SUMMARY:
The work presented below was carried out in a group of leading companies of the Cuban Ministries of Informatics and Communications, in order to verify the impact that the training of their cadres has on the performance of their work and the generation of Management skills that help foster good formal and informal leaders. The tool that was used is exposed in the development of the article and it was applied to the managers and their subordinates in order to cross the information collected and reach important conclusions.
The objective of this work is to demonstrate the contribution that applying the DIAGNOSIS OF SKILLS PROFILES procedure can mean for the development of managerial skills.
In this part, concepts and theories about what leadership is, management skills, among others, are taken up in order to obtain results that help to improve management skills development programs and help to measure the impact of training in generating these managerial skills; as well as verifying that the improvement plans really respond to the needs that are had, seen from the current situation in which they find themselves and that they work as a way of solving the needs of this ministry. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to prepare business profiles by group, which will serve as a guide that shows the path to travel from the real state to the desired state, in order to prepare proposals that work on reducing this gap.
The procedure to be followed consists of the following stages:
- to. Identification of skills to measure and selection of the scale b. Determination of the types of respondents to assess (manager or reserve, head of manager or reserve, subordinates, colleagues at the same level of management, etc.) c. Determine the sample and its characteristics d. Analysis of the results.
Identification of skills to measure and selection of the scale.
In order to successfully develop the objectives already set, it is necessary to select the following skills: Self-assessment of the potential as a manager, Self-development of your skills, Decision-making, Problem solving, Network of effective relationships, Communication, Planning, Organization, Control, Teamwork and Proactivity, which were chosen due to the possibility of being measured and being points of comparison between the students of the Diploma and the Master, conforming to them a survey.
For the measurement of these variables through the survey, a scale from 1 to 10 was designed with the following characteristics:
- 1 - 3 Skills with serious problems. 4 - 6 Skills in development. 7 - 9 Skills with good development. 10 Skills with excellence.
These skills were related in a survey aimed at the sample that was selected.
Determination of the types of respondents to assess.
Once the skills to be evaluated and their scale have been determined in the designed survey, it is necessary to also select the hierarchy of the respondents, since obviously the results will not be the same between managers and subordinates. This is why it was decided to apply it to the Tables and Tables Reservations since these are the fundamental exponents of leadership within the organization.
In addition, it is these people who make up the Diploma and Master courses taught by this faculty, which facilitates the work and obtaining the necessary results for this work. It is objective to continue applying surveys at the end of each module of each course, to be able to make a comparison in the development time that each person is acquiring in these skills and to be able to evaluate the performance in their organization through the application of the same survey to the heads of these students.
Sample description.
In this work a sample will be used that is made up of 10 students of the Master of Business Administration and 17 students of the Diploma in Business Administration, an amount that was selected because as the population of both groups is less than 30, it is done It is necessary to carry out a census, since being such a small number the application of a sampling is not valid and the entire population is analyzed. In the case of the Diploma the enrollment is 20 students and the Master's is 15, but as these courses are taught nationwide, there were students who could not attend because they belong to other provinces and therefore could not be registered.
These surveyed people are managers of different companies belonging to the MIC, which is why they were chosen to integrate the sample of this work since it is based on the influence of training on the job performance of managers. Now, it would be valid to ask, why the MIC?
This ministry was chosen to carry out this work, since it constitutes a state-of-the-art, advanced organization within the rest of its peers in the country. In addition, it is necessary to point out that the Faculty of Economics, especially the Department of Business Sciences and said ministry, have previously held various academic and research exchanges, so there are quite positive precedents in this regard.
The group of respondents belonging to the Master of Business Administration is made up of 70% women and 30% men, while those analyzed belonging to the Diploma of Business Administration, have a representation of 35% women and a 65% of men, so as you can see both groups are totally opposite according to their generic composition.
For this purpose, surveys were conducted for the aforementioned students and their heads, the latter with the objective of evaluating the work performance of each one before and after the training. These surveys are made up of questions, fundamentally aimed at evaluating the impact of training through performance on Cuban managers.
The students who belong to the Master of Business Administration and who were chosen to make up this sample, have an average age of 38 years and 87% of them are cadres. Regarding the part of the sample made up of the students of the Diploma in Business Administration, it can be said that they have an average age of 35 years and 82% of them are cadres.
The objective of this sample is that the information with which we work is as reliable as possible and adjusts to the true impact that training has on Cuban managers, since this is one of the main objectives of said work.
In the case of the heads of the selected students of the Master of Business Administration, it can be said that they add 10 with an average age of 39 years and the heads of the selected students of the Diploma in Business Administration add 17 in total with a Average age of 44 years..
For the conformation of the applied surveys and to carry out an analysis as deep and accurate as possible, it was necessary to interview several people in order to obtain a survey that responded to the information needs that were required for the preparation of this work. The opinion of these people was taken into account when preparing the surveys and then in processing the information they provided.
Analysis of the obtained results.
Once the answers offered by the respondents were analyzed, it was determined that in the case of the Master in Business Administration, there is a greater performance of their skills than the group surveyed of the graduate, since the average of each variable of the first group is higher to the mean of each one of the second and in the case of the standard deviation it can be stated that in the master's group there is a greater uniformity in the performance of each of the respondents with respect to the respondents of the Diploma group, since that the deviation of the variables of the first group with respect to those of the second is smaller.
After the application of the aforementioned surveys, all the conditions for the realization of the business profile of both groups have been met, for once this is done, cross-reference it with the criteria that the heads of each of the respondents have about the influence that He has had training in job results and the creation of managerial skills.
This table summarizes the information from the surveys applied to the Diploma students:
The author highlights those boxes that most students impacted, so that in this way certain and important conclusions can be reached, which are presented below.
Here the most serious point that can be pointed out is that related to Control, since it is among the most coincidental of students, the one that is in the lowest place, so a vital idea can be summarized and this it is only that with the students of the Diploma it is necessary to work more on this point, achieving that this competition is improved.
It is the author's opinion that it is not really that Control is not an individual characteristic of people, it is that a system is not in place to guide and promote it, a situation that we can see described in most of the summary reports of the Internal Control activities carried out by second year students and professors from the Faculty, to various companies in the capital. Sometimes it is light to substitute one worker for another due to lack of control and that the sanction imposed does not go beyond the simple expulsion from the workplace, a situation that may be repeated with the new worker because the system is not rigorous in this sense.
After the Control, the other one that follows in order of severity, although not so badly, since it is given a majority evaluation of 7, which does not imply major problems, is what refers to the Self-evaluation of potential as a manager, The modest appreciation of this author should be developed more in practice than with training courses, but it is equally influenced by the confidence that the individual has in his knowledge and in his leadership skills.Although it should also be noted that sometimes bosses do not give subordinates the opportunity to develop and that they enter and stay for a long time in the same position without the intention of achieving better locations within the workplace and this has a negative impact on the person who is in this situation and who probably thinks they do not have the potential to lead.
It should be noted how well these students declare themselves in terms of Communication, Organization and Teamwork, most of them being at the maximum of these skills. However, it is contradictory that students are valued in such a high rank in these skills while Control is their greatest weakness, so it is worth asking, are they confusing Teamwork with group work? If they really feel so strong in the first skill, it is impossible for them to be classified so badly in the second because the synergy that is achieved with a correct teamwork would not allow incurring deficiencies related to Control.
In this way, it can be seen that the greatest inclination is from 7 onwards, which means that the skills evaluated have a favorable situation and on which they have to work to improve them, but that they already exist in the students.
In order to determine how the heads of this group of individuals perceived the benefits that the improvement programs were giving them, the same survey was carried out so that they gave us their appreciation of how they evaluated these skills in his subordinates, and these were the results:
It can be affirmed that there is great uniformity in the responses of these managers, as we appreciate that they concentrate almost all their criteria in places 8 and 9, so they have actually been able to perceive positive results in most of their subordinates, which have had an impact on improvements in job performance.
It is necessary to specify that the bosses have evaluated the performance of their subordinates in a quite positive way, since their responses in each of the skills are of a high rank on the scale, which gives way to affirm that they are satisfied with the performance of The same
In order to facilitate the comparison of the responses of both groups, the following graph is shown where both profiles intersect and from which very interesting conclusions can be drawn.
It is interesting to note that the students have self-evaluated in a much more severe way than their bosses did when referring to themselves, which is why it is possible to think that they are really self-critical, a characteristic that is considered positive and that says a lot about the way of be of people.
However, this severity in their self-evaluation may be related to the lack of recognition in the workplace and that produces a lack of confidence in the same characteristics of each of them, because although the bosses recognize them in such a positive way, if they are not made known to their subordinates in practice they may inhibit their potential.
A total coincidence between the bosses and the subordinates can be distinguished regarding the Self development of their capacities, Decision making, Network of effective relationships and Proactivity, in which both groups have similarities of thoughts. Where there is a great difference is in the point related to Control, since there are four categories between what students believe and what their superiors appreciate. In the rest of the points it cannot be affirmed that there were great difficulties, since the opinions about the other abilities remain quite similar. This fact is really important because it shows that not only are the students able to distinguish them in themselves, but they also become visible to the rest of their coworkers, in this case their superiors.
The same survey was also applied to the students of the Master's in Business Administration with the aim of evaluating these skills also in people with higher studies already completed and investigating how they behaved in them.
Below is the table with the summary results of the Master's students:
It is appreciated that the behavior of the skills in this case is concentrated in the best performance ranges, that is, closer to the maximum, 10. This allows us to affirm that although there are no great difficulties in any of the skills, in which it would be necessary to emphasize with the objective of a future improvement, they would be in Proactivity, Organization and Self-development of their capacities, fundamentally because they are the lowest scoring of all. From here come great reflections, what would happen if this individual were working in an intelligent organization? Well, things would be very different since, in those types of institutions,It is not the bosses who program the training systems, but each one knows what skills are necessary to carry out the functions of their job, but to achieve this synergy it requires much more than knowledge, it also requires commitment and full identification with the task being carried out. In this case, the one that would be most influenced is the ability to self-develop capabilities.
It is also necessary to specify that according to the criteria of the Master's students themselves, the skills they appreciate most developed in them are: Decision-making, Network of effective relationships, Communication and Teamwork, as can be seen in the table previously shown. Nor can you lose sight of the fact that perhaps your skills are being overvalued, which would be detrimental to work performance as results that were not expected could be obtained.
As it is observed, it is evident that the students of the Master's degree consider themselves to have a high performance of these skills since, in those who think that they have greater difficulties, the lowest score assigned to them on the scale is 8. This places them in a quite favorable situation if it is a question of achieving the desired state, since what is necessary to achieve it would require less effort.
This performance, as was done in the analysis of the Diploma, has been assessed by the heads of the respondents themselves.
The same survey was applied to the superior command obtaining the following table:
From the above, it is pointed out that bosses appreciate Communication as the variable with the best performance in their subordinates, followed by Teamwork, which are points in which there is not much emphasis to be placed when looking for an improvement, but if they must continue working and promoting their development, from within each of the organizations.
The rest of the variables, although they are not in a critical situation or much less, need a greater monitoring, fundamentally the Basic Competences that are of vital importance in the performance of the worker. Here the same question could be asked: Will it be a question of the workers or is it the environment in which they operate that does not allow their full development? The answer is not very simple, but it is believed, as it has already been exposed, that both factors influence the development of managerial skills.
The bosses determine, according to the previous table, that their subordinates have a high performance in Communication and that the rest of the skills do not present difficulties in them although they do not reach the excellence of the aforementioned. In general, they are of the criterion that their performance is quite successful.
In order to facilitate the comparison between students and heads of the Master's degree, the following cross-section of information is presented, which was prepared based on the results obtained.
As can be seen, according to the crossing of the information, the students in this group are not very self-critical since in most of the skills they are rated with higher performance while the bosses do not perceive it in the same way or what can also happen is that the bosses are very hypercritical.
From the above, there is a total coincidence between bosses and subordinates in the skills Self-development of their abilities, Communication and Proactivity, there being differences in criteria in the rest of the skills that, in fact, are not important.
Subsequently, and to give more depth to this analysis, a cross-section of information will be made between students of the Diploma and Master's degrees, in order to make a comparison between one group and the other, regarding the performance of the aforementioned skills.
It is interesting to see how the strategic competences are in a better situation than the rest of the skills, a situation that could have been created thanks to a correct leadership approach and strategic projection, vital for a good performance of the workers.
According to the previous table, the students of both groups coincide in the performance of the skills Problem Solving, Communication, Teamwork and Proactivity, with the greatest difference in Control followed by Self-evaluation of the potential as manager, Decision-making and Organization. The rest of the skills have a similar performance in the members of both groups.
It is possible to perceive the importance and influence of training in the formation and development of these skills, since it is noted that the students of the Master's degree have a greater development and therefore a higher job performance is expected than that of the Diploma.. At the point of Self-evaluation of potential as managers, the considerable difference that exists between both groups can be said to be given by the relationship already recognized in this work and that every day it becomes more evident internationally between leadership, skills and the work performance that each one has in their job, being demonstrated when it is seen that the Master's students consider themselves with much more potential than those of the other group.
It is necessary to work hard in the group of students of the Diploma in the variable Control, mainly because it is the one with the greatest weakness, followed by Self-evaluation of the potential as a manager. Although the Master's students show greater strength in some skills compared to others, it is necessary to affirm that they do not have great weaknesses according to the scheme represented, so it is possible to appreciate the impact that the training programs have had on them. We must forget that they all come from the same ministry and many even from the same organizations, so in the same environments, those with greater abilities have greater achievements.
It would be interesting to contrast at this time the criteria that the heads of the Master's students have with those of the Diploma:
From the previous graph, a great conclusion emerges and that is that the superiors of the Master's group are much more severe when evaluating their subordinates than those of the Diploma. Something very interesting is that both students and bosses place Problem Solving in the same category, in a really encouraging place, and it is even more important being this one of the skills that is most recognized and needed in Cuban companies by the current situation in which we find ourselves.
Assessment of results.
In such a changing world, a lot of adaptation to it is required, to be able to get ahead and this cannot be otherwise than trying to improve each day more not only on the intellectual plane but also in life in general.
As it has been seen throughout this work, there is a close relationship between Leadership-Skills and Performance, but the focus is not on recognizing the importance of this relationship but on knowing how to promote it and how to work on it on the basis of obtaining the best benefits.
The members of the sample with which they worked, it is assumed that all are identified as leaders or at least potential has been discovered to be so, therefore, with proper training, their job performance should go up., would be the following relationship:
The happy face represents the place that we are really interested in studying, that is, what results are obtained from the interaction of these 3 factors and how to influence them so that the best results are obtained? and precisely at that point is where they consider that they find the training plans, but always bearing in mind that these have to be elaborated attending to the specific needs of each worker, which must have a direct relationship with the skills of which It requires each job, at which point it has found major deficiencies, although progress has been seen, at least in terms of the preparation of training programs at the MIC. It is known that the other Ministry that is really developing an interesting work on the subject is MITRANS,because it is not possible to speak of a really good job in the rest of the organisms, since at this point they find enough deficiencies.
It is necessary that good training systems are developed for managers and executives, but that they not only stay in these spheres but also reach the base of all organizations, trying to encourage individuals to be concerned and responsible for their needs, in terms of knowledge to carry out the tasks assigned to them in a more effective way, but to achieve this, it is necessary, first, that each worker have full knowledge of their work content and feel committed to the fact to be better every day. This is not only a point of social conscience, but also a material incentive, as the worker sees that his good work performance leads to improvements in his personal life, he will be more interested in, not only training,but also to put into practice everything learned. Since, sometimes many workers are trained but then the acquisition of skills is not measured, a point that has been talked about since previous moments.
According to the research carried out, during which cadres training specialists were interviewed, it can be affirmed that although there are training programs throughout the country aimed at raising the intellectual skills described, their presence in training programs is not enough. development of reserves.
It is estimated that at the moment in most organizations the skills that are most emphasized are techniques.
It is advisable to make a correct selection per person of the type of training that must be scheduled, as not all require the same knowledge.
Summarizing the ideas that we want to emphasize derived from this work we can say that:
- Identifying people with leadership qualities to occupy different responsibilities or be a reserve of cadres is an element of vital interest for the development and performance of organizations, as this has been corroborated by international practice for many years. The field studies carried out in Cuba and indicated in this work show that the leadership-performance relationship has a similar behavior to the international one. In the present study, the missing element is added to the aforementioned relationship and this is the creation and development of managerial skills, especially intellectual skills. To give a role proportionally adequate to the creation of intellectual skills,Technical and interpersonal skills can greatly enhance the performance of managers and their impact on the general performance of organizations. Determining the skills profile according to the described procedure can complement those currently carried out by the Ministry of Informatics and Communications, since the photograph that This contribution can be taken both in training decisions and in the evaluation of the state of the same, as well as to measure the impact of training. In the profile described, somewhat misleading indices may appear that require a complementary analysis to verify its accuracy; for example, the high values offered by the skills of the students of the mastery or the very low value shown in the control ability.In this case, it was possible to contrast their own opinions and those of the bosses, but it is essential to assess the same profile, obtaining information from the subordinates and colleagues of the same team. Although all the elements described are valid, we must not rule out the role played by the environment, which We know that it gives business management very interesting forces that condition behavior and give a better or worse framework to the development of the leadership-skills-performance relationship.which we know gives business management very interesting forces that condition behavior and give a better or worse framework to the development of the leadership-skills-performance relationship.which we know gives business management very interesting forces that condition behavior and give a better or worse framework to the development of the leadership-skills-performance relationship.
