ir market performed by Harry B. Cunningham (later President of Kmart). In this instance Cunningham studied the overall market and competitors while analyzing the Krieger (Kmart) organization. This needs assessment eventually led Krieger to change its approach to that of the discount genre and the first Kmart was opened in 1962.Though the company had experienced a 34 percent decrease in profits between 1958 and 1962, the new venture called Kmart was an immediate success (Hartley 1997). Kmart would grow from 216 stores in 1968 to 1,366 stores in 1978.TaskTask analysis, as stated by Dessler (1997), is a detailed study of a job to identify the skills required so that an appropriate training program may be instituted. By analyzing the task, a company can determine a variety of methodologies for hiring, training, and forecasted outcome for the task being analyzed. Additionally, effective task analysis enables a company to determine what tasks need to be performed, and gives it the ability to gauge whether or not the necessary tasks are indeed being performed. A classic example of this is demonstrated by a needs analysis performed for General Motors (GM) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) on the task analysis level. According to Finison and Szedlak (1997), GM and the UAW formed a needs analysis team to identify and correct several challenges in a production facility. The focus in this case was in the "blanker area" of a metal fabrication plant and served as a pilot to other programs which would follow. After examining the issues through a needs analysis, the team determined that the focus of the needs analysis would be on training (Finison 1997). By focusing in this area, new training was provided for the production operators. Finison and Szidlak (1997) also noted that costs were minimal because the course was already offered in-house. The results were improved quality and a 30 percent reduction in scrap rate. The overall value was...
