| Abstract: | This paper describes a needs assessment project that implemented two distinctive features to address challenges often faced in the needs assessment process. First, a pre‐assessment planning process was developed that successfully educated clients about the analysis process, generated management commitment, identified and prioritized key performance issues, and established an outcomes‐oriented strategic focus for the assessment. Second, to analyze team performance issues, a theory‐to‐practice process was developed that involved the use of discovery‐oriented inquiry within the project context (an inductive approach) with a deductive approach grounded in existing academic research and theory. The complementary and integrated use of these approaches yielded a more comprehensive understanding of the team performance problems, thorough analysis of those problems, and more focused and refined performance improvement recommendations. |
