Needs Analysis Assignment:
For Week Two's Assignment we need to look at a company and determine information for Needs Analysis. The company I selected is Men's Wearhouse. A company devoted to the success of their customers and helping them look their best and BE their best.

"Since we opened the doors more than 30 years ago, The Men's Wearhouse mission has been to maximize sales, provide value to our customers, and deliver top-quality customer service while still having fun and maintaining our values. It is our commitment to high ethical standards and quality relationships with each other and our stakeholders-you, our customers, our shareholders, and our vendors-that makes us a successful business and one of the best companies to work for." (http://www.menswearhouse.com/)

After reading through the above information the basic set of stakeholders is already outlined. When considering the needs of the company you need to include the customers, shareholders, vendors, employees and management.

When inquiring about the company, I look to a statement on their website.

"Trust and respect are the cornerstones of our philosophy; our collective honesty, sincerity, integrity, responsiveness, authenticity, mutual goodwill, and caring for each other will allow us individually and as a company to achieve maximum success. They are also the cornerstones of our values; nurturing creativity, growing together, admitting to mistakes, promoting a happy and healthy lifestyle, enhancing a sense of community, and striving toward becoming self-actualized people. This Code of Business Conduct will help you ensure that these core values, our mission, and our integrity are internalized and perpetuated as we grow individually and as a company." (http://www.menswearhouse.com/)

In order to achieve this their needs to be clearly outlined expectations. Expectations for Management,tailors, salespeople, financial consultants, anyone else in contact with customers or even the clothing.I would like to see their policy and procedures Manual. If there are separate manuals or programs outlined for customer service, tailoring or anything else, I would want to see them as well. What is the financial cost of having these programs in place. If there are financial documents outlining current costs of trianing, those would be important elements to evaluate as well.

Taking time to make sure each customer is satisfied with the fit of their clothing and service they received is fundamental to the Men's Wearhouse ideal. "Your satisfaction is our highest priority at the Men's Wearhouse." How exactly is this achieved? The company speaks of Best fit, and satisfaction.How are the people doing this trained? What is the training required to fit a person, or take measurements?

Other Questions to ask:
How does management reinforce training and ensure customer satisfaction?
What are the outlines of training and retraining currently? Including training resources.
What is the breakdown of responsibility and job descriptions for all people involved in business?
As Salespeople: What are the pros and cons to the training/procedures they follow?
Do they feel well trained?What areas would they like more or less training in?
As Management:What are the current struggles/successes with training? What do they feel could improve the store? What would they like to have in place to help them be more successful in their positions?
As Customers: Why do you like/not like shopping here? What are the things that attract/detract you? What would you like to see in the store?
As Vendors: What ways could the company help better display/promote your products? Are there things that deter you from increasing product or putting other items in the stores?
As Shareholders: What are the expectations that you see for the company? Are there things that are currently successful or unsuccesful from your viewpoint? What do you foresee as ways to increase/maintian the economoc outlook for this comoany in an economic time of struggle?
In beginning the Needs Analysis I would employ many needs assessment techniques. I would utilize Observation. I would observe the process from start to finish, meaning that I would observe someone coming in to purchase a suit and follow the process of him getting that great fitting suit from start to finish. I would also utilize the interview technique. Asking the questions listed above to get i nput from all stakeholders will help to create the overall picture of the company and its possible needs. Looking into the training manuals and job specific text would be helpful to identify areas of need as well (Noe,2010.)
Getting all the information that I can about this company from all parties involved will help to create an overall picture. Looking at that picture and identifying areas of need or gaps between current state and desired state will be the root of needs analysis.

Resources:
Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
www.menswearhouse.com