Summary:
In many countries and academic media, discussion about the so-called “governance crisis” is increasingly frequent, associated with the inability of States to respond to the needs of society in the midst of an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable environment. Within this framework, the role of management training in the development of capacities and skills to promote organizational changes and processes that respond to new realities is widely recognized. The work analyzes some current trends in manager training, particularly for the public sector, identifies significant problems related to this activity in Latin America and Cuba, and some current development trends. The importance of research and management training with a differentiated approach is highlighted,attending to specific needs of certain sectors and professional profiles.
Introduction.
In recent years, in specialized media in many countries, discussion about the so-called “governance crisis” is increasingly frequent, associated with the inability of States to respond to pressing needs of current times.
In effect, the environment in which government institutions must make decisions becomes increasingly turbulent and unpredictable. The complexity of social, economic and political problems grows faster than the institutional capacities required to face them effectively.
This problem is particularly critical in Latin America, where the crisis of government leadership and obsolescence acquire alarming dimensions, which translates into passive management systems, with low possibilities of forecasting and reacting to unexpected events and lack of rigorous analysis of the impact of important decisions about economic and social reality.1
At the same time, it is widely recognized that the possibilities of increasing governments' capacities for action and, therefore, the efficiency and effectiveness of public institutions, are in close correspondence with the changes that can be effectively generated in the attitudes and skills of decision makers and other public officials. Hence, managerial training constitutes an essential means of inducing changes and organizational processes that respond to new realities.
These considerations have been repeatedly endorsed by numerous institutions, faculties and schools that in many Latin American countries work in the training of managers, in particular for the public sector. However, much remains to be done, despite the progress made and the work carried out by regional organizations such as the Latin American Center for Development Administration (CLAD), in order to promote research and the exchange of experiences in this field.
Some problems in Latin America.²
Already in a study sponsored more than a decade ago by the Iberoamerican Network of Institutions for Training and Research in Public Management (RIGEP), a group of significant problems related to the training of public managers in Latin America were identified, among which the following stood out: 3
- Lack and obsolescence of study plans and programs in relation to current problems. Weakness of government training programs. Dissociation between education and training. Absence of continuing education. Exceptional use of distance learning. Lack of progressive vocational training. teaching-research. Prevalence of the professorship and insufficient tutoring system. Insufficiency of career professors. Shortage of own bibliographic supplies.
With particular emphasis, in this document, in which experts from various countries in the area participated, the difficulties of many university institutions to implement mechanisms for updating the contents of their study programs were highlighted. For its part, the weakness of government training programs is associated with the lack of government training centers and the absence or limited employment of professional stays or practices.
Linked to the previous problem, the dissociation between education and training is identified, that is, the lack of a University-Government link in order to articulate teaching with professional practice and the real needs of this sector.
In the same way, it is concluded that continuing education, through improvement or updating courses, does not constitute a habitual practice in universities, which could be a very conducive means to relate teaching-training, as an essential part of university extension work. The same is true of distance education: its employment is insufficient in preparing public managers for their jobs.
Another aspect to highlight, perhaps as a result of the above, is the lack of progressive professional training, which prevents preparing public officials based on their abilities, aptitudes, vocation and professional development.
To the lack of teaching-research link, many insufficiencies are cited, such as ignorance of the administrative reality of the countries and of the real training needs, lack of bibliography, case studies and other own teaching materials, transmission of knowledge from other realities, etc.
The professorship, that is, the traditional system of teaching through lectures, continues to be the fundamental method used in many programs, where active teaching methods and tutoring work are absent, based on programmed education and self-learning.
Finally, another concern related to some of the above problems is the limited production of bibliography and own teaching materials, both for face-to-face programs and for distance learning.
Obviously, most of these problems are also present in business or business management training programs.
From another point of view, public manager training programs in many countries of our region have often reflected the complex nature of state logic as opposed to business logic4. On the one hand, there are training programs with an evident business bias and, on the other, programs with generalized profiles of public administration that do not establish sectoral, level or type of organization differences. Both trends start from basic assumptions and hence define the market or the State as a determining variable.
If the determining variable that is recognized is the market, the training profile is structured around the business activity sector and the values or categories that prevail are efficiency, productivity, prices, financing, investment recovery, etc.. This conception leads to a training that does not differ from that of business administration and responds to the well-known paradigm of "managerialism".
On the other hand, if the State is assumed as a fundamental variable, the programs are structured around the state nature of the organizations and the criteria that are handled from this perspective are rather linked to the political dynamics, the social environment and their connection with State policies and strategies, administrative structures, etc. This conception points towards a global formation that responds to the dynamics of the processes and the state apparatus as a whole.
Other specialists argue that it is the increasing specialization that affects the diversity of approaches, the fragmentation of the object of study and the complexity of current programs in some countries.5 Hence the existence of Public Administration programs within the field of science policies; programs geared toward the development of administrative skills and technologies; public policy profile programs; Comprehensive programs that offer a more flexible curriculum that allows combining approaches in politics, management and public policy; and finally, programs oriented to specialized training in certain areas such as health services administration, local management, urban management, cooperative administration, among others.
However, in recent times intermediate training trends have emerged with an interdisciplinary nature that start from a multidimensional approach to the problem. It is recognized that public administration must seek efficiency, productivity, performance, competitiveness, but at the same time it must have a sense of ethics and social responsibility in the effective management of resources, of the values and political principles of the sector, of equity, justice, compliance with current laws and legal procedures, etc. In other words, the public administrator as a public servant must also fulfill political and social objectives. In addition, training programs must manage to convey the meaning of Public Administration as an institution (structure, apparatus) and as a field of study and research.
From this perspective, training cannot be limited only to traditional approaches of the various disciplines of the social sciences, but must allow reality to be interpreted in a transformative way and from an interdisciplinary perspective.6
Public Administration studies in Cuba.
Interdisciplinary training is a very topical topic also in the academic field in Cuba, particularly in the field of postgraduate academic training. There is evidence of the need to abandon the traditional model of rigid curricular structures, divided into disciplines or subjects that leave the student with the responsibility of integrating knowledge and applying it to a reality that is not always presented as structured and clear.
Many of the aforementioned problems have also been present in the teaching of Public Administration and in the training of public administrators in our country. Research carried out in this field is still scarce and the programs that have been designed by some Higher Education Centers have frequently been conceived to respond more to needs of a technical nature and to the development of managerial skills. Training plans specifically geared towards this sector are still limited.7
For our country, the need to train managers and specialists in this field is reinforced by the sudden changes that have occurred in the international arena, the consequent disarticulation of its system of foreign economic relations, and the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States, with its known immediate impact on the nation's internal economy. Under these new conditions, the practice of recent years has shown that the effective management of human, material and financial resources is a key factor in overcoming the crisis and continuing to advance from the economic and social point of view.
The weight of the public sector in our society and the complexity of the tasks that the State must face to respond to this new reality and to the growing needs of the country, determine the advisability of preparing high-level cadres and specialists, especially for this sector that In addition to developing their technical management capabilities, they contribute to the design and implementation of improvement policies for the Public Administration.
Hence, in particular, the University of Havana has proposed in the 1990s a line of work and research in this field, in order to contribute to raising the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration entities, through the training of managers and other actions, taking into account current and future needs demanded by the changes that are taking place in the country and the critical assimilation of international experiences.
After a process of determining needs, exchanging experiences with specialists and academics from different foreign universities, the comparative study of programs from different HEIs and interdisciplinary methodological work, the first courses and diplomas were designed until reaching the conception of a program Postgraduate academic training in this field. Thus was born the Master in Public Administration, which was conceived with two terminal profiles: Public Policies and Local Management. The first, aimed at executives and officials of the Central State Administration, responsible for the design and implementation of global and sectoral policies, while the second is aimed at leaders and specialists of organs and institutions of local administration.8
This program aims to develop knowledge and skills to project and implement action strategies that combine the maximum satisfaction of public needs, the rational use of resources and the exploitation of opportunities in the environment; formulate, execute and evaluate the impact of policies and programs in different sectors of the public service; effectively apply the current legal norm and the different conceptual frameworks and instruments of economic and management policy, observing ethical principles in the performance of public service.9 Thus, for the first time in the country, an academic training program for this nature, which differs substantially from others already existing in the field of Administration, but of a business or business nature.
Business management: peculiarities of some training programs in this profile.
In recent years, new forms of management and direction have been introduced in Cuban state companies through a process known as "Business Improvement."
In fact, the improvement began experimentally in the country before the 1990s, in organizations of the business system of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, as a result of the analysis of errors and negative trends generated by the then current “Management and Planning System of the Economy ”. Based on its positive results, this experience began to be generalized to the entire Cuban economy in recent years, although not at the desired rate, due to multiple factors that it is not our purpose to address here.
It is recognized that both the new trends and modern business management practices in the world and the needs of the country's own development in this field have been taken into account in the conception of this new approach.
Without trying to analyze the innovations introduced in the set of subsystems that contemplate improvement, there is no doubt that it has been responding to problems identified in human resource management, in the administrative methods and techniques used, in the organization of production and work., organizational structures, accounting and financial management, including the development of new control, negotiation and marketing techniques, among others.
Experience has shown that an important barrier to overcome in order for the system to be “viable, efficient, effective and participatory” 10 is the very way of thinking and acting of many managers, used to expecting guidance from above or for fear of risk. Hence the importance of the need for education for change and the preparation of managers and workers to act in new conditions, both internal and environmental.
In these new circumstances, Cuban universities have also been working in the last decade on postgraduate academic training programs that respond to specific needs of this profile. It is not by chance that the first Master's program approved in the country was the Master's in Management, started simultaneously at the University of Havana and the "José Antonio Echevarría" Higher Polytechnic Institute in 1992 and the most widespread currently at Higher Education Centers (CES) Cubans.
In this case, the program is designed to develop professionals in the field of management and direction of companies and organizations, which includes projecting and directing the effective development of entities, identifying, processing and using the pertinent information for business management, develop and implement strategies, employ methods and develop technical skills for decision-making, perfect management style and interpersonal relationships, train and lead work teams to solve problems, among other specific objectives.11 As observed, here the accent is placed on the development of the organization's core cadre and this is foreseen in the requirements for entering the program, designed for managers who are active or their reserves and whose profile is eminently business-oriented,To which the lines of research associated with this program also respond.
On the other hand, the Master of Business Administration - which is also taught at the University of Havana and other ESCs in the country - prepares high-level specialists for companies, capable of advising their management in decision-making that is their responsibility to each of the subsystems of the organizations. This includes the design of corporate and functional strategies, market studies, products, prices, distribution channels, advertising, feasibility of new investments, as well as technical, economic, financial and effectiveness analysis in operations management, with the support of economic, statistical, computer, technical instruments, etc. In other words, this program prepares first and foremost "staff" managers and specialists in business administration problems.12
In this context, the cooperative management training process deserves a particular analysis. In effect, as a result of the new circumstances previously mentioned that determined a critical lack of resources of all kinds, from 1993 important changes in agriculture began to take place in Cuba. New forms of organization of social production are conceived, in this case, in the form of cooperatives, which are going to replace state agricultural enterprises.13
This is the beginning of a singular experience in the country in the current international context in which neoliberal models proliferate - which is not the case to analyze here either - with their corresponding recipes for deregulation and privatization of companies and entities of production and public services and its known setbacks in many countries in the region. In contrast to this phenomenon, a necessary process of destatization in state agriculture was carried out in Cuba, through the development of cooperativism in agricultural production.
The creation of these new companies, known as Basic Units of Cooperative Production (UBPC), constitutes one of the most radical measures adopted in the country in order to increase the efficiency of agricultural production in the new conditions.
These are economic and social organizations with their own legal personality, made up of agricultural workers who voluntarily unite to exploit lands that the State gives them in free usufruct and for an indefinite time. Its essential objective is the continuous growth of agricultural production, as well as the rational use of available resources and the improvement of the living and working conditions of its members.
As stated in their normative documents, these new organizations aim to ensure man's link to the plot, his interest in work, his sense of responsibility and his stimulation according to the results.14
Another important objective is the food self-sufficiency of the workers and their families, as well as the elective nature of its board of directors, which must periodically render accounts of its management before the assembly of members.
By the end of 1995, more than 1,700 UBPCs had been organized throughout the country with about 132,000 cooperative members, occupying an area of 42% of the country's agricultural land. In the case of the production of sugar cane, basic agricultural activity, more than 90% of the cultivated area at present is in the hands of cooperatives.15
The organization of the UBPCs has also represented an important step in the formation of a wide sector of small and medium-sized companies in the Cuban economy.
However, cooperative companies do not differ substantially from the rest of the business world by size, structure, sales volumes, technological development, economic objectives, etc. However, they are governed by certain principles that distinguish them, such as the free and voluntary incorporation of members, managerial autonomy, equitable participation in the distribution of benefits, the elective nature of boards of directors and periodic accountability to associates.16 At the same time, cooperative organizations, by their nature, rely on ethical principles and traditions of honesty, transparency in management, social responsibility and care for the community, as well as values such as democracy, equality, equity, solidarity and mutual aid.
The above distinctive features, together with some problems identified in the management of these organizations such as excessive tutelage by state organizations, high labor fluctuation, insufficient stimulation for work, the still limited participation of workers in economic management, the weak development of the organizational culture, the insufficient use of economic control as a management tool, and the insufficient training of its management teams, among others, have determined the need to design a postgraduate academic training program specifically for this managerial profile.
In this way, the Master in Management and Development of Cooperatives, which is also taught at the University of Havana, will be distinguished by the participatory action research approach and the development of knowledge and skills that allow trainees to contribute to improve the management and the economic-productive and participative functioning of the UBPCs. Here a relevant place is occupied by the methods and techniques that promote the active participation of the members of the UBPCs and other social actors in the processes of management and organizational development in the field.17
A more detailed analysis of the aforementioned academic training programs in the field of Administration allows us to verify an increasingly multidisciplinary conception in their designs, in particular, the Master's programs in Public Administration and in Management and Development of Cooperatives, in whose faculties academics from different university areas participate.
However, frequently in multidisciplinary processes, everyone offers their vision of the object, without necessarily generating integrative syntheses. Teamwork is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition of interdisciplinarity. It requires a team made up of specialists with shared epistemic, methodological and conceptual frameworks and who work based on a methodological strategy that starts from the formation of truly interdisciplinary problems and whose solution leads to multidimensional knowledge of the object of study18.
Interdisciplinary teaching is not based on establishing "diplomatic relations" between disciplines or groups of specialists: it is about organic cooperation and effective communication between different fields of knowledge that reveal new objects of study, broaden the vision and encourage the spirit Critical and scientific debate. This should be a challenge to face in the improvement of postgraduate programs in Administration at the University of Havana and in the organization and development of research in this field.
Conclusions.
The complexity of the social, economic and political problems in the current conditions that prevail in the world grows relatively faster than the institutional capacities required to face them effectively.
In these new circumstances, it is widely recognized that management training constitutes an essential means of inducing changes and organizational processes that respond to new realities.
Training in Public Administration has become an unquestionable field of professional development that has spread throughout our continent, mainly through higher education institutions.
However, training programs in this profile have not frequently responded to national realities; There has been a "mechanical appropriation" of fashionable management solutions, without an effort of research and development to generate "domestic innovation".
Cuba has not been exempt from these problems and, despite the important specific weight of the public sector in society, for a long time specific research and programs to respond to needs in this area were very limited.
The University of Havana has undertaken solid steps in research and management training with a differentiated approach, attending to the specific needs of certain sectors or professional profiles. The experience derived from the practice of recent years shows that it is essential to privilege teamwork, research and the study of needs. In this endeavor it is important not to underestimate the role of training with an interdisciplinary approach in achieving efficient and effective administration.
Although it is true that under the effects of globalization many administrative and supposedly “universal” experiences and practices that aim to respond to current changes rapidly internationalize, it is not possible to ignore the singular and specific nature of each society in a constant study and confrontation.
Notes _________________________
1 Latin American Center for Higher Government Studies. Latin American Parliament. University
Latin American and the Caribbean (ULAC), Venezuela, 2001, p. 15.
2 See: Churches A. Training in Public Administration in Latin America, Canada and Cuba: particularities and current trends. Management Brochures. CCED-MONTH. Year V. No. 11. November 2001. pp. 32-40
3 Guerrero, O. Policies and technical criteria for curricular modernization of the training of public managers in
Ibero-America. RIGEP. Technical Documents Series No. 3 - October, 1992.
4 See: Cabrero, ME: "From public administrator to public manager", INAP. Mexico, 1995.
5 See: Santana R., L.: 'Curricular trends in the teaching of Public Administration in the United States.' CLAD Magazine Reforma y Democracia. No. 17. June 2000, p. 247
6 Latin American Center for Advanced Government Studies. Op. Cit. p. 18.
5 See: Santana R., L.: 'Curricular trends in the teaching of Public Administration in the United States.' CLAD Magazine Reforma y Democracia. No. 17. June 2000, p. 247
6 Latin American Center for Advanced Government Studies. Op. Cit. p. 18.
7 See: Iglesias, A. “Public Administration and training of public managers: topicality and perspective. Information bulletin for state cadres. No. 8. Havana, MONTH. June 1997.
8 Master's Program in Public Administration. Chair of Public Administration. University of Havana.
1999
9 Master's Program in Public Administration. Op. Cit. p.3
10 Rodríguez C., F. “Trabajadores” newspaper. 09/23/2002. p. 7
11 Master of Management. National opinion with minimum considerations for these programs in Cuba. COPEP- MONTH, April 1997.
12 Master's Program in Business Administration. Economy faculty. Uh New version. 2001.
13 Iglesias, A. "The economic reports to Cuba are dated 90 years and the reorganization of agriculture". Paper presented at the International Colloquium «Companies and societies». HEC, University of Montreal, Canada,
August 21-23, 1995.
14 UBPC normative documents. MINAGRI, 1994.
15 Introduction to the management of sugarcane cooperatives. Collective of authors. Sugar publications. Havana,
2002, Prologue.
16 Ibid. p. 16.
17 Master's Program in Management and Development of Cooperatives. FLACSO-UH; CIDA, Canada; IRECUS, Sherbrooke University. C. Habana, 2000
18 Núñez, J.: Epistemology, interdisciplinarity and medicine. (Unpublished). Havana, 1999.
_______________________________
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