systematically. All efficient training programs start with a needs assessment. Since training needs assessment is a critical part of the training function, this paper examines the practices of training needs assessment in a branch of Slovenia’s public administration. Our research assessed the influence of civil servants’ demographics characteristics on their attitude towards assessment. The results obtained indicate that the influence of hierarchical position prevailed, although the managers are less involved in needs analysis than expected. Empirical data also demonstrate that the majority of employees are aware of the importance of training needs analysis and the importance of clearly defined training objectives.