Introduction
In every training process, continuous changes and improvements must be carried out, while the changing world in which we develop, demands new capacities, new competences, new ways of being, which are associated with changes in organizations, personal motivations and The challenge of achieving the best match between training and job performance.
Managers, who are the object of analysis of this article, are valued as an active and autonomous subject in the framework of their development, they have experience, they are obliged by their own environmental conditions to have a proactive behavior, and in world conditions Currently, they are increasingly oriented towards collective actions, which represents a greater challenge for educators who must share and facilitate their teaching-learning processes.
Development
When considering the new approaches, we start from a methodological conception of learning in adult teams.
Our general objective will be the training and modification of behaviors through a group approach, taking into account the motivations, interest and co-responsibility of each of the participating managers.
We are driven by the achievement of meaningful learning, where not only the proposed objective is achieved, but the creation of a close relationship between the content and the individual own experiences and the shared collective experience, so that each participant can and wants to share and multiply what learned.
Premises
- Meet the requirements and voluntariness for enrollment. Existence of the organization's Strategic Planning. Program coherence
Compliance with the premises constitutes the guarantee of having the experience that will serve as the basis for the exchange and tribute to the process, since in adult education the actions are self-directed, so the participants will seek answers to their questions in their own experience., and in this case, an objective is also to develop the collective experience from the individual one.
The existence of Strategic Planning guarantees a general framework so that the design is oriented towards the fulfillment of organizational objectives and, on the other hand, it is an element to take into account for the coherence of the teaching-learning process, through the links established between the demands. personal, organizational and environmental.
Beginning:
- Orientation to training needs Continuous improvement of the training process Involvement
Targeting training needs requires a technical approach that defines what each group member needs to learn, develop, or complement.
This can be accomplished in several ways:
- Analysis of the manifest needs: they are the evident ones, they do not require investigation to be determined or known, for example the lack of communication, incomplete communication, the inadequate handling of group work techniques or others that in the performance of the activity is perceptible Everyday can be evidenced. Analysis of hidden needs: they are not detectable like the previous ones, and therefore require systematic investigation.
For the detection of hidden needs, the following tools, among others, can be used:
- Directed interviews. Questionnaires that collect the needs and desires of the person concerned. Interviews with immediate bosses. Performance evaluations. Group analysis. Direct observation. Design of the position and contrast with the real state. Design of competences and contrast with the real state.
More generally, the organization's problem bank or components of the strategic analysis can be used.
In this case, the problems that can be solved through training must be defined.
To detect the needs, the following variables must be controlled:
- Basic management training. Organizational processes. Interpersonal relationships. Work environment. Environmental factors.
The analysis of this information allows classifying the training actions required by the organization on an individual basis and those of a group nature, as well as defining the thematic priorities, using exercises with the collimator technique (ALP-1989) or mathematical methods of approach. multicriteria, among others.
The continuous improvement of the training process based on the PHVA cycle (plan, do, verify and act) proposed by Deming (1989), must be linked to the objectives of the organization derived from its strategic planning, so that each competence, conduct, Knowledge and individual ability contribute to the results of the organization, in teams that appropriate and develop collective learning.
The concept of the improvement cycle can be explained for the training as follows:
When planning, based on the objectives of the organization that requires the training of managers will be defined:
- Type of participants. The objectives to achieve with the training. Content: What we are going to train, what competencies, knowledge, skills should be acquired (based on needs) Topics. Specific objectives. Its duration Type of activities to be carried out Educational resources Evaluation system.
In doing so, we develop the methods that lead us to fulfill the planned objectives, whether cognitive, affective or psychomotor (Bloom,).
In this group training, the use of participatory, demonstrative and individualized methods is foreseen, and the mini-conference is used to a lesser extent as an expository method.
Doing does not fall on the teacher - facilitator but rather guarantees an important share of responsibility in the participants, who participate in the presentation of problem situations, demonstration of competencies and skills, through role plays, presentation of cases of their daily activities and actions individualized within the actions of the training group.
At this time the groups will develop creativity through the use of the participatory method and all the techniques they consider to guarantee the quality of their leading role in the teaching-learning process, as subject and object, interchangeably.
When using the role play or business game, the use of real situations must be guaranteed, fundamentally; With the technique of the corridors, one or several topics are analyzed through the approach of the designated teams, to reach conclusions from the analysis of the different approaches, in plenary session.
Compliance with the objectives is verified at each closing session of work and topic, making a feedback through the analysis of each group and the general conclusions by the facilitators.
It is important to highlight that as it is a group process, it should be facilitated that the group verify and evaluate its own activity and pay tribute to that of other groups.
In this cycle, acting does not correspond only to the action of the teacher - facilitator, since once the verification of what has been learned has been carried out, each group will define their critical areas to deepen what must be perfected or cover new stages for their conditions.
From here you can set new goals for next stages.
Involvement. This is a condition that is evident when motivation and commitment are present, it is vital to achieve co-responsibility for everyone in the process.
The way considered in this case has been interaction and participation.
As the teams go through the different stages of development, it is appreciated and it must be made explicit to what extent each group member and each class group is involved.
The procedure developed for applying the collective training approach, forming continuous learning teams is described below:
1. Presentation of facilitators and participants
It is done in an agile and creative way, data will be given on how each person looks, regarding characteristics, qualities and relevant events of their life. It is oriented to place in front of the place where you are sitting a cardboard with the name or the way in which you like to be identified.
2. Statement of expectations of the group of participants
It is a very important phase, where a facilitator must gradually guarantee that the rules of group work are followed and that everyone participates.
Another Professor will act as registrar. Insist that there are no expectations left uncollected. The expectations of the teachers - facilitators can also be raised.
3. Declaration of general objectives
The elaborated objectives are raised according to the needs. Affective objectives play an important role in this type of activity.
Those associated with the response area have been used with good results in terms of Discussing, Answering, Practicing, Recording, Relating, Selecting, among others.
4. Presentation of themes and objectives by theme
The objectives by subject and, if possible, the teaching methods planned to be developed will be exposed and delivered in a written document.
5. Negotiation of objectives according to expectations and declaration of the concept of flexibility for development
Once stated, the objectives must be compared with expectations and the corresponding associations must be made.
If there is any expectation not included in the content order, specify the analysis for its incorporation, without violating the methodological process.
6. Negotiation of the work regime for the course
Collectively define total work time, sessions per day and hours.
The independent working time of the groups to fulfill the extra-class group tasks is not considered in the programming.
7. Formation of the groups
Teachers should know in advance the composition of the class. The formation of the groups will be carried out randomly, so that there is no predisposition for their performance.
Members must choose a name for their group. Once they have been created, one of the teachers must make the observation and annotations on the first impressions of this constitution, according to the stages of development of the groups.
8. Declaration of the evaluation system
The evaluation system will be negotiated on the basis of systematic participation and co-responsibility. In the second group work session, the parameters to be evaluated will be selected, using participatory techniques.
It is not oriented in the first activity in such a way that the consequences of not having them are explained and constitutes an important moment of learning by omission.
This team building procedure for training has been assimilated with good results.
In the first session where the groups were formed, rejection was observed among the members.
Furthermore, since they are oriented towards a collective work objective, but not the parameters that will be evaluated, the presentation session is long and in some cases tedious and with many individual nuances. The need to establish control and evaluation parameters is evident.
For the second session, the parameters to be evaluated are negotiated, conceptualized and weighted, which in most applications have coincided with:
- Content quality Tribute to the team Creativity Time adjustment
From the third work session, an important change towards the collective result is observed, which takes the groups in transit through the different stages.
At the end of each work day, the new qualities acquired by each group are declared and which ones move towards a higher stage of development.
Depending on the interaction time, the duration of the course, teams have been formed that begin to want the continuity of this work.
This aspect of attraction to the group is verified by means of a survey applied in the initial and final group sessions.
As part of the process, a control of the fulfillment of the objective of improvement in group learning is carried out, applying a comparative questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the group training action whose content measures the feelings regarding group work.
They are encouraging results that a range of 75 -96% of the participants recognize that despite individual differences there is a feeling of unity in the group, they refer to feeling part of it, that their absence would have significance for the group and when compared with others Groups consider theirs better than most.
80% of the groups in which the process has been applied become teams, the observed elements of change appear in Table 1.
|
Elements of change |
Work groups |
Work teams |
| Definition and fulfillment of objectives | Share information and contribute individually | Collective performance with participatory processes |
| Commitment | Individual | Individual with tribute to the group |
| Learning | Individual, individual abilities prevail | Socialized to form collective capacities complementing individual capacities |
Table 1. Elements of change in the training teams. Own elaboration.
The final evaluations have solved larger-than-expected organizational problems when we began to develop this continuous improvement approach for training teams. During the sessions, an increase in the quality of the presentations, the individual tribute to teamwork, creativity and synthesis that allowed the adjustment of time in all cases could be seen.
Conclusions:
1. Group training allows orientation towards continuous improvement of the teaching-learning process.
2. The declaration of the premises and principles constitute the bases for the methodological conception of the group training process.
3. When adults are involved in the teaching-learning process as object and subject, motivation and commitment are raised.
4. The training groups express the desire to continue working together.
5. Training groups acquire skills to use their experiences, knowledge and project their new needs, from the detection of their critical areas of knowledge.
6. There is an increase in the identity of the groups, a substantial improvement in communication and cooperation, and the assimilation of the socialized objectives of the groups.
7. Training groups can be formed into teams by acquiring skills in a group training process.
Bibliography:
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