NEEDS ASSESSMENT OF OFFICE ASSISTANTS’ BUSINESS WRITING SKILLS: BASIS FOR A TRAINING DESIGN

Abstract

Office assistants are the supporting arm of the office heads. One of their roles is to write correspondence and other documents on behalf of their office, hence requiring them to be proficient in writing. This study aims to conceptualize a training that is tailored-fit for the office assistants to help them enhance their writing skills. The study uses the descriptive design particularly, the triangulation method in analyzing and validating qualitative data since most of the data gathered were qualitative in nature. The data were collected through the Training Needs Assessment (TNA) Survey Questionnaire, Business Writing Test (BWT), and Semi-Structured Interview (SSI). Questionnaires were distributed to the 27 respondents, five of which were selected for SSI. Results were then analyzed using frequency and percentage counts, weighted arithmetic mean, Standard Deviation (SD), T-test, Analysis of Variance, Pearson r and Grounded Theory Analysis. Results showed no significant difference on the respondents’ level of business writing skills and demographic profiles. Self-assessment also indicated no significant relationship with their business writing skills. Nevertheless, it was found that the office assistants still need business writing training to improve their business writing skills in terms of voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.