Training is essential for enhancing the performance of managers. Two main issues prompting the formation of comprehensive management development programs in state government are the promotion of technically competent employees to managerial positions who have not been prepared to manage, and the impending loss of state managers to retirement and the need for succession planning. Keeping all these issues in mind, training needs assessment (TNA) seems necessary to understand both the needs of the organization for competent managers and of the individuals who are to be ready to manage in state government.
Like various other states, management in Idaho state government is described by a system of promoting the better technical performers who often have limited management experience or education for administrative and managerial positions. In general, these promotions are not only based on past performance, but also on an informal evaluation of that employee's potential to perform as a manager. Agencies within state government vary extensively in the amount and time they provide to train their supervisors and managers. These practices result in numerous supervisors and managers being left to build up their management skills on the job through trial and error. The conflicting levels of competencies among state managers is further complicated by the new challenge for public managers to meet the fast changing nature of government (Osborne 1992) and the changes in the role of managers in government. (Klingner & Lynn 1997; Klingner, Nalbandian & Llorens 2009) Added to these conditions is the vital need to address the large percentage of Idaho state managers who are approaching to retirement, as is the trend of public managers nationwide.
For addressing these concerns, the new Idaho administration initiated a focus on the training and growth of managers to improve the excellence of management in state government, and to fill...