When I began the needs assessment process for Earthright at Pavilion at Dobbs, I determined three areas with a performance gap: composting, recycling, and promoting local food. Sources for data included Pavilion employees, management, and the Earthright facilitator. Conversations with the facilitator gave me a sense of optimals; structured observation of employees provided data on actuals. Interviews with management revealed key information regarding feelings, causes, and possible solutions.
In the course of the needs assessment, one of the performance gaps was removed, as a menu for daily local options was created and displayed in the entryway. Changes to the current method of recycling proved impractical. A SWOT analysis determined that the project to introduce compostable plates should move forward, and analysis of actuals helped me identify employee training needs for composting.
Description (+)
Purpose
The marketing department of Campus Dining Services has initiated a program called Earthright to promote eco-friendly service in all CDS locations. Its projects include composting, recycling, and promoting local food options. Earthright is, in a sense, new technology: its projects are off to a good start. However, neither the students eating at Pavilion at Dobbs nor the majority of the staff working there know which food is local. Plastic and metal containers frequently end up in the trash, and many workers do not know recycling bin. There is a gap in customer knowledge, and also a gap in employee knowledge and performance. A needs assessment will analyze the causes of this gap and assess potential solutions.
Context
Pavilion at Dobbs is a dining hall on campus at a large research university. It is one of three all-you-care-to-eat locations operated by Campus Dining Services, and operates for a profit with the mission statement "Campus Dining Services: Nourishing the Mizzou Spirit through good food — happy people — comfortable places." Approximately 20 full time workers, 40 part time workers, three part time managers, and four full time managers work at Pavilion, which serves around 10,000 customers (2000-3000 per day). Two of the managers are relatively new to Pavilion, although they have worked for CDS for some time.
Role
Completed the full needs assessment, including data gathering, analysis, and interpretation.
Conducted interviews and observations.
Presented results to the Earthright facilitator
Reflection (+)
This was the first needs assessment I had ever conducted, so I learned quite a bit about the process and had my first experience conducting interviews. I had worked at Pavilion at Dobbs as a customer service attendant for over three years by that time, so I expected it to be easy to conduct interviews and observations and get the necessary changes made. In fact, the experience turned out to be something of an eye opener; each of the projects and elements involved were much more complex than I had previously imagined, and as a worker there I turned out to be too close to the situation and people involved to envision and motivate change in the way an outsider might. The switch to compostable plates was eventually made, in part due to the influence of the needs assessment, but compost cans have yet to be provided for student use.
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