If you’re a student working on a Learning & Development (L&D) or Human Resource Management project, chances are you’ll come across the concept of Training Needs Analysis (TNA). TNA is an important tool used by organizations to identify skill gaps, improve communication, and boost overall performance.
In this blog, we’ll walk through a detailed case study of Emirates Airlines, focusing on how the customer affairs department tackled frequent communication issues through training. This project outlines the training situation, needs analysis, program design, and evaluation—making it a perfect example for students who need a clear model to follow for their own assignments.
PART 1: Training Situation
Emirates airline is a multinational firm, a subsidiary of the emirates group with its headquarters in Al-Garhoud, Dubai. The company offers a range of airline services majorly grouped into passenger and cargo transportation. Passengers’ services are grouped into fast class, business class, and economy class.
The company’s customer affairs department is working correctly apart from several training needs that are needed. Recent years have witnessed frequent complaints by clients regarding miscommunication. There seems to be a communication breakdown between the customer service subordinate employees and the management team.
The total number of employees in the customer affairs department is 348. Generally, the department is led by three managers; the executive communication manager, the assistant human resource manager, and the assistant operations manager. Out of the 348 employees, workers are operating in different fields.
Some of these professional fields are technical employees such as field managers, information technology experts, radio frequency engineers, and customer care desk operators.
Among the employees, the Indian immigrant community forms the largest population, a total of 60 employees. The Pakistanis come second with a total number of 26 employees, and the United Arab Emirates was only 15. In contrast, Bangladeshis came last with a population of 10 workers.
PART 2. Analysis of Learning / Training Needs
Training Needs Analysis (TNA) entails the process of identifying the challenges facing employee training and its associated needs. TNA consists of three levels of analysis: skills, knowledge, and emotional intelligence and behavior needs (Bohlinger & Müller 2019).
Conducting the Training needs analysis within the customer affairs department will take an average of 14 days. The two weeks will be sufficient for analyzing since the customer affairs department’s employees will only need a day in a week to complete the training and answering the questionnaire.
The question that will be used for the analysis will be structured to be finished in one sitting (Bohlinger & Müller 2019). Therefore, the employees will be given a whole week from which they will choose a convenient time for them to finish the questionnaire.
As indicated, the data collection method that will be used in this study is a survey whereby the employees will be provided with a semi-structured questionnaire.
The questionnaire will contain both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The closed-ended questions will be employed to obtain specific information, while open-ended questions will allow the participants to air their views regarding the subject under discussion.
- LO 1: How to deal with complaints and to handle them
Justification: There seem to be many complaints from clients regarding improper communication and services from the customer care desk.
- LO 2: Communicating and coordinating with other departments
Justification: Poor communication between the clients and the customer affairs department’s representatives can result from poor communication and coordination between the customer affairs department and other departments.
PART 3. Design / Development / Implementation
One-day training lesson plan
- LO 1: How to deal with complaints from customers
TABLE
|
Main Points |
Training resources |
Duration (Minutes) |
Learning checklist |
|
Introduction |
|||
|
Open session: Instructor introduction, explain the training program, outline training structure |
Handouts detailing session structure |
15 |
Ascertaining the trainees have comprehended the format of the training session |
|
Customer service agents ought to be able to communicate with clients effectively and handle their needs When clients have a negative perception of the service, they are likely to change from one company to another |
Recordings of positive and negative customer calls. A documentation and recording of both negative and positive telephone communication between agent and customer Discuss with the trainees regarding the recordings and observations |
30 |
Ensure that all trainees have actively participated in all the activities |
|
Main Session |
|||
|
Explain the entire simulation process Take roles of client, customer service representative and observer. Respond to client calls effectively and determine their needs by gathering their information, evaluation their emotion and providing solutions based on the presented needs. |
Group activity: trainees discuss how to assess needs and information during the call. Employees grouped into three per each division and engage in a simulation to identify effective ways of communicating with clients and common encountered challenges Pair activity: use role play to practice difficult calls. |
75 |
Make sure that the participants provide several realistic feedback Make sure that the trainees provide at least one successful interaction. |
|
Conclusion |
|||
|
Summarize the practical methods of handling challenging clients |
Group summary activity: The trainees write down the solutions that they discovered to be the most effective. |
30 |
Make sure that all the groups have written down the solutions they found most effective |
|
Wrap-up questions |
Open question session |
15 |
Check for questions. |
|
Evaluation |
Questionnaires are distributed to the participants for evaluative the effectiveness of the training. |
15 |
Gather all the questionnaire |
Design Considerations
The customer affairs department training session will cover various aspects of how to deal with complaints from clients. Therefore, the training sessions’ primary considerations will include a needs assessment and learning objectives and the learning style that needs to be used during the training session. It is important to ascertain the needs assessment and learning objectives since the Emirates airline customer service employees face many challenges. Therefore, the training should cover the primary factors that lay the ground for all the other challenges that this team of employees (Chattrawening Secapramana & Nugroho 2018).
The learning style to be used is also an essential part of consideration since the learning style’s effectiveness is a core factor in determining the program’s success. For this particular population, vestibule training will be the most effective delivery mode since the learners will need to practice what they are taught (Chattrawening Secapramana & Nugroho 2018).
Training activities during the 1-day training session
Activity 1: Trainees will engage in role playing on answering telephone calls and ascertaining customer needs
In groups of three, the customer affairs department trainees will practice how to communicate effectively with customers on the phone. They will also be required to evaluate customers’ needs and attend to them appropriately. In turns, one of the trainees will take the role of a customer; the other will assume the role of customer service employee while the third employee will be an observer. The third participant will be required to take notes of the observations they will have made during the conversations. The participants will then exchange turns after every five minutes until all the trainees have taken part in the simulation.
Activity 2: role playing on examining customer’s emotion and providing solutions on the grounds of customer’s needs
Just like activity one, the customer affairs department trainees will act out the roles of a customer, customer care attendant and an observer, after which they will exchange the parts after every five minutes. In this particular activity, the trainees will learn the mechanisms required to assess and manage a client’s emotions. Customer attendants need to apply the skills of empathy and good communication skills. Therefore, this particular activity will be imperative in giving them a chance to practice their communication skills and identify areas of weakness. Every observer will record their observations, which will then be discussed at the end of the simulation session. Part of the observation will be the feedback for the training. An evaluation of the observations will be used to assess the areas of weakness among the trainees and effective mechanisms of intervening will be created.
Power Point presentation content
The one-day customer affairs department training will encompass lessons on how to communicate with clients as customer care how to assess a customer’s emotions and provide solutions for their needs.
- Among the essential skills that a customer service representative should have is good communication skills (Shen, Qian & Chen 2020).
- It is critical for customer care agents to develop outstanding communication skills with their customers.
- Some of the excellent communication skills required are; speaking clearly, politely, and effectively.
- It is also important for customer care agents to employ empathetic listening when providing services to customers.
- Good communication skills will play a key role in making customers feel at ease and thus enhance customer satisfaction, which is crucial factor for every business or firm.
- Excellent customer care agents ought to speak clearly and effectively so that they eliminate instances of miscommunication and misunderstanding (Shen, Qian & Chen 2020).
- While speaking with customers, it is crucial for the customer service representative to communicate clearly and effectively. They ought to explain every procedure, policy, and other aspects of the firm or transaction so that customers can leave the conversation without questions and satisfied with the offered service.
- It is imperative that the customer service agents try and build relationships with their customers. The majority of the customers look out to have a transactional relationship with the organizations that they seek their services (Shen, Qian & Chen 2020).
- During customer service interactions, it is imperative to personalize interactions since many customers look out for human touch whenever they contact a brand.
- It is always important to acknowledge mistakes before the customer and fix them as fast as possible. This shows customers that the company cares about them and will always be at their services whenever they are needed (Shen, Qian & Chen 2020).
PART 4. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Training
Evaluation instrument
A survey will be created to evaluate the effectiveness of the customer affairs department training among the participants. The survey will be constructed basing on Kirkpatrick’s Four-level Training Evaluation Model (Tools, 2017). However, since the model contains four levels of evaluation, a modification will be made to include two other levels of training evaluation. Major components of Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model are reaction, learning, behavior and results. This particular instrument will include process and improvement as the additional levels of assessment.
- The first part of the survey will examine the trainee’s reaction to the training. The trainees will complete the survey indicating their perception of the learning experience and general satisfaction (Tools, 2017).
- The second part of the survey will be a questionnaire examining what was learned in the course of the training. The questionnaire will be provided before and after the training. A comparison of the responses will be used to measure the level of knowledge and skills garnered after the training (Tools, 2017).
- The third assessment will be on how the behavior of the trainees changed in relation on how they interact with customers. This will be done using workplace observations by comparing 360 degrees reviews (Tools, 2017).
- Another factor that will be evaluated is an examination of the training program in relation to its impact on the business results. This can be measured by comparing the number of complaints from customers, productivity changes and customer satisfaction ratings (Tools, 2017).
- The fifth factor that will be evaluated is process which entails the trainees’ perception of the training program. Here, the survey used will assess whether the trainees received knowledge and skills based on their expectations or they had not expected what they learned. Open ended questions will be used to examine this aspect.
- The last assessment will be on improvement. Here, the employees will note down some of the things that they think should be improved in the training to make it more effective.
Self-Reflection/Analysis
The customer affairs department training was a success deducing from the satisfaction rate among the employees who took part in the training program. There are several aspects of the training that I think went quite well. First, the attendance was good, even though it was not 100%. All the participants who reported for the training participated actively and enquired whenever they did not understand a concept. This was a positive as it showed their willingness to take part in the training. Also, during the evaluation, the trainees filled all the survey answers, which was a good thing. The simulation was also properly conducted, with all the members taking part actively. Despite the fact that the training was completed as planned, and the outcome was a success, few areas still need improvement. One of the things that need improvement is planning. Since a company such as emirates is a very dynamic company, there is a scarcity of time for the employees to engage in lengthy training programs. Therefore, there is a need to come up with programs that are less time-consuming but still effective. Also, there is a need for sufficient planning to ensure that all the employees participate in the training. This can be done by grouping the employees into several small groups. In the current programs, not all employees took part in the training. The employees who did not take part in the study did not provide reasons for their absence. It is thus essential for the program to encompass a means for participants to provide feedback if they cannot take part in the program. Training attendance can be improved by informing the target participants early enough. Also, a mechanism can be created to motivate the employees to take part in the training program.
Key Takeaways
This Emirates Airline case study shows that Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is more than just an academic requirement—it’s a practical tool that organizations can use to solve real problems. In this project, the customer affairs department faced frequent complaints due to poor communication. By identifying gaps, designing targeted training, and evaluating results, the company was able to strengthen its customer service performance.
For students, the main lessons are clear:
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Always start with a needs assessment to uncover the root problems.
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Training should be practical and interactive—role plays, simulations, and real scenarios work best.
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Evaluation is critical. Use models like Kirkpatrick’s four levels to measure not just learning, but behavior change and business impact.
Whether you’re preparing for an assignment, project, or exam, remember that the goal of Learning & Development is not just to train employees but to create measurable improvements in performance and customer satisfaction.
Reference
Bohlinger, S., & Müller, C. (2019). Training Needs Analysis. Internal CONTESSA Report.
Chattrawening, A., Secapramana, L. V. H., & Nugroho, E. (2018). Designing a Training Program on Competencies Development to Support the Quality of Work Life (QWL).
Shen, L., Qian, J., & Chen, S. C. (2020). Effective Communication Strategies of Sustainable Hospitality: A Qualitative Exploration. Sustainability, 12(17), 6920.
Tools, M. (2017). Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation model: Analyzing training effectiveness. Retrieved from https://educationaltechnology.net/kirkpatrick-model-four-levels-learning-evaluation/
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