Organizations around the world show a growing interest in the design and implementation of Quality Management Systems, although for some years the trend towards Integrated Management Systems has been gaining strength, incorporating environmental and safety aspects. and occupational health.
This change is due to a truth that is gradually making its way and that is that success is increasingly identified not only with the simple economic results that are achieved with good organizational management, but with sustainability, a concept that is associated with consideration and care of environmental aspects, as well as occupational health and safety. In fact, good organizational management today cannot be foreign to these issues.
The introduction of changes and the aspiration that these be crowned with success have among their demands the preparation that they require, both those who must lead them and those who must carry them out. This determines the need to modify behaviors and create new skills.
The foregoing is indicative of the relevance of training, an essential basis for promoting behavior change and skills training, both for managers and other members of the entity.
This work will basically deal with managerial training, the effectiveness of which, in our opinion, will depend on at least three important aspects:
- Process approach Systemic approach Measurement of its impact on organizational performance
The present work refers to these three aspects, especially the third one, and shows some experiences of the authors in the development of consulting processes, trainings, courses and other training variants offered to Cuban organizations, fundamentally to a group of important entities of the national poultry sector.
The objective of this work is to share some reflections on the managerial training process and its impact on the company's management.
Development
Management training is a topic with long-standing roots and has been a concern of organizations interested in having human capital capable of coping with constant changes in the environment.
When we talk about managerial training, we are referring to the formation of the necessary skills that allow those who manage to take advantage of their resources of all kinds in an efficient and effective way.
According to Robert Katz, one can speak of "… three groups of essential administrative skills…" so that managers can successfully achieve their objectives. These are the technical, human and conceptual skills that, in summary, pose:
Technical skills
Ability to apply specialized knowledge or experience, depending on the type of activity the entity is engaged in.
Human abilities
Ability to work and communicate with others, understand and motivate them, both individually and in groups.
Conceptual skills
Mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
Experience indicates that non-executive members of organizations also require having all three skill groups, albeit in different proportions compared to those in leadership positions.
Training is frequently identified only with the modality used to transmit and share knowledge, that is, courses, diplomas, master's degrees, among others. However, the effectiveness of the training rests largely on its approach as a process, the training process, as represented below.
The starting point of the process is constituted by the objectives defined by the organization, specified in certain economic, quality, social and environmental indicators, among others.
With these objectives as a guide, the competencies that each of the members of the organization needs to have are determined, considering the three groups of skills, and the gap that, in each case, it is necessary to cover with training, which is reflected in Diagnosis of Learning Needs (DNA).
At this point, the information necessary to plan the selected training modality is already available, depending on the specificities and requirements of the entity. This part of the process then passes through its three moments: beginning, development and end, after which, and after a certain period of time, the training process carried out is fed back.
Regarding feedback, the systematic use made of it should be highlighted, as indicated in the representation shown above, to reduce the possibility of deviations that affect the achievement of the objectives set.
On the other hand, the feedback that is provided constitutes the basis for putting into practice the necessary corrections and enriching the planning and execution of an upcoming training process.
As stated above, the effectiveness of the training rests largely on its approach as a process; Another essential pillar of effectiveness is to conceive the training process with a system approach.
Quite often, companies manage different training modalities for managers, leaving the rest of the organization's members in the background, evidence of the absence of a systemic approach in the training process.
"If the leader is the only one who knows what game is being played, then obviously he is the only one who can win.
Phil b. Crosby "
This reality is precisely one of the causes of failure of many change processes, since training managers and lack of preparation for other members of the organization prevent effective communication between them.
In other words, managerial preparation is not enough, the other members of the organization must also be prepared to understand the new ideas of managers, so that they can support them and turn those ideas into successful results for the entity.
The third aspect of the effectiveness of the training process that is analyzed in this work is the measurement of the influence that is achieved on organizational performance.
There is quite a consensus on the need to assess how training processes influence performance results.
There are many aspects that reveal the importance of measuring how much the training process impacts on the performance of organizations, among them the following are very relevant:
- know what resources are being invested in: managers' time, material resources, etc. know if these resources return with added value. evaluate the effectiveness of the training entity. measurement is an essential tool to ensure that those who receive training, apply what you have learned
On this last aspect, it is important to emphasize its relevance, since many of the difficulties that arise in organizations to achieve the changes that are proposed, lie precisely in the non-implementation of what their members learn. Another associated aspect is that the interest of the trainees diminishes, occasionally in a very marked way, when the training process is not evaluated. They should, however, be considered creative forms of evaluation since, for example, traditional examinations are also frequently rejected by the trained.
For many years, it has been investigated how to measure the effect on the performance of organizations of the training process, which is most often identified as the "measurement of the impact of training".
Although the training has shown great progress, especially in the various forms of delivery, the same has not happened with the measurement of its impact, a topic on which the bibliography is not very abundant either.
For some years, in Cuba, the issue of measuring the impact of training has been given a boost, particularly in the preparation of managers.
For several years, the Ministry of Higher Education has had a steering group that systematically coordinates this task and has held three national events to date. Along with this, the preparation of papers, articles and methodologies, have given life to the debate necessary to develop such a relevant topic in the organizational framework.
In the international context “models and manuals have been designed that attempt to measure the impact of training processes. Among them, the authors of this work decided to take as a basis the Model of Donald Kirkpatrick, an American psychologist of the last century.
Internationally, this is the best known, recognized and used model for dealing with the issue of measuring the impact of training, which dates back to 1959. As is clear, although it has passed the test of time (more than 45 years) and has been adapted by different authors, it is necessary to adjust it to the current conditions of the training processes in general and to Cuban women in particular ”.
In summary, the Kirkpatrick Model with its stages, objectives and main measurement tools for each of them, are explained below:
Level I.- Reaction.
At this level, the satisfaction of those receiving the training is measured and an evaluation is made with the purpose of improving future training processes.
Whoever carries out the evaluation of this stage collects information on the satisfaction of the participants about the components that participate in the process, that is, the teaching method used by the teacher / facilitator, quality of the means used, support materials and texts used., characteristics of the premises and clarity in the explanations, among others.
In our experience for this level, it is important to collect the expectations at the initial moment - and leave them visible during the rest of the process, just in case they want to add some more (s) - of those who will receive the training, an aspect that many Sometimes it is neglected.
On the other hand, feedback should be done creatively, to enrich the process, using not only traditional forms such as the PNI (Positive, Negative, Interesting), but other newer and more motivating forms that can be created by the teachers themselves.
Among the ones we have used, the use of forms that have to do with the activity of the participants has been very effective, for example in agriculture comparing if the class / course was a crop, fruit, etc. what it would be and why This is a different way of measuring satisfaction and knowing the criteria of the participants on different elements of the training process.
Both at this level and in others and in any methodology that is used, it must be borne in mind that many of the results are not immediate, since training has a strong investment component for the future.
Level II.- Learning.
The second level is associated with the objectives defined for the training process and is aimed at measuring the knowledge acquired by the students during the course.
Here we highlight the relevance of the BEFORE-AFTER comparison to help in this measurement, for which different methods are used, such as conducting control tests before and after the training action, interviews with participants, surveys, etc.
The instruments applied at this level must determine the degree of assimilation of the content by the participants.
At this level it is necessary to measure the fulfillment of the objectives to be covered in the classroom. The authors of this work have used, with particularly satisfactory results, initial questions about whether the participants know much, little, or nothing about the subject matter of the training and TRUE, FALSE, DON'T KNOW questions about the essential contents linked to the.
At this level, logically, the presentation and debate of the oriented works, according to the type of training, are forms of evaluation of the impact of the training. Likewise, the group dynamics continue to show great effectiveness throughout the development of the training.
Also, as part of the evaluation, the criteria of the managers of the entity receiving the training have been collected.
Level III.- Behavior.
This third level aims to measure whether those who received the course are able to apply the knowledge acquired in their work. As already stated, the assimilation process requires some time, “We have to take into account that this takes time and therefore it should wait, between three and six weeks, until we can make an adequate assessment, carried out through interviews and / or questionnaires. in addition to the observation of job performance by the management team ”.
We believe that the time period does not necessarily conform only to what the cited authors propose. In fact, a second application of the information collection techniques can be made at later dates and it cannot be considered that, ultimately, this is linked to the training issue in question, the agreement that has been reached with the client and the defined objectives, among other elements to take into account.
At this level, you can use interviews, questionnaires, observation of the performance evaluation and verify to what extent the trainees are able to multiply the knowledge acquired among the rest of the members of the entity.
One tool that we have used and that has been effective is that at the end of the training modality used, participants are asked to write on a sheet the improvement actions that they intend to introduce in their work based on the content received, as well as the estimated impacts, in order to carry out a check-up on them at a later date, the latter process which also includes the participation of managers and other people who work with the trained.
An example of impact measurement at this level, which is subsequently used in the next level, can be expressed in the training on the topic on Good Business Management Practices (BGE) which is summarized in the following table:
| ESTIMATED IMPACTS | ||||
| Action to be taken with what has been learned | Economic | Organizational | Occupational safety and health | Environmental |
A subsequent evaluation, corresponding to Level IV, once the action plans have been executed, makes it possible to assess whether the expected impacts were achieved.
Level IV.- Results.
This last level is aimed at measuring the objectives of the training action in terms of whether they are used effectively in the entity and for this, exams and interviews can be carried out. At this level, economic, quality, social and environmental indicators, among others, must be used.
The link that must be established between the training processes and customer satisfaction must be kept in mind. Also at this level some time is required for the execution of the tests and its objective is to precisely assess the impact achieved in improving performance.
The results of the four levels analyzed, each according to their characteristics, must be recorded in the performance evaluation. In a fairly extensive way, in practice performance evaluations are limited to what happened in the first two levels.
The first two levels of Kirkpatrick's model are easier to assess, while the next two are more complex, especially in terms as intangible as arguing the answer to the question: To what extent has what been learned generated new values shared by members of the entity? In fact very few organizations evaluate the third and fourth levels.
It is relevant to mention here a term that we introduce the authors of this work in the analysis of the problem of measuring the impact of training: "reasonable evaluation."
Just as the Internal Control process in organizations talks about reasonable security, it is necessary to bear in mind that the evaluation of the impact of training must also be reasonable, that is, it must be clear that there are aspects whose measurement is irrelevant and others whose measurement could be more costly than the effect that training would have on organizational improvement.
In practice on an experimental basis, we are currently carrying out the following steps
- meeting with the company to define the objectives in a participatory way
- to be achieved with the selected modality to be achieved later
- design of the selected modalitydevelopment of the selected modalityevaluation of the fulfillment of the objectivesdefinition of the actions to be developed with the acquired knowledgeevaluation of the fulfillment of the actions
Some impacts on business performance
Based on the review and analysis of the practical execution of consulting processes, trainings, courses and other training variants, in Cuban entities dedicated to the development of different production activities and (or) services, with greater participation of companies in the sector national poultry, we have found that, among the main impacts of the training offered, we can relate the following:
a) The operation of the Boards of Directors has been perfected. This result is derived from the application of some training techniques, among which the selection of several members of the group has been shown to have excellent results, and they are provided with an observation guide for the ordinary meeting of the Board of Directors.
Among the aspects to be observed are the measurement of the duration and frequency of the interventions per participant, if some of the topics analyzed can be dealt with in offices, without being included in the Council, and others. At the end, the results of the observation are analyzed and decisions are made regarding the improvement of future meetings.
To measure the impact of the application of this training technique in 10 poultry entities, two observations were made, in a period of two months between the first and the second. The most outstanding average results are reflected below:
- Decrease of 1 hour and 25 minutes in the duration of the meetings. 11% increase in effective time, that is, the time in which concrete results are achieved in the debate. Decrease in interruptions. A more adequate frequency in the amount and duration of the interventions of the CEO.
b) Teamwork has been improved, as a result of which, managers assign tasks more easily and improve the performance evaluation of subordinates. During the training process, surveys are applied to increase the self-knowledge of group members.
The objective that is pursued is that each one of them knows in greater depth their strengths and weaknesses, their fundamental abilities and skills, those aspects in which they must perfect their knowledge, etc. This self-knowledge brings with it that more and more members of the group know each other and can complement each other according to their skills, abilities, etc.
This process is achieved much more easily when the training is carried out with the entire management team (“in company” courses) since the individual assistance of some of its members to Training Centers where they receive courses with managers from other Entities do not allow to work with the reality of their own organization or interact with the rest of the team to which they belong.
Subsequently, at the end of the training, there is no common language with your group, which prevents you from taking full advantage of the knowledge acquired.
c) A greater mastery of the management terms and a more adequate application of them have been achieved, which has facilitated:
- greater effectiveness in group work, faster assimilation of new content during the training process, more effective interventions and presentations with a high level of elaboration, both within the Board of Directors and before higher organizations.
d) A tendency has been developed to prepare strategic projections that take into account the systemic nature of management.
For several years, intense work has been done in training on Strategic Management by Objectives. These courses include the development of strategies based on certain vision horizons, and include the definition of annual and strategic objectives.
The managers who have received these courses, in addition, have seen the need to apply this knowledge since they must answer to their higher body for preparing and complying with the strategic planning of their entity.
The strong link between knowledge and practice has been changing the approaches of these managers, manifesting a tendency to draw up strategies in the short, medium and long terms as a proven way of guaranteeing the fulfillment of the missions entrusted to them.
Likewise, the training received on the systemic approach to management, prioritizing processes rather than organizational structure, improves these approaches by giving it an essential integrality in business management.
e) Participatory Strategic Design has increased management stability, has improved control mechanisms and has stimulated self-control. Training for the strategic design of entities, and their subsequent application, requires, as an essential part of said design, the preparation of action plans that guarantee compliance.
These plans contain, among other elements, those responsible for the tasks, the dates for checking and compliance with them, etc.
All this has brought as a consequence a logical reduction in operations that characterizes companies, in general, increasing management stability as well as control mechanisms derived from said plans. All this has led to greater self-control to guarantee individual compliance with the assigned tasks.
f) The preparation of specialists, secretaries and other non-managerial personnel gives a systemic character to the training process that has favored adequately facing resistance to change, has favored involvement and has provided greater support for business management.
g) The “learning by doing” approach based on the reality of each entity allows the results to be assumed as another important benefit of the course. The training courses for managers, carried out under the “learning by doing” approach, are carried out in the “in company” modality referred to above.
This allows the reality of each entity to be used as a study and work laboratory. Because of this, the classes where managers learn to formulate diagnoses, strategic designs, action plans, etc. They are not taught through lectures, but rather you acquire the knowledge by preparing them. This training path has multiple advantages, including:
- The motivation of the participants rises due to the degree of familiarity they have with the reality of their company. The examples arise in a dynamic and fluid way as it is not something foreign to the students., plans, etc. a result is being shaped that will be of total utility to the management of the entity, that is, they receive an additional benefit to the knowledge acquired.
By way of Conclusions
The issue of measuring the impact of training on organizational performance constitutes a relevant aspect for the constant improvement of the preparation of human capital in entities and requires continuing to develop research that allows the meeting to be advanced in more effective ways for its improvement.
Bibliography
- Collective of authors: Impact of training, Edited by the Training Direction of Tables and Management Studies of the Ministry of Higher Education, Havana, Cuba, First Edition, February 25, 2004. Crosby, P., “Reflections on Quality: 295 maxims of the world quality guru ”, McGraw Hill Interamericana Editores SA de CV, Mexico, 1996Enebral, F. José: Continuous training of managers, www.gestiopolis.com, 2004. Jiménez, María L. and Barchino, Roberto: "Evaluation and implementation of an evaluation model of training actions" www.gestiopolis.com, 2003. International Standard ISO 9001/2000 "Quality Management Systems. Requirements ”Ramírez, J. y García, S.,“ Management by Competencies and the Impact of Training ”, Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, Havana. 2005. Robbins, S., P.,"Organizational Behavior, Theory and Practice", Prentice Hall, Seventh Edition, Mexico, 2000. Vargas, JN: Impact evaluation of training. A reflection from practice. www.canalwork.com, 2003.
Robbins, S., P., "Organizational Behavior, Theory and Practice", Glossary, Prentice Hall, Seventh Edition, Mexico, 2000.
Crosby, P., "Reflections on Quality: 295 World Guru Quality Maxims", McGraw Hill Interamericana Editores SA de CV, Mexico, 1996
Ramírez, J. and García S.- "Management by Competencies and the Impact of Training"
See: Ramírez, J. and García S.- "Management by Competencies and the Impact of Training"
María Lourdes Jiménez and Roberto Barchino: "Evaluation and implementation of a training actions evaluation model"
You can see the article "Evaluation and implementation of a training actions evaluation model" by María Lourdes Jiménez and Roberto Barchino.
